Natural phenomenon you have witnessed?

[Peter Mugridge]

Here's some of mine - the actual images are better than this, but these are mobile phone images of the back of my camera as a temporary measure...

 

[Dave61]

I agree perfect clear sky in Notts. Very strange here as the light level began to drop. About 15 minutes before max eclipse dozens of seagulls started to fly around in circles over the fields and above the village. We only usually see the occasional seagull here but the sky was full of them. No noise, they were just silently flying around.

Wife and I watched it from west park in Long Eaton, loverly clear sky unlike 1999 (from Devon!) , agree the light was just strange/weird and the birds were circling the trees looking rather confused.

 

[Bayum]

Comet Hale-Boop(?)
Earthquake
Few eclipses
Northern lights

 

[brad465]

Managed to get the late-running 17:03 Paddington-Penzance to pass by my viewing point near Langport. My phone managed to make a mirror depiction of the eclipse in the process, taken a few minutes after the peak:

 

[Foxhunter]

I was a signalman on The Watercress Line this evening, where we ran a sold out View The Eclipse train. There was a lovely chance gathering of a few people from the village who came along to the station to see the eclipse from our footbridge, sharing glasses and pin hole viewers. An infectious community experience, followed by a steam train going by. As so often, the simple pleasures are the best.

 

[4COR]

A brief one, but success from Spain!

 

[Stathern Jc]

As seen at Sant Tomas on Menorca.



Sunsets are often spectacular there, but this was special.

 

[davews]

Having seen the totality from Mallorca on the TV I am not sure why we were all getting excited about a partial. That totality was superb even by totality standards. Eyed it through my 1999 eclipse filter but totally failed to photograph it. Putting the eclipse filter in front of my Canon meant it couldn't focus, tried various tricks, all hand held, and got nothing.
The early twilight was quite interesting, almost eerie.
From https://grid.iamkate.com/ this shows a small dip in the solar (yellow) at the maximum and a corresponding increase in gas (yellow), obviously they planned well for this in advance.

 

[Mcr Warrior]

Having seen the totality from Mallorca on the TV I am not sure why we were all getting excited about a partial.

Next best thing in most people's lifetimes? No total eclipse in any part of the U.K. until September 2090? (Channel Islands in 2081).

 

[Sun Chariot]

Suoerb totality images @4COR - and what a gloriously-coloured sun-down @Stathern Jc Thanks, both, for sharing.

 

[Magdalia]

I have never experienced a total solar eclipse, but I still find partial eclipses fascinating, and this time I appreciated it in a different way to 1999. Back then the eclipse was mid morning with the sun high in the sky, and I was very aware of the fading intensity of the light and the impact on wildlife. This time, with the sun closer to sunset, I was on my neighbour's second floor west facing balcony, which made it very easy to project images onto the back wall of the balcony using a colander, with a focal length longer than my arm! What I liked this time was being able to appreciate the eclipse as a dynamic experience, not a series of static images, watching the colander projected images change in real time as the moon moved across the face of the sun.

 

[Tetchytyke]

Can I have my money back please?
All we had here on the east coast of Ireland was cloud.

That’s really annoying. Here on the west coast of the Isle of Man we had some very high cirrus clouds which actually were more of a help, they diffused the light so you could look at it.

First time I’ve experienced an eclipse, I was on the other side of the world in 1999. What struck me wasn’t the darkness so much as the fact all the heat seemed to disappear out of the air during it. I was up on the moors and the sheep just carried on eating, they didn’t even notice.

Love the photo @Rail Ranger and @4COR and @Stathern Jc , though I’m jealous you’re in Majorca and Menorca and I’m not.

 

[jfollows]

Stupid Sky reporting “an event as old as the planet itself”. No it isn’t. Notwithstanding that the Moon was formed after the Earth in all likelihood, it’s only been possible to have a total eclipse when it’s a particular distance away from the Earth as it is now, and it’s slowly getting further and further away (1.5 inches per year currently). So although the first recorded total eclipse would have been in something like 2134 BC, there will have been earlier ones, but not as early as “the planet itself” because originally the Moon was too close to the Earth to act in the way it does now. Where do they get these reporters? Oh yes, from people who aren’t scientists!
In due course the Moon will appear to be too small to completely block the Sun. Without anything else, the Earth and the Moon will be tidally locked (the Moon already is), but before that happens they’ll both be incinerated by the Sun turning into a Red Giant.

 

[gg1]

Two for the price of one yesterday, no photos of either unfortunately.

On the way back from Aberystwyth where we watched the eclipse, we saw a huge wildfire near Rhayader, frightening if you live nearby of course but an awe inspiring sight nonetheless, especially as it was starting to get dark at the time.

 

[Dave61]

Stupid Sky reporting “an event as old as the planet itself”. No it isn’t. Notwithstanding that the Moon was formed after the Earth in all likelihood, it’s only been possible to have a total eclipse when it’s a particular distance away from the Earth as it is now, and it’s slowly getting further and further away (1.5 inches per year currently). So although the first recorded total eclipse would have been in something like 2134 BC, there will have been earlier ones, but not as early as “the planet itself” because originally the Moon was too close to the Earth to act in the way it does now. Where do they get these reporters? Oh yes, from people who aren’t scientists!
In due course the Moon will appear to be too small to completely block the Sun. Without anything else, the Earth and the Moon will be tidally locked (the Moon already is), but before that happens they’ll both be incinerated by the Sun turning into a Red Giant.

Those early eclipses shortly after the moon formed would have been mega - including the ground buckling from its gravity as well with it being so close (not to mentione being swept away by the huge tides once the earth had cooled and oceans reformed).

They will eventually stop being total once the moon drifts to far away (about 4 to 6cm a year if I remember right) to just being partial, but at the beginning there would have been a huge area covered.

 

[Harvester]

In due course the Moon will appear to be too small to completely block the Sun. Without anything else, the Earth and the Moon will be tidally locked (the Moon already is), but before that happens they’ll both be incinerated by the Sun turning into a Red Giant.

Rough estimates are that the drifting moon will be too small to cover the sun’s disk in 600 million years time. After that only annular (ring of fire) solar eclipses will be visible from Earth, for another 3.5 billion years, until the sun reaches its red giant phase.

 

[thenorthern]

Back in 2008 I remember being awake listening to the Shipping Forecast and suddenly I heard the house shake. Thought nothing of it then I woke up at 6:30 am put Radio 1 on and heard Newsbeat and they mentioned there was an earthquake.

A couple of years ago I felt and eathquake and I posted on Twitter asking if anyone else felt it. I was contacted by a news agency reporter and later that day I was quoted by every major news media in the country.

 

[Harvester]

There is a deep partial lunar eclipse on Friday morning with the full moon hanging low in the western sky. Maximum eclipse is at 05:12 hrs when the umbra will cover 93% of the moon’s disk.

 

[Magdalia]

There is a deep partial lunar eclipse on Friday morning with the full moon hanging low in the western sky. Maximum eclipse is at 05:12 hrs when the umbra will cover 93% of the moon’s disk.

I did get a half decent view of this, watching through an open window from the comfort of my armchair!

I woke up at about 0315 just as the moon was starting to move into the earth's umbra. For the next half hour there was intermittent cloud cover, plus the moon passing behind a tree. But from then on I had an uninterrupted view, until the moon disappeared behind a building on my western horizon at about 0530, apart from a thin haze.

I got a good view of the sunlit part of the moon shrinking gradually, but the haze meant that the part in the shade was a grubby brown not a nice deep red.

 

[nlogax]

On a related note, anyone here using a Seestar smart telescope? I'm pondering an S50 Pro after an upcoming house move and the some of the results from the older S30 Pro and S50 already look amazing.

Examples as shared in the Cloudy Nights forum.
https://www.cloudynights.com/forums/topic/991793-seestar-s30-pro-photos/

Seestar S30 PRO photos​

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By appiantiqua
January 31 in Smart Telescopes

 

[Bald Rick]

On a related note, anyone here using a Seestar smart telescope? I'm pondering an S50 Pro after an upcoming house move and the some of the results from the older S30 Pro and S50 already look amazing.

Not personally, but during the eclipse I was sat next to someone using an S30 pro, and the results were incredible.

 

[Harvester]

I did get a half decent view of this, watching through an open window from the comfort of my armchair!

I woke up at about 0315 just as the moon was starting to move into the earth's umbra. For the next half hour there was intermittent cloud cover, plus the moon passing behind a tree. But from then on I had an uninterrupted view, until the moon disappeared behind a building on my western horizon at about 0530, apart from a thin haze.

I got a good view of the sunlit part of the moon shrinking gradually, but the haze meant that the part in the shade was a grubby brown not a nice deep red.

Unfortunately cloud prevented views of the eclipse here in Notts. I almost forgot about the event before posting on Thursday, suddenly remembering that solar and lunar eclipses usually happened in pairs!