Last Week was Just Lunacy!

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Apollo XX
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Last Week was Just Lunacy!

Unread post by Apollo XX »

Pun intended! :lol: So in addition to the excitement of the first aurora to hit our area in a long time, we had two other significant celestial events to keep our minds going. First off we had the third SuperMoon of the year strike our night skies on Monday, the 8th. Unlike the first two in July and August, this one was almost hidden behind an iffy sky. Alas the clouds broke just enough to get a look at it, so out came the scope and camera.

Not quite cloudy, not quite clear:
Image

Of course after getting the picture you know I had to complete the comparisons that I had started back with the other two SuperMoons this year. This one fell in between the others in apparent size:
Image

An none of this would be relevant without something to compare it to, so here's the three supermoons of 2014 with the micromoon of the year as well:
Image

While supermoons are a distinctly mainstream attraction, on Wednesday the 10th of September we had another event involving Luna that was distinctly non-mainstream - a Lunar occultation of Uranus. The event would be taking place during moonrise on that night, so I had to take up camp where there was a low enough eastern horizon to catch it. The cornfields down the road apiece did the trick.

About 15 minutes after clearing the horizon, the moon still possessed that handsome color of rising:
Image

By 8:25pm the moon had begun to brighten, but a thin layer of clouds had infiltrated the scene as well:
Image

Uranus was slated to clear the dark limb of Luna at about 8:35pm. It took me until about 8:40pm to achieve visual confirmation of the event:
Image

While enjoying the visual spectacle of the two celestial wonders side by side, my mind kept turning to the memory of Pete standing up at a past meeting and shouting out "if you didn't get the picture, it didn't happen!". So in went the barlow, on went the camera, and by 8:45pm I had finally overexposed Luna enough to grab Uranus in the same frame, hazy sky and all:
Image

Of course following up these two events just two days later was the CME impact that created aurora as far south as Arizona. Man, what a week! :shock:
"The purpose of life is the investigation of the Sun, the Moon, and the heavens." - Anaxagoras
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mrgizmo65
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Re: Last Week was Just Lunacy!

Unread post by mrgizmo65 »

Mike this time, you did get the picture. You seem to be going hog wild on imaging, and you are doing a great job, I for one am very pleased you are sharing your efforts. The shot you posted of the moon in this post is spectacular, please do keep up the great work. Last Friday I went to Durfee and put the solar filter on the W&S and spent about 3 hours or so viewing the sun and playing with the fly weight on the clock to set the speed. I finaly got it to track pretty good. Some time you have to come and play with this bad boy :P :P :P
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"Ilagitami non carborundum" Uncle Nick '49
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Pete
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Re: Last Week was Just Lunacy!

Unread post by Pete »

Mike, what I like about your postings is the creativity and the variety of topics you delve into. Broad spectrum astronomy :P

Pete

p.s. Obviously it did happen. You got the picture.
Pete P.
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AndyG
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Re: Last Week was Just Lunacy!

Unread post by AndyG »

Cool!
Andy
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Apollo XX
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Re: Last Week was Just Lunacy!

Unread post by Apollo XX »

Gerry, Pete, and Andy - thank you!
"The purpose of life is the investigation of the Sun, the Moon, and the heavens." - Anaxagoras
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