1562e 2015/01/12–13

1562e 2015/01/12–13 17:50–17:55 EDT Foxmead W windows 9 ne

http://www.space.com/28213-venus-near-mercury-this-week.html

With the lousy weather I get around here, I rarely get to actually _see_ the things I write about, but tonight I looked out and there they were: Venus and Mercury close together, and Mars up to the left. Neat!

Temperature = –12°C

1561m 2014/10/26-27

1561m 2014/10/26-27 06:50–07:10 a.m. EDT Foxmead E windows 9 10x50b ne

I spotted Mercury at 06:50 with binoculars, and right away could see it naked eye. I was surprised at how high it was. It was twinkling obviously in the binoculars, so obviously the seeing was poor. I thought at first it might be Spica, but when I checked in SkySafari, I found Spica was still below the horizon.

Temperature = –2.5°C

1560d 2014/10/23

1560d 2014/10/23 05:30–06:15 EDT Foxmead W windows 8 ne

Partial solar eclipse

I had a bad run in dialysis this afternoon, so was feeling exhausted when I got home. I didn't have the energy to open the dome and set up the telescope, so instead I sat in the living room with a Baader solar filter, and watched the partial eclipse from there. The most memorable feature was the very noticeable naked-eye sunspot, which could be seen just to the left of the centre of the Sun's disk. When the Sun set in the clouds over Georgian Bay at 6:14 p.m., it was about 30% covered by the Moon.

Temperature = 10°C

1559m 2014/10/07–08

1559m 2014/10/07–08 05:40–06:35 EDT Foxmead W windows 3–8 ne 7x50b

Lunar eclipse

Sometimes it helps to have low expectations: you're pleasantly surprised! The weather prospects for the pre-dawn lunar eclipse were dismal, so I didn't even bother setting my alarm. When I woke up at 5:42 a.m. I was surprised to see the partially eclipsed Moon peeking through a sucker hole, low in the western sky.

The Moon soon vanished into a cloud bank, so I went back to bed. I got up 10 minutes later and the clouds were pretty solid except for one small strip. The Moon popped out again for a few seconds at 6:02, then was gone again.

Finally at 6:12, the Moon emerged into a clear patch, where it remained until I stopped watching at 06:32, by which time it was completely in the Earth's umbral shadow.

Those who were expecting a "blood Moon" will have been disappointed. The colour during totality was more a pale orange, verging on peach. As I said in my article this week on Space.com, there's no way of predicting the colour of a lunar eclipse in advance.

Temperature = 10°C

1558m 2014/09/26–27

1558m 2014/09/26–27 02:30–05:50 EDT Foxmead E window 8–3 ne

Checking hourly for aurora and zodiacal light. The transparency was poor, only down to about 4th magnitude. The Milky Way was not visible. When I checked last at 05:48 a.m., fog had set in so that Jupiter was the only object visible. According to The Weather Network, the temperature was steady at 10°C from 1 a.m. onward except for a drop to 8° at 4 a.m., which must have been what triggered the fog.

Temperature = 10°C (mostly)

1557m 2014/09/25

1557m 2014/09/25 05:30 EDT Foxmead E window 8 ne

I checked the sky, looking for aurora (predicted) and zodiacal light, but could see neither. I later checked in Starry Night and found that the Sun was 18.2° below the horizon, so full astronomical twilight had not begun. I had the impression that the sky was lighter than full dark, so there may have been generalized airglow from aurora.

Temperature = 8°C

1556m 2014/08/19

1556m 2014/08/19 05:00–05:30 EDT Foxmead E window 9 ne 10x50b

Observed Jupiter and Venus again this morning. They are now 1.2 degrees apart. Jupiter is moving away from the Sun and Venus towards the Sun, so the separation is quite rapid.

There are many nice pictures from yesterday morning, but my favourite is this one taken by my old friend Klaus Brasch in Flagstaff, Arizona.

Temperature = 8°C