Author Topic: When you watch the sky... (Read 347324 times)

Luth · « **Reply #320 on:** December 21, 2010, 01:59:59 pm »

I think that the very same cloud was (and is) in our skies

Markus · « **Reply #321 on:** December 21, 2010, 02:26:02 pm »

Nasty, nasty cloud!

Well, you can find images on spaceweather.com. If you go there later, use the archive to go to the 21st, 22nd or 23rd of December.

Oh, the winter solstice is coming up, too! That will be at 23.38 UT = 0.38 CET tonight.

Cheers!

Markus

Markus · « **Reply #322 on:** December 23, 2010, 02:06:50 pm »

Hey folks,

the lunar eclipse was on the astronomy picture of the day today.

As a foretaste of the solar eclipse on the 4th of January I also want to show you a sunset eclipse on Mars.

Monade · « **Reply #323 on:** December 23, 2010, 04:44:52 pm »

Quote from: Markus on December 23, 2010, 02:06:50 pm

Hey folks,

the lunar eclipse was on the astronomy picture of the day today.

As a foretaste of the solar eclipse on the 4th of January I also want to show you a sunset eclipse on Mars.

The former one is beautiful

and the later one is cute

Thank you for sharing

Markus · « **Reply #324 on:** December 31, 2010, 10:37:49 am »

Veszprem Sun

Persephone · « **Reply #325 on:** December 31, 2010, 10:39:02 am »

Oh, this is really interesting pic

Markus · « **Reply #326 on:** December 31, 2010, 10:39:45 am »

Quote from: Angua von Überwald on December 31, 2010, 10:39:02 am

Oh, this is really interesting pic

Do you understand it or do you have any questions?

Persephone · « **Reply #327 on:** December 31, 2010, 10:40:25 am »

I understand I think... it's just - to be hones - I have never wondered about that question

So it was really a surprise.

Monade · « **Reply #328 on:** December 31, 2010, 07:17:42 pm »

INTERESTING!!

Well, just now when my friend and I came back from the new year celebration we look upon the sky we saw something shining.
"So many starry stars!"She said.
"Yes,"I said, "it's cold but thanks to the dry weather the sky looks so clear...OH WAIT"

I found these points slightly moving.
"I think...these are Sky Lanterns..."
Many Sky Lanterns (Or called Kongming Lanterns, named after its inventor Zhuge Liang [Zhuge Kongming]) floating in the sky.
I didn't take camara with myself. But you can imagine with these photos.

I want to know who did that

It looks so beautiful...

Persephone · « **Reply #329 on:** January 01, 2011, 12:07:48 pm »

Oh,

Yesterday we saw many of these on the sky

It's now very popular in here. I thought it came from China!

We call it here a "wish lantern"

I pity we did not have one - I'd like to try to fly it!

Luth · « **Reply #330 on:** January 01, 2011, 02:52:34 pm »

Where is she from?

Btw... I MUST look for my solar eclipse glasses... for 4th January

Lucy · « **Reply #331 on:** January 01, 2011, 03:49:59 pm »

Quote from: Monade on December 31, 2010, 07:17:42 pm

Oooh!

Monade · « **Reply #332 on:** January 01, 2011, 04:23:02 pm »

Quote from: Angua von Überwald on January 01, 2011, 12:07:48 pm

Oh, Yesterday we saw many of these on the sky It's now very popular in here. I thought it came from China!

We call it here a "wish lantern" I pity we did not have one - I'd like to try to fly it!

Yep it comes from China

Nowadays it is used for praying and make wished here (all the world around I think

), even it was mean to send SOS signal in the past

Easy to make but a little hard to fly it

and some time to fly it does make some dangerous in traffic or cause fire

Quote from: Luth on January 01, 2011, 02:52:34 pm

Where is she from?

Btw... I MUST look for my solar eclipse glasses... for 4th January

Oh you all can see it

Persephone · « **Reply #333 on:** January 01, 2011, 04:37:33 pm »

Oh yes, I read about it on wiki that it was used as and SOS signal in China cause it was so easy to watch from far (like we used to make big fires on visible places in past here in Europe in case of danger).

Don't worry not all

.... I pity I cannot, but the sky is absolutely unclear.

Luth · « **Reply #334 on:** January 01, 2011, 04:40:42 pm »

Very cloudy here too... Already blowing to kick them away for 4th

Markus · « **Reply #335 on:** January 02, 2011, 01:23:27 pm »

Hey folks,

Monade, we used to have these lanterns - these small hot-air-balloons - here, too. I didn't know they were used as signals originally, but of course it makes sense.

But in late 2009 they were banned because there had been to many accidents with them. Once I saw one dropping from the sky in flames which looked impressive in a way, but you don't want one of those to fall onto your roof or a ripe wheat field or something. Still we dared to launch one on New Year 2010, just after midinght.

But yeah, they look beautiful and it's fun to let them fly!

And don't be too sad about missing the partial eclipse on Tuesday.

Your country was blessed with so many solar eclipses in the past few years, and in 2012 there's another annular coming to you.

Cheers!

Markus

Monade · « **Reply #336 on:** January 02, 2011, 06:21:12 pm »

@Luth

I have experienced enough cloudy days when interesting astronomical phenomena happen...

@Markus
These lanterns were also banned in my hometown in many situations as it was regarded as more dangerous than firecracker

(Cause it CAN FLY Oh the firecracker is no way to be banned; it plays such a important role in festivel here.

)
It surprised me so much that the sky lantern was and is so popular in Europe

Hail the annular!

I wish I am lucky enough to touch the legendary 2012

Markus · « **Reply #337 on:** January 04, 2011, 08:09:20 pm »

My dear folks,

right now the sky is clear here and in the afternoon it was sunny. In the morning, however, it was densely clouded.

There were a few small gaps, but none where we needed it. So we did not get to see the eclipsed sun. I had the strong impression, though, that daylight came on much too slow today, so I like to think that I observed at least some effect.

Still it was the right thing to do, to meet with my astronomy friends on some hill on the edge of town with a good view to the Eastern horizon.

The official TV of our federal country was there, too. I just saw their report, which was nicely done and even features a very short comment by me.

I'm glad, though, that Luth saw it and that my eclipse glasses were so helpful to her! I'm even proud that you allowed so many people to have a look through it.

Thank you for that!

But please, folks, don't watch the sun without proper protection. The nasty thing is that you don't feel the damage immediately because it grows in the hours after the exposure, even if no more light enters your eye. So you never know how long you are on the safe side! Watching the sun on the horizon, when it's rising and when it's dimmed by the haze so much that it doesn't seem bright is ok, of course - but when you feel that you want to close your eyes instinctively, then it's too much.

Well, my next attempt is probably Australia 2012...

Cheers!

Markus

Luth · « **Reply #338 on:** January 04, 2011, 08:23:10 pm »

Indeed, Markus, your eclipse glasses were VERY helpful! It was really funny seeing all my colleagues (from my department and from all the others) in the cue and looking at the sun through the glasses

At first, I thought that clouds would not allow me to see anything, as they looked too thick. After a while, I realized that the clouds were not so bad, but the building you can see in the photo, as the sun was still below that level. When sun rised higher, clouds were still too thick, but sometimes I could have a little glimpse of the eclipse, even without glasses (almost no real light through the cloud). But after a while, when the sun was even a little higher, clouds were thinner and... YES, the eclipse was clear witht the glasses!!!! Only one or two minutes before the clouds covered it again, and only my nearer colleagues had been able to look through it at that moment. Luckily the sun was higher and higher in the sky (singing: hiiiiiiigher, than the skyyy where!! Hiiiiiiigher than the sky!! Sky! Sky! Sky!), and clouds thinner for long time, so I, and ALL the enterprise where I work, was able to watch the eclipse, and even make some photos. A lot of people was really amazed of how clear they could see the sun and the eclipse, and how beautiful it was

Here I leave the best picture. You can see the clouds, but you can see even better the sun. It was not the most covered part of the sun, but that moment happenened when sun was still too low, or clouds too thick

Markus · « **Reply #339 on:** January 04, 2011, 08:36:29 pm »

Wow, thank you, Luth!

you know I'm really glad that you and your colleagues enjoyed this much. Admittedly, even a deep partial eclipse is nothing compared to a total one, but still it's a beautiful sight and still watching it means that you're consciously experiencing a trip through the shadow of the moon.

So I'm glad about everybody who made it.

My dad sent me some pics he'd found online in order to comfort me.

He included the link: Sternwarte Radebeul, an observatory in the East of Germany. They have some creative photos of the partial eclipse there, including nice examples of pinhole projection. Take a short look! As usual, you'll find great pics on Spaceweather.com when you go to the archive of today, tomorrow and perhaps Thursday.

Cheers!

Markus Umbraphilus

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Author Topic: When you watch the sky... (Read 347324 times)