Partial solar eclipse at sunset, as seen from New Zealand

Posted by Mike_NZ
on Wednesday, December 28, 2011

This sketch shows a short but sweet partial solar eclipse, as seen from Wellington, New Zealand, on the 25th of November 2011. The Sun was 2 degrees above the horizon at the start of the eclipse. The Sun set before the moment of maximum eclipse.

Sunset that day was at 20.30h local time (NZDT), however the observing location did not allow visibility right down to the horizon, consequently the Sun set a bit earlier behind a hill. I didn't note the time of sunset, but would estimate it was at 20:20h.

The Sun set behind a ridge with a tree and some shrubs on it, these showed up very clearly against the Sun's disk. The edge of the Sun's disk is unevenly shaped, as it was 'wobbling' a lot, because of hot air moving about after a warm and sunny day.

The sunspot numbers of the sunspots which could be discerned, have been added to the image. Due to the conditions, some fainter sunspots were not observed.

Equipment:

Skywatcher Alt-Az Refractor (D = 70mm, F=900mm)
16mm Orion Edge-On eyepiece
56x magnification
Orion glass solar filter
Orion prism star diagonal


Date and time: 25-11-2011 approx. 20:10h - 20:20h NZDT local time

Location: Mt Victoria Lookout, Wellington, New Zealand

 

Described some further detail in a blog:

http://www.levinstargazers.org.nz/blog-posts/partialsolareclipse

Comments
To leave a comment you must be a member of our community.
Login to your account now, or register for an account to start participating.
No one has commented yet.
Join our Community!

Our community is FREE to join. To participate you must either login or register for an account.

ADVERTISEMENT
FREE EMAIL NEWSLETTER

Receive news, sky-event information, observing tips, and more from Astronomy's weekly email newsletter. View our Privacy Policy.

ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT
Find us on Facebook