Eclipse Report 10-8-2014

NOTE: All times listed are Central Time (CT), unless otherwise stated.

Credit: Sky & Telescope

Early on the morning of October 8, 2014 the second total lunar eclipse of the year occurred. The first was back in April. According to the RASC Observers Handbook, the total eclipse would last about 59 minutes, 20 minutes shorter than in April. The full eclipse would be visible from the Pacific Ocean and along the pacific coast of North America. For those in the central and eastern parts of North America the eclipse would reach totality shortly before Moonset.

In Houston the eclipse was set to begin around 3:45 am. I decided to get up at 4 am which would be around when the partial eclipse would begin, or when the first shadow would be visible on the moon. I had set up my camera the previous day, making sure the battery was charged and my shutter trigger was attached and working. Of course photographing the eclipse would not be easy. Our backyard presented a few challenges. Trees being the biggest hazard.

Thankfully the path across the sky the moon took would take it right down a clear slot in the trees. So I would have clear shots of the moon all the way through Moonset. The weather that morning was warm and humid with no wind. The sky at first appeared cloudless. But upon doing a test long exposure shot I discovered there was a small layer of haze over the area. About 10 minutes after getting outside and setting up thick clouds rolled in from the south. Thankfully these did not stick around very long. The sky for the rest of the eclipse was clear.

Mid-Eclipse was reached about 5:55 am. Several stars became visible at this time. The planet Uranus, while not naked eye visible, was clearly visible through my camera viewfinder. I took a little over 200 photos during the the eclipse. I stayed outside till about 6:10 am. My camera was getting covered with dew and I was tired.

My photos for the most part came out great. The long exposure shots were again awesome. At least 11 stars and one planet are visible in those. Uranus was a very nice pale blue color in one photo. Uranus is actually the farthest planet I have photographed. Previously it was Saturn. Anyway, sadly most of my photos after eclipse totality are a bit blurry. Either due to me keeping the shutter open to long or me moving. Not likely its because I was moving around to much. But that's ok, lesson learned again for next time.

The next eclipse is just a few days away, Oct. 23, 2014. This time it will be a partial solar eclipse. I have already started preparing my telescope for the event, and am currently trying to rig up a safe solar filter for my Nikon camera.

Stay Tuned!


To see more photos I too that morning click here.

**UPDATE** Possible Explanation of the Disassociation of a TDS from a Rotational Signature

***Just a few notes before we continue. First, This post is purely based off radar data only. At the time this was written, there were no confirmed sightings of a tornado. Second, I decided to write this because someone asked a question and I was curious to see what the answer was, or most likely was.***

****UPDATE 5-16-2014: Well NWS Raleigh did their damage survey of this storm today. An EF-1 tornado was confirmed, but not in the area I thought it would be. Unlike what I said below, the TDS was associated with the tornado as it was happening and not a delayed reaction like I thought. Either way i hope those of you who did read this enjoyed it. I have attached the PUBLIC INFORMATION STATEMENT below.****

The origin of this post begins on facebook. Someone reported seeing a possible TDS (Tornadic Debris Signature) on the KRAX radar. The time stamp of the image was 2214z. Someone made note of the face that the TDS was not directly associated with the rotational couplet on SRV (Storm Relative Velocity).

Below is my attempt at finding out why the TDS was not associated with the velocity couplet seen on the original image post. The 4 panel images below show Reflectivity (Z), SRV, KDP, and CC.

2149z

At 2149z the rotation that caused the TDS can bee seen east of Fearrington. In CC low values can bee seen that range from .99-.88. This is most likely due to heavy rain, which is supported when looking at KDP, which had values from 2.95*-1.40*/km.

At 2158, the rotation appears to reach its strongest point as it crosses I-40. CC and KDP appear to remain at the same levels as they did back at 2149.

2209z

At 2209 the rotation appears to weaken and spread out. It also appears at this time in SVR that a new rotation is trying to form. In CC we see out first signs of a TDS with a local minimum of 0.75. In KDP the heavy rain had shifted slightly NW of the rotation.

2214z

Between 2209-2218 the rotation associated with the TDS weakens dramatically and disappears. A new rotation forms just to the NW. In CC the TDS is now clearly visible at 2214, with values as low as 0.61 at 2218. KDP drops below 0.95 near the TDS and is labeled at ND (No Data).

 

2223z

At 2223, the TDS weakens as values rise to 0.84. It also appears to diverge slightly from the original track, appearing to move NW as the new rotation moves NE. By 2228 the TDS is gone.






Using the RHI tool I made a cut across the TDS at 2214 in an attempt to see just how high the debris was lofted. It appears that whatever the debris was, was lofted somewhere between 7000 and 8000 KFT.

2214z

NOTE- The radar beam ranged from 1900-2400 KFT above the ground.

In my opinion, the tornado touchdown was around 2154 and possibly lifted around 2209? This would explain why the TDS was detached from the circulation we see in the above screen caps. The tornado was weak, which is why it took a little while for the debris to be lofted enough to be seen by radar, and also why the debris did not go above 10 KFT.

Again, just my non expert opinion. Hope you all enjoyed....LOL

 ***Again, This post is purely based off radar data only. At the time this was written, there were no confirmed sightings of a tornado. Second, I decided to write this because someone asked a question and I was curious to see what the answer was, or most likely was.***


Some helpful links to learn more about Dual Polarization Radar:

WDTB Dual-Pol Training

Dual-Pol Training Aid 

PUBLIC INFORMATION STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE RALEIGH NC
447 PM EDT FRI MAY 16 2014

...TORNADO CONFIRMED APPROXIMATELY 3 MILES SOUTHWEST OF DURHAM IN
DURHAM COUNTY NORTH CAROLINA...

LOCATION...3 SW DURHAM IN DURHAM COUNTY NORTH CAROLINA
DATE...MAY 15 2014
ESTIMATED TIME...610 PM TO 613 PM EDT
MAXIMUM EF- SCALE RATING...EF1
ESTIMATED MAXIMUM WIND SPEED...90 MPH
MAXIMUM PATH WIDTH...150 YARDS
PATH LENGTH...0.8 MILES
* FATALITIES...0
* INJURIES...0

* THE INFORMATION IN THIS STATEMENT IS PRELIMINARY AND SUBJECT TO
CHANGE PENDING FINAL REVIEW OF THE EVENT(S) AND PUBLICATION IN
NWS STORM DATA.

...SUMMARY...
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN RALEIGH NC HAS CONFIRMED A
TORNADO 3 SW DURHAM IN DURHAM COUNTY NORTH CAROLINA ON MAY 15
2014.

DAMAGE CONSISTED OF DOZENS OF SNAPPED AND UPROOTED TREES...AND
APPROXIMATELY 40 HOMES THAT EXPERIENCED ROOF OR OTHER STRUCTURAL
DAMAGE. MOST OF THE DAMAGE TO THE HOMES WAS CAUSED BY FALLING
TREES AND OTHER DEBRIS IMPACTING THE STRUCTURES. HOWEVER...THERE
WERE AT LEAST A HALF DOZEN HOMES THAT EXPERIENCED MINOR ROOF
DAMAGE CAUSED SOLELY BY THE WIND.

IN ONE CASE...A LARGE OAK TREE WAS UPROOTED...AND IN THE PROCESS
FELL ONTO A HOME AND SUBSEQUENTLY SLICED THROUGH THE ROOF AND AN
EXTERIOR WALL OF THE HOME.

THE EXTENT OF THE HARDWOOD TREE DAMAGE SUGGESTED MAXIMUM SPEEDS OF
90 MPH (EF1) BASED ON THE ENHANCED FUJITA SCALE.

THIS INFORMATION CAN ALSO BE FOUND ON OUR WEBSITE AT
WEATHER.GOV/RAH.

Galileo spies 3 new stars near Jupiter

Looking through his newly improved spyglass, Galileo observes 3 new stars previously unseen near Jupiter. Here is his observation from January 7, 1610:

"Accordingly, on the seventh day of January of the present year 1610, at the first hour of the night, when I inspected the celestial constellations through a spyglass, Jupiter presented himself. And since I had prepared for myself a superlative instrument, I saw (which earlier had not happened because of the weakness of the other instruments) that three little stars were positioned near him, small but yet very bright. Although I believed them to be among the number of fixed stars, they nevertheless intrigued me because they appeared to be arranged exactly along a straight line and parallel to the ecliptic, and to be brighter than others of equal size. And their disposition among themselves and with respect to Jupiter was as follows:"

Observation by Galileo
January 7, 1610

Below is a simulation of what Jupiter looked like on the night of Jan 7, 1610 using Sky & Telescope's "Jupiter Moons" app.

Courtesy of Sky & Telescope

Of course we now know those little stars are in fact 3 of Jupiter's 4 major moons. Below is a photo I took last December of Jupiter in a somewhat similar configuration.

Jupiter Observation by Me
December 11, 2013

Earth from Juno

On Oct. 9, Juno flew by Earth using the home planet's gravity to get a boost needed to reach Jupiter. The JunoCam caught this image of Earth, and other instruments were tested to ensure they work as designed during a close planetary encounter. The Juno spacecraft was launched from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Aug. 5, 2011. Juno’s rocket, the Atlas 551, was only capable of giving Juno enough energy or speed to reach the asteroid belt, at which point the Sun’s gravity pulled Juno back toward the inner solar system. The Earth flyby gravity assist increases the spacecraft’s speed to put it on course for arrival at Jupiter on July 4, 2016. Image credit NASA/JPL-Caltech/Malin Space Science Systems

High Above Saturn

This portrait looking down on Saturn and its rings was created from images obtained by NASA's Cassini spacecraft on Oct. 10, 2013. It was made by amateur image processor and Cassini fan Gordan Ugarkovic. This image has not been geometrically corrected for shifts in the spacecraft perspective and still has some camera artifacts.The mosaic was created from 12 image footprints with red, blue and green filters from Cassini's imaging science subsystem. Ugarkovic used full color sets for 11 of the footprints and red and blue images for one footprint. The Cassini-Huygens mission is a cooperative project of NASA, the European Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington, D.C. The Cassini orbiter and its two onboard cameras were designed, developed and assembled at JPL. The imaging operations center is based at the Space Science Institute in Boulder, Colo. For more information about the Cassini-Huygens mission visit http //www.nasa.gov/cassini and http //saturn.jpl.nasa.gov. Image credit  NASA/JPL-Caltech/Space Science Institute/G. Ugarkovic

The Local Fluff

The stars are not alone. In the disk of our Milky Way Galaxy about 10 percent of visible matter is in the form of gas, called the interstellar medium (ISM). The ISM is not uniform, and shows patchiness even near our Sun. It can be quite difficult to detect the local ISM because it is so tenuous and emits so little light. This mostly hydrogen gas, however, absorbs some very specific colors that can be detected in the light of the nearest stars. A working map of the local ISM within 20 light-years, based on ongoing observations and recent particle detections from the Earth-orbiting Interstellar Boundary Exporer satellite (IBEX), is shown above. These observations indicate that our Sun is moving through a Local Interstellar Cloud as this cloud flows outwards from the Scorpius-Centaurus Association star forming region. Our Sun may exit the Local Cloud, also called the Local Fluff, during the next 10,000 years. Much remains unknown about the local ISM, including details of its distribution, its origin, and how it affects the Sun and the Earth. Unexpectedly, recent IBEX spacecraft measurements indicate that the direction from which neutral interstellar particles flow through our Solar System is changing.

Click to Enlarge

M2-9: Wings of a Butterfly Nebula

Are stars better appreciated for their art after they die? Actually, stars usually create their most artistic displays as they die. In the case of low-mass stars like our Sun and M2-9 pictured above, the stars transform themselves from normal stars to white dwarfs by casting off their outer gaseous envelopes. The expended gas frequently forms an impressive display called a planetary nebula that fades gradually over thousand of years. M2-9, a butterfly planetary nebula 2100 light-years away shown in representative colors, has wings that tell a strange but incomplete tale. In the center, two stars orbit inside a gaseous disk 10 times the orbit of Pluto. The expelled envelope of the dying star breaks out from the disk creating the bipolar appearance. Much remains unknown about the physical processes that cause planetary nebulae.