Solar Eclipse 2015

[Mike Rubin]

Did anyone see it?

Alas in London (and also Hampshire where I glide I heard) the humble stratus cloud was the enemy this morning as it obscured the view of the eclipse. However the cloud provided a different and just as mysterious atmosphere as the light levels dropped very low by 9:31 (greatest extent) and the light had a similar harsh tone to it as during the 1999 eclipse (not the soft sunrise / sunset tones you get normally as the sun is not low enough).

A friend on a train up north saw the eclipse and got some nice pics of the sliver of sun dancing with the clouds that surrounded it. Awesome!

Some great videos of totality from Svalbard too. The clouds of the corona visible as well as plasma clouds from prominences rising above the moon’s limb. The sun’s pretty active at the moment being not far past the solar maximum.

-Mike

[Gini Wells]

A couple of poor-quality images from this morning in Exeter. The clouds thinned just in time for me to grab a few pictures with my phone camera. Should have taken the proper camera, of course…….

[Gavin Pretor-Pinney]

I popped in to the BBC studio near me in Taunton, Somerset, UK, for a quick chat about it on The Today Programme (it is here on BBC iPlayer, in the last three minutes of the programme). Right after coming out, the clouds parted to reveal a great view of the eclipse. The Altostratus and patches of lower cloud were not only helpful in shielding the glare, since I didn’t have any eclipse glasses with me, they also produced a rather pleasing corona.
(Anyone unfamiliar with this optical effect can see examples of coronas on the gallery here.)

Also, a great photo of the eclipse viewed from east Yorkshire was submitted to the photo gallery by Bob Carter.

[Bill Ward]

Hi,

Despite the thick cloud and even light drizzle, I had the same experience up here in Glasgow.
With what seemed like the whole department up on the roof balcony, right on maximum coverage the clouds thinned and we had a great view for a couple of minutes.
I was really surprised by the crowds that seemed to spontaneously gather in the park across the road. LOTS of people out, probably cursing the clouds, but the clouds ended up giving us a comfortable and dramatic view (for a short while at least ;-)

After the eclipse ended the clouds disappeared and there was lovely blue sky, typical….!

cheers,
Bill.

[Howard Brown]

You are right, Mike, stratus in Hampshire, UK; but I heard it was visible at Stonehenge in neighbouring Wiltshire, so near but so far. And I did hear CAS No 1 on the Today program, so some consolation.

EDIT: But none of CAS No 1’s three links above are working for me.

[Gini Wells]

The links worked for me, ‘H’, on my Android tablet as well as on my laptop. Wonder why they don’t for you…….any thoughts, anyone?

[Graham Davis]

Yes, Gini, they all worked for me on Firefox 36.0.1. No idea why “H” is having trouble. Could it be the ISP playing silly beggars on some sites?

[Howard Brown]

G, G, tonight the first link to BBC iPlayer works, but still not the other two (I get that little yellow explosion). Curiouser and curiouser.

Gini your two pix give me a good feel for what might have been here in Hants, and are the only ones I have seen of the SW. I know it is silly but today I checked where the sun would have been yesterday, and it would have been visible through the tree tops, of course. My Stratus nebulosus was very opacus.

Off-topic, I hope you heard Jazz Line-up on BBC R3 today, Gini. Some very eclectic guitar from an all-star trio. You are doubtless more familiar with Wolfgang Muthspiel’s work than I; if you missed it there is a clip here of a piece they played, Cambiata
(AFICIONADOS ONLY):
http://www.last.fm/music/Wolfgang+Muthspiel+Trio

[Howard Brown]

Testing, testing

Tonight GP-P’s first link to the BBC still works; the second link still does not work (though a seemingly correct address to CAS coronas appears at the bottom of the window); the third link (to Bob Carter in East Yorks) worked once, on the second of five attempts (with something like …..photo-n:2894 at the bottom of the window).

One of life’s little mysteries.

[Andrew Pothecary]

We had an eclipse a couple of years ago in Japan, and it was also cloudy then. Of course, thick cloud pretty much ruins the effect. But, even a reasonably general cloud covering is actually quite helpful for watching a solar eclipse. You can look directly at the sun and see the results. OK, no dramatic corona shots or anything, but clouds are actually quite a positive help. So is all the complaining another example of negativity about clouds? :-) Or was it generally to thick to see anything in most parts of Britain?

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