Partial eclipse in a few weeks!

[Paul Heester]

Maybe members are well aware of this amazing event but its happening on Friday 20th March, in just a few weeks!

At its maximum the sun will be blocked by around 80% (I think) at 9.30am and to a lesser degree around an hour either side of this. This link has a preview of what it should be like in London - http://www.timeanddate.com/eclipse/in/u ... o=20150320

So, any idea how we can capture this wonder of nature? We wont see an eclipse in Europe for another 10 years

[davidc]

To shoot it safely you will need special film that cuts down 99.99% of the sun's light. I used it to get my photos of the Venus transit a few years ago.

Pointing your camera at the sun without this filter in place, even using live view, will likely break your camera. Looking at it directly through the viewfinder without the filter will cause permanent damage and very likely blindness.

Venus Transit 2012 by cedarsphoto, on Flickr

Here's the homemade filter/mount I made.

Homemade Solar Filter by cedarsphoto, on Flickr

[davidc]

There's also another eclipse visible in Indonesia next year, easily accessible from a base in say Singapore...

[Mike Farley]

There's also another eclipse visible in Indonesia next year, easily accessible from a base in say Singapore...

Indonesia, here we all come, via Dave's.

[Mike Farley]

So, any idea how we can capture this wonder of nature? We wont see an eclipse in Europe for another 10 years

Some advice from Amateur Photographer, all the usual stuff. The weather forecast is not looking good for the north of the UK where the eclipse will be at its fullest.

http://www.amateurphotographer.co.uk/la ... ipse-46092

[Mike Farley]

Not only will there will be an eclipse, but we have a supermoon when the moon is at its closest to earth and the spring equinox as well. A busy day for celestial bodies.

According to this article by The Independent, a solar eclipse can only occur when the moon is new so the supermoon will not be visible on this occasion, but we should be able to see it on the three other occasions when it will occur later this year.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/scien ... 11592.html

[Mike Farley]

Unfortunately, the weather forecasters have (for once) been correct and unless it miraculously clears the cloud cover in the south east means that it will be even more overcast and gloomy than in the previous few days.

[Paul Heester]

Typical English weather. Very overcast meaning it went from mild grey to dark grey back again

[Mike Farley]

Typical English weather. Very overcast meaning it went from mild grey to dark grey back again

It did not even get that dark. I took this shot out of my window at around the time that the eclipse would have been at its peak and the exposure was 1/30 sec @ f/5.6, 500 ISO. (I have left the metadata in the image, but note that the clock in my camera is around three minutes fast.) Around forty minutes later I had the same shutter speed and aperture, but the ISO had dropped to 100. So maybe there was 2 - 3 stops difference?

[Mike Farley]

What a beautiful sunny afternoon has followed. Grrr!