CALWELL LUNAR OBSERVATORY
CALWELL LUNAR OBSERVATORY
You could participate in a world-wide observing program and contribute to an on-going study of the geometry of the Earth's atmosphere, by undertaking crater timings and/or video or photographic records during the total lunar eclipse if visible in your part of the globe.
Details are provided for the observation of the total lunar eclipse of 1997 September 16-17. This eclipse is visible in Western Europe, India, Asia and Australasia, in part in the Eastern areas and fully in the Western region of Australia. This visibility is shown below in Fred Espenak's diagram below. The shaded areas indicate that the eclipse will be
These times are given in Universal Time, just add your time zone if East of Greenwich to get local time, deduct your time zone if West. If you need further guidance look * here. There is also Time Zone world map following:
Here is a diagram showing the moon's four contacts with the earth's shadow or umbra:
To ensure that I can quickly collate and analyse your observations, please send all reports by AIRMAIL or e-mail and video tapes of the observation of the eclipse by AIRMAIL as soon as possible to:
Look here for details on where to observe this eclipse * Visibility of this eclipse
Look here for details on crater timings predictions for this eclipse * Crater Timing Predictions
1. Soulsby, B.W., 1990. Improved lunar eclipse ephemerides, J. Brit. astr. Ass., 100(6): 293-305.
2. Soulsby, B.W., 1995. Analysis of the partial lunar eclipse of 1995 April 15, Aust. J. Astr., 6(2): 143-148.
3. Espenak, F., 1989. Fifty Year Cannon of Lunar Eclipses: 1986-2035, NASA Reference Publication 1216, March 1989.
Image Analyst Revision 8.0software for the Macintosh has been used to determine the Best Fit circles to the captured image, here a good fit to the sign of first gradient of the umbral edge (large circle in the red box) and a exact fit to the lunar limb was found. The measurements taken allowed the change in shape of the umbra, and hence the height of the Earth's thermosphere to be determined for the complete eclipse see * Soulsby . The image above was one of a sequence taken by Dale Ireland at 04h 45m (UT). Many other images from the Universidade Federal de Pernambuco, in Brazil were also analysed to consolidate data for umbral change.
If you are able to produce video records of either 1997 eclipse, the author would be pleased to analyse these on receipt of the original video tapes if sent to his observatory address.
Stellar occultations are predicted for selected sites for both 1997 lunar eclipses. On request, occultation predictions can be forwarded by e-mail for grouped areas of the globe.
The occultation predictions are produced using Dave Herald's program Occult.exe Version 2.0
Occultation predictions are available in the link below. Data for your site should be provided * here.
Stellar occultations can be found in * Occultations for both 1997 Lunar Eclipses