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2015 Eclipse

bish

By bish
in The Astro Lounge

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Steve Ward

Steve Ward

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Looked into it but it's a real drag to get there , you have to fly UK to Copenhagen then Copenhagen to the Faroes , makes for an expensive trip on the off-chance ...  :p

I'm planning a couple of week long road-trip taking in Snowdonia , Cumbria and a leisurely drive up the West Coast of Scotland to the Isle of Lewis , it's as close to the Path of Totality as you can get in the UK , discounting Soay which looks a bit remote ...  :smiley:

And should it be clouded out , as is probable in Scotland in March , at least I've had a decent run through some stunning scenery ...  :laugh:

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bish

bish

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Should be a nice trip to Scotland. I was clouded out in 1999 (although didn't go down to Cornwall), saw the partial (about 15%) in 2008. Would like to be at the Faroe Islands but a bit out of my price range.

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lukebl

lukebl

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The Faroes? North Atlantic? Cloudiest part of the world? In March?

No way! Potentially a huge waste of money. Wait until the US one and you'll have a vast choice of sunny places to view it from.

Probably good for the Faroese economy, though, and I wish them well.

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Ptarmigan

Ptarmigan

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I was clouded out in 1999 (although didn't go down to Cornwall),

I got lucky with the clouds, I watched it from near Bristol with a giant (15m) pinhole camera (aka my house !)

As a result of that I discovered that it is possible to see even quite small * sunspots with this method.

* by that I mean not just large or ne spots.

Quite interesting.

I'll be doing that again with the Faroe one if I get the chance,

since it isnt a sundrenched tropical island ;)

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Ptarmigan

Ptarmigan

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OK, having a dim moment - there I was trying to work out how the **** a pinhole camera with a 15m aperture would work!!!

Ah yes, I see your problem !

My fault for not being clear !!

15m  length (sort of focal length if you like) from the garden outside into a long darkened corridor to a screen at the other end.

All  windows curtained and doors closed, except for a small gap by the front door to improve the contrast.

If I remember kerrekt about 1/4 or 3/8 inch aperture.

Next I hear you asking how the ***** did I rotate the house !

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brucen

brucen

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We will be on a cruise which will be positioned off the coast of the Faroe Islands and very much hope the skies will be clear or else it will have been an expensive way to look at clouds! Having said that we are then going on to Iceland so at least the northern lights may put in an appearance.....

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jamespels

jamespels

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Ptarmigan: at least I did work out what you meant after reading it a few times, but thanks for the explanation. Rotating the house is easy - like wot Archimedes said, you just need a long enough lever and a fulcrum!

Brucen: seriously envious of that trip - it sounds like a blinder. We went to Iceland for our honeymoon 11 years ago - no Northern Lights, sadly, but a truly staggering place to visit. Hope you get lucky with the eclipse but you will have a great time no matter what.

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Ptarmigan

Ptarmigan

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Ptarmigan: at least I did work out what you meant after reading it a few times, but thanks for the explanation. Rotating the house is easy - like wot Archimedes said, you just need a long enough lever and a fulcrum!

Good :) sorry about that, wot comes of me trying to read/reply sgl at the same time as cooking a curry !

Heheee I like the Archimedes  bit

so you have probably worked out that I had a mirror directing the sunlight through my pinhole.

It was actually my daughter's gimballed make-up mirror !

Quite a surprise, moving the pinhole about to select a 'good' area,

used it to watch the transit of venus a few years later.

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Joe_L

Joe_L

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The Faroes? North Atlantic? Cloudiest part of the world? In March?

No way! Potentially a huge waste of money. Wait until the US one and you'll have a vast choice of sunny places to view it from.

Probably good for the Faroese economy, though, and I wish them well.

A couple of years ago we were camping in northern Scotland in glorious sunny and warm weather - last week of March.

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Joe_L

Joe_L

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A couple of years ago we were camping in northern Scotland in glorious sunny and warm weather - last week of March.

Although admittedly the year before that we were unable to go skiiing at Cairngorm as there was too much snow to even get our of holiday cottage for several days!!!

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kev

kev

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Ah yes, I see your problem !

My fault for not being clear !!

15m  length (sort of focal length if you like) from the garden outside into a long darkened corridor to a screen at the other end.

All  windows curtained and doors closed, except for a small gap by the front door to improve the contrast.

If I remember kerrekt about 1/4 or 3/8 inch aperture.

Next I hear you asking how the ***** did I rotate the house !

Ah,  I did something similar as a bit of fun. I used a normal mirror covered with paper with an about 8mm hole in the paper as a reflective pinhole camera. I then adjusted the angle so it projected through the back door alng the passage onto a white wall. 8-)

Simple, fairly low res, but useful to keep an eye on how things were progressing whilst having a cuppa in the house!

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Ptarmigan

Ptarmigan

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Never mind the Cairngorms, there was an Easter I was trying to get home to Carlisle ( in the days of yore when there was no M6 just a Preston and Lancaster bypass )

the A6 Shap, Kirkstone Pass and Dunmail Raise were all closed by snow and the west  coast road closed by jacknifed lorries. The police wouldnt let us pass and we had to stay the night in the north of England's only (newly built) service station. It wasnt till mid-morning that snow plows cleared a path into Cumberland.

So that was one and a half days to get there from Plymouth !

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Ptarmigan

Ptarmigan

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Ah,  I did something similar as a bit of fun. I used a normal mirror covered with paper with an about 8mm hole in the paper as a reflective pinhole camera.

Yes, good fun.

I had been reading about eclipse shapes being cast by tree leaf shadows/holes on the ground, so mine started as a simulated tree leaf pattern !

Then I made the hole smaller and smaller 'just to see what '

I got the best results when the card with the hole was after between the mirror and the screen, parallel to the screen.

Couldnt get it to work very good if the mirror was after the hole iyswim

Couldnt quite believe it when I saw smallish sunspots and had to compare my sketchings with what Big Bear was showing !

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bish

bish

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We will be on a cruise which will be positioned off the coast of the Faroe Islands and very much hope the skies will be clear or else it will have been an expensive way to look at clouds! Having said that we are then going on to Iceland so at least the northern lights may put in an appearance.....

Fingers crossed it stays clear. I went to Iceland a few years ago and really liked the country. Bonus if you see the Northern lights too.
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PorkyB

PorkyB

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I am thinking of going to Shetland.  Even if the weather is no good for the eclipse and for astronomy in general, Shetland is a great place to visit at any time of year.

Alternatively, what are the dates for SGL10?  It would be good if it coincided with the eclipse.

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