The Sun Through Sahara Sand

[JohnSadlerAstro]

Hi,

I got this picture a few minutes ago as an outer arm of Hurricane Ophelia went overhead, the Sun went really red which I believe is caused by dust and sand in the atmosphere. No sunspots were visible, but I'm assuming that the sand would blur them too much anyway. The sun was dim enough to look at quite comfortably for over an hour.

Clear sky is following, but I doubt that the wind will drop enough to be able to do anything tonight with the setup.

John

[astro mick]

Yes.

Just seen the Sun now in East Yorkshire,not often this colour so high up.

Mick.

 

[barkis]

Great shot there. through  real mucky atmosphere, and the Sun
now Looks like Mars during a close conjunction .
Even the passing clouds give a Martian detail look.
Next close one will be July 31 2018 though.  

[JohnSadlerAstro]

Overall the sky and cloud gave the South West quite a Martian feel! Fortunately it didn't rain or we would be forever cleaning Western Saharan sand off the windows!

John

[greealilee]

Just taken this picture on my phone up here in Sheffield, end of the world my neighbour thinks. I didn't have the heart to tell him the truth.

[Shibby]

Seems to be the same sky across the country - huge volumes of dust and sand. Take a look at your car and you'll notice it's covered in a fresh layer of dusty sand. Not sure if it's a coincidence but I've also been sneezing a lot today!

[greealilee]

My car is always covered in a thick layer of dust, I work in a quarry! When is this all due to blow over or rain to wash it away, i'll book the window cleaner in.

[Macavity]

All very TITAN like! Noted on BBC TV weather of the
contribution from the Forest Fires in Portugal as well.

[JohnSadlerAstro]

Now that the arm has passed over, the sun seems impossibly dazzling, so my guess is that there is still dust/a bit of haze up there.

[greealilee]

It's things like these that really make you think what the view would be like from different worlds.

[wxsatuser]

Here is sun at Worthing a few minutes a go.

[greealilee]

I would think of setting up and see what images I can get but the wind is very gusty here. What's everybody thinking of tonight's forecast.

[geordie85]

5 minutes ago, greealilee said:

I would think of setting up and see what images I can get but the wind is very gusty here. What's everybody thinking of tonight's forecast.

The forecast for me (south West) says clear all night so I'll be setting up. Mind you the past 2 nights have had a clear forecast but after sunset it's just clouded over 

[Gina]

Wind forecast for tonight is still quite high so I'm not sure about unlocking the observatory roof.

[greealilee]

Like wise past 2 nights were supposed to be clear and ended up with more cloud than a cloudy forecast. Think I will be setting up tonight, need to blow the cobwebs off.

[Chefgage]

The sky is getting wierder by the minute here in north lincolnshire. Everythings gone a deep yellow

[geordie85]

4 minutes ago, Chefgage said:

The sky is getting wierder by the minute here in north lincolnshire. Everythings gone a deep yellow

That's how it was here this morning. Very eerie especially with the deep red sun. Felt like I was on mars

[wxsatuser]

We have daylight back but a yellow sky.

[greealilee]

We now have blue sky and sunshine and still a fare bit of wind.

[Chris]

Very unusual, I also just had to take a pic:

[laser_jock99]

4 hours ago, Gina said:

Wind forecast for tonight is still quite high so I'm not sure about unlocking the observatory roof.

Keep it lashed down tonight!!

 

I do agree about the sky- very apocalyptic looking earlier today in Rugby.

[Paz]

The sky looks very clean and clear here, but is there still sand flying around in the atmosphere? I wouldn't like any of that blowing onto my scope!

[John]

3 hours ago, geordie85 said:

..... Felt like I was on mars

Thats how I felt at around 10:25 this morning:

 

[Starlight 1]

Think we got away light in the East  just a little bit of a red in the sky.

[mark117h]

We saw this too in Mansfield, My sister came running in going on one about how weird/strange the Sun was looking, so i got my Trusty DSLR out and went out to look, i was surprised by what i saw, i just thought she was being paranoid about it all but man was i wrong, still i got some decentish shots of the sun and its apparent to my sister "Weird Color" LOL.

It really was a sight to behold and witness, felt quite humbling to be honest,

Although we did have a strange event where all the birds near the Meridian about 200-300 of them all started swarming in a circle and chirping before landing and chilling out

This is them settling down

Mark