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Volcanic ash cloud over UK


George

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evening all,

well the sky cleared out over the last hour or so for a pretty clear sunset, infact the sky is about 90%ish clear, not seeing anything interesting whatsoever....not that I was expecting to given ppm rating of this stuff and the altitude in the air.

be good if it was like a neon band across the sky, that would make for some interesting pictures, wait a minute we already have that and its called the Aurora....hmm, Iceland needs to up its party tricks.

Feel sorry for the people over there, must be pretty bad living with not much light and dust everywhere, especially if you have respiratory problems.

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There was an Alaskan eruption in 2008 that created some absolutely stunning sunrises and sunsets all the way down here in Wisconsin for a few months. It wasn't thick with ash though, just particles that glowed a lovely tangerine color in the 30 degree airmass close to the horizon.

I took this lake pic at sunset during the summer, about 6 weeks (iirc) after the eruption. Everyone there was commenting how beautiful the color was.

It was a bit of a surprise to see the ash particles were still floating around on 20 September when i took the sunrise pic of the sky over the horses across the road after an all night observing session.

post-13732-133877440439_thumb.jpg

post-13732-133877440446_thumb.jpg

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Sun has set here but nothing major to report. Perhaps a slight hint of pinkish colour more then normal but i think that was more to do with normal pollution as opposed to any volcanic ash.

Volcanic sunsets kind of stand out like a sore thumb and you know when you see one. This evening i am pretty sure i didnt.

Maybe tomorrow evening will be better.

I feel terrible wanting to see a volcanic sunset when so many people across Europe have had their travel plans dashed.

At least the ash is not at lower levels and causing medical problems for people.

Billy your second image is pretty much how sunset appeared here. Pretty standard by my measures.

Nice images though.

Its gonna be a spectacular night for observing all the same. Bit of a chill in the air right now (always is for an hour or two after sunset) but the temp will go up a degree or two as the night goes on. Gonna put my scope out in a couple of hours to cool down for a bit and then have a looksy.

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I saw an amazing sunset this evening in North Hampshire, unfortunately i didnt have my camera, just a mobile phone cam which doesnt do it justice. It wasnt melting into the surrounding sky, it was just a brilliant crisp, crimson red disc. Its been an exciting day being both an astronomer and a geologist, and not being a big air traveler (as much as i love planes) i hope it keeps pumping out that ash! Its crystal clear skies hear at the mo, i think the ash is spread so thinly here it wont affect seeing that much.... hopefully.

At Winchester station this evening there was a great announcement over the intercome "Please be aware that all air travel in the UK has been suspended due to a volcanic ash cloud drifting over from Iceland. We are sorry for any inconvenience this may cause" then in almost the same breath "Passengers for Heathrow Airport, change at woking"

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There's an interesting animation from ESA showing the progress of the plume here:- ESA Portal - Animation of the ash plume from Icelandic eruption

The animation is great -the cloud looks like it's heading in a straight line to start with...going to miss us... and then... "OOOH GREAT BRITAIN!" and turns 90 degrees towards us D:

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The animation is great -the cloud looks like it's heading in a straight line to start with...going to miss us... and then... "OOOH GREAT BRITAIN!" and turns 90 degrees towards us D:

Yes it does rather look as though it deliberately decides to change direction and cover us, doesn't it! :D Can't say I've noticed anything down here in Bucks yet - no doubt it has still to make its way here.

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Took some photos this evening, not went through them all yet, too tired, but here's one picked from the bunch.

fishman.jpg

On another note, the skies were nice and clear tonight, probably the clearest I've seen it this week, very nice trying out my new 4mm EP on Saturn and Mars. Very impressed at 300x.

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I was out observing last night.

It was the darkest, clearest sky I have known. (light pollution still a factor on the horizon)

For the first time M81 was visible with the naked eye (I am not kidding) and I picked up many faint galaxies in Virgo.

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I was out observing last night.

It was the darkest, clearest sky I have known. (light pollution still a factor on the horizon)

For the first time M81 was visible with the naked eye (I am not kidding) and I picked up many faint galaxies in Virgo.

M81 naked eye, that's certainly an improvement!:D

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I heard on the news tonight that this cloud of ash is going nowhere fast and it will be next friday before it may even start to shift. Infact before then the winds will be coming from the north to make matters worse then they already are.

Does this mean that all European flights will be cancelled until next friday at the earliest?

It really is CRAZY........................the whole European airspace has been closed down because of it.

Why cant jets fly at say 20,000ft.................which is under the 30-35,000 level that the ash cloud is at?

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Why cant jets fly at say 20,000ft.................which is under the 30-35,000 level that the ash cloud is at?
One of the many TV gurus referred to the problem of fuel consumption. Basically they ain't given to cruise economically at low altitude. I suppose too, it's also bound up with safety of the (immutable?) 3D "spaghetti junction" that criss-crosses our skies... :)

Looks like my nifty bit of 'scope hardware is destined to remain in Germany? Good job it's virtually indestructable... :D

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