Wind & Sky: July 2019

Thursday, July 4, 2019

Ten Years On...

It occurred to me while working on the previous post that this year marks a decade since I started this blog. I created it in January 2009 to help celebrate the International Year of Astronomy.

I've not been consistent in adding new content but as I look back over posts from the past ten years, I'm pretty jazzed... there have been a lot of cool things happen. Hopefully, a few people have gotten something out of the time and energy I've poured into this thing.

Here's to the next ten!

Total Solar Eclipse Revisted

Almost two years ago, I experienced my first total solar eclipse. My plans for capturing the eclipse were a bit of a bust but I was able to get to clear skies and witness totality with my own eyes which was, in a word, awesome!

One of several citizen-scientist experiments I planned to participate in was Eclipse Megamovie, a partnership between Google and Berkeley in which photographers along the path of totality would submit their photos to be stitched into a movie that would give scientists a view of changes in the solar atmosphere throughout the eclipse. Since I was not able to capture any suitable photos during totality, I didn't have anything to submit. Still, the movie was cool to see when it came out as was the promise of the scientific discoveries to which it might contribute.

This past week there have been two new solar eclipse-related events. At the end of June, the Eclipse Megamovie project released a new version of the movie. This one has the advantage of all images being synced using the star Regulus which was visible near the sun during the eclipse. They also used a false-color technique that brings out a lot of interesting detail. Check it out below.

Next, on July 2nd, there was a total solar eclipse that crossed Chile. One thing that was special about this eclipse is that the path of totality went right over the ESO La Silla Observatory on the edge of the Atacama desert. Early reports indicate observers had a very successful eclipse viewing. See video below.