Any Aussies going to watch the eclipse?

Any other Australians going to watch the 4th December eclipse? Totality passes through SA, but we will still get an 80% eclipse here in Melbourne.
-Oli

First I’ve heard about it, mate. Sydney will no doubt miss out, as usual.

Nah, Sydney should get a 70-80% eclipse. Unless you are looking for it, however, you might not notice.
-Oli

Aah, so we’re talking lunar then. Yeah, I’ll be looking for it. I like all that kinda stuff,

Nope, its solar, but until you get above an 80% eclipse, you probably won’t notice much of a drop in brightness.
-Oli

Whew. For one horrible moment I thought you were suggesting we go Ceduna. Yep, I’m being ware. Up in sky, near sunset 4/12, don’t look directly at it, portent of doom etc.

Disappointment loves company. We had an annular eclipse, in '91, and everyone went down to the Palisades in Santa Monica to try to watch it. But it was totally overcast.

But I have seen a couple of good partials. Very, very strange effect if you get more than say 60% obscuration. When you look outside it seems like dusk until you notice that the shadows are sharp and not the right size.

Heres hoping for clear skies on the 4th December. If anyone wants some eclipse shades, they are free with this months Astronomy magazine.
-Oli

A heap of the people from SSSF are heading to Ceduna for the eclipse.

Sydney seems to have a habit of turning on inclement weather at short notice when there’s a significant astronomical (hehehe - I finally got to use that word properly) event happening - I was so pissed off about missing the aurora because the sky went cloudy about 15 minutes before they were due to be seen and stayed that way for hours.

You got an aurora in Sydney?? Wow. That’s very unusual at such a high latitude.
-Oli

That’s why everyone was so pissed off that after perfectly clear skies, clouds rolled in just before the event starman. It was one of those “you aren’t going to have another opportunity to see this for X years” happenings. :frowning:

I know the feeling. I was extremely peeved last year when we were predicted to get a Leonid storm. Got up at four in the morning, and all I saw were clouds.
-Oli

I’m sure the SSSF crew in Melbourne will have organised something for the eclipse - you might want to check out the forum and see what’s happening.

Dr Karl’s Self-Service Science Forum.

IIRC, the Sydney eclipse is going to be at its best about, well, a quarter of an hour after sunset.

Given the southerlies that have been coming up in the afternoons recently (accompanied by cloud), I wouldn’t expect to see much, but I’ll be keeping an eye out in the evening.

Only one eye, of course - I’ll need the other one to see things with for the rest of my life.

Huzzah! For once I am ACTUALLY glad that I live in S.A.

:smiley:

I seriously doubt that we’re even going to get half a chance to see the eclipse here. It’s “bushfire central” right now, with smoke extending as far ass the eye can see and then some.

I just want rain - lots of.

Will we see it in Brisbane? If we will I’ll look out for it.