July 28, 2018 Total Lunar Eclipse

On the early morning of July 28, 2018 , a total lunar eclipse will be visible in the Philippines as well as Asia , Australia, Europe and Africa. This will be the second total lunar eclipse of 2018 and has a long duration of totality of about 1 hour 43 minutes as the Moon will pass thru the Earth's shadow almost centrally. This eclipse will be dark red during totality and will be popularly called the Blood Moon :) The Moon will enter penumbra at around 01:15am . The umbral (partial) phases run from 02:24am to 06:19 am, nearly 4 full hours, which results from two factors. First, the Moon passes directly through the heart of Earth's umbral shadow, just 6 arc minutes from its center. Second, the Moon is near the apogee of its orbit, meaning its most distant from Earth, resulting in a slightly diminished orbital velocity. Totality lasts almost 1 hour 43 minutes , from 03:30am to 05:13 am. Unfortunately, we won't be able to observe the entire eclipse in its entirely as the Moon sets at around 05:44am, almost 35 minutes before the Moon exits the dark shadow :( All times in this article are in Philippine Standard Time (PST) or +8 GMT or UT. ALP will be having a free public stargazing session on the evening of July 27th to observe the closest approach of Mars (Opposition) as well as observe the planets Jupiter and Saturn at SM By The Bay Amusement Park , The event will continue till the morning of July 28th to observe and document the total lunar eclipse till Moonset.

Jupiter and Saturn Imaging Session - July 4 / 5, 2018

The sky this evening is partly cloudy and hazy. Seeing condition is also very poor. I used a Meade 8" f/10 SCT with ZWO ASI120MM webcam with Baader RGB filters and Televue 2.5x Powermate as imaging gear for the session. I started out with Jupiter as my first target and it was very hard to focus as it was like a jelly bean so it took me a while to be able to do slightly better focusing a bit after the telescope had cooled don for more than 1.5 hours. Nevertheless despite playing hide and seek with the clouds, I was able to get small window for me to get a set of RGB image and with the clouds keeping me at bay most of the night, I just get a little bit more of patience to wait for Saturn to clear the building for me to do also a single set of RGB image as well. Despite the poor condition that I was experiencing, I'm still glad to still have some time viewing Jupiter and Saturn as well as image them both at the same night. Hopefully , will have better seeing condition in future imaging session.

Solar Imaging Session - June 29, 2018

Had a very busy day and I arrived home very late in the afternoon but nevertheless, I proceeded to image the Sun. Yesterday's large hedgerow prominence in the SE limb is still there but had started to collapse a bit. There is also a faint eruptive prominence just above the SE hedgerow prominence which is hard to image as low in contrast. Aside from this 2 prominences, the large filament is still visible and now is nearing the western limb as well. No sunspot groups are visible.

Lunar Imaging Session - June 28, 2018

The Full Moon or the Strawberry Moon this evening is beautiful and I can't resist not imaging it with my Canon EOS M6 mirrorless camera with Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6 IS L lens set at 400mm f/11 at 1/800sec at ISO 200 on sturdy tripod.

Solar Imaging Session - June 28, 2018

The sky this afternoon is clear and seeing condition is very good. Departing AR2715 Sunspot Group is very silent as it nears the western limb. There is a long Filament visible faintly following AR2715 Sunspot Group vicinity. There are 2 beautiful large prominences visible in the NE and SE limb . I was also able to image boring AR2715 Sunspot Group in white light as well.

Solar Imaging Session - June 23, 2018

The sky this afternoon is hazy and seeing condition is poor. AR2715 Sunspot Group is very active and has a lots of flaring activity inside its core. Departing AR2713 Sunspot Group is a bit quiet as it nears the western limb. I wasn't able to image in white light as clouds started to cover up the Sun. :( Better luck again tomorrow.

Solar Imaging Session - June 3, 2018

The sky this afternoon is clear and seeing condition is good. AR2712 Sunspot Group is nearing the NW limb but still producing some nice flaring activity inside its core. There is also a large hedgerow prominence visible int he SE limb. A huge, long plage is also developing in the NE quadrant that might develop into an active region in the days to come.