Jim Loudon Observatory
Lunar Eclipse Observations
2000-01-21


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Richard E. & Dolores H. Hill
JIM LOUDON OBSERVATORY
10130 E. King Manor
Tucson, AZ 85730
Longitude:110.77554 deg. W or 110 deg. 46' 31.9"
Latitude:  32.18006 deg. N or  32 deg. 10' 48.2"
Height above sealevel: 2875 ft.

Equipment: ================================================================== As the moon rose it was obscured by stratus clouds giving us plenty of time to set up. We began observations shortly after 0200 (all times here will be UT). The penumbra was first visible by eye around 02:20. The first photos were taken before first contact. By 02:30 the moon was decidedly darker to the east. A particularly large mountain was noticed on the lunar limb close to Tycho. It was the largest protuberance visible on the limb. The sky was covered almost completely with hazy cirrus making crater timings and photometry impossible. But photography and video observations proceeded. The C11 was being used to look for impacts on the moon during totality while the Sharp camera was just recording the wider field scene to make a record of the eclipse. Video observations with the C11 began around the Aristarchus region using a wide band H-alpha filtration to try and reduce the blue scattered light from the haze. This began around 03:20. By this time the moon was getting a very 3-D look to it as the shadow crawled across it. Several bright 'flashes' were seen but as yet not scrutinized to where they can be reported. At mid-eclipse using reversed binoculars the Moon's light was compared to stars. It was seen as equal to or slightly fainter than Betelgeuse. It was slightly red but not strongly. A Danjon estimate of 1.5 was made. The sky was clearing making wide field photography possible. Photographs of the totally eclipsed moon and M44 were taken. Totally ended at 05:22, exactly on the predicted time. Because of the clearer sky, crater timings were begun at 05:36 and continued to the third contact (see below). Hazy clouds began forming to the west and moved into the whole sky by the end of totality and the humidity began to rise. Totality ended on the predicted time of 06:25. Wide field video continued for another half hour. Images of the eclipse and equipment used (along with an HTML version of this report) can be seen at: http://www.lpl.arizona.edu/~rhill/lunecl.html ================================================================== CRATER TIMINGS - all done with 6" f/8.3 RV-6 Newtonian CRATER UT ------------------------------------- Aristarchus 05:36:45 Kepler 05:36:55 Tycho 05:39:55 Copernicus 05:45:25 Birt 05:45:15 Pytheas 05:46:40 Timocharis 05:51:10 Plato 05:54:50 Manilius 06:00:20 Dionysius 06:03:25 Menelaus 06:03:35 Plinius 06:07:40 Censorinus 06:10:15 Goclenius 06:13:40 Proclus 06:17:15 Taruntius 06:17:35 Langrenus 06:18:50