Last Friday I'd gone to the Royal Observatory to catch the Partial Solar Eclipse. It was truly an out of the world experience!
Left home at around 8am....takes about an hour to the Royal Observatory from home. They opened early that morning to let the public observe the eclipse.
The Royal Observatory from Greenwich ParkThe atmosphere was fully charged. With children chanting a countdown in the moments before the eclipse started & screaming out that they were the first to spot the beginning of the eclipse!
The coverage was partial (12% by area) over London. Nevertheless, I was quite excited...to see the Moon orbiting the Earth orbiting the Sun! It was beautiful to see the Moon just glide across the face of the Sun.
The photo was taken using a Coronado telescope. The Coronado telescope has a 'hydrogen-alpha' filter - it lets through the red colour light emitted by the hydrogen gas on the Sun. The Observatory staff was really helpful and enthusiastic. Did remember Professor Yashpal & his coverage of the eclipse on Doordarshan !
It was a little difficult to get the shot of the eclipse for several reasons - there were many people wanting to observe through the telescope hence we got little time to take photos. So it was important that my eyes got the exact angle to catch the eclipse through the telescope & my hands didn't shake with excitement (& ya I do suck at photography!)
and importantly.... no lazy cloud drifted by at that exact moment!I suppose you can tell how thrilled I was about it
!PS - For MSB - Geographer & my eternal guiding star
View from the observatory
The London Eye, Queen's house, wings of National Maritime Museum, the towers of Citigroup, HSBC and others
The London Eye, Queen's house, wings of National Maritime Museum, the towers of Citigroup, HSBC and others
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