December 10-11, 2011 ALP Total Lunar Eclipse Observation Session Report

December 10-11, 2011 Total Lunar Eclipse
by James Kevin Ty

Amid a rainy and cloudy weather condition last December 10th, members of the Astronomical League of the Philippines (ALP) stationed at Astrocamp Observatory Services in SM Mall of Asia San Miguel by the Bay in Pasay City as well as in other areas were blessed with light clouds only thus permitting most of them to document the total lunar eclipse successfully.

At Astrocamp, the main site of the ALP total lunar eclipse observation , ALPers which include ALP president James Kevin Ty, wife Charito and son Kendrick Cole KC Ty; ALP PRO Armando Lee, wife Mia and son Jason Lee; ALP Treasurer Andrew Ian Chan, girlfriend Iah Serna and sister Berenice Viola Chan; ALP Special event chairman Christopher Louie Lu , wife Karen and daughter Frances; directors Edgar Ang & Christopher Lee; John Ray Cabrera, Victor Espartero, Arnel Campos & wife Michelle; Ronald Sison, Mark Ian Singson , Joanne Escober, staffs of Astrocamp Observatory , Bernie Esporlas, etc.

ALP President James Kevin Ty brought along his portbale imaging setup in Canon EOS 500D DSLR on Canon EF100-400mm IS L lens mounted on Kenko Sky Memo-R tracker, ALP PRO Armando Lee with Canon EOS 1100 DSLR on Celestron C90 mounted on Atlas EQ-6 mount; ALP Treasurer Andrew Ian Chan with his Canon EOS 500D DSLR on Skywatcher 80ED refractor on Vixen GP mount; ALP special events chairman Christopher Louie Lu on Canon EOS 450D DSLR on Celestron Powerseeker 80 EQ on EQ-1 mount ; Arnel Campos with Canon EOS 550D DSLR on Celestron C50 Mak and Powerseeker 127 Newtonian reflector on EQ-1 mount ; Ronald Sison with Nikon D70 DSLR on Celestron C90 on EQ-1 mount ; Joanne Escober with Nikon D80 DSLR on Nikon 18-135mm lens ; Director Edgar And and John Ray Cabrera used WO 66SD refractor and Orion GoScope 80mm Tabletop Refractor provided by Astrocamp were used to let the public get a good telescopic view of the eclipse in progress :)

The sky in the early evening was cloudy and was only able to break out of the clouds at around 8:25pm midway on the penumbral phase and was visible almost in its entirely till the end of the penumbral egress at around 1:30am the next day :) The Moon at totality was slightly bright on the southern limb because the Moon passed through the southernmost umbral shadow. ALP president James Kevin Ty together with ALPer John Nassr in Baguio City were able to image the "turquoise fringe" often seen during total lunar eclipses and their images mentioned in spaceweather.com! Atmospheric scientist Richard Keen of the University of Colorado explains: "Light passing through the upper stratosphere penetrates the ozone layer, which absorbs red light and actually makes the passing light ray bluer. This can be seen as a soft blue fringe around the red core of Earth's shadow."

While ALP imagers were firing away their cameras on the eclipsed Moon, ALPers Edgar Ang and John Ray Cabrera as well as Christopher Louie also helped out and treated the public onlookers and guest the beauty of the eclipse through different scopes :) During totality phase, some stars on the constellation Taurus were easily visible near the Moon :)

As for the color of the eclipsed Moon during totality, it was not as dark as last June 16th total lunar eclipse which passed through almost centrally into the Earth's umbral shadow thus showing a very red eclipse. For this eclipse, the northern part of the Moon shows a coppery light reddish hue with bright limb showing whitish and bluish tint in the southern limb part of the Moon. Nevertheless, it was a sight to behold as members as well as the public onlookers had a great time were treated with a good view of the eclipse!

Members stayed till around 1:00am before they start to packed up and were glad that the sky cooperated with them and let them see the beauty of the total lunar eclipse that evening!

ALPer Edgar Ang manned one of the scopes for public viewing of the lunar eclipse.	Public onlookers got a chance to look at the eclipse free.
ALPer James Kevin Ty beside his Canon EOS 500D with Canon 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6 IS L lens on Kenko Sky Memo-R tracker.	ALPer Armando Lee strike a pose beside his Celestron C90 piggybacked on Celestron C11 SCT on Atlas EQ-6 mount.
ALPer Edgar Ang posed for a moment beside the Orion GoScope 80mm Tabletop Refractor.	ALPers Armando Lee, Edgar Ang and John Ray Cabrera posed beside the Orion GoScope 80mm Tabletop Refractor being used for public viewing of the eclipse.
Astrocamp also got some foreigner guests to view the eclipse :)	ALPers and Astrocamp staffs joined hands to facilitate the lunar eclipse observing session.
ALPer Ronald Sison posed beside his Celestron C90 on EQ-1 mount.	ALPers Chrsitpher Louie Lu and Mark Ina Singson posed beside Chris' Celestron Powerseeker 80 refractor on EQ-1 mount.
ALPer Joanne Escober enjoys observing and imaging the total lunar eclipse through her Nikon D80 on Nikon 18-135mm lens.	ALPer Andrew Ian Chan strike a GQ pose beside his Skywatcher 80ED refractor on Vixen GP mount.
ALPer John Ray Cabrera entertain questions on the lunar eclipse from a group of Indian guests.	ALPers James Kevin Ty and Charito Ty and son Kendrick Cole KC Ty posed together beside James' portable imaging setup.
ALPer Christopher Louie Lu aims high almost to the zenith as totality is in progress ! Stiff neck for sure! :) LOL	ALPers Edgar Ang and Armando Lee are discussing on the eclipse inside the Astrocamp dome.
ALPer Arnel Campos and wife Michelle posed between their 2 astro babies :)	ALPers Andrew Ian Chan, Iah Serna and Berenice Viola Chan posed beside Andrew's imaging setup.
After pass totality, ALPer Christopher Louie Lu helps out ALPers Edgar Ang and John Ray Cabrera by using his scope to let other guests view the Moon.	Who is more handsome of the 3? ALPer Chris, Arnel or Powerseeker 127? :) LOL You know the answer :) LOL