2015 Solar Eclipse @ Heaton Park, Manchester

March 20, 2015 // by ecuador

Well, that’s it for Europe until 2026. We had a nice gathering with a lot of people of all ages at Heaton Park, Manchester today, however the weather was not favorable. We did lose the sun completely near the maximum (and I don’t mean the moon covered it – it was due to thick clouds) and people were trying to figure out why the solar shades were not working (the clouds were already filtering the sun, hence they were not needed), but otherwise it was good, everybody seemed to have a good time.

A few shots with the Canon 550D through the Skywatcher 80ED (Baader astrosolar ND 5.0), with the sun behind the clouds:

IMG_3945b IMG_3947b

IMG_3949b IMG_3964b

The setup for the day was supposed to be both my 80ED and 127 Mak on the ZEQ25 mount with their Baader astrosolar filters, the Mak for visual and the 80ED with the Canon 550D for photos. Also I had planned for my 450D FS mod to shoot every three minutes in infrared with the 18-55mm lens on a tripod hoping to combine the series of shots in one showing the full progress of the eclipse. These were the plans, but due to the extensive clouds the Mak was pretty useless, and there was no point in shooting every 3 minutes with the intervalometer, so in the end only the 80ED was used – half the eclipse taking photos, and half looking through it (mostly for the people around me).

Heaton Park. Waiting for the sun to come out again. Don't worry about the lack of solar shades, they were available - we were safe, just useless.

Heaton Park. Waiting for the sun to come out again. Don’t worry about the lack of solar shades, they were available and we were safe, they were just useless that day.

80ED and 127 Mak on the ZEQ25.

80ED and 127 Mak on the ZEQ25.


Here are some shots with the 450D Full-spectrum camera limited to the infrared with an IR59 filter on a 18-55 lens.

Canon 450D FS mod, 18mm, infrared with IR59 filter

Canon 450D FS mod, 18mm, infrared with IR59 filter

Canon 450D FS mod, 18mm, infrared with IR59 filter

Canon 450D FS mod, 18mm, infrared with IR59 filter

Canon 450D FS mod, 55mm, infrared with IR59 filter

Canon 450D FS mod, 55mm, infrared with IR59 filter

Canon 450D FS mod, 18mm, infrared with IR59 filter. Removed blue, added edge glow.

Canon 450D FS mod, 18mm, infrared with IR59 filter. Removed blue, added edge glow.

Media photographers, looking the wrong way (away from the eclipse). Canon 450D FS mod, 18mm, infrared with IR59 filter.

My solar panels in Greece also “saw” the eclipse (just 30% partial, “ate-away” a bit of the usual daily curve):

solar

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2 thoughts on “2015 Solar Eclipse @ Heaton Park, Manchester

  1. rick says:

    Nice eclipse pics from Heaton Park! I like how the solar panel’s output decreased whilst the eclipse took place!

  2. A N D Y says:

    Thanks for the eclipse photos! My friends at megworld IRC channel are going to appreciate them

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