[CMAS] Success in Caribou Maine!

Wed Apr 2 11:04:15 EDT 2025

Colin whenever I get straightened oround over here with everything brass
scope, chicken coop, spring clean up, surgery if I get one. I would like to
help with the new 16" portable dob that mirror looks awesome I think like
the Brower 16" great job

On Sun, Mar 30, 2025, 8:26 AM Colin Caissie <cscmachinedesign at gmail.com>
wrote:

> It'a big clockwork.  Solar-lunar eclipse pairs are the law.  14 days
> after/prior.
> My mind is back in Mexico 2024...climbing volcanoes, lying in a Durango
> orchard during totality.
>
> c
>
>
> On Sat, Mar 29, 2025 at 11:51 PM Joshua Zukerman <hawk82 at gmail.com> wrote:
>
>> Well done. I wondered if anyone from the club or associated clubs drove
>> up to Caribou to check it out. How fun to think almost a year after the
>> total eclipse that the partial came. And the Lunar eclipse (which we were
>> clouded out for) a couple weeks ago.
>>
>> On Sat, Mar 29, 2025, 11:29 PM Dwight M. Lanpher CMAS <
>> groupcmas at lanpherassociates.com> wrote:
>>
>>> Hello All,
>>>
>>> Northern Maine came through again with this year’s partial solar
>>> eclipse. A special feature of this year’s partial was the “Devils Horns”.
>>> At the eastern U.S. border, the coincidental timing of sunrise, results
>>> with moon midway crossing the sun forming a crescent at the bottom of the
>>> sun. At the moment that the sun rises above the horizon, the two points of
>>> the crescent peak above the horizon forming the “Devil’s Horns”. That was
>>> something that I wanted to see.
>>>
>>>
>>> I was planning to observe the eclipse from the eastern shore of Mt.
>>> Desert Island on a section of the Park Loop Road called Ocean Drive. That
>>> should have provided a perfect eastern horizon. Unfortunately, like almost
>>> all other areas in New England, clouds were going to obscure the eclipse.
>>> However, Caribou in far Northern Maine was predicted to have clear skies
>>> (see attached) and 85% obscuration of the sun. After a little research
>>> online with Google Maps and Street View, I found a location on a farm in
>>> Limestone with an open horizon to the east. So Terri-Ann Anderson and I
>>> made a last minute decision and drove the 200+ miles to Caribou last night.
>>>
>>> We got up at 5 AM and proceeded out to 12 Sawyer Road
>>> <https://www.google.com/maps/search/12+Sawyer+Road?entry=gmail&source=g>
>>> in Limestone, ME. We arrived at 5:45 and it was 15°F with a light breeze of
>>> 5 to 10 MPH.  Shortly after our arrival, a farmer drove in and Terri-Ann
>>> explained that we were there to observe the eclipse, to which he gave
>>> permission to continue our strange mission in the dark and cold.
>>>
>>> Based solely on a predicted corrected compass bearing and a correlation
>>> with general lightening of the horizon we picked two spots separated by a
>>> couple hundred feet. While there was a grove of trees slightly to the
>>> northeast, I was thinking that at least one of us should get a good view.
>>>
>>> Terri-Ann was operating her Vaonis Hestia which adds 25X magnification
>>> to an iPhone 12. She had successfully used it to get a number of excellent
>>> photos at last year’s Total Solar Eclipse 50 miles further south in
>>> Houlton, ME (see attached.)  Evening on April 6, 2024, that day was a
>>>  balmy 55°. During her initial setup in Limestone, her phone malfunctioned
>>> due to the cold and she had to return to the car to thaw it out… the iPhone
>>> had balked at the 15°F temperature.  I had brought my Stellina that had
>>> served me well at last year’s Total Solar Eclipse in Houlton.  I had also
>>> brought a couple of chemical Hand Warmer packs that I used to keep my
>>> iPhone from freezing.
>>>
>>>
>>> The problem was this: we only had a compass reading to determine the
>>> location where the sun would rise. I aimed my Stellina at that location as
>>> best I could and waited for the sun to start to clear the horizon.
>>> Predicted Sunrise was between 6:15 and 6:17 from a couple different
>>> sources. The first rays of the sun appeared at 6:21. It appeared that the
>>> open potato field (see attached) that we were looking across had a slight
>>> upward slope that raised the horizon and had delayed the arrival of
>>> sunrise. Clearly, this was late in the eclipse and the moon had mostly
>>> crossed the sun at that time, effectively tilting the crescent so that only
>>> one horn was above the horizon. With the intensity of the sun being limited
>>> to only a few arc minutes squared of area, this seemingly increased the
>>> glare of the sun. I was impressed with the apparent brilliance of the tiny
>>> exposed beam.
>>>
>>> Of course, my pre-aiming of Stellina was off  and I quickly tried to
>>> realign the scope’s azimuth and then used *Singularity’s* solar
>>> initialization routine to attempt tracking of the sun. Stellina failed to
>>> acquire the sun. It was likely my fault, either by not accurately leveling
>>> the scope; but most likely incorrectly adjusting the azimuth alignment. The
>>> normal method is to align the scope with the sun by letting the two slits
>>> in the main body of the instrument between the yoke and OTA cast a shadow
>>> on the ground with the two slits of light showing. Since this was dawn, the
>>> shadow was directed horizontally and not on the ground.  I should have
>>> brough a piece of white cardboard to hold up behind Stellina. Just trying
>>> to position the scope visually was not close enough. To be honest, with
>>> everything happening exactly at dawn, I didn’t really give this much chance
>>> of being a success; but, I figured there was a 0% chance of success if I
>>> didn’t at least try.
>>>
>>> Meanwhile, Terri-Ann got her iPhone thawed out and was giving Hestia
>>> another go. Since Hestia is designed to be manually tracked, it was a much
>>> better choice for this eclipse. She was able to save the day with some
>>> pictures after her phone was thawed, a little after sunrise (see attached).
>>> You’ll please excuse the focus, under the best of conditions, getting
>>> Hestia focused is a challenge. At 15°F and with a slight wind of 5 to 10
>>> MPH I’m amazed that she able to adjust it at all.
>>>
>>> The skies were perfectly clear this morning. So we did get to view the
>>> eclipse visually with eclipse glasses and got a few pictures, so I’m going
>>> to call the trip a success.
>>>
>>> ---Dwight
>>>
>>>
>>> -- Celebrating the starlit skies of Maine & New England --
>>>
>>> Dwight M. Lanpher, *Club Liaison*
>>> P.O. Box 472, 1 Summit Road
>>> <https://www.google.com/maps/search/1+Summit+Road+Northeast+Harbor,+ME+04662?entry=gmail&source=g>
>>> Northeast Harbor, ME 04662
>>> <https://www.google.com/maps/search/1+Summit+Road+Northeast+Harbor,+ME+04662?entry=gmail&source=g>
>>>
>>> Member:  Dark Sky Maine
>>> DarkSky International (formerly: International Dark Sky Association)
>>> Illuminating Engineering Society, Member Emeritus
>>> Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers, Life Member
>>> Member:  AAS, ASNNE, ATMoB, BSIA, CMAS, DEAA, GAAC, NHAS, NSAAC, PVSG,
>>> SMA, TVS
>>>
>>> "Good friends are like stars. Although you may not see them you know
>>> they're always there." -Christy Evans
>>> _______________________________________________
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>>> CMAS at maineastro.com
>>> http://maineastro.com/mailman/listinfo/cmas_maineastro.com
>>>
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