Completely clear skies in Winchcombe today but
unspectacular sunrise and sunset.

On 16/04/2010 20:08, Alan Murphy wrote:
Completely clear skies in Winchcombe today but
unspectacular sunrise and sunset.


I was going to say that the sunsets at Guildford have been less
noteworthy than normal!

Phil

"Alan Murphy" wrote in message
...
| Completely clear skies in Winchcombe today but
| unspectacular sunrise and sunset.
|

Have just been observing the twilight from my location near the south coast
of England and which should be under a portion of the ash plume according to
the hazard map.

If anything, there is less colour than normal to the sky. Shortly after
sunset there was a yellow/orange tint over where the sun has set, but this
would be expected anyway. Opposite the sun there was again very little of
the usual pink tinge above the earth's shadow - the lighter blue of the
sunlit upper atmosphere faded directly to the dark blue of night. The thin
moon and Venus both appear purest silver through binoculars. Unfortunately
Mercury is now fainter than magnitude 1.5 so will be hidden by trees before
the sky is dark enough to reveal it, but I have seen it a few times in the
last fortnight.

Perhaps the reason for the lack of spectacle is that the ash cloud is too
low. If at the height reported, it is roughly at cirrus cloud level or
possibly just above. It seems that the eruption so far has been not
powerful enough to inject any great amount of ash into the stratosphere. At
least this means that, in spite of the current disruption to air traffic,
the cloud will have no lasting effect as it will soon fall / be rained out.

Should the volcano go again, or especially if Katla decides to join the
party, it could be a different story.


20:50 BST - A last look before hitting the "Send" key and there is Mercury,
just visible above the treeline with the aid of 12x50 binos. Pretty sure
this is the last time I will see it at this apparition. The "earthshine" on
the moon is glorious, both to the unaided eyes and binos. Through these the
detail of the "dark" side is clearly visble - maria, highlands and the
larger craters. Phase of the Moon is currently 5% - yesterday evening saw
the merest sliver low in the west below Venus at a phase of less than 2%.


P.S. Have just looked on "Heavens Above", and for anyone in central England
(roughly between me and Brighton and the strip to the north - the Iridiums
are polar orbiters) there should be *two* Iridium flares within 30 seconds
of each other to the NE at 22:30 BST tonight.
--
- Yokel -
Yokel @ Ashurst New Forest
SU 336 107 17m a.s.l.

"Yokel" posts via a spam-trap account which is not read.

"Yokel" wrote ...
Have just been observing the twilight from my location near the
south coast
of England and which should be under a portion of the ash plume
according to
the hazard map.
snip
Perhaps the reason for the lack of spectacle is that the ash cloud
is too
low. If at the height reported, it is roughly at cirrus cloud level
or
possibly just above. It seems that the eruption so far has been not
powerful enough to inject any great amount of ash into the
stratosphere. At
least this means that, in spite of the current disruption to air
traffic,
the cloud will have no lasting effect as it will soon fall / be
rained out.


.... this would be my assessment; what reports I've seen from Iceland
suggest that ejecta are reaching circa FL200 or thereabouts with
little if any penetrating into the stratosphe the Keflavik
tropopause last couple of days has been around the 9 to 9.5 km mark
(somewhere around FL310-FL320), so it's primarily (assuming the
reports are correct) a tropospheric problem and to quite low levels as
well if the various a/c and LCBR (see other post) reports are to be
believed.

Martin.


--
Martin Rowley
West Moors, East Dorset (UK): 17m (56ft) amsl
Lat: 50.82N Long: 01.88W
NGR: SU 082 023

On 16/04/2010 20:08, Alan Murphy wrote:
Completely clear skies in Winchcombe today but
unspectacular sunrise and sunset.



Also a report states that the ash will fall to the ground, but people
won't see it, as it's microscopic !

More government rubbish !

Jihadists are to blame for threatening to blow up an airliner.

"Joe Egginton" wrote in message
...
On 16/04/2010 20:08, Alan Murphy wrote:
Completely clear skies in Winchcombe today but
unspectacular sunrise and sunset.



Also a report states that the ash will fall to the ground, but people
won't see it, as it's microscopic !

Well, there seemed to be a thin layer of very fine, pale coloured dust over
everything here (NW Cumbria) this morning. I noticed cars which had been
recently washed, and were otherwise very clean looking, with this coating.
When I sprayed my own windscreen to clean the stuff off, it didn't behave
quite like normal dust, but sort of congealed and left a big white curved
streak on the glass. Later I ran my fingers through the stuff and sniffed
it. OK - might be my imagination running away, but it seemed to me to smell
sort of burnt.

ally