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Total Lunar Eclipse on 10 Dec 2011

The total Lunar eclipse on 10 Dec 2011 was an unusually phenomenon for observers in Bulgaria. In the moment of sunset the Moon rises on the horizon obscured by Earth’s shadow.

 
Fig. 1. Eclipse of the Moon on 10Dec 2011. CANON 1Ds MarkII, with 400 mm F/5.6 lenses, 1/8 sec. at 3200 ISO.
 

Sunspots observations 03-09 August 2011
Sunspot observations during the summer astronomical school, 3rd - 9th August 2011, NAO Rozhen. The animated picture presents the movement of the sunspots (active regions 1260, 1261 and 1263) across the solar disc for 6 days.

 

Partial Solar eclipse on 01 June 2011
Partial Solar eclipse on 01 June 2011
Sun rise: 02:52 UT
Sun set: 17:58 UT
First contact:                                 19:25 UT
Time of maximum eclipse:        21:16 UT
Last contact:                                 23:07 UT

Mercury: The Key to Terrestrial Planet Evolution
The spacecraft MESSENGER obtained first images of Mercury, the planet closest to the Sun.
More information.

Why was the site down

 A few days ago the site (the entire domain in fact)  went off. We are back now, a simple administrative issue caused a delay in the domain renewal.

Super Moon on March 19, 2011
Perhaps the most famous celestial body in the night sky is the Moon. The moon is our natural satellite of Earth and it plays an important role in the life of our planet. There would hardly have been conditions for the existence of complex forms of life on Earth if the moon had not existed.It is stabilizing the movement of Earth around its axis, which is due to well-known terrestrial seasons. If we were living without our Moon, the Earth would probably be reversed uncontrollably around its solar orbit. This will lead to spontaneous and rapid changes of climates and we would not exist today as a human civilization. Perhaps this is why Mars is not inhabited by humanoids - the moons of Mars cannot stabilize rotation of the planet around its axis.

Sunspot active region 1158
The last three days we are observing growth of a large active region (1158). Near to center of the visible solar disk and more than 10 times Earth’s diameter, this sunspot group is able to produce a "perfect" solar storm.
 
 

Partial solar eclipse on January 4, 2011 from NAO Rozhen

The partial solar eclipse on January 4, 2011 was observed through clouds and during snowfall. Unfortunately, it was not possible to shoot all phases of the eclipse. Below are presented images of the moments in which the cut solar disk was visible in the sky. The images show almost the  maximum phase of the eclipse for the territory of Bulgaria (National Observatory Rozhen).

10:05:38 local time (UT+2)

Partial solar eclipse on 4 January 2011

Partial solar eclipse on 4 January 2011 will be visible from Europe, North Africa and East Asia. Eclipse will be visible from the whole territory of Bulgaria with a maximum coverage of the solar disk of about 72%. Eclipse starts at 9:03 local time in Sofia, the maximum phase of the eclipse will occur at 10:27 hours and will end at 12:03 when the lunar disk will completely leave the sun.

This partial eclipse is the first solar eclipse of 2011. Is still three, but invisible to the territory of Bulgaria. More information about the next eclipses can be found in astronomical calendar on this web page.
Different phases of the eclipse are shown in the figure below.

 

Perseid meteor observations

During the annual peak of the Perseid meteor shower, a meteor observation took place at the National Astronomical Observatory Rozhen.
The image below shows the radiant of the meteor shower in the constellation of Perseus.
The image is combined from 21 individual subframes (each 2 minute exposed) taken on August 12th 2010 with Canon 40D digital camera and 10 mm lenses at f/4.0 .

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