Solar eclipse below the horizon – the observation guideline

Solar eclipse below the horizon observation pattern

The 2024 total solar eclipse is coming. Anyone interested will be in North America. We cannot forget about the people, who live or will temporarily stay in Western Europe on the day when the event occurs. Therefore I decided to prepare the text, which presents the guideline for this specific kind of observation. The guideline … Read more

12P/Pons Brooks comet during 2024 total solar eclipse

12 Pons Brooks 2024 total solar eclipse

This text shows some guidelines for the brief moment of the total solar eclipse 2024 occurrence at twilight, which presumably will allow for a fantastic view of the 12P/Pons-Brooks comet being close to its perihelion point.           1. 12P/PONS – BROOKS COMET – GENERAL INFORMATION 12P/Pons-Brooks is a periodic, Halley-type comet, … Read more

Long distance observations – definition & types

Long Distance Observations definitions types

This article is about the general definition of the realm, which has been described occasionally on this website since 2017. Therefore I guess I should have done it much earlier, however better late than never. Anyhow today I would like to focus exactly on both the primary definition as well as the basic divisions of … Read more

Several important reasons why you should see the 2026 solar eclipse

Total solar eclipse 2026 and aurora

It’s still quite a lot of time to the 2026 total solar eclipse event, which has been already considered by me in terms of the possibility of seeing its impact on the atmosphere when the phenomenon happens below the horizon.  However, the character of this path of totality requires attention far earlier than normal, as … Read more

Total solar eclipse 2020 – remote chasing the umbra and a brief explanation how do the webcams work

Total solar eclipse below the horizon Namibia 2020

The total solar eclipse on December 14, 2020, was the last one in the 2nd decade and obviously the first “Twenty Years Solar Eclipse Path Tables”  of the XXI century. Most people call this eclipse the COVID eclipse, due to omnipresent travel restrictions, which kept a lot of eclipse chasers in their homes. They could … Read more

Solar eclipse below the horizon 2019 – the World’s first webcam observation

Pinamar total solar eclipse below the horizon 2019

My third remote observation of the solar eclipse was aimed at the fleeting lunar shadow when the Sun was already below the horizon. Previously I hadn’t had occasion to see a similar effect, as I watched the partial phases only. This observation was spectacular, because of the circumstances. I know only a few publications presenting … Read more

The aspect of light reflection in the long-distance observations

Northern Ireland seen from Helvellyn

This article presents the result of the longest distance observation in my life. Because it was an effect of the light phenomenon, not widely discussed by myself so far I decided to develop this topic, because of its influence on the far realing views during some specified conditions (tick haze trapped in low-level of the […]

The role of contrast in ability of human vision

Stevens brightness law

The contrast issue has been mentioned in this article, and either during the description of the role of horizontal visibility in long-distance observations. Because the information is not sufficient enough for my further studies I would like to point out more matters arising out of the contrast in a general sense. These elements are very … Read more

How bright the starlight is?

Albany, WA, Starlight

A vast majority of people around the World don’t realize something like starlight. Nowadays, when skies are highly polluted with light, most people cannot even see the Milky Way in the sky. It’s known history, that during a huge power cut in Los Angeles in 1994 people were calling authorities, asking them what is this … Read more

Top 10 intriguing things to see during solar eclipse

Solar eclipse 2017 96%

A solar eclipse is the most spectacular natural phenomenon, as we can see on Earth. It induces at least a dozen or so other events, which occurrence can be observed during this time. In this article, I would like to list 10 of the most intriguing and uncommon phenomena, which an observer is able to … Read more

How the lunar shadow looks like during the solar eclipse?

Lunar shadow seen from MIR TSE 1999

The area covered by umbra is the most spectacular of the whole solar eclipse phenomenon, therefore I would like to pay particular attention to this. Because I was watching the totality only once, I am going to use some supporting materials next to my own pictures. How the lunar shadow looks? We can consider it … Read more

Sky brightness changes during total solar eclipse

Sky brightness changes total solar eclipse

Recently I have shown the light level changes during the solar eclipse. The illumination level is strongly related to the sky brightness. Both of them change at the same time throughout the eclipse. In this article I would like to focus on these changes, having external data from Wolfgang Strickling. Because his observation venue was … Read more

Light level measurements during total solar eclipse

Total solar eclipse 2017 Wyoming

The illuminance level and sky brightness are very important elements of solar eclipse phenomena because both are clearly noticeable by the observer along with his eye adaptation. When the eclipse phase is deep and turning into totality, the light level changes drastically, much quicker than on any other occasion. It makes the solar eclipse one … Read more

Visual range changes during solar eclipses

Owl Creek Mountains extended visual range total solar eclipse

A solar eclipse is a magnificent natural phenomenon, during which the direct Sun is shadowed by the moon to darken the daytime sky (Vollmer, Shaw, 2018). In this article, I would like to draw your attention to another phenomenon, which I “discovered” accidentally during the Great American Eclipse – the visual range changes. 1. INTRODUCTION … Read more

Light scattering in the atmosphere during total solar eclipse

Lifght scattering in the atmosphere total solar eclipse

The light scattering issue in the Earth’s atmosphere has been described recently for typical daylight, evening, and twilight conditions. In this article, I would like to explain a light scattering phenomenon under total solar eclipse conditions, which was observed accidentally during the 2017 Great American Eclipse. Initially, the aim of my observation was a record … Read more

What is a light transition? What examples of it can we see?

Starburst effect light transition

Light is omnipresent in the Universe and the environment. This is electromagnetic radiation, that can be detected by the human eye. I have written more about the light and the ways of measurement in this article. Now I would like to describe a very common process, occurring both in the Universe and in Earth’s atmosphere, which … Read more

Light scattering in the Earth’s atmosphere part 3 – clouds, haze and surface

Light scattering on clouds

Previously I have described the light scattering mechanism on the smallest particles of the Earth’s atmosphere, where mainly the Rayleigh Scattering plays a role. Now is the time to round off this whole article and say something more about a different group of elements, that also contributes to the light scattering process. There are bigger … Read more

Light scattering in the Earth’s atmosphere part 2 – why is the sky blue and how the sky colour change?

Light scattering in the atmosphere

When we ask ourselves why the sky is blue we can think about the most important type of light scattering in the Earth’s atmosphere. This is Rayleigh scattering. I was writing about this type of light scattering on some occasions, like watching the solar eclipse through the webcams or wondering about the Martian sky. Today … Read more

Light scattering in the Earth’s atmosphere part 1 – scattering and related phenomena

Light diffraction on clouds

1. INTRODUCTION My deep interest in the light scattering in Earth’s atmosphere arose out of my observations of the behavior of the Earth’s atmosphere, especially around sunrise, sunset (golden hour, blue hour, twilight), and during eclipses. I like to observe the weather phenomena and atmosphere response to environmental phenomena both live and remotely. Due to … Read more