I recently rewatched two of Nova’s most interesting episodes on DVD. They are “The Ultimate Space Telescope” and “New Eye on the Universe”. I have always liked the episodes about astronomy and own a few of them DVD and Blu-ray. They are as interesting as Carl Sagan’s Cosmos.  Nova is the longest running science documentary on PBS, being broadcast since 1974. Nature, another great documentary series on the same network, began broadcasting in 1982. 🙂

Heading out first thing tomorrow morning to Albuquerque New Mexico for the eclipse in a couple days. I'm looking forward to it. 😀 😀 😀 

I have a question for @stargazer and @jo. I went ahead and got new eclipse goggles for this eclipse and the one next year, but are the sets that I have from the 2017 eclipse still good? 

I'm excited for your family, @fantasia! Have such a wonderful time!  

As far as I am aware, as long as the older eclipse glasses or not punctured or damaged in any way, you may still use them. We have enjoyed our older glasses for years now, but always test them, first, for any tiny hole. But @stargazer would be more knowledgeable about this. What are your thoughts, 'gazer?

I'll echo jo's comments, @fantasia. If the glasses are still intact they should be fine. I found this advice on https://eclipse2017.nasa.gov/safety :

Note: If your eclipse glasses or viewers are compliant with the ISO 12312-2 safety standard, you may look at the uneclipsed or partially eclipsed Sun through them for as long as you wish. Furthermore, if the filters aren't scratched, punctured, or torn, you may reuse them indefinitely. Some glasses/viewers are printed with warnings stating that you shouldn't look through them for more than 3 minutes at a time and that you should discard them if they are more than 3 years old. Such warnings are outdated and do not apply to eclipse viewers compliant with the ISO 12312-2 standard adopted in 2015. 

Hope you have clear skies! (Rain is likely here for the partial eclipse).

@fantasia, this article may have some helpful advice on observing the annular eclipse, including tips on photography:

https://skyandtelescope.org/astronomy-news/observing-octobers-annular-eclipse/

I was just reading that exact article as you must have been typing this, stargazer. Very, very unfortunately, we have heavy cloud cover and rain all day tomorrow. I do wonder, even then, if we will notice the change in the light quality. I'm thinking so. In our area, the eclipse will take place from 11:51 - 14:26, with the maximum at 13:07.

I see Albuquerque, NM is experiencing mostly sun, with a few clouds. Good stuff for fantasia and family!

Now that the dark is coming earlier here and it is much cooler here (yay!), I have started my early evening walks up again (as well as continuing my morning walks). It was fun becoming re-acquainted with the dark evening sky (the last time was probably in April). The Teapot in Sagittarius was tipping over lower in the south, onto the earth ... or so it appeared; Saturn was beautiful in the SE; Cygnus and the Northern Cross at the zenith of the sky, really stunning; The Big Dipper in the north pointed to Arcturus; I think it was Capella that I saw rising in the north.  

We had clouds here in Michigan so I watched the eclipse on the McDonald Observatory YouTube channel. It’s so nice to have those channels that you can watch the events live on television on YouTube TV. The weather often interferes with observing, but there is an alternative. 

We had several cloudy and rainy days, including last Saturday, but right around mid-eclipse there was a small opening in the clouds that allowed us to see the sun about 45% covered.

I'm also grateful for the other viewing options. I watched NASA TV coverage and also Fox Weather Channel; both had coverage in New Mexico and Texas. I did enjoy the Fox coverage more as the reporters got into the crowds and heard reactions. Seeing it from the Balloon Fiesta or the Alamo would have been pretty exciting!

We had heavy cloud-cover the day of the eclipse, so I caught a bit online, and even though it was very cool, it is far from seeing the real thing. Still, grateful for online coverage! @fantasia, when you get a few free minutes (haha!), we would love to read more of your experience watching the eclipse from Albuquerque, NM!

While our abundance of clouds over the past week+ have been very pretty (and even spectacular at times), I have missed seeing a totally clear night sky. Well, last night this finally took place. My early morning walk today was stunning, an hour before sunrise, with that brilliant eye of Venus in the high eastern sky, Orion and Sirius in the south, Jupiter in the lower west, along with many other beautiful sights above. This morning I was treated to a bright, long, leisurely pass of the ISS from western horizon to nearly the opposite eastern horizon (with dawn preventing a total viewing arc), and to the north.

Aldebaran and the Pleaides were so pretty as they headed toward the western sky.

And for the first time in months, I am viewing Arcturus at either end of the day. I finally spotted it (haze and clouds were in the way previous mornings) low in the east this morning; last night it was low in the west. Beautiful! I also saw the Great Square of Pegasus higher in the east last evening, as well as the half Moon in the south. Always wonderful sights!

By 7:15 a.m., Arcturus had disappeared; of Orion, I could only see Betelgeuse and Rigel (top left and bottom right), and could barely make out the belt, which pointed to fairly obvious Sirius. This was a half hour before sunrise. By 7:30, the only orbs were Venus, Sirius ('though barely), and Jupiter.

As we have said many times, this time of year is marvelous for viewing the wonder of the heavens!

Got to see the eclipse in its full length! It was cloudy here, but there was a long enough gap in the morning for sunshine.  I wore my SO's welding helmet to look at it directly. Very odd to see it still sunny, but the total amount of sunlight diminished.

Yep, we were in Albuquerque for the Annular Eclipse (I think I mentioned above) and the weather was perfect. We watched the entire lead-up, but once the moon moved off the center of the sun, we all headed inside because it was cold out. We also enjoyed the odd lighting and the strange shadows. 

We did not bring the correct setup to take pictures, so what you can find online is vastly superior to the photos we got. But I did find a way to take pictures through my cell phone. I put my eclipse viewing goggles over the camera lens, and the odd part was that they had to be at an angle, almost like a prism. Made for a couple interesting pics. 

https://picallow.com/eclipse-pics/?usp_success=2&post_id=194422&form_id=27 (Link will work for one week from the time of this post)

Another side note, I didn't personally take advantage of this much, but as a group we went to Bryce Canyon NP, Arches NP, and the Sand Dunes in Colorado. All of those are dark sky locations (I think....Bryce definitely is). My parents went out a couple times at Bryce to stargaze, and my husband and I watched after the sun went down at Arches for a bit. Unfortunately, we had to get to our next place to stay, so we couldn't enjoy it as much as we did several years ago when we were at Devil's Tower in Wyoming. But it was still better than what we can see where I live. The Milky Way was quite clear and my kids enjoyed seeing it. 

I saw this article about three stars that mysteriously disappeared in 1952:

https://www.universetoday.com/163820/in-1952-a-group-of-three-stars-vanished-astronomers-still-cant-find-them/

I wonder what caused this to happen. This has apparently happened to other stars too, and astronomers aren’t certain what happened to them. Sometimes the objects may be something else than stars, but one wonders how such a large object could disappear in a short time. 

Interesting, Narnian78!

I loved the eclipse (plus those very cool photos!) and your other night sky viewings update, fantasia. How great your family could do this together. And you, too, Cobalt Jade! 😀

I had a fun walk pre-dawn this morning. The sky was completely clear, and even moreso because it was cold (-8, which was with the very slight windchill) ... absolutely invigorating for walking! As always, when I first walk out the door, I look up just to orient myself, and the first thing I saw this morning, right around Venus, were two steadily-moving dots of light. Sure enough, it was a Starlink parade. But this time there were two fairly close together (two fingerwidths apart), then more of a gap (4 f.w.'s apart) before another one came along. Before the next 'double', the spacing remained at 4 f.w.'s for five or six satellites. I think it must have been going on, already, before I walked out of the house, but I estimate I saw between 20-25 over the course of a few minutes. Very cool looking! This was at 6 am. Then just over a half hour later, there was a wonderful ISS pass, straight through the lower part of Orion (south) and into the east. 

Last evening on my walk, I caught a bright object rising in the eastern sky ... Jupiter! Then this morning, that same Jupiter ( ) was setting in the western sky. I find it quite fun to see a night sky object both morning and evening, as is also occurring with Arcturus now, as I mentioned above.

We had a heavier frost last night, so everything was a-dazzle, helped along by the bright gibbous Moon high in the SW.

Oooh, how I love this crisp, invigorating, fresh time of year!

Your eclipse experience sounds wonderful, @fantasia! It's great you could share it with your family.  I enjoyed seeing the pictures - the annular one gave me goosebumps.

I also love this time of year, @jo.  Your observation of Starlink and the winter sky sounds wonderful!

At my latitude, we're having the latest sunrise times of the year, almost 8 am (due to daylight saving time being extended past Halloween), making it a little easier for night owls like me to enjoy the morning sky.

Yesterday, I went out about half an hour before sunrise, hoping to see Arcturus for the first time this apparition, but the twilight was too strong.  Jupiter was low in the west with the big bright Hunter's Moon above it. Venus and Sirius were the only other objects I could see. But the growing twilight reminded me of the "golden hour" evening light as it interacted with the remaining fall colors and was very pretty.

I'd hoped to try again for Arcturus this morning, but last night the season's first snow began falling, and we woke up to a couple inches (50mm) of fresh snow - even though some trees are still green! With the sun out now, it's melting, but wind chill values are still well below freezing.

I had the pleasure of stepping outside yesterday morning shortly after 7 am to see Arcturus for the first time in this apparition. I always enjoy spotting a familiar favorite for the first time each season.

Sky and Telescope blogger Bob King writes about a newly-observed phenomenon regarding those Starlink satellites: cluster flares. Read more and see a cool video here - along with an update on a possible binocular comet (at least for those viewers with darker skies).