ASTRONOMY


    Actual sky conditions in Montréal area

    I practice that hobby since I have 5 years old. I remember very well that my professors and classmates laughted of me when I spoke of that science on a regular basis.

    I own a 10" Meade LX200 GPS but I can't use it very often because it's very heavy. I dream to buy a terrain somewhre outside the town to build a rooftop observatory like builded by Skyshed

    I like to observe the planets from my balcony or deepsky when I go observing with my local astro club collegues.

    Despite I had to fight light pollution in my neibourhood I patiently observed that celestial treat , comet Hale-Bopp from my balcony. You can recover one of the pictures I took by cliking here.

    I'm a devoted total solar eclipse chaser who carried it tired body in remote parts of the Earth to observe them. I succeded to observe 12 eclipses including 10 totals (cumulating 39 m 18 sec) over a possibility of 17.

    I observed the following eclipses :

    Click on the dates to see some of my pictures

    Be patient !!! Pictures loading may be long on slower connections but it's worth waiting. :-)

    DATES TYPES DURATIONS TOWN COUNTRY TYPE OF SITE VIEWED AUDIO CLIP
    July 20th 1963 Total 0m 55sec Ste-Angele (Becancour) Quebec, Can Hay field No (0/5)  
    July 10th1972 Total 2m 15s Cap-Chat Quebec, Can Hill face to the sea No (0/5)  
    October 12th 1977 Total 0m 53s Aguazul Colombia Savana No (0/5)  
    February 26th 1979 Total 2m 54s Melita Manitoba, Can Motel parking Yes (3/5)  
    February 16th 1980 Total 2m 51s Ankola India College backyard Yes (5/5) Yes
    June 11th 1983 Total 5m 10s Borobudur Java, Indonésia Dry rice field Yes (5/5)  
    May 30th1984 Annular 0m 07s Chaze City Virginia, USA Service station No (0/5)  
    July 11th 1991 Total 6m 41s Los Corchos Nayarit, Mexico Beach Yes (5/5)  
    MaY 10th 1994 Annular 6m 12s Chestertown NY, USA B&B Lawn Yes (5/5)  
    November 3th 1994 Total 3m10s Sevrayuro Bolivia Altiplano Yes (4/5)  
    February 26th 1998 Total 3m 0s Grande Vigie Guadeloupe Cliff Yes (5/5) Yes
    August 11th 1999 Total 2m 15s Noyon France Park No (0/5)  
    June 21th 2001 Total 3m 37s Kamilonga Zambia Farm Yes (5/5) Yes
    June 10th 2002 Annular 1m 0s La Cruz de Loreto Jalisco, Mexico Hill face to the sea Yes (1/5)  
    March 29th 2006 Total 4 m 4s Eclipse City Jalu, Libya Sahara desert Yes (5/5) Yes
    Aug 1st 2008 Total 2 m 20s Ob lake Akademgorodok, Russia Beach Yes (5/5) No
    July 22th 2009 Total 5 m 36s Songshou, China South shore Hangzou bay, China Rest area Yes (1/5) No

    My next eclipses at my agenda will be :
     

    July 10th 2010 in French Polynesia
    ...
    April 8th 2024 in Montreal (I will have 76)

    I'm dreaming to go to the moon in a remote future with the reservation I did with Air Canada in 1969 shortly after Apollo 11.

    I also observe lunar eclipses The picture at left has been taken during the sept. 26 th 1996 total lunar eclipse from my appartement house balcony in Longueuil.

    Instrument Celestron 5+ f /6.3
    Camera Olympus OM-1
    Film Fuji Sensia 100 ASA
    Exposure time 15 Sec

    KEO