~ Coloured Sky ~
 
I got a call from my astro friend Tara Williams from Pottsville in NSW to go look outside and look at the sky…Oh Wow, this is what I saw the whole sky was this stunning purple and pink colour, thank you Tara it was awesome!
 
You can also see the constellation of Orion going down in the western sky with the brilliant planet Venus in the lower right of the picture.
 
The colour is produced by fine particles high up in the atmosphere from the Hunga-Tonga eruption that happened back in January 2022. It’s very unpredictable as it comes and goes and can only be seen for about 20 minutes before sunrise or 20 minutes after sunset.
 
Image taken with a Canon Power Shot G7X Mark 11 camera on manual focus that was hand held, with an exposure of 1second and ISO200 :-)

​I was so lucky to get a window seat on our flight back from Perth to Brisbane on the 22nd April 2023.
 
Looking out the window at sunset I saw this gorgeous view while we were at 30,000ft or 11,000 meters, you can still see those stunning colours from the volcanic aerosols in the atmosphere!
 
As it got darker, you could see a tiny 2 day old crescent Moon with the planet Venus above, it was a bit tricky to get the photo’s but I put a blanket over my head to try and get rid of the reflections from the down lights on the plane…. and it worked, the colours were very vivid…Amazing!
 
Images were taken with a Canon G7 x Mark11 camera on manual focus at infinity. I’m on our way back from the incredible Solar Eclipse Cruise on the P&O Pacific Explorer :-)

After all the excitement of the total eclipse of the Sun this was the stunning sunset taken from the ships deck after sunset on the 20th April 2023.
 
I could not believe that those volcanic coloured aerosols were still in the atmosphere on the other side of our country…but of course they would be because they are high up in the stratosphere!
 
Image taken with a Canon G7x camera on manual focus on board the P&O Pacific Explorer cruising away from Exmouth in the Indian Ocean on our way back to the Port of Fremantle.

I’ve also taken a movie of the whole western horizon showing the beautiful colours in the western sky, you will hear a friend of mine relating his and his wife’s experience of when the Hunga-Tonga volcano erupted back in January 2022.

I wasn’t really sure what these shimmering undulating bands of light were running along the ships deck just a few minutes before totality, but I did think they might have been those rare shadow bands that I’ve read about during a solar eclipse.
 
Thank goodness I had my camera with me and was able to capture a short movie as I hurried back to my setup on the back deck. They were quite mesmerising and I will never forget that strange pulsating shimmering light…I hope you enjoy the movie!

To read more about these fleeting shadow bands please go to the links below:
​
https://eclipse2017.nasa.gov/exploring-shadow-bands
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shadow_bands
https://www.strickling.net/shadowbands.htm

It was all very exciting to get on a plane in Brisbane, fly to Perth and board a cruise ship just to get under the shadow of the Moon, I think Graham and I are now true eclipse chasers along with a couple of our fellow SAS members.
 
The ship provided plenty of excellent astronomy presentations from members of the Australian Society of Australia (ASA) but what we really wanted to see would happen on the morning of the 20th April if the weather stayed nice and clear. Kelly Beatty from Sky & Telescope was working with the Captain to find us a safe anchorage so the ship would be stable enough for all on board to view and take pictures of the event.
 
The Captain did a wonderful job of positioning the ship and anchored in the Exmouth Gulf just off the mainland, being on a moving surface did present its own set of problems, but excuse the pun…we were all in the same boat!
 
Cheesy brought along his telescope to image the event and spend days worrying about how he was going to take his images, but in the end he got some amazing photos of the eclipse. Belinda and Warren also set up on the ships deck not far away from me and got some awesome images.
 
You never know what’s going to happen on the day, I was all set up with my gear on the back deck and was really getting carried away with the atmosphere of the event. I left my setup a few times to go exploring to see what other people were doing, what I saw were so many families waiting patiently and excitingly to see the eclipse with all sorts of equipment to capture some pictures.
 
I came across sunlight breaking through tiny holes in the banisters of the ship that produced little crescent Suns on the deck, I also saw this weird shimmering effect in front of me just before totality and was so thrilled to be seeing what’s known as shadow bands, I took a small movie as it’s quite rare to capture, Yay!
 
I got back to my camera just a few minutes before totality and that’s when somebody called out look at the Moons shadow path!!! I looked behind me and saw this shadow race over us and across the water, it was so fast, when I looked back in front of me and up…there was this incredible diamond ring flash on the limb of the Sun it was just AMAZING! I was bedazzled by it and that’s when it happened…I looked down at my viewfinder and it was black, I thought I had knocked the camera and could not believe I could not see the Sun. (Oh dear!)
 
I picked up my little Canon G7X camera and took a picture and then another incredible diamond ring flashed and that was it, it was all over…only 58 seconds, but ‘Oh Boy’ it was just awesome, and I didn’t get any pictures of totality except the one with my point and shoot Canon camera!!!
 
I could not believe it, what I’d done in all the excitement was to forget to remove the solar filter off the lens :-o Cheesy was so excited he got the whole of totality through his telescope and Belinda got some awesome pictures as well, everyone was just so excited. Lynn a past member of SAS was also on board and she captured a lovely picture too.
 
I was very conflicted, on one hand I was so upset with myself, but on the other hand I saw and experienced the whole event with my eyes, but I can tell you 58 seconds goes so fast and it was worth every second of it :-)
 
Please see a photomontage of the solar event; I took photos every 10 minutes of the partials right up until the end of the eclipse. I’ve put in my one and only picture of totality that I took with the Canon point and shoot camera. My friends (including Tel) have offered to give me one of there images of totality which was very kind of them, but I’ve gone with my own image to let me know that sometimes things are just the way they are…. are we going overseas for the 2024 eclipse next year, you bet we are!
 
Please see a slideshow of my pictures from our adventure, would we go on board a cruise ship again for an eclipse…Yes, we definitely would, as it’s lots of fun and the atmosphere was just awesome!

​We were on our flight from Brisbane to Perth to view the solar eclipse at Exmouth when I looked over toward the window and saw this beautiful sunset.
 
I asked the passenger if I could please take some images and this is what I got. I took many images to make sure it wasn’t an artefact with the window or Sun reflections but yes; it’s there in every image so it’s real. Just one of those strange optical illusions that you get when you’re flying high up in the sky.

​I think it may be called a letterbox sunset :-)
 
Isn't flight just amazing, in just over five hours you can go from Brisbane to Perth with a flying distance of 3600km right across Australia from east to west…incredible!

Yay! My husband and I are going on this wonderful cruise to see the eclipse and flying to Perth on the 16th April 2023. We’ll stay a night in Freemantle first before getting on the ship for a 9pm sailing on the 17th April 2023.
 
I’m a bit concerned about being on a moving surface like but I’m sure the ship will stop while the event is happening so we can capture our images. It’s a five-hour flight from one side of Australia to the other but how exciting!!!
 
Totality is only for 58 seconds so if anything happens…blink and you’ll miss it!
Is it worth all the money and trouble to go see it…you bet it is :-))
 
Please see the information on the cruise below; perhaps you may be able to make it too…
 
https://www.pocruises.com.au/cruises/solar-eclipse
 
This once-in-a-lifetime 5-night cruise is an opportunity to view a Hybrid Solar Eclipse that will track over the North West Cape of Western Australia, including Exmouth. Pacific Explorer will be in a prime position to catch a glimpse of the first Hybrid Solar Eclipse to be visible from Australia in 1000 years. Also known as the King of Eclipse’s, our unique vantage point will put us in place to observe the sun, moon and Earth’s discs aligning. Certainly an event not to be missed!

We have invited special presenter partners to entertain and educate you as we cruise up the coast. Professional astronomers from the Astronomical Society of Australia, will give lectures, Q&As and during networking sessions share their knowledge on eclipse and astronomy basics, cutting edge astronomical research occurring in Australia and other special topics. And of course there will be stargazing to explore the Southern sky and cultural knowledge.

​More information can be found at the main Western Australia Government website at:
https://ningalooeclipse.com/
 
https://ningalooeclipse.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/Ningaloo-Eclipse-downloadable-booklet.pdf
 
Also at the Gravity Centre in Perth at:
https://gravitycentre.com.au/2023-exmouth-solar-eclipse/
https://gravitycentre.com.au/
​

​I drove up to Mt Tamborine to try and capture an image of Mercury low on the western horizon just after sunset and… Oh Wow, what a wonderful sight it was to see with all the stunning colours of sunset and the fine volcanic particles producing these incredible pink crepuscular rays right across the horizon.
 
As it got darker, I also captured Venus close to the Pleiades star cluster; it was such an awesome evening :-)
 
My images were taken on the 11th April 2023 with a Canon 70D camera and a Tamron 18-400mm lens on a tripod.

This was the beautiful sky that I saw before sunrise, I think the colours are more subdued than the images that I posted on my website and also Spaceweather.com on the morning of the 6th April…but you can still see the result of those volcanic aerosols in the atmosphere :-)
 
Image taken with a Canon 70D camera and Tamron 18-400mm lens set at 18mm, the exposure time was 1/125th second and ISO200 with the camera on a tripod.

Over the last two evenings we’ve had the most amazing colours in our twilight sky with the colours of deep purple and magenta pink.
 
To take the first image on the 8th April I had to stop the car and go into the middle of the round-about to get a photo of Venus’s conjunction with the Pleiades star cluster. I rested the camera on top of the road sign to steady it and ‘Wow’ I got my picture. The things we do to capture a photo!
 
The next two images were taken last night (9th April) while we were having a family BBQ; I noticed a strange pink colour in the eastern sky at 6.15pm? It was all around the sky and realized it must be a phenomenon called dusting! I quickly ran inside to grab my camera, rested it on the pool fence to took some pictures,
​you can see the beautiful soft pink colour reflected on the water.

The reason for these stunning colours is because of those fine volcanic aerosols from the Hunga-Tonga volcanic eruption that happen over a year ago, Tara Williams in NSW also captured this pretty colour in the sky and called it her pink Easter Egg sky.
https://spaceweathergallery2.com/indiv_upload.php?upload_id=194969
https://spaceweathergallery2.com/indiv_upload.php?upload_id=194970
 
I have no idea why it’s so prevalent at the moment, could it be that our atmosphere has been bombarded with so many solar particles of late? Whatever is causing the effect it looks very pretty. From experience it wont last for very long because it seems to come and go?
 
My Images were taken with a Canon Power Shot GX7 Mark 11 camera on manual focus.