THE ASTRONOMER Electronic Circular No 649 1992 June 30 20.05UT Ed:Guy M Hurst, 16,Westminster Close, Kempshott Rise, Basingstoke, Hants, RG22 4PP,England. Telephone/FAX(0256)471074 Int:+44256471074 Telex: 9312111261 Answerback: TA G JANET BOXES: GMH at UK.AC.CAM.ASTRONOMY.STARLINK or GUYH at UK.AC.SUSSEX.CLUSTER TELECOM GOLD: 10074:MIK2885 PRESTEL 256471074 ------------------------------------------------------------------- LUNAR ECLIPSE, 1992 JUNE 15 Mark Kidger, Tenerife e-mails: "Initial observations communicated to me suggest that, as predicted in the TA planetary notes for this month, the June 15th lunar eclipse was exceptionally dark. Exceptionally dark eclipses occurred in 1620 (twice), 1642, 1761, 1816, 1884, 1902 and 1963. The darkest eclipse ever observed seems to have been that of 1761. The 1992 June eclipse seems to have been comparable to the 1761 eclipse (!!) on the basis of the observations reported to date. Observers from the Agrupacion Astronomica de Tenerife say that the eclipsed limb of the moon was invisible in a 20cm reflector. Victor Gonzalez reports that even a 60s exposure on 100ASA film through a 0.20-m reflector barely registers the eclipsed limb. At present it seems that the eclipse musted be rated as 0 on the Danjon scale, whilst the last two eclipses visible in Europe were both both about 2 on this scale of 0 (darkest) - 4 (very bright). I would be extremely interested to hear from any TA subscriber who made observations of the eclipse that can confirm these initial impressions from verbal reports of data." RS OPHIUCHI Further to the report on E648 the following recent observations are available:(JD 2448000+) UT Date UTDec JD Estimate C I Surname Seq 8/5/92 0.080 750.580 11.1 M Verdenet 9/5/92 0.948 752.448 11.3 S Koushiappas 12/5/92 0.110 754.610 10.8 M Verdenet 14/5/92 0.060 756.560 11.0 W Worraker 18/5/92 0.910 761.410 10.8 M Verdenet 19/5/92 0.910 762.410 11.0 M Verdenet 21/5/92 0.890 764.390 10.8 M Verdenet 23/5/92 0.910 766.410 10.7 M Verdenet 25/5/92 0.910 768.410 10.8 M Verdenet 30/5/92 0.864 773.364 11.1 S Koushiappas 3/6/92 0.865 777.365 11.0 S Koushiappas 9/6/92 0.021 782.521 11.3 G Poyner B 11/6/92 0.979 785.479 11.3 G Poyner B 13/6/92 0.004 786.504 11.3 G Poyner B 16/6/92 0.969 790.469 11.3 G Poyner B 17/6/92 0.968 791.468 11.4 P Schmeer A 18/6/92 0.930 792.430 11.2 P Vedrenne 18/6/92 0.983 792.483 11.3 G Poyner B 19/6/92 0.940 793.440 11.2 P Vedrenne 21/6/92 0.861 795.361 10.6 S Koushiappas 21/6/92 0.976 795.476 11.1 P Schmeer A 22/6/92 0.953 796.453 11.0 P Schmeer A 24/6/92 0.890 798.390 10.6 H Mikuz 27/6/92 0.958 801.458 10.5 P Schmeer A 28/6/92 0.954 802.454 10.4 P Schmeer A Guy M Hurst