2013 April lunar eclipse and May solar eclipse

With one eclipse gone, another is on its way. They always appear in pairs, two weeks apart—one at the new moon and the other at the full moon.

The first eclipse of 2013 was on Thursday April 25. It was a partial lunar eclipse in which part of the moon was obscured. It was visible in the evening in Western Europe and West Africa at moonrise, and in parts of Australia, Japan, Eastern Russia, and Indonesia it was visible at moonset. The entire eclipse was visible in Eastern Europe, Eastern and Southern Africa, India, most of China, and most of Russia.

It’s “pair” is during the full moon on Thursday May 9/Friday May 10. The second eclipse will be an annular solar eclipse in which the sun is blocked by the moon. It will be visible from Western and Northern Australia, Eastern Papua New Guinea, and the South Pacific over a wide path of between 170-225 kilometres. Starting in Western Australia at 22:33 Universal Time (UT), it will travel northeast across the Northern Territory. Depending on the location, the time of the annular phase will be from 3 minutes to about 6 minutes (in the Pacific).

The trajectory will take about 45 minutes and cover less than 1% of the Earth’s surface area. Partial phases of the solar eclipse will be visible from Australia, New Zealand, and Indonesia.

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) eclipse website lists the next penumbral lunar eclipse on May 25, but this will be “almost impossible” to detect. This is an unusual second lunar eclipse of the season.

The next “pairing” of eclipses in 2013 will be a lunar eclipse on October 18 followed by a solar eclipse on November 3.

Information and images - http://eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov/eclipse.html

Comments

Pir-E-Kamil - The Perfect Mentor by Umera Ahmed: book review

The Perfect Mentor pbuh (2011) is set in Lahore and Islamabad in Pakistan. The novel commences with Imama Mubeen in medical university. She wants to be an eye specialist. Her parents have arranged for her to marry her first cousin Asjad. Salar Sikander, her neighbour, is 18 years old with an IQ of 150+ and a photographic memory. He has long hair tied in a ponytail. He imbibes alcohol, treats women disrespectfully and is generally a “weird chap” and a rude, belligerent teenager. In the past three years he has tried to commit suicide three times. He tries again. Imama and her brother, Waseem, answer the servant’s call to help Salar. They stop the bleeding from his wrist and save his life. Imama and Asjad have been engaged for three years, because she wants to finish her studies first. Imama is really delaying her marriage to Asjad because she loves Jalal Ansar. She proposes to him and he says yes. But he knows his parents won’t agree, nor will Imama’s parents. ...

Flaws in the Glass, a self-portrait by Patrick White: book review

The manuscript, Flaws in the Glass (1981), is Patrick Victor Martindale White’s autobiography. White, born in 1912 in England, migrated to Sydney, Australia, when he was six months old. For three years, at the age of 20, he studied French and German literature at King’s College at the University of Cambridge in England. Throughout his life, he published 12 novels. In 1957 he won the inaugural Miles Franklin Literary Award for Voss, published in 1956. In 1961, Riders in the Chariot became a best-seller, winning the Miles Franklin Literary Award. In 1973, he was the first Australian author to be awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature for The Eye of the Storm, despite many critics describing his works as ‘un-Australian’ and himself as ‘Australia’s most unreadable novelist.’ In 1979, The Twyborn Affair was short-listed for the Booker Prize, but he withdrew it from the competition to give younger writers the opportunity to win the award. His autobiography, Flaws in the Glass...

Sister cities discussed: Canberra and Islamabad

Two months ago, in March 2015, Australia and Pakistan agreed to explore ways to deepen ties. The relationship between Australia and Pakistan has been strong for decades, and the two countries continue to keep dialogues open. The annual bilateral discussions were held in Australia in March to continue engagements on a wide range of matters of mutual interest. The Pakistan delegation discussed points of interest will include sports, agriculture, economic growth, trade, border protection, business, and education. The possible twinning of the cities of Canberra, the capital of Australia, and Islamabad, the capital of Pakistan, were also on the agenda (i.e. called twin towns or sister cities). Sister City relationships are twinning arrangements that build friendships as well as government, business, culture, and community linkages. Canberra currently has international Sister City relationships with Beijing in China and Nara in Japan. One example of existing...

FEAST OR FAMINE

Search This Blog