Partial Solar Eclipse 26th January, 2009

Partial Solar Eclipse – 26th January 2009

The first Annular Solar Eclipse of the year 2009 occurred last Monday, January 26, 2009. The Eclipse of the Sun was visible in Eastern parts like West Bengal, Tripura, Mizoram, Manipur, Assam, Andaman, Nicobar and Lakshwadwip islands.

Observation sessions were held all around the world to celebrate the “International Year of Astronomy 2009” (IYA2009). The Solar Astronomy task group of IYA2009 collaborated with many countries to hold observing sessions and live web cast the eclipse, including Sri Lanka.

Observation sessions held in Sri Lanka.

This solar eclipse was visible to Sri Lanka as a partial eclipse and was visible from 2:03pm to 4:12pm.

Under IYA2009 – Sri Lanka programs, several different public observation sessions were held throughout the country. The National Node of IYA2009-Sri Lanka held an observation session at the Car Park of Arpico Super Center, Hyde Park Corner while Arthur C Clarke Center and University of Colombo held observation sessions at their institution premises with a live web cast of the eclipse.
To give a glimpse of the eclipse to the public outside of Colombo, The Colombo Planetarium held their observation session in Kurunagala with the involvement of schools in the area.
The schools themselves showed interest in the eclipse. Nalanda College Astronomical society organized “Helios” workshop to observe the Sun, with the involvement of few schools.

Biggest Full Moon of 2009

I managed to photograph the biggest full moon of 2009. Only able to get few due to bad clouds.

Moon through a Nebula? :)

Movie of some images



Check below the article from SPACE.COM

2009, sure to wow even seasoned observers.

Earth, the moon and the sun are all bound together by gravity, which keeps us going around the sun and keeps the moon going around us as it goes through phases. The moon makes a trip around Earth every 29.5 days.

But the orbit is not a perfect circle. One portion is about 31,000 miles (50,000 km) closer to our planet than the farthest part, so the moon's apparent size in the sky changes. Saturday night (Jan. 10) the moon will be at perigee, the closest point to us on this orbit.

It will appear about 14 percent bigger in our sky and 30 percent brighter than some other full moons during 2009, according to NASA. (A similar setup occurred in December, making that month's full moon the largest of 2008.)

High tides

Tides will be higher, too. Earth's oceans are pulled by the gravity of the moon and the sun. So when the moon is closer, tides are pulled higher. Scientists call these perigean tides, because they occur when the moon is at or near perigee. (The farthest point on the lunar orbit is called apogee.)

This month's full moon is known as the Wolf Moon from Native American folklore. The full moon's of each month are named. January's is also known as the Old Moon and the Snow Moon.

A full moon rises right around sunset, no matter where you are. That's because of the celestial mechanics that produce a full moon: The moon and the sun are on opposite sides of the Earth, so that sunlight hits the full face of the moon and bounces back to our eyes.

At moonrise, the moon will appear even larger than it will later in the night when it's higher in the sky. This is an illusion that scientists can't fully explain. Some think it has to do with our perception of things on the horizon vs. stuff overhead.

Try this trick, though: Using a pencil eraser or similar object held at arm's length, gauge the size of the moon when it's near the horizon and again later when it's higher up and seems smaller. You'll see that when compared to a fixed object, the moon will be the same size in both cases.

More lunacy

If you have other plans for Saturday night, take heart: You can see all this on each night surrounding the full moon, too, because the moon will be nearly full, rising earlier Friday night and later Sunday night.

Interestingly, because of the mechanics of all this, the moon is never truly 100 percent full. For that to happen, all three objects have to be in a perfect line, and when that rare circumstance occurs, there is a total eclipse of the moon.

A departing fact: The moon is moving away as you read this, by about 1.6 inches (4 centimeters) a year. Eventually this drift will force the moon to take 47 days to circle our world.