Check that horoscope!

I see!
Will see if I can greet the moon too!

Hey, nobody said I wasn't a nut!

I know a place you can pick up a sculpture for your home Piffka.

Hey, guess what? I think I might love astrology... Mrs. cav tells me the other day that the real reason I don't clean the apartment is not because I am lazy, but because I am a Virgo, and don't like touching dirty things Sounds like an 'out' to me, yes?

Hey Hebba, what a cool idea. Isn't Astrology AMAZING! :wink:


Moon Image Calendar

Lucky, Cav. But I don't get it. My father was a Virgo... he thought we (my sis & I) should wash the windows every week. EVERY Week!

A very interesting Moon Phases Chart is in the link above. Timezone is GMT there.


The lunar events in this month are somewhat interesting. On the day(s) of full moon, i.e., May 15-16, a lunar eclipse happens. Alas, its full eclipse can be seen only from locations in the southern hemisphere. For example, in Buenos Aires, Argentina, the full eclipse is seen and the maximum eclipse takes place at 00:40:03 of May 16, 2003 in the local time (GMT-03:00).
In the northern hemisphere a partial eclipse may be seen.

piffka, I am great at delegating too

Cav -- LOL -- you'll make a WONDERFUL father!

Satt -- Hello! Where have you been?? Aren't all Lunar Eclipses during full moons? I thought I read that somewhere.

Isn't that a beautiful calendar? I was so pleased. I liked that link, too. I was trying to figure out how to download the graphic program as I'd like to find an easy to look at picture of where the moon rises on a particular day.

Piffka..
I am currently using a laptop other than my usual computer (you know what I mean, I am away from home for a few weeks) with a slower connection speed and cannot visit the forum often.

All lunar eclipses happen at the time of full moon, as eclipses occur when the moon passes through the (double) shadow of the earth at the opposite side of the sun.

I like the linked calendar. The time in the calendar is calculated with respect to the geocentric coordinates, i.e., the moon is hypothetically viewed from the center of the earth. When you are to know about the exact time of the phase at your location, you must use the topocentric coordinates, and results differ a few minutes, at the most, from the geocentric calculation. (I usually use the geocentric coordinates for simple phases, too.)
The time of the maximum eclipse must be calculated with topocentric coordinates, and the eclipse time in Buenos Aires which was given above as an example differed about 4 minutes from the full moon time in the linked calendar.

(Note: As is remarked below in this thread, the explanation above is not correct. - added at May 1 23:56 GMT)

Ahh. I wondered. I hope your travels are pleasant!

I was reading somewhere about a term that had a lot of appeal to me. It was referred to as the "arc of light" and said to describe (if I've got it right) a line from the center of the earth to the sun or moon or other viewing object. Is that related to the correction you mention for B.A.'s viewing of the eclipse as four minutes?

I've thought and thought and tried to decide if it were plus four minutes or minus four minutes. I think +4 because it has to do with the angle of the moon, rather than the distance from the surface of the earth to the center, but I'm very iffy on this.

I'm also thinking a lunar eclipse takes about an hour, half the time going into the maximum eclipse, then half the time to move out of position.

Most spectacular is a full solar eclipse. I'd travel a ways to see one of those again.

Piffka..
Sorry, my account was incorrect about the discrepancy between the time of full moon and that of the maximum lunar eclipse. The discrepancy is caused by the difference between the antipodal point of the sun on the ecliptic (full moon) and that of the center of the shadow of the earth (maximum eclipse). And it is not related with the topocentric coordinates. Everything can be calculated with respect to the geocentric coordinates.

Lunar phases are calculated with reference to the ecliptic longitudes of the sun and the moon inside the hypothetical celestial sphere, and the ecliptic inside the sphere is looked upon as a circle. But the actual orbit of the earth around the sun and that of the moon is more close to ellipses than circles, and here arises the discrepancy between the results of calendrical calculation and those of eclipses.
This is somewhat similar to the difference between the well-tempered scales and the natural scales in the musical tone. Calendar is "well-tempered" while an eclipse is "natural."

To sum up, it will be more accurate to say that the maximum lunar eclipse occurs around the time of full moon but that the both do not necessarily coincide exactly.





A good software can be downloaded at the next link (free trial version). It can be used only on Windows box, which is not my default computer.

http://www.skymap.com/smp_eval.htm

On Wednesday May 7 of the next week, Mercury transits before the Sun, i.e., Mercury apparently pass through the surface of the Sun.

The time of the center of the transit is 07:53:28 TDT (07:52:20 GMT, 12:52:20 AM America/Los_Angeles, 17:52:20 Australia/Melbourne).

(Due to the data of SkyMap Pro8.)

At the end of this month there is a solar (annular) eclipse which is visible from Iceland on the occasion of the next New Moon: 04:20 May 31 GMT (geocentric).


Annular eclipse of May 31, 2003:
Location: Reykyavik, Iceland
(Latitude: 64deg9'0"N, Longitude: 21deg58'12" W)

Time is referred in the GMT zone.
The sun rises at 03:26:39 which is during partial phase of the eclipse.

---
(topocentric)
Beginning of annular phase
Time: 2003 May 31 04:02:30

Maximum eclipse
Time: 2003 May 31 04:04:16

End of annular phase
Time: 2003 May 31 04:06:03
----

(This is due to SkyMap Pro8.)

Satt -- Thanks for posting that link. I downloaded it, but it is a little complicated for me and (of course ) I didn't read any of the help files. I will check it out better & read those instructions when I get back from my trip. I was trying to get a moon transit line and it looked like it was passing by every planet. THAT can't be right.

The solar eclipse in Iceland -- it is not total is it? Oh, I'd love to see another total eclipse of the sun!

My friend in Philadelphia said she saw the new moon this evening... too cloudy here! Maybe tomorrow in Eastern Washington, if the clouds abate.

And here's my horoscope for Sunday:


A good day, an auspicious day for starting a vacation?

Go for it, Piffka!

Piffka..
As to the software SkyMap Pro, I always check it whenever I am on a Windows box (though I usually use Macs). I can assure you that the SkyMap will never crash your computer, and that you will be able to feel confortable testing any option open to the software. Trials and errors (not meaning serious errors) will be extremely profitable for you in this case.

This Lunar Eclipse of May 16 cannot be seen from Australia.

from Satt's link:

Wow, if only there are clear skies on Thursday night.

The EDT zone or Central/South America will be the best.