Total Solar Eclipse, July 22, 2009

On July 22nd, 2009, viewers in India and Southeast Asia will be treated to a total solar eclipse. With an incredibly long totality of 6 minutes and 39 seconds, this solar eclipse will be the longest solar eclipse until 2132! Totality occurs at 2:35 UTC. This eclipse will be visible starting in India, moving through Nepal, Bangladesh, China, and the southern end of Japan, finally ending in the South Pacific. Of course, the best place to see the eclipse would be at maximum totality, seen best from Iwo Jima. If you can't get there, though, any viewing area in the maps below will give an excellent show! To see a detailed map of the total eclipse's path, click any of the maps below.




The eclipse's path through India, Nepal, Bangladesh, and Bhutan.


The eclipse's path through China.


The eclipse's path through southern Japan.

For more detailed maps, see NASA's page on the eclipse.

SAFETY FIRST!

Although you will want to look at this eclipse, DO NOT LOOK AT A SOLAR ECLIPSE without proper safety equipment. Doing so can cause permanent and irreversible eye damage and possibly blindness.

In order to safely view this eclipse use a pinhole eclipse viewer. Here's how to make one for cheap.

Eclipse Predictions by Fred Espenak, NASA's GSFC

Clear skies!

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Astronomy Calendar, July 2009

The following is a list of celestial events occurring during July of 2009.

• July 4 - The Moon will be 0.5 degrees from the star Antares. An occultation will be visible from Japan and Hawaii at 10:00 UTC.


• July 10 - Mars is 5 degrees south of M45. Jupiter is 4 degrees south of the Moon, and Neptune is 3 degrees south of the Moon.


• July 13 - Jupiter is 0.6 degrees south of Neptune.


• July 18 - The Moon is 0.5 degrees north of M45. Mars is 5 degrees south of the Moon.


• July 20 - The Moon is 1.6 degrees north of M35.


• July 22 - A total solar eclipse will be visible from India, Southeast Asia, and the South Pacific. Click here for more details.
  


• July 29 - Delta Aquarid meteor shower peaks. The Delta Aquarids are typically considered minor shower, with hourly rates near the 20 meteor per hour range. The Delta Aquarids tend to produce bright yellow, slow-moving meteors.
  

Clear skies!

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2009 Bootids Off to a Good Start

While observing last night, I observed an abnormally high hourly rate of meteors. While on a typical night, one might see about 10 per hour, I was seeing about 1 every few minutes, which I would estimate to 20-30 meteors per hour. At first I was confused, but then I remembered: the Bootid meteor shower began on June 21^st! Typically considered a minor shower, the Bootids have been more active in the last few years. In 2004, they reached a peak of over 100 per hour!


Shown above is the direction from which the meteors will appear to radiate.

The Bootid meteor shower peaks on June 27^th. It is believed that since the shower's parent comet, 7P/Pons-Winnecke, passed closely to Earth in 2008, that the hourly rate for this year will also be quite high.

So get out and check out this meteor shower! It will go until about July 2^nd, so you'll have plenty of time!

Clear skies!

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Stellarium's Light Pollution Feature

I just recently upgraded to the new Stellarium. In the new version 0.10.2, many new features were added. The one I found most interesting was the light pollution simulation. Kind of shocking to see the differences immediately between perfect dark sky and nearly no stars. Makes me thankful for the (kind of) dark skies I do have.


Here, you can see the option in the Sky Views options screen.


This is the view simulated with no light pollution. This is what perfect dark skies would look like.


This is moderate light pollution. My skies are somewhere between this LP level and the dark sky above.


This shows heavy light pollution. I've been in places with more LP than this, and I couldn't see any stars!

In the near future, I'll be putting together a complete list of the new features of Stellarium. But tonight I'll be busy out at the 'scope!

Clear skies!

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