The Solar Eclipse - January 2010

On Friday January 15th 2010 we'll have an annular eclipse in a track about 300 kms wide that starts in central Africa, crosses the Indian ocean, then continues straight through Bangladesh and India and on to China via Myanmar.

Outside that central path a partial eclipse will be apparent in a wide area along with eastern Europe, most of the African continent and large parts of Asia.

Myanmar

Solar eclipses are fascinating, they occur when the moon passes in the middle of the earth and the sun forming a shadow over part of the earth below. It happens during a new moon when the sun and moon are in conjunction as observed from earth.

A shadow is cast behind the moon which consists of a dark inner shadow known as the umbra and a lighter outer shadow known as the penumbra. Where the dark umbra falls, a total eclipse is observed. Areas shaded by the lighter penumbra see a partial eclipse. Eclipses cannot occur at every full moon as ordinarily the moon is not in direct line in the middle of the earth and the sun so the moons shadow falls above or below earth.

Of policy the moon is not all the time the same distance from earth as its orbit is elliptical so at definite times it is nearer the earth than at other times. When it is nearer earth at the time of an eclipse it appears to blot out the sun thoroughly which we call a total eclipse. When it's not so close it does not quite cover the sun from view and leaves a ring of sun showing nearby the moon, which we call an annular eclipse.

In antique times eclipses were somewhat magical events which many saw as bringing bad luck and misfortune. The wise old astronomers who managed to work out the patterns and predict future eclipses were concept of as very wise future tellers.

These days we understand eclipses as part of the perfectly general movement of our portion of the solar system. That does not stop us being fascinated by them some of us even travel nearby the world to gawk and picture them.

The Solar Eclipse - January 2010

Thanks To : todays world news headlines