Jan 2 2025 - The Stars are Out

 

The stars will be out in January.  On January 13th is a lunar eclipse and the moon will look like it is passing in front of Mars.  All through January there will be planets shining brightly in the sky a few hours after sunset.  That's good news for those of us who really enjoyed the solar eclipse.   No solar eclipse, though, like last year's. There is one on March 29 2025 that will be viewable in eastern Canada, maybe some in Toronto/Niagara.  So let's be hopeful.  Here the screenshot of the interactive map for tracing the path of the solar eclipses up until 2030.

The lunar eclipse in March is known as a Blood Moon eclipse. "For a whopping 65 minutes, the full moon will pass through Earth’s inner shadow — its umbra — and turn a weird-looking reddish color. During totality, the moon’s crimson glow will dominate the sky, making it a must-see event if the skies are clear. Observers across Europe will only catch a glimpse of the eclipse during moonset." The March 29th solar eclipse is a sunrise occurrence.  It will be viewable in parts of eastern North American and Europe.  Maine and Quebec will see the sun rise as a crescent with two "horns" visible on the horizon.  I wonder what that means. You can see the animation video HERE.   So while not the excitement of last year, it is good news for 2025 in eclipse land. How similar the sky and earth are - these cactus plants look like fireworks.

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Apr 9 2024 - Here Comes the Sun

 

Didn't it turn out exciting - the clouds were there all morning and just at the right moment, they parted and we could view the total eclipse.  SO a double miracle occurred here in Niagara.  Our own viewing, with the neighbours across the street, included 4 PhD students.  That seems like a distinction of the day. It is time for the post-Eclipse stats: How many people were in Niagara Falls?  The CBC headline says over 200,000.  The CTV video headline says 1 million, but I wouldn't stick with a headline on a video - they aren't as reliable as news articles.  Closer to home the Welland Tribune says "Not a million visitors..." There were plenty, though - there was an express train into Niagara Falls and then special buses to the viewing areas.  The stories said there were lots of people  gathered - in a partying sort of way.   The CBC coverage followed the day as it progressed. The pictures show reasonable numbers along the falls - it is always busy there so I'd expected to not be able to see the sidewalk, but that wasn't the case in the pictures. The mayor says that the projected number of people scared people and they started cancelling rooms and reservations.   "This made headlines around the world and it’s really unfortunate, but you can’t get the toothpaste back in the tube. I get the rationale, but unfortunately we can’t change what happened.” You could even be on one of the boats that tours the Niagara River.  I don't think that's the best view at all.  But they were there to break the Guinness World record for the largest gathering of people dressed as the sun. It succeeded.   And when the total eclipse was receding, one article said that band played "Here Comes the Sun"   This is an Allium blossom.

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April 8 2024 - The Eclipse of the Heart

 

Has the lead-up to the Total Eclipse been fun?  Yes, it has.   On Saturday's CBC radio, the interview with Bonnie Tyler was very entertaining.  Her speaking voice sounds used up and worn out, but she had a concert coming up this week, so she must be able to sing.  She had a lot of stories - and that's because it is over 40 years ago since the 1983 release of her famous Total Eclipse of the Heart song.   The song was written by Jim Steinman, and it is said that Meatloaf thought it should have been his hit. Likely that's true. The Wikipedia entry says that there were some differences over money and Steinman went off to other things.  This likely is a good turn of events as I don't know if we'd be singing it now if it had performed by Meat Loaf.  What do you think? And we do sing it a lot. In a 2013 UK survey, the song came first in a list of most popular songs to sing in the shower. Bonnie Tyler sings it in all kinds of circumstances - she sang "Total Eclipse of the Heart" live on board a Royal Caribbean cruise ship during the solar eclipse of 21 August 2017. It could be that she has performed the song more than all of us - she has performed it at all of her concerts/performances.  That's a lot more times than we've had solar eclipses of any sort. Will we sing it today - a love song to the total eclipse we may not get to see? That's because we are we cloudy out there.  It would break our hearts to not have a Total Eclipse.   Sometimes my own images  seem mysterious to even me.  This  is a metal sculpture in Toronto - looks like a jagged stab  at the sun.

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May 15 2022 - The Big Moon

 

Our May moon is called the Super Flower Blood Moon lunar eclipse.  Tonight's the night. That starts at 10:28 on Sunday and reaches its peak on Monday May 16 at 12:16am EDT.  Being a super moon it will be bigger and brighter, and then it will feature a total lunar eclipse. which ends at 1:55am. The simple question is whether we are in the path of the eclipse.  Most of North America, all of South America, Western Africa and part of Western Europe will see the lunar eclipse.   And the name? Flower Moon has been attributed to the Algonquin peoples, confirmed by Christina Ruddy in Pikwakanagan, Ontario.  Another site says that the Penumbral eclipse beings at 9:32pm  - given the duration is 5 hours, 19 minutes, there's a lot of time to check it out. Unlike PD13 that just completed with about 75,000 people there in mid-day to celebrate the only day this year, we get another blood moon lunar eclipse in November 2022.   There's a motorcycle store in Grimsby and there were special bikes parked out front yesterday.  I am glad they weren't the ones in the Hamilton Spectator pictures - wearing only a thong - pictured from the back, thank goodness.   Here's the chart from the date and time website. This is Dodecatheon, Shooting Star. Read more daily posts here: marilyncornwellblog.com Purchase works here: Fine Art America- marilyncornwellart.com Redbubble - marilyncornwellart.ca

The Flat Earth Society Has Members...Where?

There are people who consider the earth to be flat - they are vocal and prolific. With social media platforms they spread their message everywhere (I would say around the globe...) LiveScience.com covered the flat earthers' explanation of the total lunar eclipse.   "According to flat-Earth conspiracy theorists, this astronomical phenomenon — known as a total lunar eclipse — was actually a rare opportunity to catch a glimpse of a mysterious "shadow object" that orbits the sun and occasionally passes in front of the moon from our point of view here, on an allegedly pizza-shaped Earth.  Although flat-Earthers believe our planet is flat as a pancake, they surprisingly seem to have come to the consensus that the sun and moon are spherical objects. However, these theorists posit that both the sun and the moon orbit Earth's north pole, hovering directly above the pancake and never passing around to the other side. If that were true, however, lunar eclipses as we know them could not happen, because the moon must be on the opposite side of the Earth from the sun for such an event to happen. So, flat-Earthers fabricated a new explanation for the shadow seen on the moon during an eclipse. In a post on the website run by The Flat Earth Society, the conspiracy theorists offer no description of the so-called "shadow object" — no details about its size, shape, composition or origin. But the writers claim that this mysterious, shadowy figure causes all lunar eclipses. Oh, and it's totally invisible when it's not in front of the moon." You can read the LiveScience article HERE. You can read the post by the Flat Earth Society at their wiki website.  Did you know that there are numerous flat earth societies?   Here are funny jokes and memes about the flat earth society(s).  I found these at boredpanda.com HERE.  I thought you'd enjoy the first one the most: Isn't this water reflection amazing with its colours?  This comes from the Kaufman Garden in Kansas City, and the garden flowers provide the many colours.

News About Nothing

Seeing Nothing was a great experience for millions yesterday. The headlines from yesterday's eclipse were varied.  These come from the UK Telegraph. Total solar eclipse sweeps across the US Donald Trump mocked for looking directly at the Sun Moon trolls sun on Twitter Britons left underwhelmed by partial solar eclipse Nasa Moon, NASA's official Twitter account about Earth's Moon, said: "HA HA HA I've blocked the Sun! Make way for the Moon. £SolarEclipse2017" while Hopkinsville Police in Kentucky, which saw solar enthusiasts descend on the town, tweeted "Please DO NOT call 911 just because your Wi-Fi service is not working." The headlines today include how to tell if there's been retinal damage after watching the solar eclipse.  Today's picture was taken at the new Performing Arts Centre in St. Catharines - an art installation at the top of the stairs.