Astronomica Aaj tak

The first solar eclipse of 2008 occurs at the Moon's ascending node in Capricornus. An annular eclipse will be visible from a wide track, that traverses Antarctica and southern regions of the Pacific Ocean. A partial eclipse will be seen within the much larger path of the Moon's penumbral shadow, which includes the southeastern third of Australia, all of New Zealand and most of Antarctica.



The annular path begins in Antarctica at 03:20 UT when the Moon's antumbral shadow meets Earth and forms a 581 kilometre wide corridor near the base of the continent's peninsula region. Traveling westward, the shadow quickly crosses Antarctica and turns north as it heads into the Pacific. Greatest eclipse[1] takes place at 03:55:05 UT when the eclipse magnitude[2] will reach 0.9650. At this instant, the annular duration is 2 minutes 12 seconds, the path width is 444 kilometres and the Sun is 16° above the featureless horizon of the open ocean. The central track continues north before gradually curving to the east where it ends at local sunset at 04:31 UT. During its 1 hour 10 minute flight across our planet, the Moon's antumbra travels approximately 5,600 kilometres and covers 0.59% of Earth's surface area. Path coordinates and central line circumstances are presented in Table 1.

The most unusual characteristic of this eclipse is that it begins and ends along Earth's sunset terminator. Most eclipse paths that travel from west to east. However, the 2008 annular eclipse path begins by running east to west and slowly turns north before curving west to east near its terminus.


Why elipses are important: Eclipses tend to bring big changes. What, you think I just made this up? I’ve watched it in my own life and of my loved ones for years. Look to history and how so often eclipses have been considered omens and the events that have been linked to eclipses, whether they happened as a result of a natural build-up of forces or people used the eclipse energy to force the event.



Astrologically, they tend to have the regenerative effect of Pluto conjunct a House or Planet, sometimes decimating what was there before to remove it from your life and moving you forward to rebirth that area of your life. I usually see the biggest blast from this laser-life focus of energy within 3 days of an eclipse, but sometimes, it hits exactly 30 days later. [Side note: after the last solar eclipse, I had a major but wonderful life-changing influence enter my life about 3 days later with a related intense and good turning point exactly 30 days later.] Sometimes I think of these eclipses as big erasers, slowly covering and erasing something from my past and making room to write something new…