Moon Biggest,Brightest and Closest - Mars Opposition

Mars Opposition on 30th Jan,2010:
On 30th January, 2010 Planet Mars would be directly opposite to Sun from our viewpoint on Earth. At which point Mars and the sun are on directly opposite sides of Earth. This Phenomenon is known as Mars Opposition. Because of this Planet mars will be visible all through the night i.e. Mars rises in the east just as the sun sets in the west. Then, after climbing up in the sky at midnight, Mars sets in the west just as the sun rises in the east.




Presently Planet Mars is shining brightly only next to brightest star Sirius and Moon. Mars would continue to be this bright till end of March. While people can continue to spot it until beginning of year 2011 placed at different directions at start of evening every month with decreasing brightness, size as the planet finally gets away from our view. General public can Join us by typing SKYNEWS and send to 56070 for knowing the position of Planet Mars every month along best time, direction to spot, joining observation sessions at various locations.

A small Note before we proceed further:
Like all the planets in our solar system, Earth and Mars orbit the sun. However Earth being closer to the sun, races along its orbit more quickly than Mars, Jupiter etc..Earth makes two trips around the sun in about the same amount of time that Mars takes to make one trip. Mostly the two planets are on opposite sides of the sun, very far apart, and other times, Earth catches up with its neighbor and passes relatively close to it.

How to Spot with Naked Eye: General Public can spot the Mars with naked eye after sunset. One hour after Sun set looking towards the sky opposite to sunset, in the evening one can spot Planet mars between East and North East direction. Whereas at midnight one can see it above his head while in the morning it can be spotted in West and North West Direction. On 30th Jan Mars can be found just towards left of Moon in the evening and towards right of moon on 31st Morning.

How does it look Naked eye - Telescope? Mars would appear as warm yellow gold with a hint of rouge red star like object for naked eye. However if one can see through telescope one can appreciate ice caps in the Northern tip of Mars.

Then here is another news of Moon.

Biggest, Closest, Brightest Moon: On 30th Jan Moon will be only 3, 56,566 km away, which is 49,890 km closer than the farthest full Moon of this year on August 24. In fact it will look 13 % bigger and 30% brighter. This full Moon will look its biggest just after sunset on 30th Jan and just before sunrise on 31st.

Here is the table of Perigee and Apogee :



Here is the list of Full or New Moon in 2010


Effort by Society: Planetary Society, India in order to create awareness about Planet Mars is launching “Mars Watch Campaign 2010”. As part of this campaign sky observations beginning second week of Feb will be organized in Hyderabad, Vijayawada, Visakhapatnam, Tirupathi and across the state depending on number of people interested to join.

Mars Closest To Earth on 27th Jan - Next oppurtunity 2012

You can click on following links to know details about Mars opposition and closest approach.

http://in.news.yahoo.com/20/20100124/1416/tnl-mars-opposition-on-jan30.html

http://www.zeenews.com/news598669.html

How to Locate Mars :

Here is how you can locate with your own eyes. Telescope is needed only if you want to appreciate finest features of mars.

People can spot Planet Mars with naked eye after sunset. One hour after Sun set looking towards the sky opposite to sunset, in the evening one can spot Planet mars between East and North East direction. Whereas at midnight one can see it above his head while in the morning it can be spotted in West and North West Direction.
Mars can be spotted until beginning of year 2011 placed at different directions at start of evening every month with decreasing brightness, size as the planet finally gets away from our view. further if you are Interested you can subscribe for year long alerts from us for just Rs.60p.a. by typing SKYNEWS and sending to 56070.

Annular Solar Eclipse 15th January, 2010

Planetary Society, India in association Andhra Pradesh State Council of Science and Technology (APCOST) and Dr.K.V.Rao Scientific Society as part of Annular Solar Campaign 2010 with a motive to create awareness among school students has undertaken state wide activities with the help of 23 District Coordinators and 5 Regional coordinators of the APCOST. Activities like Space Simulator (Students created simulations of solar eclipse as seen from 50 different countries), Media Discussions on the subject and others are already planned. Importantly at State Level Press conference Compact Disk, Poster, Presentation of Simulated Animations of Eclipse with experts like Prof. G. Yellaiah, Dept of Astronomy, O.U., N. Sri Raghunandan Kumar, General Secretary were conducted.


Brief about Solar Eclipse: A solar eclipse occurs when the Moon passes between the Sun and the Earth such a way that the Sun is wholly or partially obscured. This can only happen during a new moon, when the Sun and Moon are in conjunction as seen from the Earth.

Annular Solar Eclipse: An annular eclipse occurs when the Sun and Moon are exactly in line, but the apparent size of the Moon is smaller than that of the Sun. Hence the Sun appears as a very bright ring, or annulus, surrounding the outline of the Moon.

Antumbra: This is that part of Moon’s shadow from which Sun appears larger than the Moon which is seen in complete silhouette. An annular eclipse is seen by an observer when he is located on path of antumbra



Importantly as part of this campaign “Student Space Simulators” project is being carried out at Hyderabad involving school students from three regions of the state.


DETAILS OF ANNULAR ECLIPSE ON 15th, January, 2010 :

Annular Solar Eclipse will occur on 15th January, 2010. This eclipse is visible partially in major parts of the country. This is first Solar Eclipse of the Year and best until year 2019 Dec 26th. As the next solar eclipse in 2011 on Jan 4 is visible to people in Northern parts of the country and few places in Gujarat. Whereas the solar eclipse in 2016 though visible in India begins and lasts only for few minutes close to horizon in early hours of March 9


Path of the Eclipse : The annular path of the eclipse will pass through the region covering southern tip of Chad, the Central African Republic, the northern Democratic Republic of Congo, Uganda, Kenya, the southern tip of India, northern Sri Lanka, the south-eastern tip of Bangladesh, Myanmer and south-eastern China. After leaving Africa, the path crosses the Indian Ocean where the maximum duration of annularity reaches 11 min 08 s.

It will be seen as annular within a narrow stretch of 333 km width covering across Central Africa, Maldives South Kerala, South Tamil Nadu, North Sri Lanka, Burma and China. Whereas this eclipse would be seen as partial from eastern Africa, south-east Europe, the Middle East, and south-east Asia

Importantly the duration of annularity which is 11 minutes 8 seconds during this annular eclipse on 15th Jan,2010 will not be exceeded for over 1000 years (3043 Dec 23).

Timings of the Eclipse :

World Wide:
Astronomically speaking the phenomena of Eclipse begins (first contact with earth) at 9.35 a.m. and ends at 3.38 p.m (last contact with earth) in the evening. In which the Central Phase of Eclipse begins at 10. 48 a.m. and Ends at 2.25 p.m. Wherein Greatest Eclipse Phase (when the eclipse is maximum occurs) at 12.36 p.m The duration of Annular Phase of Eclipse at maximum phase is 11 minutes and 4 seconds when people would witness sun as bright outline around moon disk like a ring.

Timings – Across India :
However in India people in southern part of India will be the first to see the eclipse as the path of eclipse traverses across India before entering Bangladesh, Burma. People in western and south India would see the beginning of eclipse between 11.00 to 11.30 a.m. Whereas people from central to north India would see the beginning of eclipse from 11.30 to 12 noon.

Importantly people in eastern part of India would see the beginning from 12 Noon onwards. People in northern eastern states of India would see the eclipse beginning from 12.15 onwards.



In India Kavaratti island in Lakshadweep would be one of the first to see the beginning of eclipse at 10.55 a.m. Whereas Dibrugarh would be one of the last to see the beginning (at 12.29 a.m.) or ending (3.39 p.m. ) of eclipse.

Timings in Andra Pradesh - Percentage of Visibility when eclipse is maximum : In Hyderabad the solar eclipse begins at 11.29 a.m. and Ends at 3.15 p.m. At Nellore eclipse begins at 11.28a.m and ends at 3.16 p.m. Kurnool Eclipse begins at 11.25 a.m. and ends at 3.14 p.m. Rajmundry eclipse begins at 11.38 a.m. and ends at 3.20 p.m. Vijayawada eclipse begins at 11.34 a.m. and ends at 3.18 p.m. Vizag eclipse begins at 11.44 and ends at 3.22 p.m. Tirupati 11.23 a.m. to 3.14 p.m.



The Percentage of Sun’s Disk at when eclipse is maximum (around 1.32 p.m) is Rajahmundry 83%, Vijayawada at 82%, Kurnool 79%. For Hyderabad its 77 %. Whereas Nellore District in our state is best place to witness this spectacle where covering of Sun’s disc by Moon would be 85%.

Percentage of Visibility – The More one his away from the Annularity Path – Less the Percentage of Sun Disk Coverage – at Maximum Phase : However this event can be seen only partially from major parts of the country. Depending on the location of the observer one can see the sun’s disk being covered from 42 % or less as one gets away from the ant-umbral path of eclipse.

When the eclipse reaches the maximum point. For an observer in Hyderabad would see 77 % of Sun’s disk. Whereas an observer in Ahmadabad can see only 56% or 42 % in case of observer in Jammu who is far away from the path of annularity. Even closely a person observing from Chennai would see only 89 % of sun being covered, whereas one from thanjavur being in antumbral path would enjoy Moon’s entire disk silhouetted against the Sun. Which allows him to see sun as bright ring, or annulus, surrounding the outline of the Moon.

Best Places to be at : Some of the best places through watch this eclipse where path of annularity passes is Karaikal, Madurai, Nagapattinam, Nagercoil, Rameswaram, Sivaganga, Tanjore, Thiruvarur, Tirunelveli, Trivandrum. i.e. is from these places and around people would witness Moon’s entire disk silhouetted against the Sun. Rameshwaram would witness highest duration during maximum phase i.e. 10 min 8 sec followed by Kanyakumari where it will be 9 min 58 seconds.

Importance of 15 Jan,2010 Eclipse – One who misses now need to wait for 9 years - Last prominent Solar Eclipse until 2019 -:

2011 4th January: this eclipse is visible to people in north India and few places in Gujrat. This eclipse is partial.

2016 9th March : The next opportunity to observe solar eclipse which is partial will occur on 9th March 2016 covering major parts of country . However eclipse begins well before sunrise in the morning and lasts upto 6.47 a.m when sun is close to horizon. This is very difficult to appreciate.


26th December, 2019: The best next prominent opportunity covering larger parts of the country of a Solar Eclipse will only happen on 26th December, 2019 which begins late in early morning when sun is sufficiently above horizon and continuing up to noon.
This means people in major parts of India missing the opportunity to observe the eclipse on 15th January, 2010 will not have opportunity to observe the solar eclipse for next 9 years until year 2019. Importantly the duration of annularity which is 11 minutes 8 seconds during this annular eclipse on 15th Jan,2010 will not be exceeded for over 1000 years (3043 Dec 23).

Tips for Observations: Solar eclipse should not be directly with naked eye or things like x ray films etc. As it may cause injury to eye. Hence people should use certified solar filters. Or use indirect projection method i.e. people can take a white paper and make a round hole into it. While facing one’s back toward sun one should hold the paper in such a way that Sun rays pass through the hole and fall onto wall. This way one would see projected image of sun light slowly getting darken as the eclipse progresses and get clear once the eclipse is complete.