Sunday, November 03, 2013

Information for Scout John

I call one of our neighbours scout John because he regularly finds information for me about what is going on locally. Now, perhaps, it is my turn to help him.

You see John is  keen on astronomy and is a member of a local club that observes the stars and the firmament. I am therefore sure that he will know that, this afternoon, there will be a rare hybrid eclipse of the sun* which will be observable from this region.

What he may not know though is that the Centre for Information and Youth in Alicante, along with the Mastral Project, will be setting up telescopes on the Juan Aparicio  promenade in Torrevieja  to allow people to observe the phenomena. 

The eclipse will start at 13:10 and will last approximately one and a half hours.

What is a Hybrid Eclipse?

A hybrid eclipse occurs when the moon's distance from the Earth varies with time. When the moon is a bit farther away, it becomes too small to completely cover the bright disk of the sun. This results in the sighting of a light ring (of the sun) encircling the moon.

Sometimes when the moon is a bit closer, it covers the sun’s disc, partially producing a crescent-shaped light ring of the sun.

A hybrid eclipse occurs once every 18 years.

1 comment:

Bill said...

Do you mean astrology, or astronomy? The rest of your article would seem to suggest the latter.