Ring of Fire - ASE '10

Eight members of the COEP Astronomy Club (along with three members of a local Astronomy group - 'Akashmitra') had gone to Rameshwaram, a coastal village in South India to catch the Annular Solar Eclipse of 15th Jan 2010. Rameshwaram was chosen for its proximity to the Central Line of Eclipse (refer figure in the previous post for belt of visibility).

In all, the long journey (around 30 hours one way!) was very much worth the 8-10 minutes of annular phase and 3-4 hours of the entire eclipse.

Click here (web album) for remaining photos of the event by the author.

Annular Solar Eclipse - Jan 15, 2010

One of the first major events of the new year is the much awaited Annular Solar Eclipse on Jan 15, 2010. For those in India, this rare event can be seen from few places in the southern parts of the country. The map below shows the belt of totality and the time of eclipse.


An Annular Solar Eclipse is one in which the moon, although perfectly aligned in front of the sun, does not completely cover the disc, but rather leaves an outer ring of light, and thus the name 'annular'.

This phenomenon occurs when the moon is at or near the apogee, i.e. furthest distance from the earth (and of course other conditions of a regular solar eclipse being satisfied). An interesting thing to note is that although Annular Solar Eclipses are a rare occurrence now, they will become more and more common since the mean earth-moon distance is slowly increasing. hence after a ridiculously long time (but surely calculated already!) we will no longer be able to witness a Total Solar Eclipse, but at most an Annular one.

The Quarantids Meteor Shower

A great start to the new year comes with this bright meteor shower.
Generally peaking in January's first week, this time the day is today, 3rd of Jan.
Unfortunately, the pre-dawn hours which were best for observing the shower, were overcast in Pune.
Nevertheless, some interesting facts I could dig up about  the Quarantids:

The lost constellation:
The name Quarantids comes from the constellation Quadrans Muralis. This one was take off the charts by the IAU long ago and merged into Bootes. Understandably so, since it seems very troubling to visualise. If you still want to search for it, it looks like a Quadrant (an old navigational instrument) in that empty looking region of sky, surrounded by Bootes, Ursa Major, Ursa Minor,  a part of Draco , Hercules , Corona Borealis.
This is where the radiant of this shower is found.
But even though the constellation obsoleted, the name is still given to the meteors, so as not not confuse them with Bootids which have their radiant in Bootes and peak in January and June.

Sharp peak:
The peak of this meteor shower is very short lived. It lasts for a short time and the highest count so far has been 80. Also, the timing suits viewing from the far Northern lattitudes most suitable, but the prohibitively cold whether there affects obeservation of this shower adversely.
However these meteors are some of the brightest.
Scientists have gone above the clouds in jets to observe this shower, and some who braved the Arctic cold have got brilliant pics like the one here showing meteors on the foreground of the Aurora Borealis

The orbit of  the asteroid 2003 EHI , whose debris forms the meteors, cuts earth's orbit at a near perpendicular angle, hence the sharp peak.

Listening for Quarantids: Using RADAR to get through the clouds and listen for reflections off the meteors' dust trail, researchers have observed these meteors even in foul weather. The USAF is also playing out their recordings live on the net over here. They also catch satellites.

More from that region of the sky soon.

!X!