Lunar eclipse + solstice tonight, not visible in Nashville due to clouds
December 20, 2010
Credit: Fred Espenak/NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center
You must’ve heard about this by now, but I’ll mention it to make sure you know: there’s a full lunar eclipse happening tonight, and it just so happens that it’s also the winter solstice, a.k.a. the shortest day/longest night of the year. Just a coincidence, but a relatively rare one. Lunar eclipses aren’t super-rare- we get one about once every 2-3 years, but they can be pretty spectacular if the earth’s atmospheric conditions cast an eerie orange-red hue on the moon. There’s no way to know if that will happen for sure, but from my experience it happens more often than not. Unfortunately there’s a very good chance it will cloudy and/or raining tonight in middle TN, but if you’re elsewhere, good luck! It starts at about 1:30am EST, that’s 12:30am central, 11:30pm mountain, and 10:30pm pacific. For more details and a good rundown of what to expect, visit Bad Astronomy, and for a good explanation of the red/orange hue, visit this NASA article.
And I can’t help but post this comic from xkcd: I agree 100%
Black Lips escape India/Annular eclipse photos
January 27, 2009
Credit: M.R. Taufik
Yesterday a relatively rare phenomenon occurred over parts of the Pacific Ocean, southeast Asia and Australia- an annular solar eclipse. Solar eclipses aren’t that common to begin with, but what makes it an annular solar eclipse is the fact that the moon’s occultation of the sun coincided with its furthest point from earth in its orbit. In other words, the moon’s orbit is elliptical, so it’s not always the same distance from earth. IF the point at which the moon is farthest from earth in said elliptical orbit happens to coincide with a solar eclipse, the moon’s disc doesn’t fully cover the sun, and it results in a ring of light showing around the black disc of the moon. Pretty cool, and definitely something I’d like to see before I die. For now though, we can just enjoy the photos linked to on the Universe Today post about it.
So I read the stories yesterday about everyone’s favorite Atlanta troublemakers Black Lips getting chased around India on their tour, but I decided to wait until the full story surfaced to post about it. Pitchfork is totally gay for them so I knew they’d post an update the very minute they heard anything. I was right. But the full story can be found on their label Vice’s blog. It’s an interview with the drummer… and it turns out they weren’t actually chased by the cops, and the only people really after them were their tour manager and his production company. Now they’re in Germany hanging out with King Khan, who I can’t wait to see with the Shrines at the Exit/In in March.
Speaking of rock n roll, thanks so much to everyone who came out to my 8 off 8th last night. Unfortunately my band Tigers Con Queso couldn’t play because Seth came down with a serious case of the flu earlier in the day, so it was a 7 off 8th, but it was awesome nonetheless, and people seemed to really enjoy it. Everything was on time and the last band didn’t end up getting screwed & having to play at 1am on a monday. The official door count was 157 people. I also wore this insane sweater that my mom got for my dad back in the 70’s, and apparently it’s the most amazing thing anyone has ever seen, because people were flipping out over it all night. Thanks mom! (You just have to see it to understand.)
The Nashville Cream reported yesterday that guitarist Denis Deck will be leaving How I Became the Bomb soon. The split was amicable, and Deck will continue to play with them until temporary replacement Russell Hanberry from Stories That Live can take over.
Turns out even babies know how to rock out. My mom always said she knew I’d be a drummer even before I was born because I apparently pounded the inner walls of her uterus incessantly.
steve cross loves music and science 