Partial umbral eclipse begins: 4:15 a.m. CDT on October 8
Total eclipse begins: 5:25 a.m. CDT
Greatest eclipse: 5:55 a.m. CDT
Total eclipse ends: 6:24 a.m. CDT
Partial eclipse ends: 7:34 a.m. CDT
Chart, displaying eclipse phases in Universal Time (GMT), courtesy of EclipseWise.com
There is a total eclipse of the full moon on October 8, 2014. This is the Northern Hemisphere’s Hunter’s Moon – the name for the full moon after the Harvest Moon. It’s also a Blood Moon, and this eclipse is the second in a series of four so-called Blood Moon eclipses. For North America and the Hawaiian Islands, the total lunar eclipse happens in the wee hours before sunrise on October 8.
For more information about the total eclipse and answers to questions like ‘What’s a Hunter’s Moon?”, please visit the full article at EarthySky.
And Happy Birthday to myself. I’ve crossed over. I’ve reached another dreaded milestone. Today is the first day of my fifth decade.
To make myself feel better about this dubious event, I’ve reverted to two of my favorite past times: math and astronomy.
I decided to calculate how many days I’ve been breathing air on Earth. For that I had to find a date calculator. Plugging in the relevant date (today in 1964 and 2014), the following results popped up:
From and including: Friday, October 2, 1964
To and including: Thursday, October 2, 2014
Result: 18,263 days
It is 18,263 days from the start date to the end date, end date included
Or 50 years, 1 day including the end date
Alternative time units 18,263 days can be converted to one of these units:
1,577,923,200 seconds
26,298,720 minutes
438,312 hours
18,263 days
2609 weeks
In addition, the Earth is travelling through space, via the Milky Way, at the incredible speed of 3,728.23 mps. Roughly, the Earth has moved 5.88286061194e+12 miles since I was born, give or take a few. That equates to approximately 63,256.57 astronomical units. A rolling stone gathers no moss . . .
And the .5c I included in the title of this post? No, I’m not travelling at half the speed of light (except in my dreams). I’m merely reflecting upon reaching my half century mark.
I decided to make a four day weekend out of this auspicious occasion so I’m relaxing at home, reading and doing other none stressful activities. No parties (that I know of) and no surprises. Just Terry, me and the dogs hanging out.
Just another day in the neighborhood. Eighteen thousand two hundred sixty-three and counting.
Two years ago, I made Apple Chutney from the fresh apples I picked off my own apple tree. My daughter loved it and just recently used the last can from that year.
This year, I modified the recipe slightly (see below):
Apple Chutney Recipe
2 quarts (64 ounces) apples (peeled, cored, chopped)
2 teaspoons lemon juice
2 lbs. golden raisins
4 cups brown sugar, firmly packed
1 medium onion, finely chopped
1 green bell pepper, finely chopped
2 red bell peppers, finely chopped
1 clove of garlic, crushed
2 1/2 tablespoons mustard seed
2 tablespoons ginger
2 1/2 teaspoons ground allspice
1 teaspoon curry powder
2 teaspoons table salt
4 cups (32 ounces) white vinegar
In my stock pot, I poured in the vinegar and added the brown sugar. I turned on the burner to a simmer setting. I chopped up the vegetables and added them to the stock pot. I crushed the garlic and grated the ginger and added that to the stock pot. I stirred it up. Then I started adding the spices. I got to the last one (curry) and got carried away, adding an extra teaspoon (twice as much as the recipe called for) so I added a half teaspoon more of allspice to counterbalance. I stirred it up again and got to work peeling, coring and chopping apples.
A few dozen apples from our apple tree this season, ready to be preserved.
I picked out seven medium to large sized apples and washed them. Then I peeled, cored and chopped them. I added them to the stockpot and stirred it all up. Then I picked 4-5 of the small apples and washed them. Rinse, repeat.
Apple chutney simmering in my stockopt.
Now I need to prep my brand new 16-quart pressure canner. This required taking the seal out of the lid and washing the lid, pan and seal in hot soapy water. It’s almost too big to fit in my sink! Once I got it rinsed and dried, I returned the seal to the lid and poured in a couple of gallons of distilled water. Then I turned the burner on medium-high to start the long process of heating up the pan and the water. Finally, I placed the clean empty lidless jars in the water so they would gradually rise in temperature and become sanitized. I started a smaller pan with a half-gallon of distilled water on medium-low heat and placed the lids and bands in it.
New pressure canner
The canner can process a dozen of the Ball Quilted Crystal Jelly jars (half pint capacity), which is what I use to preserve the apple chutney. My daughter, for whom all this effort is expended, prefers that size to use when cooking for two. I processed through most of the simmering apple chutney and sealed up the canner. I cranked up my largest burner to its highest setting and set 20 minutes on the timer.
First batch finished – Apple Chutney (Autumn 2014)
I had enough apple chutney after the first batch to fill four more half-pint jars. The canner has a roiling boil on for those last four lonely jars.
So the above recipe produces sixteen half-pint jars. Or 128 ounces. Or one gallon of chutney.
For once, I live in just about the best spot to observe a total solar eclipse. The center line for the eclipse coming in August 2017 is just a few miles north of where I live. That being said, the path of the eclipse cuts diagonally across the United States from Oregon to South Carolina.
Thanks to Barbara, I now know more about the first month of World War I than all my previous half-century of accumulated, absorbed knowledge. Not only do I know more, but I understand the how. How Europe ended up in a terrible stalemate and war of attrition that lasted four more years. The why will have to wait until I can read her other history The Proud Tower: A Portrait of the World Before the War, 1890-1914.
Summer officially arrived yesterday, but today it dawned for the first time. I woke up way way early for a Sunday (sometime during the four o’clock hour) and spied a hazy crescent moon from my bedroom window, but no bright shining Venus.
Late in the five o’clock hour, I went outside, taking Apollo with me, to see if Venus peaked through the clouds. No, nothing but the moon.
First Summer Sunrise 2014
Some of my flowers are doing well, like my day lilies and the moss roses, potted or in flower beds:
Potted Moss Roses (four plants, various colors)Flower bed with moss roses, day lilies and cone flowers.
The cone flowers I planted last year and not doing very well. The one I planted at the north end of this flower bed only produced three or four leaves. The other one (shown above) is flowering, but also looks pekid. I’m just not much of a gardener. My one true success is the day lilies, which I planted six years ago on Memorial Day.
I volunteer as part of Team 2 (one of several teams staffed by members of the Astronomical Society of Kansas City). I’m looking forward to meeting many new people and introducing them to the many wonders of the night sky.
More Powell Observatory Information:
The observatory is staffed by ASKC volunteers and is open to the public every Saturday night from the beginning of May through the end of October. The Star Bright Saturday Night Programs begin at dusk and include program presentations on astronomy, tours of the observatory, and (if the skies are clear) viewing through the various telescopes of the moon, planets, stars, star clusters and more! A donation of $6 per adult and $4 per child is suggested to help support the observatory and allow it to continue operations open to the public.
Hope to see you tomorrow night and always keep looking up!
A quick shout-out to everyone in the Kansas City metro area to come on down to the