MetaFilter posts tagged with eclipse

Rising the Black Sun (SLP)

canine epigram — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 13:41:35 -0800

Tomorrow, July 22 2009, we will witness the longest solar eclipse of our century. Instead of the sunrise, people will see a black hole rising in the sky and birds will be unsure if the day is beginning or not. It might become the most viewed eclipse ever. If there are any mefites in Shanghai, Surat, Vadodara, Bhopal, Varanasi, Chengdu, Chonqing, Wuhan, Hefei, or Hangzhou, please for the love of dog, report in!

Total Eclipse of the Heart (Literal Video Version)

WCityMike — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 20:16:21 -0800

Total Eclipse of the Heart (Literal Version) (SLYT). This video has a cracktasticness-surreality quotient that's through the roof. Here's the original, summed up by Wikipedia as "Bonnie Tyler clad all in white, apparently having a dream or fantasy about her students in a boys' boarding school. Young men are seen dancing and participating in various school activities such as swim team, fencing, football, and singing in a choir. The video was shot at Holloway Sanatorium." The original song was written by Jim Steinman, by the way, who is the writer behind most of the overwraught melodramatic songs that hit the top of the charts, like Celine Dion's "It's All Coming Back to Me Now" and Meatloaf's "I Would Do Anything for Love (But I Won't Do That)".

Thus Spoke Zarathustra

popcassady — Fri, 27 Feb 2009 10:29:26 -0800

Also sprach Zarathustra ...seems familiar. Images of February's penumbral lunar eclipse captured by Japan's lunar explorer, Kaguya.

Citizen Science for Epsilon Aurigae

Upton O'Good — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 22:49:59 -0800

Once every 27 years or so, the mysterious binary star system of Epsilon Aurigae undergoes an eclipse, lasting nearly two years. This gives this system the distinction of having both the longest eclipse and the longest period of any known binary system. However, it is not clear why the eclipses last so long, or even what the structure of the system actually looks like--the main star is a supergiant, with a radius as big as the distance from the earth to the sun, and yet its light is dimmed for two years by something yet bigger. The next eclipse is due to begin in August of 2009, and as part of the International Year of Astronomy in 2009, amateur astronomers are being called on to make their own observations of the changing brightness of Epsilon Aurigae. If you want to try it yourself, you can read the training guide to find out how to do your own observations and report them. In addition, the two scientists who organized observations of the previous eclipse both have webpages [1, 2] which are coordinating the organization for the upcoming observation. If you want to learn more about the science behind ε Aurigae, a good rundown with links to papers is available here.

Eclipse Aviation, start to finish.

backseatpilot — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 06:58:51 -0800

Eclipse Aviation yesterday told all of its employees to go home and that they would not be paid for their past two weeks of work. Eclipse has been seen since its inception as a revolutionary company, pioneering the development of the world's first very light jets - defined as a jet aircraft weighing less than 10,000 pounds gross and costing less than $4 million. Philip Greenspun (of photo.net fame) has reviewed many of these VLJs, including the Eclipse 500. The concept was simple: build a fast, cheap twin-engine aircraft for the growing market of private owners and air taxi services. The company won the prestigious Collier Trophy in 2005 (a list of all winners up to 2006 here) before the Eclipse 500 had even been certified. Controversy quickly set in about the company's practices. A blog was established to criticize just about every aspect of the company, from its business model to the design of the aircraft. After Eclipse Aviation Critic shut down, Eclipse Critic NG (named after the airplane's second avionics suite, the Avio NG - the original Avio was replaced after Eclipse dropped Avidyne as a contractor) stepped up to continue the discussion. Eclipse subpoenaed Google to obtain the IP addresses of several of the contributors to that site. After replacing virtually all of their contractors, increasing the base price of the airplane from $800,000 to $1.5 million, and delaying deliveries, Dayjet - an air taxi service and Eclipse's biggest customer - shuttered its doors in September. Last month, Eclipse halted production of its aircraft, leading to yesterday's announcement that its employees would not be paid. Unfortunately, Eclipse's business model is predicated on a rather "optimistic" assumption - 1,000 aircraft sales per year at an original cost of $800,000 per unit. The Teal Group (pdf) has rather a lot to say about the company, most of it negative: The Eclipse program was designed from the outset to be revolutionary and unique. In Teal Group’s estimation, the people behind Eclipse have attained this objective. This program is the single worst aviation program Teal Group has ever covered. It isn’t the aircraft itself. Rather, it was a business plan that makes no sense, except to attract investors who don’t know much about the aviation business. The plan called for 1,000 deliveries per year. As a reference point, in 2007 the world’s manufacturers delivered a total of about 4,000 turbine-powered aircraft of all types and models. This one company, an unknown start-up, proposed to grow that global figure by 25%, admitting that it couldn’t survive if it merely built 450 planes per year (100 aircraft more than any other turbine-powered aircraft model).

"The sun descending in the west, The evening star does shine;"

wander — Tue, 13 Mar 2007 14:12:27 -0800

Have you ever wondered what a solar eclipse would look like from space? The STEREO (Solar TErrestrial RElations Observatory) has just sent back its view (awe-inspiring video included). It has also sent back some gorgeous pictures of our sun (and the McNaught Comet). For more media, check out the other galleries (including some 3D images). For more about the project, see NASA's STEREO homepage. Be sure to also stop by the Johns Hopkins University STEREO Page, where you can download a mission guide (pdf), view animations, watch a video of the launch, or even make your own papercraft STEREO model (pdf). You can also learn more in six minute segments with their series of short educational videos.

Please don't let it be cloudy, please, please

fluffycreature — Tue, 13 Feb 2007 18:14:01 -0800

Lunar Eclipse The first lunar eclipse of 2007. Can you see it? Pretty... but also previously. Put your thinking caps on.

Hoop Around the Moon

brownpau — Fri, 08 Sep 2006 09:22:46 -0800

A hoop, to draw the Earth's shadow: illustrating yesterday's partial lunar eclipse with a hoop and some creative camera positioning. Start here and work your way towards the painter. Via Spaceweather. More photos of the eclipse on Flickr.

March 2006 Solar Eclipse Photos

brownpau — Wed, 29 Mar 2006 15:26:06 -0800

There was a lovely total solar eclipse over parts of Africa, Europe, and Asia yesterday. See the photo galleries from Spaceweather, BBC, various Flickr users, and the International Space Station.

hurra birthday

kingfisher, his musclebound cat — Thu, 15 Dec 2005 21:41:42 -0800

Hurra Torpedo has been to America and their tour has been documented. Did a metafilter email lead to, if not a world tour, an American tour? At least it brought joy to these children (video #3), the ecstatic witnesses to Hurra's first American gig. If you don't get a thrill from the performance, have no love for beards, or find that crack of ass does not so much smile at you as it much as it sneers, you can still try win an automobile.

once in a red moon...?

jessamyn — Wed, 27 Oct 2004 17:09:11 -0800

Go outside and watch the eclipse [if it's night where you are]. Tonight's lunar eclipse -- visible on all continents except Australia -- marks the first time there has been an eclipse during a World Series game. If Fox is feeling generous, it could be the widest TV audience a total eclipse of a "Blood Moon" has ever had. If you're in the US, click on this time zone map to get a quicktime movie of what the moon will look like overhead in your state.

occultation

the fire you left me — Thu, 06 Nov 2003 09:09:12 -0800

A total lunar eclipse will be seen Saturday night, November 8 in the Americas and early the next morning in Europe and elsewhere.

Lunar Eclipse

hammurderer — Thu, 15 May 2003 17:33:22 -0800

Just a reminder that the lunar eclipse occurs tonight, starting at 7:00pm Pacific Daylight Time (and lasting about three hours). Various webcasts have been set up for the darkness-impaired. Apologies for the double-post, and I am aware that I'll probably get like 5 comments that say "SpaceFilter".

kokogiak — Thu, 11 Jan 2001 23:09:33 -0800

Tuesday's Lunar Eclipse has come and gone. How did you mark its passing? Here's how some of our global neighbors celebrated. Some seemed inclined to shoot the Moon in Turkey. Others in Nigeria believed the eclipse was caused by Sinners, so they burned hotels and bars. Some Hindus in India said the eclipse was sent by Lord Shiva, and took a dip in the Ganges as part of Kumbh Mela. Iraqi children sang to the heavens asking "Please Great Whale, give the moon back". And in Europe & Canada, up to 1,500 White witches gathered to ward off doom.

ethylene — Sun, 24 Dec 2000 17:26:35 -0800

please lord, make it stop--- just a little quote from red meat. i was looking up the times for the last eclipse of the millenium and thot i'd share. view at your own risk (%*)