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AAAD and Chase Plans
Please use this RSVP form to send us your chase plans. We will also post our eclipse hunting programs on this page soon
Nationwide Lunar Eclipse Chase Map. All organizations/individuals are welcome to submit their chase locations and plans to us. We will add you to this map.
Eclipse Statistics
| Penum. Contact 1 (P1) | 17:24:37 UTC | 22:54:37 IST |
| Umbral Contact 1 (U1) | 18:22:57 UTC | 23:52:57 IST |
| Umbral Contact 2 (U2) | 19:22:29 UTC | 00:52:29 IST* |
| Umbral Contact 3 (U3) | 21:02:42 UTC | 02:32:42 IST* |
| Umbral Contact 4 (U4) | 22:02:14 UTC | 03:32:14 IST* |
| Penum. Contact 2 (P2) | 23:00:41 UTC | 04:30:41 IST* |
| Time of Maximum Eclipse | 20:13:43 UTC | 01:43:43 IST* |
*indicates time on June 16th 2011
Eclipse Visibility
c-Oph Occultation
During the eclipse, the Moon will also occult a bright star c-Ophiuchus at around 12:47 am on 16.06.2011. This is somewhat right before the umbral contact U2 of the eclipse. Occultation chasers and photographers should not forget to miss this unusual opportunity
Meeting, Feb 27th, Sunday, 12 pm
Dear AstroNUTS
AAAD will be having a meeting on February 27th, Sunday at 12 noon. The agenda of the meeting will be the future activities of AAAD specially upcoming events like Astronomy Month, June Lunar Eclipse, Earth Hour celebrations etc… We wish to invite everybody to come to the meeting, In this meeting we will also be discussing and deciding that when and where we should have our next Night
SkyWatch . For further info and to confirm your attendance please write to me at raghukalra@aaadelhi.org or call me at +91-9990224091
Regards
Raghu
Classification of Solar Flares
Solar Flares are classified according to the amount of energy emitted by them per unit area. The classification is based on the energy released in the 1-8 Angstrom band.
Typically we have 4 major classes designated by letters B,C,M and X, with X being the most powerful of flares. Each of these letter classes is further subdivided into 9 subdivisions. So a X class flare can exist from X1 to X9, with X9 being the strongest flare.
| Class | Flare Power (W/sq.m) |
| B | 1E-6 |
| C | 1E-6 to 1E-5 |
| M | 1E-5 to 1E-4 |
| X | > 1E-4 |
First X Class Flare in Four years
The silence and boredom has ended. It seems that the yellow ball in the sky has decided to show that its not dead yet. After an unusually long hiatus, a large sunspot group just below the solar equator has formed. The spots recently released an M6 class solar Flare on Feb 13th at about 1738 UTC. This was followed up today by a X2 class flare released on Feb 15th on 0156UTC. Both flares have ejecta (coronal mass ejection) hurling towards earth, triggering geomagnetic storms over the polar regions of our planet.
X-Ray emission data from SOHO-CELIAS instrument, Wavelength from 1 t0 500 Angstrom
The flare originated from the sunspot group designated 1158. Astronomers predict that this feature on the sun isn’t done yet and there may be more fireworks soon. Besides the pretty auroras, flares like these can be annoying too. Strong flares have known to cause problems in power transmission lines, destroying sensitive electronics on board satellites and deep space missions.
Update
19.02.2011: Another M Class Eruption, There is 75% chance of more outbursts soon
Related Links
Astrology is not a Science
The Amateur Astronomers Association Delhi wishes to criticize and condemn the decision of the Bombay High Court on calling Astrology as a Science. We believe the decision is not right. The decision should be reviewed.
Scientists are the people who define science. Physics is science because it proves itself right time and again without fail, and if there comes a day when laws in physics stop giving accurate results, we stop considering them as laws unless we have a logical explanation for the law showing inconsistency. In the case of Astrology the consistency is no greater than what is expected by chance, For example, while flipping a coin there is a 50-50 chance of having a head or a tail. the accuracy of astrology is even less. Here is a list of historical dates which were predicted to be doomsday or apocalypse. As we can all see the have all failed.
Please Sign an online petition here: Click here
Source: Fair Criticism of Court
Apophis to Impact Earth in 2036?
In 2004, astronomers at Kitt Peak Observatory in Arizona, USA discovered a near earth asteroid, dubiously named 99942 Apophis. The asteroid is about 200 m across in diameter. It became famous for being an asteroid with a rating of 4 on the Torino Imapact Hazard scale. Since 2006, the asteroid had been demoted to 0. However recent studies into the asteroid’s orbit has questioned the accuracy of this rating. Scientist in Russia think that there is a very real chance this asteroid will impact earth in 2036.
This observation has been refuted by NASA. According to Donald Yeomans, director of NASA’s near earth objects office claims that the probability of impact is currently 1/250,000.
Apophis will come within 5 earth radii distance of the earth in 2029. However if the asteroid passes within a region of space called the “keyhole” during this period, the orbit might change enough to cause impact with earth.
The predicted date of impact is April 13, 2036.
Impact Consequences
Apophis carries a massive Kinetic energy of 5.1e+02 Mega Tonnes of TNT equivalent. To put numbers in perspective, the Hiroshima nuclear bomb had a 20 Kilo tonnes yield.
However from preliminary calculations we did based on this article, a Apophis class asteroid will create a 4 Km wide impact crater on a direct hit.
Predicted possible impact locations of Apophis