After the Solar Eclipse is Before Another One

Posted on December 31, 2019 by

Annular

Happy New Year! to all who still follow my blog. We returned safely from buzzing Doha last week where the 1999 Annular Solar Eclipse was visible but again obscured by lots of clouds.  The GIF of the above satellite’s view can be seen here.

IMG_1444

The best picture I was able to take was this one, just before the rising sun reached the overcast sky. We were in Al Wakrah, some 20 km south of Doha. There were a dozen or so fellow eclipse watchers on the beach so early in the morning.

As an annular eclipse is considered dangerous as at no time you should look into the sun, we used, of course, proper eye protection.

The next annular will be on 21 June 2020. And believe it or not, it will be visible again in the Middle East, best in Oman near Muscat.

31 December 2019 @ 8:40 am.

Last modified December 31, 2019.

 

 

Posted in Qatar, Uncategorized | Tagged , ,

The 2019 Christmas Annular Solar Eclipse

Posted on October 19, 2019 by

A rare annular solar eclipse will happen on December 26 this year. Visibility will be from Eastern provinces of Saudi Arabia early in the morning, then the totality will rush to Qatar, Abu Dhabi and Oman and then into the Arabian Sea and India.

I expect a spectacular show in Doha where the sun shall rise already partially eclipsed and the totality may be seen about half an hour after sunrise.

Some readers may remember that I have had a quite traumatic experience when a total solar eclipse was visible, or rather not, in Germany in August 1999. So, let’s hope there are clear skies in the Middle East. Eye protection was ordered!

19 October 2019 @ 11:20 am

Last modified October 19, 2019

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“No person in this country is so high that he is above the law”

Posted on April 19, 2019 by

Mueller

Special counsel Robert Mueller’s heavily redacted report last page concludes,

Because we determined not to make a traditional prosecutorial judgment, we did not draw ultimate conclusions about the President’s conduct.  The evidence we obtained about the President’s actions and intent presents difficult issues that would need to be resolved if we were making a traditional prosecutorial judgment.  At the same time, if we had confidence after a thorough Investigation of the facts that the President clearly did not commit obstruction of justice, we would so state.  Based on the Facts and the applicable legal Standards, we are unable to reach that judgment.  Accordingly, while this report does not conclude that the President committed a crime, it also does not exonerate him.

Devastating.

19 April 2019 @ 1:59 pm.

Last modified April 20, 2019.

Posted in USA | Tagged , , ,

A Smile of the Beyond

Posted on April 11, 2019 by

Smile

Is this what British guitarist John McLaughlin had in mind on his 1974 album Apocalypse with a reorganized and, then and now, largely disappointing Mahavishnu Orchestra? God as a smiley?

What happens inside the black hole? Well, it’s safe to say: nothing. As there is no time or space or spacetime anymore. Unthinkable.

Studying black holes is like studying hurricanes with an important difference. Black holes won’t harm any of us, hurricanes will.

11 April 2019 @ 6:52 am.

Last modified April 11, 2019.

Posted in Science, Uncategorized | Tagged , , ,

“Why do wealthy politicians build walls, fences and gates around their homes?”

Posted on January 10, 2019 by

Well, that’s a good question. Donald Trump answer doesn’t satisfy, though. They do that because they have lost contact to their subjects, not because they love those inside the wall. It’s a sign of lacking democracy or frank dictatorship.

walls

Walls are erected for keeping other people out. For starving them. For separating them. They are ugly.

Apart from terrible flaws, hubris and self-enhancement, and despite strongly submitting to law and order, Americans have usually been a welcoming nation. A multicultural melting pot.

In that sense, Trump’s childish insistence of his “wall” is racist and utterly un-American.

10 January 2019 @ 6:59 am.

Last modified January 10, 2019.

 

 

Posted in USA | Tagged , ,