A special sky over Tokyo

Yesterday a 日食 (solar eclipse) could be seen over Tokyo and a few other parts of the world.
Did you watch the eclipse? To look at it, you needed to wear special glasses otherwise you could risk serious eye damage.

I got a (cheap) pair of the glasses and watched the eclipse. It was visible in Tokyo at 7:30AM.

I took a few photos of it with my cell-phone camera. Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to get a very good shot of the “ring of fire” (when the moon was directly in front of the sun and a perfect ring was visible around the dark moon)…this one is probably the best of the pictures I got.

Solar eclipse over Tokyo, 2012 May 21

Another “sky-related” event in Tokyo is the grand opening of the Tokyo Sky Tree today (2012 May 22).

It says “Tuesday, 2012 May 22, Tokyo Sky Tree grand opening”

Personally, I don’t plan to go inside the Tokyo Sky Tree at least until the “novelty” wears off because it’s going to be very crowded (for awhile, a reservation is required to go inside) and also, the admission cost is expensive—¥2,000 – ¥3,000 for adults (depending on which level of the tower you want to go up to).

The Earth “ate” the moon

On Saturday (2011 December 10th), many parts of the world, including Japan, could see a 月食 (full lunar eclipse).

A lunar eclipse occurs when the sun, earth and moon are all aligned in a straight line causing the moon to be completely hidden by the shadow cast by the earth.

In Japanese, it’s called 「月食」 (“Gesshoku“). The written characters could be literally translated to “Eaten moon” (hence my title for this post).

Before the moon was completely covered in the earth's shadow, some of the sun's reflected light caused the moon to appear red. (The picture was taken in Tokyo).

This photo shows the earth's shadow beginning to cover the moon. (Tokyo Tower is in the foreground).

Were you able to see the lunar eclipse where you live?

(The two photos in this post were found on Google Images. My camera’s not powerful enough to take such close-up shots of the moon.)

日食

As I mentioned in an earlier post (click here to read it), there was a 日食 (solar eclipse) visible from Japan today.

Unfortunately, it was an overcast day (with light rain in the morning), so the eclipse wasn’t easily visible. I wasn’t able to see it at all. But I saw on the TV news this evening that many people with “eclipse glasses” waited for the clouds to part…which they did a little bit before the eclipse ended, so they were able to get a view of the eclipsed sun.

日食 (solar eclipse) over Tokyo

Today’s 日食 (solar eclipse) was a 100% eclipse visible from southern Japan. From Tokyo, it was about 70%.

The TV news said that the next time that a partial eclipse will be visible from Japan won’t occur for another 26 years. And the next time that a full eclipse will be seen in Japan won’t be for about 300 years!
So today’s eclipse was something special!

The Sea and The Sun

今日は「海の日」 (Today is “Sea Day“).

It’s the Japanese holiday in July to appreciate the ocean and sea life…many people go to the beach on this day.
(You can read my short FAQ about this holiday on my website by clicking here).

We’re not going to the beach today.
My wife and second daughter are at the shopping mall now, but I’m at home waiting for our youngest daughter to come home from basketball practice at her junior high school (she’s on the girls’ basketball team) and my oldest to come home from her part-time job.

My youngest daughter will be home about 2:00 and my oldest will be home around 3:00…at which time we’ll go to the mall to meet my wife and other kid.

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On 水曜日 (Wednesday), 2009 June 22, the longest total 日食 (solar eclipse) of the 二十一世紀 (21st century) will be viewable in Japan (and other parts of Asia).

In southern Japan, at just before 11:00 AM, a full eclipse will be visible.
Other parts of Japan will be able to see a partial eclipse.

Over Tokyo at about 11:10 AM on Wednesday, a 70% eclipse will occur.

Here’s a map of Japan showing the approximate percentage of 日食 (solar eclipse) will be visible from around 10:45 – 11:15 AM on June 22 (I got this map from Japan Guide):

(click to enlarge)

If you will be in the area to see this 日食 (solar eclipse), don’t forget that looking at a solar eclipse without the proper equipment can damage your eyes permanently (and taking a photo of it without the proper equipment can damage a camera).