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Although we are
weather forecasters,
the lack of a professional astronomical observatory on the island
forces
us to be amateur astronomers. Astronomical events like eclipses
and the passage of comets make many people call the
Meteorological
Service to get more information about these (events). Unfortunately we
have not been trained to be able to give information about these
phenomena
at a professional level. Thanks to the Internet though, we get useful
information
from several sites. Farther below, I'll give you a few links to some of
those sites.
The tables to the left and right show respectively the times of sunrise, sunset and moonrise and moonset during January 2009 at sea level in Curaçao. Follow the links below for the complete tables for 2009 on rise and set times of both the Sun and the Moon in Curaçao. In the lunar table, bold letters indicate the date of a full Moon while italic and bold combined show the same for the new Moon. Normal italic indicates the date of first quarter while underlined shows when the Moon is in the last quarter stage. These times are all local times (UTC - four hours). Almost eleven years ago,
we experienced THE
astronomical event of the 20th
and 21st
century combined
in Curaçao and surroundings. That was the total solar eclipse
which took place on that unforgettable Thursday, February 26 1998. It
was
the only total solar eclipse to be seen here at least until the year
2600
or so, so don't expect to live to see another one in your lifetime, at
least not in this section of the Earth. See this
animation to see what parts of the Earth fell in the shadow of
the moon. To see this animation you need a special plug-in like Quick
Time Movie installed with your browser. For a lot more information
about this unique occurrence, see the table
of contents or the Eclipse
Home Page, both prepared and written by American eclipse expert
Fred
Espenak . He has also issued a page containing reports
by various professional and amateur astronomers eye witnessing
this eclipse in Aruba, Curaçao and other spots in the Caribbean. The most recent solar eclipse,
seen in
Curaçao, took place on
April 8, 2005. This one was a so-called hybrid eclipse. That
means that over sections of the Earth, the eclipse was seen as an
annular eclipse and in other parts, (at the center of
its path) as a total eclipse. In Curaçao, it was seen as a
partial eclipse where more than 90% of the Sun was covered by the Moon.
Look for more detailed information about
this event at this site. Eclipse guru Fred
Espenak from NASA supplies
you with all kinds of information. Do you need more information about the position of planets, stars, comets and other heavenly bodies in respect to the Earth? Visit then either the site of Sky and Telescope or Earth and Sky. Both sites are very informative on these subjects. Ever wondered what phase the
moon was in on
a
certain
date, whether it was couple of days ago or more than a thousand years?
Or do you want to know the phase of the moon on a certain date in the
near
or distant future? Click here
to
get an answer on your question. |
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