SE Newsletter March 1999

SEC for March

From: Patrick Poitevin ppoitevin@village.uunet.be To: SE Mailing List SOLARECLIPSES@AULA.COM Subject: [SE] Solar Eclipse Calendar March Date: Tuesday, March 09, 1999 6:56 PM

Hi, Please find herewith the Solar Eclipse Calendar for March. If you have suggestions or remarks, please send to me.

March 04, 1923 birth of Patrick Alfred Caldwell Moore. Parents Gertrude and Charles Caldwell Moore. Author or co-author of almost 200 books, compose 2 operas and host one of the longest running shows on television The Sky at Night (launch 26 April 1957) without a break. His first book was in 1952. He joined the BAA when he was 11 years old and the RAS in 1946. He observed many solar eclipses. (ref. Astronomy & Space March 1998)

March 04, 1968 Launch of OGO 5, American geophysics satellite. Studied Solarwind and magnetosphere.

March 05, -1222 (1223 BC) In references the oldest record of a verifiable solar eclipse, on a clay tablet found in the ruins of Ugarit ( Syria). This was a total solar eclipse in North Africa and the Middle East. Totality at maximum was 3m55s. Other references says "the sun went down" which also has the expression for "to set".

March 05, 1973 2001 Einstein 1973 EB. Minor Planet discovered in memory of Albert Einstein (1879-1955).

March 07, 1951 Annular eclipse which was seen from New York as a small partial eclipse. Buffalo Bob Smith, died in 1998 at the age of 80 years in North Carolina, broadcasted this eclipse on NBC in 1951 with a camera on top of the RCA building. He had the famous children s TV show Howdy Doody. (ref. ENB 9/98)

March 07, 1962 Launch of OSO 1, American solar satellite. Studied prominences, corona, XUV and röntgenrays of the sun.

March 08, 1967 Launch of OSO 3 and 4, American solar satellites, see 7 March 1962.

March 09, 1611 Johann Fabricius observed sunspots and conclude de rotation period of the sun.

March 12, 1835 Simon Newcomb (12 Mar 1835 - 11 Jul 1909). He used carefully analyzed measurements of stellar and planetary positions to compute motions of the sun, moon, planets, and their satellites. Measured distance to the Sun.

March 14, 1879 Birth of Albert Einstein, American theoretical physician, mainly known for his relativity.

March 15, 1713 Birth of Nicolas Louis de Lacaille, French astronomer. Did measurements of the parallax of the sun and the moon. Observed transit of Venus in 1761.

March 15, 1975 Helios 1, German Solar mission reached the sun at 48 million km. That time a record.

March 17, 1846 Death of Friedrich Wilhelm Bessel, German astronomer en mathematics. Studied precession, nutation, aberration and inclination of the ecliptic. Known for the Bessel elements needed to calculate solar eclipses.

March 18, 1988 Patrick Poitevin observed on his birthday his 5 th eclipse central eclipse in the Philippines. In General Santos, Philippines totality was 03m25s local.

March 21, 1762 Death of Nicolas Louis de Lacaille, French astronomer. Did measurements of the parallax of the sun and the moon. Observed transit of Venus in 1761.

March 23, 1938 1492 Oppolzer 1938 FL. Minor Planet discovered 1938 March 23 by Y. Väisälä at Turku. Named in honor of Hofrath Prof. Theodor Ritter Oppolzer (1841-1886), professor in astronomy in Vienna and author of the monumental "Canon der Finsternisse".

March 28, 1998 The Solar Eclipse Section, VVS Belgium organized DDD2 (De Duistere Dag 2 or The Dark Day 2) in the Europlanetarium Genk, Belgium. Speakers were Wasyl Moszowski (Total Solar Eclipses since 1983), Jan Janssens (FNOES and EAGB eclipse observations) and Patrick Poitevin et all (Eclipse of February 26, 1998).

March 30, 1882 Oceana 224: Minor planet discovered 1882 March 30 by Johann Palisa at Vienna. Named for the Pacific Ocean. The discoverer communicated from Honolulu on return from the solar eclipse expedition of May 6, 1883 that Governor von Dessarts of Tahiti has named this planet. BAJ CIR 210 (1883) - Valentin Kinet 6/97

Best regards, Patrick