TWILIGHT LUNAR OCCULTATION ALERT: When the sun sets on Wednesday, Feb. 18th, go outside and look west. Mercury and the crescent Moon will be extremely close together low in the twilight sky. Across at least 10 southern US states, the Moon will eclipse or "occult" the planet, producing a photo-op of rare beauty. Enjoy the show! Resources: sky map | Mercury photos | visibility map | city-by-city timetables.
THE SOLAR ECLIPSE THAT ALMOST NO ONE SAW: A rare solar eclipse occured in Antarctica today when the New Moon blocked the summer sun over the frozen continent. So far we have received no photos of that remote event. However, here's how it looked 4,000 miles away in Paarl, South Africa:
"For my 88th eclipse of the sun, I traveled to South Africa and saw a 5.7% coverage of the solar disk," says Paul D. Maley. "Sky conditions were picture perfect. Only my wife and I were at the Grande Roche Hotel in Paarl with nobody else even being aware of the eclipse."
In Antarctica, coverage was 96% and the eclipse was annular. In other words, the Moon was slightly too small to cover the entire sun, so the eclipse created a "ring of fire" effect. If only anyone saw it...
Were you in the eclipse zone? Submit your photos here.
more images: from Fabio Dornelles of Cape Town, South Africa; from Joerg Schoppmeyer of Turtle Bay, Mauritius; from Oleg Toumilovitch of Somerset West, Western Cape, South Africa;
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THE FLOATING SPACE HAMMER: No toolkit is complete without one: The Floating Space Hammer. This one drifted through the stratosphere for more than three hours during a cosmic ray research balloon flight:
You can have it for $97.95. This compact 8 oz. hammer is light enough to fly on a balloon yet dense enough to deliver a powerful blow. The magnetic head holds a nail for one-handed starting, and the stubby 6 in. length is perfect for tight work areas.
The space hammer comes with a card showing the tool floating at the top of Earth's atmosphere. The interior of the card tells the story of the flight and confirms that this gift has been to the edge of space and back again.
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