WHAT DETERMINES EASTER DAY ???

NO, ITS THE MOON !!!

(Bay Village) - Why did Easter fall on March 23rd in 2008? Some years it’s in April, others it’s in March. How is the date for Easter determined?

Jay Reynolds, director of the Schuele Planetarium in Bay Village explains that Easter is designated for the weekend following the first full moon after the first day of Spring in the Northern Hemisphere.

Reynolds says sometimes the first full moon of Spring appears in March, sometimes as late as the last week in April. Full moons happen every 29 days, and you can find a chart showing which day Easter is on, for the foreseeable future.

In the western world, Easter has not fallen on the earliest of the 35 possible dates, March 22, since 1818, and will not do so again until 2285.

Easter will not occur on March 23 again until 2160. Easter last fell on the latest possible date, April 25, in 1943 and that won’t happen again until 2038. However, it will one day before the latest possible date in 2011 on April 24.

The most common date for Easter to appear is on April 19, and that’s happened 3.9% of the time, or 220,400 occurrences. The cycle of Easter dates repeats after exactly 5,700,000 years.

For the record, Easter will occur on April 12 in 2009. It won't be in March again until 2013 (March 31, 2013).

JAPAN LAUNCHES MOON MISSION

The Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) successfully launched an H-2A rocket designed to help the growing space agency explore the Earth's moon. The Selenological and Engineering Explorer, or SELENE, separated from the H-2A around 45 minutes after launching from Tanegashima.

"We successfully launched the rocket and released the orbiter from the rocket," said Eriko Sunada, JAXA spokesperson.

JAXA describes the mission as the largest lunar mission since the NASA Apollo mission more than 30 years ago. Using three satellites -- two located at polar opposites -- JAXA hopes to help learn more about the origin and evolution of the moon. JAXA previously launched a lunar mission more than 15 years ago, but it was designed only to conduct fly-bys of the moon's surface.

RARE BLOOD RED MOON TONIGHT ! ! !

More RARE than a blue moon, the moon is set to turn blood red tonight in a free night spectacular.


CHECK OUT NASA'S BREAKDOWN OF THE ECLIPSE

The moon eclipse will be visible in Melbourne from 6.52pm tonight, with the total eclipse from 7.52pm to 9.22pm.

In the first such occurrence since 2000, the Earth will block the sun's light shining on the moon, allowing only scattered sunlight to illuminate the planet's biggest satellite.

Stargazers can expect the moon to shift between shades of red, orange and yellow, as the atmosphere filters out most of the blue light.

The colours will depend on the extent of volcanic gas and dust in the atmosphere filtering the light.
Senior weather forecaster James Taylor said today the best views of the astronomical event would be in Melbourne's northern and north-western suburbs.

"There is some moisture moving in so there is likely to be some low level cloud out tonight, but there's no need to throw in the towel, because there is reasonable chance that there will be breaks in the cover," Mr Taylor said.

The lunar eclipse is visible at full moon when the sun, Earth and moon are perfectly aligned.

The last total eclipse was on July 16, 2000, according to Perry Vlahos from the Astronomical Society of Victoria.

"This is a lucky occurrence, especially because it's happening at a good time for kids and grown-ups alike to be able to enjoy," Mr Vlahos said.

He said those who wished to see the eclipse did not need any special equipment.

``All you need to do is walk outside and make sure you have an uninterrupted view of the eastern horizon,'' Mr Vlahos said.

The Astronomical Society of Victoria has invited the public to view the eclipse through telescopes, which will be set up from the top deck of the Ikea car park in Richmond from 6pm.

Dr Tania Hill, a Melbourne Planetarium astronomer, said it was completely safe to watch a lunar eclipse.

Ancient Chinese astronomers believed the eclipse showed the moon being consumed by celestial dragons.

Astrologers believe the full moon eclipse represent the time of endings, often in which we are forced to release attachments or relationships that are diverting us from our destiny.

The eclipse will be visible across the Pacific rim from Australia's east coast to the west coast of the American continent.

If you miss this one, the next total eclipse will not occur until 2011.
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