NATIONAL NEWS - Stargazers can look forward to two astronomical events in the next few weeks.

And there is no one better equipped to explain them than Dr Derek Fish, director of the Unizulu Science Centre.

“On Friday, 14 March, a beautiful full moon will rise over the ocean – for those of us on the east coast – at 18:19, almost exactly due east, just minutes after the sun sets almost due west.

“There is a lunar eclipse on the date, when the moon passes into the shadow of the earth, but sadly visible only from the Americas and not from Africa.

“The full eclipse turns the moon a beautiful blood red as the sun’s rays are bent around the earth’s atmosphere, much like at sunrise or sunset,” says Fish.

According to an article published by Zululand Observer, the second significant event is on Thursday, 20 March, when the sun crosses the equator from south to north, signalling the end of summer and the start of autumn in the southern hemisphere.

South Africans will breathe a sigh of relief with the promise of cooler weather, while those in the northern hemisphere look forward to some sunshine as winter changes into spring.

“All around the world, day and night are both 12 hours long, ‘equinox’ meaning ‘equal-night’,” says Fish.

The longest day in South Africa is the solstice on 21 December, when we have 14 hours of daylight, and our shortest is 21 June, when we have just 10, he adds.

Article: Caxton publication, The Citizen

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