Some Astronomy

In case you didn't know, there was a partial solar eclipse today, the first eclipse of the year.
For more information,
http://eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov/SEplot/SEplot2001/SE2011Jan04P.GIF
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_eclipse_of_January_4,_2011

Well don't be sad if you missed it, I only found out when it was over. Besides, it's not visible in Singapore.
It's interesting how I found out about it though. I was staring at the Sun in Stellarium, and I noticed the Moon being exceptionally close today. My first thought was, "Ah! Today should be New Moon (day 1 of lunar calendar)", but I thought again, "Wait, the Moon is seldom this close, it almost looks like there should be an eclipse!" Well I didn't get to witness the actual eclipse, but my experience in Stellarium sufficed.

So why was I staring at the Sun anyway? I was finishing up on my analemma banner :). See the banner on top, with the figure of eight and a yellow circle? Yup, that's a simulated analemma that my friend Yong Kian and I came out with. It's amazing what a mathematician and programmer can produce when they work together. I wanted a analemma calendar for my blog so I approached him to help me with the coding. After spending 1 afternoon, we managed to produce it, I did some final touch-up on the Sun (ok it doesn't really look like the Sun but it's a diagram anyway =P) and added in a nice background photo that I captured last week. And there you have it, a really cool banner. Much credits to him.

How does it work? The Sun's position in the analemma changes every single day. This is a simplified rising analemma when viewed from the equator, with exact East in the middle (in terms of length) (it's not the intersection). Come visit my blog everyday and observe where the Sun appears to be :)
If this interests you, feel free to try your own experiment by observing where the Sun rises from as viewed from the same location everyday (you can view it from your own kitchen/bedroom window) Do this for 6 months and see how far the Sun has moved ;).