JANUARY 4, 2011
WINTER ECLIPSE OVER EUROPE
*
COSMIC OVERTURE
(Moon and Venus over Targoviste:
2010, December 31st;
2011, January 2nd)
-photographic poem by Valentin Grigore-
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AN OLD ASTRONOMER WALKS ON THE SUN
-by Virgil V. Scurtu-
My dears,
if you photograph this eclipse
(I don’t know your scopes)
please catch those beautiful sunspots.
Since SOHO has returned to
its maximum capacity,
which allows me to make
comfortable observations from my room,
at a temperature of 20 degrees,
with a solar diameter of over two meters,
all is a pleasure,
as if I would walk on the Sun
among groups of sunspots,
careful not to tread
between two granules.
*
PSE 2011 (NEAR SLOBOZIA, ROMANIA)
WITH SUNSPOTS
-photo by Catalin Paduraru “Sarpe”-
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PARTIAL SOLAR ECLIPSE
-haiku by Marge Simon (USA,
Editor of Star*Line - the Journal of the Science Fiction Poetry Association,
laureate of the Rhysling Award,
special guest from outside Europe)-
Otherworldly light:
a piece of the sun
is temporarily gone
*
PSE 2011 IN POSAGA DE JOS, ROMANIA
-photographic poem by Catalin Timosca-
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ECLIPSE POLICIER
-by Andrei Dorian Gheorghe-
“It seems that the Moon
has stolen a part of the Sun.”
“It’s elementary, Dr. Watson,”
replied Sherlock Holmes,
“a partial solar eclipse
is not included
in the catalogue of felonies.”
“However, medically,
I have to remark that the Sun
has lost some brightness.
So maybe we should arrest
the natural satellite.”
“It’s elementary, my dear Watson,”
replied the consultant detective,
“the Sun is so strong
that soon he will be free again.
But for her attractive show of force
during the daytime,
the Moon should be rather
complimented!”
*
TWO HAPPY FRIENDS (IN GORJ COUNTY, ROMANIA)
FOR THE SAME ECLIPSE
-photo-collages by
1. Marian Lucian Achim
2. Marcel Jinca
*
TWO UNHAPPY FRIENDS (IN TARGU MURES, ROMANIA)
FOR THE SAME ECLIPSE
-photo-poem by Eugen Florin Marc-
My friend Laurean Chisiu and I were unlucky,
the sky being covered.
We were on duty,
prepared for any timid appearance,
but the fog or something else (what else?)
defeated us.
And if you want to see
two disappointed men...
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PSE 2011
-haiku by Iulian Olaru-
In the middle of the winter
the eclipse blossomed
on branches of story
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PSE 2011 IN SAUCESTI, BACAU COUNTY, ROMANIA
-astro-photo-poem by Dan Mitrut-
an eclipse
with snow
the Moon’s silhouette
froze
on the Sun’s cheek
a morning
with void air
*
ECLIPSES
-by Zigmund Tauberg-
Solar or lunar eclipses have catastrophic wings,
some people said
although these natural phenomena
never produced bad things.
But of course
when justice, spirituality, goodness
and reason are eclipsed,
it is much worse.
*
COMMENTS ON A SENSATIONAL IMAGE:
ISS TRANSIT DURING THE PARTIAL ECLIPSE 2011,
OMAN, ARABIAN PENINSULA, ASIA
-photo by Thierry Legault (France,
multiple laureate for astrophotography;
an asteroid discovered in 1998 was named after him
by the International Astronomical Union)
Felician Ursache’s COMMENT:
In fact
this is real (astronomic or any other) performance:
idea +
+ planning and preparation +
+ technical achievement.
Without them,
this exceptional photo would not exist.
Do not forget,
the ISS transited (apparently) the Sun
for less than a second.
Sorin Hotea’s COMMENT:
We know exactly that the author
went especially to Oman
to immortalize this unique second.
If some ignorant people say that something like this
was photographed accidentally,
or the respective object on the solar disk
is a sunspot, a telescope, a bird, or anything they want,
it is just like they try to demonstrate that
the werewolves ate the Sun
and there was no eclipse.
Andrei Dorian Gheorghe’s COMMENT:
To follow the happy second of the apparent union
between
a human masterpiece (International Space Station)
and a cosmic masterpiece (Partial Solar Eclipse)
by making an expedition for catching that brief wonder
means superior belief in the Universe.
*
COMMENTS ON ANOTHER SENSATIONAL IMAGE:
AIRPLANE TRANSIT DURING THE PARTIAL SOLAR ECLIPSE 2011,
SLOBOZIA, ROMANIA
-photo by Catalin Paduraru “Sarpe”-
Dimitrie Olenici’s COMMENT:
I don’t think that someone can plan such a photo,
which catches an exceptional moment.
The airplane is projected on the Sun’s disk
while the motor jets are projected on the Moon’s disk.
So, a double supplementary spectacle.
Adrian Bruno Sonka’s COMMENT:
When journalists listen to astronomers,
things are ok.
But when they improvise on astronomy
many times crazy birdies appear.
For instance, a journalist wrote under this photo:
“Solar Eclipse of 2011 January 4th.
An airplane shades the Sun,
immediately after the Moon’s shadow.”
Do you understand what monstrous mistakes
are in this text?
Catalin Beldea’s COMMENT:
Are you kind to calculate the chances
of such a superb photo
using as a parameter
(among other parameters)
the degree of freeze of the finger
that pushed the shutter?
*
PSE 2011 IN LINZ
-photographic poem by Johannes Stubler (Austria,
national ambassador for Astronomers without Borders)
*
PSE 2010 IN SIGHET, ROMANIA
-astro-photo-haiku by Sorin Hotea-
We didn’t determinate contacts,
we just observed
and admired...
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NEWS FROM THE FROZEN NORTH
-by Alastair McBeath (England, UK,
Meteor Section Director to Britain’s Society for Popular Astronomy,
past Vice-President of the International Meteor Organization)-
The weather here has been exceptionally severe
this winter so far,
with temperatures repeatedly down to -18°C,
which is almost unheard-of for us,
also with 30-cm of snow from late November
till nearly mid-December.
Even now there are still patches of
ice and piles of cleared snow from that everywhere.
Certainly the most prolonged very cold period for Britain
in more than a century,
and more snow earlier in the winter
than anybody here can recall since the 1950s.
Of course,
all these things conspired to stop me
seeing anything much astronomically -
no meteor showers (including the 2011 Quadrantids),
or the January 4 sunrise (for us) solar eclipse...
*
PSE 2011 IN PERISORU (IALOMITA COUNTY, ROMANIA)
-astro-photo-poem by Catalin Beldea-
I found out the wanted place and -14 degrees
somewhere on a snowbound road
between Slobozia and Calarasi,
because for the first time
since I follow eclipses
I looked,
from artistic considerations,
not for clear skies,
but for fog.
*
PSE 2011 SOUTH OF TROY
-by Arlene Carol (USA,
residing in Turkey)-
sometimes i wish i had a special hot air balloon that would
let me soar above the clouds... especially when there's
a solar event i want to see
but all we have is a heavy cloud cover!
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ECLIPSE IN BUCHAREST
-astro-photo-poem by Calin Niculae-
Approximately good conditions
(not in the beginning -
as you can see).
Beer, “tuica” (strong Romanian plum drink), beer, beer.
Good luck!
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PSE JANUARY 4, 2011
-by Ion(ut) Moraru-
Another party in the sky,
the Earth looks at the Moon
who makes hop steps,
the Sun looks in part
at the blue globe,
the Moon is caught between them
and dances with them,
Jupiter calculates when he will similarly dance
with his satellites,
the same about Saturn, Uranus, Neptune,
and (why not?)
Pluto with Caron.
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PSE 2011 IN OOSTENDE (BELGIUM)
-photographic poem by Casper ter Kuile (Holland)
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A JUBILEE FOR THE FOUCAULT PENDULUM
-by Dimitrie Olenici-
I made a jubilee experiment with the Foucault Pendulum
at Iasi University,
50 years after a similar one
made by Ghe. Jeverdan, Ghe. Rusu and V. Antonescu
to the solar eclipse of February 15, 1961
when they discovered that the oscillation period of a pendulum
changes during an eclipse.
My experiment,
made by a pendulum of 17.78 meters installed in an inferior room,
confirmed their results one more time.
A high moment,
although I observed this eclipse at the subsoil.
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ANOTHER FOUCAULT PENDULUM EXPERIMENT
IN SOLCA, SUCEAVA COUNTY, ROMANIA
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ECLIPSE IN PIATRA NEAMT
-by Alfredo Caronia (Italy,
discoverer of asteroids;
observed this eclipse from east Romania)-
Scythe of the Sun
shared with Ptolemy
over the centuries.
Synchronous
harmonies
inspire fellowships
in flight
within history,
as in an endless epic of infinity!
We, together, in the pale
shadows of the cosmic rhythms,
are the seeds of a miracle of life lights!
The heat of the Sun,
just silent
and, in the shadows of the moon,
weakened,
is chest
to guard
is memory for ever,
is life of peoples,
in common shock
and wonder.
We seem to be suspended
and, always surprised, incredulous,
we withhold
breath
before this
show;
rediscovering
the ancestral fear of the dark!
Eclipse
give us show
but confirm,
at the end,
the lyrical return of the Sun
and its
strength,
universal
radius
of life!
*
PSE 2011 AT ADMIRAL VASILE URSEANU
BUCHAREST MUNICIPAL OBSERVATORY
-photographic poem by Silviu Matei-
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THE PARTIAL SOLAR ECLIPSE IN EUROPE
-limerick by David Asher (Northern Ireland, UK,
astronomer at Armagh Observatory,
famous meteor shower predictor,
discoverer of asteroids,
co-star in Hollywood movie Armageddon)-
At dawn on the New Year's fourth day
The sun was part eaten away.
The eclipse was quite deep,
But I was asleep -
What will other astronomers say?
*
I DON’T WANT TO WRITE ABOUT THIS ECLIPSE!
-by Victor Chifelea-
The theme is too common,
sometimes things should be seen
from another perspective,
and I’ve had enough
being in a group of standard-bearers
in writing astro-poetry.
Some people may be envy,
and other people may think that we have
privileged relations
to heavenly phenomena.
So don’t hesitate
and just put me absent
for the eclipse’s
poetic agreement.
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PSE 2011 IN MOSCOW
-photographic poem by Konstantin Yakovlev (Russia)-
Classic phenomenon:
the light passing through round holes takes the shape of "bitten" Sun...
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PSE 2011
-haiku by Iulian Olaru-
Heat of the house -
reflections of the eclipse
among fingers
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MISSED ECLIPSE AT A FEW HUNDRED KILOMETRES
FROM THE AFRICAN COAST
-haiku by Ovidiu Vaduvescu (Canary Islands, Atlantic Ocean,
astronomer at Herschel Telescope,
leader of the EURONEAR project,
born in Romania in 1999!)-
Vision from La Palma:
the Sun rose and continued cloudy
over Tenerife.
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ECLIPSE
-haiku by Silviu Georgescu-
The light of the shadow,
Sun and Moon in the sky,
a hide-and-seek game.
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PSE 2011 AT GALATI OBSERVATORY (ROMANIA)
-photographic poem by a team led by Jan Ovidiu Tercu-
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TANKA
-by Gerald England (UK,
Editor of New Hope International,
honorary member of the International Writers and Artists Association,
laureate of the Ted Slade Award)-
an eclipse tonight
posted a friend on Facebook
but by then too late
out of my window blackness
others' visions seen online
*
PSE 2011 IN MAGURELE (ROMANIA)
-photographic poem by Andreea Fazacas-
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MARINA TALKS OF GIFTS
-by Kim Goldberg (Canada,
poet and journalist,
special guest from outside Europe)-
Marina talks of glowing gifts
and robust lovers with lips like seeds
She talks of auspicious conjunctions
with the fixed star Ascella in Sagittarius
But not the unfixed Earth below
She talks of strange gods, naked
emperors, a year-long reprieve
from second comings and Armageddon
Marina talks of Algorab the tricky crow
and a gleaming scythe of golden light swinging
high over Skelleftea in Norrland,
reaping crazy wild fortune for us all
But not, I think, for the people
of West Texas
whose Commissioners, blinded
by balance sheets, marked the eclipse
with their unblinking vote to import
radioactive waste from 36 states
for graveyard burial in sealed drums
that will brighten the sagebrush
and rattlesnakes
for one hundred years to come
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ECLIPSE BEFORE CHRISTMAS ON THE JULIAN CALENDAR
-photo by Valentin Grigore-
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MEDIEVAL VISION OF A TRAVELLER IN TIME
-by Dominic Diamant-
I didn’t know the monster
that caught the edge of the Sun
and began to gulp more and more from him.
I saw how those bites affected him,
making him smaller.
But after a while,
as if the noble solar substance protested,
the monster abandoned the Sun,
who began to shine as nothing had happened before.
I cannot express my happiness
when I watched him again
passing entire on the canopy of heaven.
*
PSE 2011 IN WALDVIERTEL
-photographic poem by Gerhard Dangl (Austria;
in 2009 the International Astronomical Union named an asteroid after him)-
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PSE 2011
-haiku by Iulian Olaru-
Puzzled
(“dusk or morning?”)
threads of fog
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PSE 2011 NEAR TARGOVISTE (ROMANIA)
-photographic poem by Ciprian Grigorescu-
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A CHILD IMAGINES A TOTAL SOLAR ECLIPSE
DURING A PARTIAL ONE
-by Ana-Maria Anghel (student in Switzerland,
born in Romania in 1999!)
When the bright sun will be covered by the dark moon,
We will all know an event is going to happen very soon.
When darkness will come to hide light,
We all know, no one will have total sight.
When it will be pitch black and have fear in our souls,
We all know, will be scared, our hearts as black as coals.
When the bright sun will disappear for just one minute from one hour,
We all know how we'll feel: upset, frightened and sour.
*
REFLECTION OF INNOCENCE
IN IASI (ROMANIA)
-photo by Ioan Agavriloaiei-
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PSE 2011
-haiku by Marge Simon (USA,
Editor of Star*Line - the Journal of the Science Fiction Poetry Association,
laureate of the Rhysling Award,
special guest from outside Europe)-
A lunar shadow
teases the colors
of a Bucharest dawn
*
BRIEF ESCAPE FROM A HYSTERICAL TOWN:
BUCHAREST, JANUARY 4, 2011
-haiku by Andrei Dorian Gheorghe-
Over a park
the eclipse like a
bird of fire.
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PSE 2011 OVER THE PARACHUTISTS’ TOWER IN BUCHAREST
-photo by Alex Burda-
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PSE 2011
-by Razvan Ciomartan-
Just juggle a little
with the concepts
“to lighten”
and “to be lightened”
and you will be
“enlightened”
*
PSE 2011 IN GREYSTONES BEACH
-photographic poem by Deidre Kelleghan (Ireland,
national coordinator for Astronomers Without Borders,
past President of the Irish Astronomical Society)-
The sun was eclipsed by the moon as it rose...
From my mobile phone camera via PST...
*
PSE 2011
-haiku by Iulian Olaru-
Snow banks, frost, fog -
numb Sun,
lively Moon.
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PARTIAL SOLAR ECLIPSE
-by Marge Simon (USA,
Editor of Star*Line - the Journal of the Science Fiction Poetry Association,
laureate of the Rhysling Award,
special guest from outside Europe)-
Robbed from the sight by
the turning of our globe,
the skies remain the same as usual.
Why can't our winter morning
on this continent be so blessed?
*
ROMANIAN AWARD FOR ORIGINAL PSE 2011 REFLECTION
-by Solca group-
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HANNE’S OBJECT
or
A PARALLEL THOUGHT DURING A PARTIAL SOLAR ECLIPSE
WHEN THE SKY IS CLOUDY
-by Steve Sneyd (England, UK,
director of Hilltop Press and editor of Data Dump,
laureate of the Peterson Trophy)-
You praise blue gas ball
galaxy - big 10° K hot
yet no stars in it to
heat this mystery you smile
“as puzzling as me to you”
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CLOUDY ECLIPSE IN SF. GHEORGHE (ROMANIA)
-photo by Felician Ursache-
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PARTIAL ECLIPSE POEM
AT THE AEGEAN SEA
-by Arlene Carol (USA,
residing in Turkey)-
An omen of things to come?
This year's astronomical agenda is
Off to a bad start.
Anticipating a view worthy of an extra early cup of coffee...
I awoke to a heavy cloud cover.
Nevermind 'partial'
I saw nothing!
*
DREAM OF ECLIPSE
-by Irina Cristescu-
The Moon invites the Sun
to build the secret of unwritten dawn
in crumbs of light,
with a star aura.
In a snowed winter core,
two twin emotions
dress the benumbed sky
in a tinge of dreaminess.
*
MORE PSE 2011 ACTIVITIES OF SOLCA GROUP (ROMANIA)
-led by Ilie Cosovanu-
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FROM ECLIPSE TO ECLIPSE
-by Boris Marian (Mehr)-
We live between two eclipses,
we love between two insults,
we are people,
but this is not enough,
it is hard,
Circle Sun is too proud,
we are too small,
so we retract under the Moon.
It is not too good here,
werewolves appear at solar eclipses,
a kiss
and you become quite nervous,
all of them play in your blood,
and God keeps always silent.
But I know, Celestial Father,
with two suns and two moons,
it may be harder.
*
RECITAL OF PSE 2011 REFLECTIONS IN BUCHAREST
-photographic poem by Mihai Curtasu-
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PSE 2011 IN BISTRITA-NASAUD COUNTY, ROMANIA
-astro-photo-poem by Raul Truta-
Since the sky was covered
in the town of Bistrita,
we climbed by car
to the Tihuta Step (up 1,200 meters),
hoping to reach over the cloud ceiling.
Our prediction was good
and we watched the superb phenomenon,
fighting bravely the frost of -15 degrees.
Instincts of meteorologists...
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PSE 2011 IN BIRLAD, ROMANIA
-by Ruxandra Toma (student in Germany,
born in Romania)
I didn’t see the eclipse at the
Argelander Institute for Astronomy in Bonn, Germany
(where I am doing my post-university studies)
because I spent the winter holiday
in my native country Romania.
I didn’t see the eclipse in
my native town Vaslui
because I didn’t have solar filters,
so I went to the Sirius Astronomical Association
in Birlad.
We missed the beginning and the maximum
because of the clouds,
but finally the eclipsed sun became visible,
so I could take a few pictures,
which are not impressive,
but make me happy as proof
I could observe the phenomenon at least a little.
It’s interesting that
we could observe it without solar filters,
the clouds filtered enough.
*
PSE 2011
-haiku by Iulian Olaru-
Early frost...
The fire of life, eclipsed -
I’m trembling and smiling
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PSE 2011 IN BELGIUM
-photographic poem by Roy Kerris (Holland)-
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A
PYTHAGOREAN-ERATHOSTENIAN-EUCLIDEAN-PACIOLIAN
VISION ON THE PSE 2011
IN THE FRUSTRATED MIND OF AN ACCOUNTANT
-by Andrei Dorian Gheorghe-
In our office
I am a human number
and have to arrange
avalanches of imprisoned numbers
that wait to become perfect
in an artificial world,
while outside
in the sky
there is a
lucky number.
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PSE 2011 ON TV
-collage by Johannes Stubler (Austria)-
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SURREALISTIC ECLIPSE IN THE TOWN OF ROMAN (ROMANIA)
-astro-photo-poem by Tit Tihon-
From far away in the Universe,
the Eclipse veils us with her silent Ego,
with unknown rainbows of old lights,
the winged dragon consuming the Sun,
the werewolf compressing him with darkness...
Time becomes a shadow,
but the god Ra,
with unseen blazes,
will give us
a new birth.
*
PSE 2011 NEAR BACAU, ROMANIA
-astro-photo-haiku by Vlad Dumitrescu-
Lilieci (Bats) Lake -
Superb landscapes
And dense fog as filter
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VAMPIRES AND ECLIPSES
-by Andrei Dorian Gheorghe-
Dracula is a vampire,
said someone,
falsifying the historical truth.
In this Romanian brave ruler’s Capital,
Targoviste,
no observer of the 2011 partial solar eclipse
saw Vlad Tepes Draculea
(his real name)
eating our star.
Only the Moon’s “body check”
to the Sun.
*
ECLIPSE AMONG SNOWFLAKES
IN DRACULA’S CAPITAL
-astro-photo-poem by Valentin Grigore-
In Targoviste
we were both lucky and unlucky,
this depends on the reference system.
After an unlucky Quadrantid night,
the game of snowflakes continued all day long.
As a national astronomical society,
we called the people to the centre of the town,
gave them the possibility to watch the eclipse by telescope,
and took a few pictures among breaks of clouds.
In the game of snowflakes
The Moon’s dance around the Sun,
Through a voile of clouds...
Natural filters for our eyes,
Too sensible to watch the star of the day
Even at a quarter of its brightness.
*
ECLIPSE AMONG SNOWFLAKES
IN TARGOVISTE
-photo by Cristian Daniel Grigore (age17);
haiku by Andrei Dorian Gheorghe-
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