This is the Classical Astronomy Update, an email newsletter especially
for Christian homeschool families (though everyone is welcome!) Please feel free to share this with any interested friends.
And ye shall keep it up until the fourteenth day of the same month: and the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill it in the evening. And they shall take of the blood, and strike it on the two side posts and on the upper door post of the houses, wherein they shall eat it.... And
thus shall ye eat it; with your loins girded, your shoes on your feet, and your staff in your hand; and ye shall eat it in haste: it is the Lord's passover. -- Exodus 12:6,7,11 IN THIS UPDATE Paschal Moon Eclipse Lunar Calendar Reckonings Hello Friends, WOW! I've never been so busy in my life! I've been moving flat out for several
months working the upcoming eclipse. I've been giving presentations around the Cleveland area and across Ohio, writing articles, selling Eclipse Shades from my store, and NOT getting much sleep or much work done at my day job! But it's all good, I've been doing everything in my power to help Cleveland get ready for the TOTAL SOLAR ECLIPSE coming to our town in two weeks!!!! While I've not written this newsletter for months, I've written a LOT of things, and I've been interviewed a lot, on radio and in national articles read across the country. Check out this publicity list
from an eclipse blog post of some of the articles and interviews. Also check out the blog home page for non-published articles of mine and other
informative eclipse content. * * * * * The media has been reporting about the so-called "devil comet," A.K.A. Comet 12P/Pons-Brooks, which some
believe might be visible during the Total Solar Eclipse of Monday, April 8, 2024. Don't get your hopes up, friends! These comets are faint objects at best under pristine dark skies, and will not likely be viisble during a brighter totality sky. Don't waste the precious short minutes of totality looking for it. Instead, take a look that night an hour or more after sunset, possibly scanning the sky near Jupiter with binoculars. Look for a faint little wisp that's
barely there. For more information about topics from Classical Astronomy discussed in this newsletter, please check out a homeschool astronomy curriculum (but popular with adult readers too!) Visit our archive of previous editions of the Classical Astronomy Update newsletters, going back to 2007. ***** Paschal Moon Eclipse Excitement is building for the total solar eclipse of April 8.
However, as explained in previous newsletters, eclipses always come in pairs. Whenever there is a solar eclipse, there is always a lunar eclipse, separated by a two week period called a
fortnight. And there are always two eclipse seasons in each year, lunar months separated by a half year in which eclipse pairs occur. So there are at least four eclipses total each year, two solar and two lunar. These eclipses can be visible in different parts of the world and are not always visible from the same continent. Eclipses occur when the Moon lines up with one of the nodes, the points of the tilted lunar orbit that cross the plane of the Earth's orbit. In the current eclipse season, the lunar eclipse occurs first -- at
the time of the Full Moon in the early morning hours of Monday, March 25. A fortnight later, on April 8, the solar eclipse occurs at the time of the New Moon. In the current eclipse season, the lunar eclipse of March 25 is a penumbral eclipse. This is a type of eclipse in which the Moon only passes through the penumbra or partial shadow of the Earth. The Moon does
not cross into any portion of the Earth's umbra or full shadow. So a penumbral eclipse is not as impressive as a total lunar eclipse or even a partial lunar eclipse. Penumbral eclipses usually only appear as a shading across the surface of the Full Moon, dimming it from its normal full brightness. Sometimes this shading during penumbral eclipses can be intense and a visible eclipse is seen upon the Moon. Other times the shading can be faint, almost
invisible, depending on the amount of dirt in the Earth's atmosphere. But there's only way to find out! So if you're a nightowl, take a look on Monday morning after midnight. The eclipse begins at 12:51 AM EDT on March 25, with maximum eclipse at 3:12 AM. This eclipse favors western North America where these phases cane be seen at earlier hours. During the total solar eclipse of Monday, April 8, the umbra and penumbra of the Moon will pass over the Earth. The lunar penumbra will pass over the entirety of North America, and everywhere in the USA, Canada and Mexico a
partial solar eclipse phase will be visible. But the umbra will only move along the path of of totality and only along this path with a total solar eclipse be visible. The next eclipse season of 2024 commences with a partial lunar eclipse also visible over the USA on the evening of Tuesday, September 17. I expect to have a
newsletter out by then explaining that in detail. This is followed a fortnight later on Wednesday, October 2, by an annular solar eclipse visible over the Pacific Ocean and South America. Lunar Calendar Reckonings The penumbral eclipse of March 25 is also interesting in that it is the Paschal Full Moon, signifying the coming of Pascha, A.K.A. "Easter," the Feast of the LORD's Resurrection. According to the rules of the Gregorian Calendar followed by Catholic and Protestant churches in the west, Easter is established as being the first Sunday after the first Full Moon after the vernal equinox, i.e., the first day of spring. The vernal equinox of 2024 was on
March 19. Since the Full Moon is on Monday, the following Sunday is March 31, hence the date of Easter 2024. This topic is further explained in the article The Astronomy of Easter on Crosswalk.com. This article is adapted from an edition of this newsletter from 2003, which also is the basis of the epilogue of our Signs & Seasons homeschool astronomy curriculum. Some Christians draw a lot of significance from the fact that there is an eclipse during the Paschal Full Moon. Many bible prophecy theories are currently circulating based on that
association, such as the debunked "Blood Moon" fiasco of 10 years ago. Don't fall for it, friends. Since there are two eclipse seasons each year, one of every six Full Moons is an eclipse. So lunar eclipses during Paschal Full Moons are actually very common natural phenomena, certainly nothing momentous enough to signal the end of history and the imminent return of Jesus. The Christian Pascha commemoration as is based on the same astronomical rules established in Exodus 12 for the time of the Passover, quoted above at the beginning of this newsletter. In fact, Pascha is the Greek word for the Hebrew Pesach, translated into English as "Passover." So the Christian Easter holiday is historically derived from the Passover commemoration. Pesach is established to begin at "the 14th day of the first month," which is called Abib or Nisan in Hebrew in the Old Testament. This is the first month of spring, the time of a winter barley harvest in the climate of Israel. The "fourteenth day" corresponds to the Full Moon, as this is the number of nights from the first appearance of the waxing crescent Moon in the evening sky, which is
the traditional beginning of the Hebrew lunar month. This topic is explained in detail in the article The Astronomy of Passover, also posted at Crosswalk.com since 2004, which also originally appeared in this
newsletter. As it happens, in 2024, the Paschal Full Moon is not the same as the Passover Full Moon. 2024 is "Jewish Leap Year" when an extra month is added according to the 19 year cycle of the Jewish calendar. The eclipse Full Moon of March 25 belongs to 2 Adar, the second instance of the Jewish month Adar, the intercalary month added every few
years. However, Sunday, March 24 is Purim in the Jewish calendar, when the Jews remember the victory over Haman and the enemies of Israel in the time of Queen Esther. Purim is celebrated on the 13th of Adar, or the day before the Full Moon of the last Hebrew month. Now in the twelfth month, that is, the month Adar, on the thirteenth day of the same, when the king's commandment and his decree drew near to be put in execution.... - Esther 9:1a The next Hebrew lunar month will be Nisan, and in 2024, Passover will fall on Monday, April 22.
It's worth noting that both the Hebrew calendar and the Gregorian calendar are not based on actual astronomical Full Moons but tabluated Full Moons based on an average month of an even number of 29.53 days. Most of the time these tabulated months line up with the astronomical lunar months, but not all the time. Anyway, I hope you all enjoy the total solar eclipse of April 8! Please drop a line with any stories and pictures you'd like to share. If we get any reports, we'll hopefully create another newsletter soon thereafter. Till next time, God bless and clear skies, - jay The Ryan Family Cleveland, Ohio, USA When I consider thy heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon and the stars, which thou hast ordained, what is man that thou art mindful of him? and the son of man, that thou visitest him? - Psalm 8:3-4, a Psalm of David
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