Ring of Fire: Solar Eclipse As Seen from Japan

Last Monday morning, I woke up at 7am to view the Annular Solar Eclipse, which happened for the first time in 25 years here in Japan. While viewing it happen from our veranda, we were also watching it on TV.

It's the best solar eclipse I've ever seen! The moon didn't cover the entire disc of the sun which made a "ring of fire" visible. The surroundings turned partially dark. From our place, in Suwa City, Nagano, the moon was slowly covering the sun from 7am to 7:30am. But from 7:30am to 7:35pm, the ring of fire was seen, and the moon quickly left the perfect ring shape as it went down to uncover. I felt so lucky to have seen it!

Since I wasn't equipped with perfect gadgets to capture the actual view, I just took a photo of what's being shown on TV. It's a one of a kind experience!:)

You may read more about the annular solar eclipse and view more photos on:

http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2012/05/ring_of_fire_eclipse_2012.html

A Taste of Science

Golden Week is probably the longest holiday in Japan celebrating the time for kids. So last May 4, we went to Yatsugatake for a small picnic in the park and planetarium visit. We were also there to see some animals. However, we didn't find them inside the huge park. Our search for the animals turned into trekking; and I wasn't so prepared for it. Haha!

clean water

After letting my little cousin play at the playground, we've gone...uhm, trekking?:)) And when we lost our way, we went back to where we started then proceeded to the planetarium. We came right in time for the show. Unfortunately, it was in Nihonggo so I didn't completely understand. The presentation was about Hayabusa, an unmanned spacecraft developed by Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) launched in May 9 , 2003 to Itokawa, wherein it studied about the asteroid; and brought samples back on earth's surface on June 13, 2010. I also got fascinated with the photographs of Tetsuya Nakagaki. Truly amazing shots! Please explore http://aurora-dance.com/ for more.

 inside a spacecraft

my cousin went inside to take a photo of me haha

Since it was a long presentation, and we were all lying on reclined seats, my uncle, aunt and grandmother all fell asleep! haha! My cousins and I have been "silently" laughing since the middle part of the presentation towards the end because the oldies were even snoring haha! Anyway, after the show, we bought some souvenirs and my cousin rode cute toy rides (i can't call them bicycles because some have more than 2 wheels haha) outside. And since we all got hungry, we had an early dinner at a ramen place.

nice view