Wednesday, July 22, 2009

Solar Eclipse

My bestfriend Jan who currently lives in China has been extremely excited about the solar eclipse that is meant to be happening today at 9:36am...visible in China and India. This eclipse will last as long as 6 minutes and 39 seconds in some places in the South Pacific. That will make it the longest solar eclipse of the 21st Century.
A solar eclipse occurs when the moon passes between the Sun and the Earth so that the Sun is fully or partially covered. It so happens that today the Earth is close to its farthest point from the sun. A small sun means the Moon can cover it longer and coincidentally the Moon will be near its closest point to Earth. So a large Moon covers the sun longer, lengthening the duration of the eclipse.

I'm sure Jan will be enjoying this eclipse and I decided to look up an eclipse cocktail which she might be able to enjoy later on tonight when chatting with her friends about how cool it was!

Eclipse Cocktail
Grenadine
1 oz Gin
2 oz Sloe Gin
½ tsp Lemon Juice

Put enough grenadine into a cocktail glass to cover a ripe olive. Mix the remaining ingredients with ice and strain them onto the grenadine so that they do not mix.

Have you experienced a solar eclipse before?

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

I've never been able to see a solar eclipse before, but I'm glad I'll be able to whp the drink version up for myself now! :-)

Lorraine @ Not Quite Nigella said...

Hehe I like your thinking! What better way to celebrate an Eclipse than with a cocktail ;)

Arwen from Hoglet K said...

I've once seen an eclipse, and it gave us a most beautiful sunset. I like the idea of a cocktail for the occasion.

pregnancy said...

It was beautiful eclipse, just saw it on the website when it turn the would like a night time... I was missing out that time cause I was in BKK, Thailand and it was raining heavy this morning.

Chefspiration said...

BurpandSlurp - Hee hee..enjoy the cocktail! I saw an eclipse once when I was a little kid...I remember being at school and standing out in the field with everyone waiting for it :)

Lorraine - But of course :D

Arwen - Me too!

Pregnancy - Aw that's too bad :( but at least with modern technology we can catch it online!

suryasta said...

UNFORTUNATLY and heart breakingly my dearest friends Shanghai was so clouded we didnt see anything. But i did stand out in the rain and it poured onto me as we watched the sky turn dark and light again. Imagine it like a light switch with a dimmer. It was eerie, the whole place turned like night time, and for a whilst as you stood in the darkness, you cant help but wonder, what if the world was like this and we lost the sun. Because of this dedication Im going to name one of the cocktails at the bar Eclipse, After you my dearest sainge! xoxo J

Unknown said...

oh yeah janet saw the eclipse alright, just like christopher walken got his cowbell in SNL, no wait he didn't...

when the eclipsed happene in shanghai, it felt so special! like... any other given day when it rained at night in shanghai, yeah i too enjoyed the rain during the eclipse that never showed its face :(