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| Transit of Mercury across the Sun Photo by edhiker via Wikimedia Commons |
by Peggy Robin
It’s twenty-sixteen (and yes, we should all be saying it
that way, and abandon the unwieldy “two thousand and sixteen” formulation that
should have ended with the single digit years –the last being “two thousand and
nine”) – so it’s a good time to glance ahead to see what the calendar has in
store for us. Besides the presidential election and leap year (you already
know about those two) there are a few noteworthy events and commemorations.
There’s just one Friday the 13th, which comes in
May.
There’s a palindrome date (it reads the same backwards as
forwards) on June 10, 2016:
6 10 2016
The notable solar events are:
* March 9 – Total Eclipse of the Sun. Buy your tickets now for
travel to Southeast Asia, Indonesia, the Philippines, Northern Australia or Hawaii – the best
places to view the eclipse (http://www.timeanddate.com/eclipse/solar/2016-march-9)
* May 9 – A Rare Transit of Mercury Across the Sun - http://www.nakedeyeplanets.com/mercury-transit-2016.htm.
You can stay in North America for this one, but take care to protect your
vision when viewing the tiny black dot of Mercury crossing the sun. Safe
methods are described here: http://www.nakedeyeplanets.com/mercury-transit-2016.htm#observesafe
The notable lunar events are:
* March 23 Penumbral Lunar Eclipse – defined here: http://www.timeanddate.com/eclipse/penumbral-lunar-eclipse.html
and more information about the March 23 event here: http://www.timeanddate.com/eclipse/lunar/2016-march-23
* May 21 Blue Moon – the third full moon in a season with
four full moons. More info at: https://in-the-sky.org/news.php?id=20160521_09_100
* October 16, November 14, and December 14 – Three Full Moon/Supermoons. More info here: http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/astronomical-events-2016-watch-total-solar-eclipse-meteor-showers-three-supermoons-1534298
When it comes to historical commemorations, 2016 is not such
a big year. It will mark the 75th anniversary of the attack on Pearl
Harbor. It is the 1000th anniversary of the crowning of King Canute,
the first Danish king to be proclaimed ruler of all of England. For other
events, take a look at http://www.itnsource.com/fr/specials/anniversaries
and see if you agree: there’s not a whole lot there. Dolly the Sheep was
cloned 20 years ago this March. One hundred years ago, on September 6, 1916,
the first true supermarket was opened – it was a Piggly-Wiggly in Memphis,
Tennessee (https://www.pigglywiggly.com/about-us).
Oh, and let’s not forget to celebrate the 300th birthday of
Capability Brown, British landscape architect, born on September 2, 1716. (By
the way, that’s a fabulous baby name. Hope it makes a comeback in 2016. You
could call the baby Cape for short. If this turns out to be a Thing in 2016, please note that you heard it here first!)
If you celebrate Hanukkah, you will be doing your first candle-lighting late in the month, starting on December 24 (Christmas Eve, if you're part of a multi-culti family) and going
through to the lighting of all eight candles on New Year’s Eve, December 31 until
the holiday comes to an end at sundown on January 1, 2017. If you think back
to 2013 – the memorable “Thanksgivukkah” when Hanukkah started on November 27,
the evening before Thanksgiving, you realize it will be a challenge to come up with
a similar mash-up moniker for the overlapping of Hanukkah/Christmas/New Year’s Eve….but
you have 355 days to come up with something. Now if you’re thinking of
recording a mash-up song for the holiday to post on Youtube, in the style of the best Thanksgivvukkah songs –see https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9xKomL1j9OI – you might want to
get cracking!
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Still Life With Robin is published on the Cleveland Park Listserv and on All Life Is Local on Saturdays.
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