NASA, Sky & Telescope – A solar eclipse is due on Christmas day. It will be a partial eclipse of 72%, which is enough to dim down the skies across parts of North America. If you live in the Pacific Northwest and western Canada, you will be able to see it just after sunrise. Residents who live east of the Rocky Mountains, near Denver, will have to wait until 10 a.m. for the best view. On the West Coast, you can wait until around lunch time, after you?ve opened all your presents, to take a look at the sky. The full 72% of the eclipse will be seen only in Baffin Island in Canada at approximately 12:30 p.m. Everywhere else, the eclipse will vary from 60% in the Northeast to 20% in the Southwest, which will hardly be noticeable.
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A professional photographer for the Mexican newspaper Milenio took a remarkable photograph of a brightly lighted object racing toward the Popocatepetl volcano near Mexico City on Tuesday, December 19 at 6:10 AM. The photograph is a 20 sec. time exposure taken with a 24 MM lens. This accounts for the streak that reveals the object’s trajectory. It was not a digital photograph. No aircraft were present in the area at the time. The photographer did not see the object while he was making the shot, only observing it after the picture was developed.
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Today is winter solstice–the day the sun appears to stand still before beginning its journey back from the southern sky. Throughout human history, this has been a day of celebration, and in many cultures the beginning of weeks of celebration as the return of the sun is welcomed, encouraged and–as some thought–induced by their rituals.

The precise moment of solstice was 5:37AM Pacific time this morning.
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NYT – Europeans, who have been avoiding beef since the rampant spread of Mad Cow Disease there, have now been told it is unsafe to eat fish. Scientists there warn that unacceptablyhigh levels of industrial chemicals have been found in the region?s seafood. Johan Reyniers, of the European Union,said it was safe to eat fish in moderation, but “if you eatfish every day, you are likely to have a problem.”

The Scientific Committee for food reports that fish from fish farms, as well as fish caught from the ocean, are contaminated by dioxins, which have been linked to hormonal changes and cancer. The most polluted fishing areas are the North Sea and the Baltic around Scandinavia.
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