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My favorite contributions
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I have originated (started) or greatly expanded the following Wikipedia articles:
In addition, I cleaned up the article saros by moving it to a non-redundant name (it used to be Saros cycle, but a saros is by definition a cycle, which is why saros is a noun not an adjective) and replacing as many references to the confusing, redundant phrase 'Saros cycle' with 'saros'. This had nothing to do with science but grammar! I mention this because the phrase saros cycle is so confusing as to undermine the articles that use the phrase and I think that with that phrase eradicated that article is much more readable.
I have an interest in basically all things science and philosophy (and the philosophy of science as well as the science of philosophy!).
I have made over 3000 edits as a registered user. My first registered edit was to the article subtropical cyclone on September 11th, 2004. BTW, the edit still stands :) .
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One thing I'd like to do as part of WPEclipses is to show unusual or significant relationships between eclipses and to point out unique properties of individual eclipses. Also, there may be the need for an eclipses portal if there is enoug interest. The list below is of eclipses of interest to me. Currently some of this is Geo-Centric (I live in Florida) but I plan to expand that over time. Also, I have learned so much about eclipses recently, and so many thing s that were very mysterious to me (predicting eclipses?!) are no longer so. I hope I can contribute to making the central ideas about Eclipses more accessible to the general public, even fairly complicated ideas like what determines magnitude and the significance of gamma.
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Solar eclipse of June 20, 1955. Saros 136, Duration 7m8s. Longest total eclipse since the 11th century. The next longer eclipse will not occur until June 25, 2150at7m14s.
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Solar eclipse of March 7, 1970. Saros 139, Duration 3m28s. Last signifigant total eclipse over CONUS and Florida, also the Big Bend area of Florida will be again visited by a Total eclipse 75 years later (via saros 136). Total eclipses from solar saros 139 are gradually getting longer.
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Solar eclipse of July 22, 2009. Saros 136, Duration 6m38s. Last long duration total eclipse. No longer total eclipse will occur until saros 139 beats it on June 13, 2132 with a duration of 6m55s.
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Solar eclipse of November 13, 2012. Saros 133, Duration 4m 2s. Last significant total eclipse over land. Total eclipses of saros 133 peaked in 1850 and have been declining in length ever since, as well as heading south. With so little land in the southern hemisphere, as a saros heads south it mostly heads into obscurity. This is the same saros that produced the first total eclipse over the United States. Nevertheless Cairns, Australia experienced a respectable 2 minutes of totality just after sunrise.
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Solar eclipse of March 9, 2016. Saros 130, Duration 4m9s. Next signifigant eclipse over land. In this case the islands of extreme Southeast Asia. Most of the eclipse will occur over water. Eclipses from saros 130 are gradually getting shorter and heading further towards the North Pole.
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Solar eclipse of August 21, 2017. Saros 145, Duration 2m40s. First significant eclipse for the CONUS in 47 years. Note the higher saros number (145) this means this is a relatively young saros that is currently experiencing short but growing totalities. This eclipse is exactly one inex minus one lunar year before the Solar eclipse of August 12, 2045. Because of this it will have many similarities to that eclipse, including it's path across the U.S. See eclipse cycles.
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Solar eclipse of April 8, 2024 also Saros 139, Duration 4m28s. Exactly 6 years, 7 months, 18 days later (2 “heptons”), another significant eclipse for the CONUS. Represents a period of one exeligmos (triple saros) from March 7, 1970. Because of this it will have very similar properties to the Solar eclipse of March 7, 1970, including geographic location of visibility, though it will be further north (about 700 miles northwest) and have longer totality as currently total eclipses from saros 139 are getting longer.
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Solar eclipse of August 12, 2045. Saros 136, Duration 6m6s. Represents a period of a triple tzolkinex (for which there is no official term) from the eclipse above A very significant eclipse for many reasons. It belongs to Solar saros 136 which is currently producing the longest total eclipses of any Saros (though these are gradually becoming shorter). It will cross a relatively large swath of the contiguous United States (and best of all, I will get to see it if I just step outside on that date!), starting at the Pacific coast and ending of the Atlantic coast. It will thus be the longest eclipse visible over the United States for a very long time. (currently there is no list of total eclipses visible from the US, though there are lists for the UK, China, and the Philippines ,kind of random).
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Solar eclipse of March 30, 2052. Saros 130, Duration 4m8s. Once again again exactly 6 years, 7 months, 18 days later another eclipse will cross the CONUS. This eclipse will cross the path of the 2045 eclipse.
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Solar eclipse of May 22, 2096. Saros 139, Duration 6m7s. This will be the first eclipse of saros series 139 to exceed series 136 in length of totality.
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Solar eclipse of July 16, 2186. Saros 139, Duration 7m29s. This will be the longest eclipse for over 14 millennia! At least since -3999 (4000 BCE) and at least until +10000 (10000 CE). This makes saros 139 pretty special.
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