Telstra has revealed the addition of almost one million new mobile services in the six months to December 2011, but Sensis revenues plummeted 24 percent in 12 months.
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David Heath
Saturday, 24 January 2009 10:38
An annular solar eclipse occurs when the moon is too far from the Earth to fully cover the sun’s disk and thus an annulus (or ring) is seen – please, no grubby jokes!
Information on a number of sites (here for instance) gives full details of the event. Charts and an animation are also available.
It is clear that this is not as spectacular event as might be hoped to celebrate Australia Day, as the best viewing locations are mostly in the Indian Ocean, although the central track crosses over Cocos Islands, Jakarta, central Borneo and the southern Philippines. Annularity lasts over six minutes in these locations.
Here in Australia, a line from Carnarvon to Darwin, essentially right along the northwestern coastline will see the sun reach 50% covered; at the opposite end, Melbourne and Sydney will barely notice that there was anything happening with only one or two percent coverage at best, happening very close to sunset.
Tasmania misses out altogether.
WARNING!!! Do not, under ANY circumstances look at the sun directly. Just because it might be partially covered by the moon, doesn’t mean it can’t cause permanent blindness with the briefest of direct gazes.
The best way to view the eclipse is to take a large sheet of cardboard and make a small pin-hole in the centre. Use a small sheet of paper to catch the projected image. This could also be done with binoculars or a small telescope to improve the brightness of the image, but don’t make the mistake of looking through the instrument to line it up!
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