Unlike a total eclipse of the sun, which is only visible to those in the path of totality, eclipses of the moon can usually be observed from one’s own backyard. The passage of the moon through the Earth’s shadow is equally visible from all places within the hemisphere where the moon is above the horizon.

The total phase of the upcoming event will be visible across all of North and South America, as well as the northern and western part of Europe, and a small part of northeast Asia, including Korea and much of Japan. Totality will also be visible in its entirety from the North Island of New Zealand and Hawaii — a potential viewing audience of about 1.5 billion people. This will be the first opportunity from any place on earth to see the moon undergo a total eclipse in 34 months. [Amazing photos of a total lunar eclipse]

This star chart shows where in the sky the upcoming lunar eclipse will appear. And check this NASA lunar eclipse chart to see how visible the eclipse will be from different regions around the world.

URL: http://news.yahoo.com/s/space/20101217/sc_space/amazingspectacletotallunareclipsemondaynight

WE.HAVE.SEEN.HIS.STAR.AND.HAVE.COME.TO.WORSHIP.HIM_ TUCSON.AZ V-13 N-8 MONDAY_ 63-1216
30 But then when Christianity was brought into Romanism and mixed at Nicaea, then they had the sun-god, Jupiter, the sun-god of Rome, his birthday was on the… between the… about the twenty-fifth day of December. Because, the Roman circus started on the twenty-first and lasted till the twenty-fifth, which was in celebration of the sun-god’s birthday. So blending Romanism paganism to–to Christianity, they said, “Let’s make it the Son-of-God’s birthday, and then we can all agree upon it.” See, it’s always been on systems of compromising to the Truth, every time, has always been.

William Branham

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http://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2010/15sep_jupiter/

William Branham

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http://www.flickr.com/photos/yahooeditorspicks/galleries/72157624653325820/

The massive show of force appeared to give authorities the upper hand on the most important day of the Iranian political calendar. The state-backed rally dwarfed anti-government gatherings, which were far smaller than other outpourings of dissent in recent months.

Police clashed with anti-government protesters in several sites around Tehran, firing tear gas to disperse them and paintballs to mark them for arrest. Gangs of hard-liners also attacked senior opposition figures — including the wife of the head of the reform movement.

Still, the day’s events showed that authorities must rely on full-scale pressures to keep a lid on demonstrations, and any breathing room may be limited. Opposition supporters are certain to regroup and look for weak spots in the ruling system.

In his address to a crowd of hundreds of thousands — many bused into Tehran’s Freedom Square — Ahmadinejad sought to shift attention from the nation’s political troubles, boasting instead about Iran’s advancements in nuclear technology. He also dismissed new U.S. sanctions and denigrated President Barack Obama’s efforts to repair relations.

Iran has the capacity to make weapons-grade nuclear fuel if it chooses, the Iranian leader declared, adding that Iran had succeeded in enriching uranium to 20 percent and was now a “nuclear state.”

“We have the capability to enrich uranium more than 20 percent or 80 percent but we don’t enrich (to this level) because we don’t need it,” he said. “When we say we do not manufacture the bomb, we mean it, and we do not believe in manufacturing a bomb. If we wanted to manufacture a bomb, we would announce it.”

The Obama administration dismissed Iran’s contention it is enriching uranium at a higher level, adding that such claims were disturbing.

Even if untrue, Ahmadinejad’s claim “further solidifies our impression and that of the international community that Iran’s nuclear intentions are anything but peaceful,” State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley said.

Ahmadinejad has been staunchly backed by Iran’s ruling clerics since his disputed re-election in June touched off the worst internal turmoil in Iran since the 1979 Islamic revolution. Now many opposition groups are denouncing the entire Islamic system.

This is what deeply worried authorities preparing for Thursday’s 31st anniversary of the Islamic state. Any significant protests or clashes would be seen as major embarrassment on a day intended to showcase national achievements and unity.

An array of riot police, undercover security agents and hard-line militiamen — some on motorcycles — fanned out across Tehran in what appeared to be the largest and most strategic deployment since the post-election mayhem.

Security forces were seen in nearly every neighborhood. They had one primary goal: to keep protesters from gaining momentum following weeks of arrests and warnings from authorities.

Opposition Web sites spoke of groups of protesters in the hundreds — compared with much larger crowds in past demonstrations.

One protester told The Associated Press she tried to join the opposition demonstrators but soon left in disappointment because they were overwhelmed by pro-government marchers.

“There were 300 of us, maximum 500. Against 10,000 people,” she told an AP reporter outside Iran.

“It means they won and we lost. They defeated us. They were able to gather so many people,” she said. “But this doesn’t mean we have been defeated for good. It’s a defeat for now, today. We need time to regroup.”

Another protester insisted the opposition had come out in significant numbers, but “the problem was that we were not able to gather in one place because they (security forces) were very violent.”

“Maybe people got scared,” he said. “The idea wasn’t to lose or win today … But what is certain, today was not a good day.”

Both spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of retaliation by authorities, who have jailed protesters for talking to foreign media.

Some analysts predict the opposition could move away from large street marches in favor of strikes and boycotts. “The crackdown has been very tough,” said Meir Javedanfar, an analyst. “The lower turnout means either people are scared or, more likely, they will change tactics.”

Despite the smaller opposition turnout, there were reports of clashes in Tehran. Foreign media is banned from street reporting under rules imposed by Iranian authorities.

At least one opposition leader was attacked, but not injured. Dozens of hard-liners with batons and pepper spray attacked the convoy of a senior opposition leader, Mahdi Karroubi, smashing his car windows and forcing him to turn back as he tried to join the protests, his son Hossein Karroubi told the AP.

Authorities also jammed the Internet and mobile phones to disrupt the opposition. In Tehran, Internet speeds dropped dramatically and e-mail services such as Gmail were widely blocked.

In his nationally televised address, Ahmadinejad said Iran has produced the first batch of 20 percent enriched uranium — sufficient strength to power Iran’s research reactor, — though he did not say how much uranium had been enriched.

Such a process has been at the heart of a U.N.-drafted proposal to provide Iran with reactor-ready fuel in exchange for its stockpile of low-enriched uranium. Iran has repeatedly blocked the plan with conditions and caveats.

The announcement of the higher-enriched uranium adds to Western worries that Iran has long-term goals to develop nuclear arms — even though it is still below the 90 percent-plus level needed for a weapon. Iran insists it only seeks to produce energy and medical isotopes.

Ahmadinejad also criticized Obama for failing to shift U.S. policies.

“We expected Mr. Obama to make changes,” Ahmadinejad said. “But he is losing the chance and not acting properly … Obama’s approach and behavior is disappointing.”

The gathering was the biggest state-backed event since marches shortly after the June election, which opponents said was rigged. Many in the crowd waved Iranian flags and carried pictures of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the founder of the Islamic state, and his successor as supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

But in a sign of Iran’s unruly political climate, security forces briefly detained Khomeini’s granddaughter and her husband, who are both pro-reform politicians, according to the couple’s son, Ali.

The granddaughter, Zahra Eshraghi, and her husband Mohammad Reza Khatami, who is the brother of a former pro-reform president, were held for less than an hour before being released, their son told the AP.

The opposition Web site Kaleme reported that security forces prevented opposition leader Mir Hossein Mousavi from reaching any rallies.

Plainclothes militiamen also beat Mousavi’s wife, 65-year-old Zahra Rahnavard, with clubs on her head and back until her supporters surrounded her and whisked her away, according to the Web site.

For days ahead of the anniversary, anti-government Web sites and blogs called for a major turnout to display green emblems or clothes, the opposition’s signature color. Some protesters heeded the appeals, brandishing green banners or wore green wrist bands.

Security forces fired tear gas to disperse a group of protesters who were trying to march toward Freedom Square as they chanted “death to the dictator,” the opposition Web site Rahesabz said. It also reported a number of arrests.

The apparently isolated clashes contrast with the running street battles during protests over the past few months. In late December, at least eight people were killed during a Shiite holy day.

The scandal erupted in August, when the newspaper Il Giornale reported that it had court documents showing the editor of the newspaper of the Italian Bishops’ Conference had paid to settle charges that he harassed the wife of a man he was romantically pursuing.

The revelations were initially seen as retribution by Il Giornale, which is owned by Premier Silvio Berlusconi’s brother, against the bishops’ newspaper, Avvenire. The Catholic paper had harshly criticized the premier and demanded he answer questions about his purported liaisons with younger women.

Il Giornale accused Avvenire editor Dino Boffo of hypocrisy, saying the journalist had been fined in a plea-bargain several years ago for making harassing calls to the man’s wife.

Prosecutors say Boffo made the calls, but have denied the case involved a gay angle. Boffo acknowledged being fined in the case but said someone else had used his cell phone to make the calls. Amid the fallout, he resigned from Avvenire in September, saying he wanted to spare his family and the church further humiliation.

Three months later, Il Giornale’s editor Vittorio Feltri — who had penned the initial articles — admitted the document implying Boffo is gay was falsified, and apologized in a front-page letter.

The scandal resurfaced last week when Feltri said the document in question had been given to him by an “institutional” church official whom he trusted.

Some Italian media suggested that the editor of the Vatican newspaper L’Osservatore Romano, essentially the pope’s mouthpiece, was involved. Others suggested the Vatican No. 2, Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, was behind it.

There have been long-running reports in the Italian media of battles between Bertone and the leadership of the Italian Bishops’ Conference, particularly its previous head Cardinal Camillo Ruini. Italian news reports have said Bertone sought to wrest dealings with the Italian government away from the bishops’ conference and had vetoed candidates for the conference leadership who he deemed were too powerful.

Italian newspapers routinely publish unsourced stories about machinations in the Vatican. Rarely, though, do such reports elicit thorough and high-ranking denials.

On Tuesday, however, Bertone issued a statement saying that reports of Vatican involvement were false and that Pope Benedict XVI himself “deplored these unjust and insulting attacks” that were “defaming the Holy See.”

L’Osservatore Romano ran the statement on its front page with a note saying Benedict had approved the text and ordered it published.

The statement — unusual in its line-by-line denial of unsourced rumors — was confirmation that the case had reached the highest echelons of power in the Vatican’s Apostolic Palace, making clear that the pope had become personally involved.

“The Holy Father Benedict XVI, who has been kept constantly informed, deplores these unjust and injurious attacks, renews his complete faith in his collaborators, and prays that those who truly have the good of the Church to heart may work with all means to ensure that truth and justice triumph,” the statement said.

Feltri, for his part, denied he had ever met Bertone or L’Osservatore’s editor, Giovanni Maria Vian, much less obtained documents from them.

Ani’s epic delivery scored a lot of attention in the Search box. After the “Today” show ran a segment and Al Roker and Matt Lauer made some lighthearted jokes, lookups on “19 pound baby,” “indonesian baby,” and “heaviest baby ever” all spiked immediately.

And pictures? Oh my, the baby’s pictures were also hugely popular. Queries for “19 pound baby photos” jumped from nil into the thousands, and photos within Yahoo! News are drawing big clicks. Not surprisingly, the baby is said to require “near constant feeding.”

For those wondering if this baby boy (as of yet unnamed, but we suggest “Hulk”) is the heaviest newborn in history, the answer is no. The record belongs to an American infant born in 1879. He weighed 23 pounds, 12 ounces. Sadly, he died a few hours after being born. An ABC station reports that the heaviest baby to survive weighed 22 lbs., 8 ounces. We sure hope the big guy was always extra-nice to his mother

The sanctuary believed to date back to 3,500 to 3,200 years BC was discovered on Akab island in the United Arab Emirates, 50 kilometres (30 miles) north of Dubai.

The French archaeological mission in the Emirates and the Umm al-Quwain museum there said in the specialist magazine Antiquity that the sanctuary on the deserted island provided key details “on the rituals of prehistoric coastal societies in the Gulf.”

Akab was a tuna fisherman’s village more than 6,500 years ago with circular buildings and a pile of dugong bones detected in the 1990s.

The scientifically named “Dugong dugon” still exists in the Gulf, with adults growing up to four metres (12 feet) long and weighing up to 400 kilogrammes (880 pounds).

The sanctuary was first thought to be an abattoir but on analysis was found to be a carefully constructed platform on two levels containing the remains of around 40 dugongs as well as tools, stones and ornaments.

The archeologists said the Akab monument was used for rituals celebrating the giant mammal and “has no parallel in neolithic times in other parts of the world.”

Similar structures have been found off the Australian coast but are only several hundred years old.