Charro Ranch Workday
September 2023
Michael Meves
Hello, everyone!
Last Saturday the HCMN volunteers had a productive day at the park. We had the pleasant surprise of a visit from Scout Troop 4 of the Dripping Springs American Legion. The troop members were a great help, spreading new mulch along many of the paths at the park. We hope to see them at the park in the future.
We also cleaned up a section of the native plant garden by removing the grasses between the specimen plants and applying a new layer of mulch. Here are pictures of the finished work and some of our volunteers.
The volunteers pictured below, from left to right are Beth Barham, Irene Bonde, Sue Harding, Stefanie Holtzendorf, and Dick Barham. Not pictured are Sharon Meves and Kat Schmidt. Also not pictured is Johnson grass. Why? Because Sharon and Kat were busy removing that invasive species from the park!
Hey everyone, come out and join us for the next workday, which will be Saturday, October 21.
About the Annular Eclipse
On October 14, Central Texas will experience an "annular" eclipse. I encourage you all to find a good place to view this rare astronomical event. For your benefit, I am providing some information about the eclipse.
The eclipse will occur on October 14. It will be an annular eclipse as opposed to a total eclipse. During an annular eclipse, the moon is in perfect alignment with the sun, but it will not completely block the sun’s rays. This is because the moon is not always the same distance from the earth. When the moon is farther away from the earth, its disk will be slightly smaller than the sun as viewed from the earth, and therefore won’t completely block the sun. During this event 91% of the sun will be blocked. What will be seen is a “ring of fire” as only the outer edges of the sun are visible. During times when the moon is closer to the earth, a total eclipse occurs, during which the sun is completely blocked. This will happen on April 8, 2024.
In the Austin and Dripping Springs area, although a good portion of the sun will be blocked, the ring effect will not be seen because we are not exactly in the path of total annularity. Instead, the sun will look like a thin crescent. However, the total annular event can be seen in the western Hill Country. A good place to see it would be on the southwest side of San Antonio or the west side of Fredericksburg.
In Dripping Springs the eclipse will start at 10:23 AM and peak at 11:53. In San Antonio, the eclipse will start at 10:23 and peak at 11:54. In San Antonio, the “ring of fire” will last for about 4 minutes.
This is a good website to get more information. https://www.timeanddate.com/eclipse/in/usa/san-antonio
Thanks everyone. See you next month!
Mike Meves
Here is a map of the path of the two upcoming solar eclipses from the American Astronomical Society website : https://eclipse.aas.org/eclipse-america-2023-2024
North America will soon be treated to two major solar eclipses, when the Sun, Moon, and Earth align. On October 14, 2023, anyone under clear skies within a path that sweeps from Oregon to Texas and then through parts of Central and South America will see an annular ("ring") eclipse. Just six months later, on April 8, 2024, a total solar eclipse will sweep from Mexico to Texas to eastern Canada, plunging day into night and revealing the magnificent solar corona for anyone fortunate to be within the path of totality and under clear skies. Nearly everyone in North America will have a partial solar eclipse both days, weather permitting. Map courtesy Michael Zeiler, GreatAmericanEclipse.com.