The longest lunar eclipse of the century takes place tonight - and the UAE is one of the best places in the world to watch the event.
The moon will be eclipsed by the earth’s shadow for three hours and 55 minutes on Friday, changing hues from bright white to blood dark red as the sun’s rays are reflected through the earth’s atmosphere.
The moon will be fully eclipsed for one hour, 42 minutes and 57 seconds. It is almost the longest lunar eclipse theoretically possible, and will be the longest eclipse between 2001 and 2100.
The sun, moon and earth will begin to align at 9.14pm in Dubai. The partial eclipse will begin at 10.24pm. The earth will fully eclipse the sun from 11.30pm until 1.13am. It will all be over by 3.29am.
The Gulf will be one of the best regions in the world to view the eclipse. In Japan, the moon will be setting as the eclipse begins. North America, apart from a sliver of the Canadian province of Newfoundland, will miss the entire event.
Dubai Astronomy Group are offering a observation and talk at Al Thuraya Astronomy Centre in Mushrif Park. Registration is Dh200 per adult and Dh120 per child and includes dinner, a talk and lessons on how to photograph the rare event with a mobile phone. It runs from 9pm until 3am.
Members of the Dubai Astronomy Group will perform a special set of Islamic prayers during the eclipse.
“The purpose of the prayer is simple, to worship God,” said Hasan Al Hariri, the chief executive of Dubai Astronomy Group.
Nakheel will sponsor a free event for stargazers in Jumeirah Village Circle in Dubai from 9.30pm until 1.30am where stargazers can relax on beanbags and enjoy movie screenings, bouncy castles and free refreshments in 2nd December Park, District 14.
The International Astronomical Center will host an event on the Abu Dhabi Corniche opposite the Adnoc building at 8pm, featuring a talk on eclipses and visible planets.
Al Sadeem observatory in Al Wathba is holding an open house and live-streaming the eclipse on its YouTube channel. Sadeem was opened by Emirati amateur astronomer Thabet Al Qaissieh in 2016.
"Everyone is welcome and beginners are even more welcome," said Mr Al Qaissieh, who said these events prove you don’t need lots of expensive equipment to participate.
"It's important that people know that these can be seen with the naked eye,” he said. “It's also important to let people know that places like Sadeem are operating in the UAE and participating in these types of astronomical events.”
The UAE Space Agency will host viewings at the International Astronomical Centre in Abu Dhabi, Emirates Mobile Observatory and the Sharjah Center for Astronomy and Space Sciences.
Otherwise, stargazers can simply head to the desert and escape the city lights for a clearer view. Unlike solar eclipses, lunar eclipses can be watched with the naked eye.
During an eclipse, light passes through the earth’s atmosphere. Longer blue and violet wavelengths are scattered more than shorter red, orange and yellow wavelengths. More of these shorter wavelengths reach the moon and are reflected back to earth, giving the appearance of a blood red moon.
A lunar eclipse typically happens no more than three times in any given location a year when the earth, sun and moon align and the moon falls in the shadow of the earth. The moon must be full for an eclipse to happen and at the right angle for this to occur.
On July 27, the moon is at its farthest from Earth and will appear a little smaller in the sky. This is known as a Micro Moon. A Super Moon is when the satellite is at its closest.
In an unrelated event, Mars will be the closest it has been to our planet since 2003.
Mars will not look so different to the naked eye but it is in fact a mere 57.6 million away tonight, making it the perfect time for people to glimpse the red planet through the telescope.
The next lunar eclipse will be on January 21, 2019, but it will be only partially visible from the UAE.
Election pledges on migration
CDU: "Now is the time to control the German borders and enforce strict border rejections"
SPD: "Border closures and blanket rejections at internal borders contradict the spirit of a common area of freedom"
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
What is a calorie?
A food calorie, or kilocalorie, is a measure of nutritional energy generated from what is consumed.
One calorie, is the amount of heat needed to raise the temperature of 1 kilogram of water by 1°C.
A kilocalorie represents a 1,000 true calories of energy.
Energy density figures are often quoted as calories per serving, with one gram of fat in food containing nine calories, and a gram of protein or carbohydrate providing about four.
Alcohol contains about seven calories a gram.
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Ms Yang's top tips for parents new to the UAE
- Join parent networks
- Look beyond school fees
- Keep an open mind
The story in numbers
18
This is how many recognised sects Lebanon is home to, along with about four million citizens
450,000
More than this many Palestinian refugees are registered with UNRWA in Lebanon, with about 45 per cent of them living in the country’s 12 refugee camps
1.5 million
There are just under 1 million Syrian refugees registered with the UN, although the government puts the figure upwards of 1.5m
73
The percentage of stateless people in Lebanon, who are not of Palestinian origin, born to a Lebanese mother, according to a 2012-2013 study by human rights organisation Frontiers Ruwad Association
18,000
The number of marriages recorded between Lebanese women and foreigners between the years 1995 and 2008, according to a 2009 study backed by the UN Development Programme
77,400
The number of people believed to be affected by the current nationality law, according to the 2009 UN study
4,926
This is how many Lebanese-Palestinian households there were in Lebanon in 2016, according to a census by the Lebanese-Palestinian dialogue committee
In 2018, the ICRC received 27,756 trace requests in the Middle East alone. The global total was 45,507.
There are 139,018 global trace requests that have not been resolved yet, 55,672 of these are in the Middle East region.
More than 540,000 individuals approached the ICRC in the Middle East asking to be reunited with missing loved ones in 2018.
The total figure for the entire world was 654,000 in 2018.
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The specs
Engine: 3.0-litre six-cylinder turbo
Power: 398hp from 5,250rpm
Torque: 580Nm at 1,900-4,800rpm
Transmission: Eight-speed auto
Fuel economy, combined: 6.5L/100km
On sale: December
Price: From Dh330,000 (estimate)
The specs: 2018 Nissan Altima
Price, base / as tested: Dh78,000 / Dh97,650
Engine: 2.5-litre in-line four-cylinder
Power: 182hp @ 6,000rpm
Torque: 244Nm @ 4,000rpm
Transmission: Continuously variable tranmission
Fuel consumption, combined: 7.6L / 100km
Real estate tokenisation project
Dubai launched the pilot phase of its real estate tokenisation project last month.
The initiative focuses on converting real estate assets into digital tokens recorded on blockchain technology and helps in streamlining the process of buying, selling and investing, the Dubai Land Department said.
Dubai’s real estate tokenisation market is projected to reach Dh60 billion ($16.33 billion) by 2033, representing 7 per cent of the emirate’s total property transactions, according to the DLD.
The specs
AT4 Ultimate, as tested
Engine: 6.2-litre V8
Power: 420hp
Torque: 623Nm
Transmission: 10-speed automatic
Price: From Dh330,800 (Elevation: Dh236,400; AT4: Dh286,800; Denali: Dh345,800)
On sale: Now
NO OTHER LAND
Director: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham, Rachel Szor, Hamdan Ballal
Stars: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham
Rating: 3.5/5
Like a Fading Shadow
Antonio Muñoz Molina
Translated from the Spanish by Camilo A. Ramirez
Tuskar Rock Press (pp. 310)
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INDIA SQUAD
Virat Kohli (capt), Rohit Sharma, Shikhar Dhawan, KL Rahul, Vijay Shankar, MS Dhoni (wk), Kedar Jadhav, Dinesh Karthik, Yuzvendra Chahal, Kuldeep Yadav, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Jasprit Bumrah, Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Mohammed Shami
About Seez
Company name/date started: Seez, set up in September 2015 and the app was released in August 2017
Founder/CEO name(s): Tarek Kabrit, co-founder and chief executive, and Andrew Kabrit, co-founder and chief operating officer
Based in: Dubai, with operations also in Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and Lebanon
Sector: Search engine for car buying, selling and leasing
Size: (employees/revenue): 11; undisclosed
Stage of funding: $1.8 million in seed funding; followed by another $1.5m bridge round - in the process of closing Series A
Investors: Wamda Capital, B&Y and Phoenician Funds
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
THE SPECS
Engine: 6.75-litre twin-turbocharged V12 petrol engine
Power: 420kW
Torque: 780Nm
Transmission: 8-speed automatic
Price: From Dh1,350,000
On sale: Available for preorder now
The rules on fostering in the UAE
A foster couple or family must:
- be Muslim, Emirati and be residing in the UAE
- not be younger than 25 years old
- not have been convicted of offences or crimes involving moral turpitude
- be free of infectious diseases or psychological and mental disorders
- have the ability to support its members and the foster child financially
- undertake to treat and raise the child in a proper manner and take care of his or her health and well-being
- A single, divorced or widowed Muslim Emirati female, residing in the UAE may apply to foster a child if she is at least 30 years old and able to support the child financially
The years Ramadan fell in May