Earth and Space News

Monday, January 22, 2018

Tosca Is Jan. 27, 2018, Met Opera Saturday Matinee Broadcast

Summary: The Jan. 27, 2018, Met Opera Saturday matinee broadcast is Tosca by Italian opera composer Giacomo Puccini.

Tosca (Sonya Yoncheva), Cavaradossi (Vittorio Grigolo) and Scarpia (Željko Lučić) are locked in a tragic triangle in which heightened emotions reflect historical and political turbulence: The Metropolitan Opera @MetOpera, via Facebook Jan. 2, 2018

Tosca, a three-act opera centered on a tempestuous diva by Italian opera composer Giacomo Puccini (Dec. 22, 1858-Nov. 29, 1924), is the Jan. 27, 2018, Metropolitan Opera Saturday matinee broadcast.

The Italian libretto for Puccini’s operatic tragedy represents one of three successful collaborations between Italian librettist and playwright Giuseppe Giacosa (Oct. 21, 1847-Sept. 1, 1906) and Italian librettist Luigi Illica (May 9, 1857-Dec. 16, 1919) on Puccini operas. Giacosa and Illica are also credited with librettos for La Bohème (1896) and Madama Butterfly (1904).

The literary source is La Tosca, a five-act drama written by 19th century French playwright Victorien Sardou (Sept. 5, 1831-Nov. 8, 1908) specifically for famed French stage actress Sarah Bernhardt (Oct. 22/23?, 1844-March 26, 1923). Sardou’s play premiered Nov. 24, 1887, at Théâtre de la Porte Saint-Martin in Paris’s 10th arrondissement (10e arrondissement de Paris) on the Right Bank (rive droite de la Seine).

Puccini’s opera premiered Jan. 14, 1900, at Teatro Costanzi, now known as Teatro dell’Opera di Roma, in Rome, Lazio region, western central Italy. Two other Puccini operas subsequently premiered at the opera house. La Fanciulla del West’s Italian premiere took place June 12, 1911. Gianni Schicci’s Italian premiere occurred Jan. 11, 1919.

Tosca is one of five new productions offered during the 2017-2018 Met Opera season. The opera’s premiere as a new production takes place Sunday, Dec. 31, 2017, at 6:30 p.m. Eastern Standard Time.

During the 2017-2018 Met Opera season, seven performances are offered in January 2018. The first performance of the new year happens Saturday, Jan. 6, at 8 p.m. The month's subsequent performances take place Tuesday, Jan. 9, at 7:30 p.m.; Friday, Jan. 12, at 8 p.m.; Monday, Jan. 15, at 7:30 p.m.; Thursday, Jan. 18, at 8 p.m.; Tuesday, Jan. 23, at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 27’s performance begins at 1 p.m. as the new year’s fourth Saturday matinee broadcast.

Three performances are scheduled for April: Saturday, April 21, at 8 p.m.; Thursday, April 26, at 8 p.m.; Monday, April 30, at 7:30 p.m. Three performances are offered in May: Friday, May 4, at 8 p.m.; Tuesday, May 8, at 7:30 p.m.; Saturday, May 12, at 8 p.m.

Estimated run time for the new production is 2 hours 53 minutes. Act I spans 45 minutes. An intermission of 30 minutes precedes Act II, which spans 41 minutes. An intermission of 30 minutes precedes the final act, Act III, which spans 27 minutes.

Emmanuel Villaume conducts Jan. 27’s Saturday matinee broadcast. He also conducts opening night, Dec. 31, and six additional performances in January (3, 6, 9, 12, 15, 23). His birthplace is Strasbourg, Grand Est, northeastern France. The French conductor debuted Sept. 22, 2004, at the Metropolitan Opera in Madama Butterfly by Italian opera composer Giacomo Puccini (Dec. 22, 1858-Nov. 29, 1924). In the 2017-2018 Met Opera season, Emmanuel Villaume also conducts Thaïs by French Romantic Era composer Jules Massenet (May 12, 1842-Aug. 13, 1912).

Emmanuel Villaume shares the Tosca conductorship with Gareth Morrell and Bertrand de Billy. Gareth Morrell conducts the Jan. 18 performance. His birthplace is Southport, Merseyside, North West England. The British conductor debuted Jan. 20, 1999, at the Metropolitan Opera in Lucia di Lammermoor by Italian composer Gaetano Donizetti (Nov. 29, 1797-April 8, 1848).

Bertrand de Billy conducts the opera’s spring performances (April 21, 26, 30; May 4, 8, 12). His birthplace is Paris, Île de France, north central France. The French conductor debuted March 16, 1998, at the Metropolitan Opera in Roméo et Juliette by French composer Charles-François Gounod (June 17, 1818-Oct. 18, 1893). In the 2017-2018 Met Opera season, he also conducts Massenet’s Cendrillon and Luisa Miller by Italian opera composer Giuseppe Verdi (Oct. 10, 1813-Jan. 27, 1901).

Sonya Yoncheva appears in the title role for Jan. 27’s Saturday matinee broadcast. She also appears opening night, Dec. 31, and in six additional performances (Jan. 3, 6, 9, 15, 18, 23). Her birthplace is Plovdiv, south central Bulgaria. The Bulgarian operatic soprano debuted Nov. 21, 2013, at the Metropolitan Opera as Gilda in Verdi’s Rigoletto. In the 2017-2018 Met Opera season, she also appears as Mimì in Puccini’s La Bohème and in the title role in Verdi’s Luisa Miller.

Sonya Yoncheva shares the role of Tosca with Jennifer Rowley and Anna Netrebko. Anna Netrebko appears in the title role for the opera’s spring performances (April 21, 26, 30; May 4, 8, 12). Her birthplace is Krasnodar, southwestern Russia. The Russian operatic soprano debuted Feb. 14, 2002, at the Metropolitan Opera as Natasha Rostova in War and Peace by Soviet composer, conductor and pianist Sergei Prokofiev (April 23, 1891-March 5, 1953).

Jennifer Rowley appears in the Jan. 12 performance. Her birthplace is Cleveland, Cuyahoga County, northwestern Ohio. The American soprano debuted March 19, 2014, at the Metropolitan Opera as Musetta in Puccini’s La Bohème.

Update: Jennifer Rowley replaces Anna Netrebko, who is ill, for the Friday, May 4 performance. (Update per The Metropolitan Opera @MetOpera via Twitter May 4, 2018.)

Vittorio Grigolo appears as Cavaradossi, Tosca’s painter lover, in Jan. 27’s Saturday matinee broadcast. He also appears opening night, Dec. 31, and in seven additional performances (Jan. 3, 6, 9, 12, 15, 18, 23). His birthplace is Arezzo, Tuscany, north central Italy. The Italian operatic tenor debuted Oct. 16, 2010, at the Metropolitan Opera as Rodolfo in Puccini’s La Bohème. In the 2017-2018 Met Opera season, he also appears as Hoffmann in Les Contes d’Hoffmann by German-born French composer Jacques Offenbach (June 20, 1819-Oct. 5, 1880) and as Edgardo in Donizetti’s Lucia di Lammermoor.

Vittorio Grigolo shares the role of Cavaradossi with Marcelo Álvarez, who is scheduled to appear in the opera’s spring performances (April 21, 26, 30; May 4, 8, 12). His birthplace is Córdoba, central Argentina. The Argentine lyric tenor debuted Nov. 23, 1998, at the Metropolitan Opera as Alfredo in Verdi’s La Traviata.

Update: Yusif Eyvazov replaces Marcelo Álvarez for all three April performances (April 21, 26, 30) and the first two of May's three performances (May 4, 8). He was born in Algiers, north central Algeria, where his father held a position as a visiting professor of meteorology. The Azerbaijan dramatic tenor debuted Nov. 7, 2015, as Calaf in the Metropolitan Opera's 305th performance of Puccini's Turandot. (Update via The Metropolitan Opera @MetOpera's Twitter tweet April 11, 2018.)

Update: Najmiddin Mavlyanov replaces Yusif Eyvazov for the May 8 performance and Vittorio Grigolo for the closing night May 12 performance. His birthplace is Samarkand, east central Uzbekistan, Central Asia. The Uzbekistani tenor makes his Metropolitan Opera debut with his appearance as Cavaradossi for the May 8 performance. (Update via The Metropolitan Opera @MetOpera's Twitter tweet April 23, 2018.)

Željko Lučić appears as Scarpia, Tosca and Cavaradossi’s nemesis, in Jan. 27’s Saturday matinee broadcast. He also appears opening night, Dec. 31, and in nine additional performances (Jan. 3, 6, 9, 12, 15, 18, 23; May 8, 12). His birthplace is Zrenjanin, Vojvodina, northern Serbia. The Serbian operatic baritone debuted Sept. 26, 2006, at the Metropolitan Opera as Barnaba in La Gioconda by 19th century Italian opera composer Amilcare Ponchielli (Aug. 31, 1834-Jan. 16, 1886).

Željko Lučić shares the role of Scarpia with Michael Volle, who appears in four spring performances (April 21, 26, 30; May 4). His birthplace is Freudenstadt, Baden-Württemberg, southwestern Germany. The German baritone debuted April 3, 2014, at the Metropolitan Opera as Mandryka in Arabella by German composer Richard Strauss (June 11, 1864-Sept. 8, 1949).

Patrick Carfizzi appears in all performances as the sacristan, who disapproves of Cavarodossi’s fresco of Mary Magdalene. His hometown is Newburgh, Orange County, southeastern New York. The American bass-baritone debuted Dec. 24, 1999, at the Metropolitan Opera as Count Ceprano in Verdi’s Rigoletto. In the 2017-2018 Met Opera season, he also appears as a Mandarin in Puccini’s Turandot.

Met Opera’s new production is under the direction of Scottish opera and theatre director Sir David McVicar, who aims to convey the opera’s grandeur. The setting is an eventful day in Rome in June 1800 during the Italian campaign of Napoléon Bonaparte (Aug. 15, 1769-May 5, 1821). Sir McVicar’s production team comprises John Macfarlane, set and costume designer; David Finn, lighting designer; Leah Hausman, movement director.

Tosca appears as the ninth of the 2017-2018 Met Opera season’s 23 Saturday matinee broadcasts. Massenet’s Thaïs was the season’s eighth Saturday matinee broadcast. Thaïs aired Saturday, Jan. 20, 2018, at 1 p.m.

The season’s 10th Saturday matinee broadcast is Verdi’s Il Trovatore. Il Trovatore is scheduled for Feb. 3, 2018, at 1 p.m.

Online database Operabase places Giacomo Puccini at number three in a worldwide ranking of 1,281 composers for the five seasons from 2011/2012 to 2015/2016. First and second places are occupied by Giuseppe Verdi and Wolfgang Mozart, respectively. Tosca places fifth in the worldwide list of 2,658 most popular operas.

Tosca’s Metropolitan Opera debut took place Feb. 4, 1901. Prior to the 2017-2018 Met Opera season, Tosca’s most recent Met Opera performances occurred during the 2015-2016 season.

The Metropolitan Opera’s Repertory Report provides statistics for the opera house’s operatic performances. Tosca occupies fifth place. The first four places are held, respectively, by Puccini's LaBohème, Verdi's Aida, Verdi's Traviata and Bizet's Carmen.

Tosca appears as the first of four Puccini operas offered during the 2017-2018 Met Opera season. The second opera, La Bohème, is the Feb. 24, 2018, Met Opera Saturday matinee broadcast. Madama Butterfly is the March 3, 2018, Saturday matinee broadcast. Turandot is the March 24, 2018, Saturday matinee broadcast.

The takeaway for Tosca as the Jan. 27, 2018, Metropolitan Opera Saturday matinee broadcast is that the 2017-2018 Met Opera season’s ninth Saturday matinee broadcast places compelling, impassioned characters in a historical setting enlivened by betrayal, courage, idealism and doomed love.

Sir David McVicar's production team painstaking recreates the grandeur of Tosca's architectural settings: The Metropolitan Opera @MetOpera, via Facebook Dec. 28, 2017

Acknowledgment

My special thanks to talented artists and photographers/concerned organizations who make their fine images available on the internet.

Image credits:

Sir David McVicar's production team painstakingly recreates the grandeur of Tosca's architectural settings: The Metropolitan Opera @MetOpera, via Facebook Dec. 28, 2017, @ https://www.facebook.com/MetOpera/posts/10159916116955533

For further information:

"Composers: Composers Ranked by the Number of Performances of Their Operas Over the Five Seasons 2011/2012 to 2015/16." Operabase > Opera Statistics.
Available @ http://operabase.com/top.cgi?lang=en

Cooper, Michael. "See How the Met Built 'Tosca,' Its Biggest Production of the Season." The New York Times > Music. Dec. 28, 2017.
Available @ https://www.nytimes.com/2017/12/28/arts/music/tosca-metropolitan-opera.html

“Debut: Gareth Morrell.” MetOpera Database > [Met Performance] CID: 331336 Lucia di Lammermoor {516} Metropolitan Opera House: 01/20/1999.
Available @ http://archives.metoperafamily.org/archives/scripts/cgiip.exe/WService=BibSpeed/fullcit.w?xCID=331336

“Debut: Sonya Yoncheva.” MetOpera Database > [Met Performance] CID: 355145 Rigoletto {859} Metropolitan Opera House: 11/21/2013.
Available @ http://archives.metoperafamily.org/archives/scripts/cgiip.exe/WService=BibSpeed/fullcit.w?xCID=355145

"Debut: Yusif Eyvazov." MetOpera Database > [Met Performance] CID: 356109 Turandot {305} Matinee ed. Metropolitan Opera House: 11/07/2015.
Available @ http://archives.metoperafamily.org/archives/scripts/cgiip.exe/WService=BibSpeed/fullcit.w?xCID=356109

“Debuts: Alfred Walker, Bertrand de Billy.” MetOpera Database > [Met Performance] CID: 330528 Roméo et Juliette {294} Metropolitan Opera House: 03/16/1998.
Available @ http://archives.metoperafamily.org/archives/scripts/cgiip.exe/WService=BibSpeed/fullcit.w?xCID=330528

“Debuts: Anita Hartig, Jennifer Rowley, Nicolas Testé.” MetOpera Database > [Met Performance] CID: 355378 La Bohème {1251} Metropolitan Opera House: 03/19/2014.
Available @ http://archives.metoperafamily.org/archives/scripts/cgiip.exe/WService=BibSpeed/fullcit.w?xCID=355378

“Debuts: Anna Netrebko, Ekaterina Semenchuk, Oleg Balashov . . .” MetOpera Database > [Met Performance] Metropolitan Opera Premiere CID: 350257 War and Peace {1} Metropolitan Opera House: 02/14/2002.
Available @ http://archives.metoperafamily.org/archives/scripts/cgiip.exe/WService=BibSpeed/fullcit.w?xCID=350257

“Debuts: Christopher Wheeldon, Holly Hynes, Zeljko Lucic . . .” MetOpera Database > [Met Performance] CID: 351556 La Gioconda {275} Metropolitan Opera House: 09/26/2006.
Available @ http://archives.metoperafamily.org/archives/scripts/cgiip.exe/WService=BibSpeed/fullcit.w?xCID=351556

“Debuts: Emmanuel Villaume, Felicia Velazquez.” MetOpera Database > [Met Performance] CID: 351017 Madama Butterfly {789} Metropolitan Opera House: 09/22/2004.
Available @ http://archives.metoperafamily.org/archives/scripts/cgiip.exe/WService=BibSpeed/fullcit.w?xCID=351017

“Debuts: Marcelo Álvarez, Raimonda Gaetani.” MetOpera Database > [Met Performance] CID: 331168 La Traviata {819} Metropolitan Opera House: 11/23/1998.
Available @ http://archives.metoperafamily.org/archives/scripts/cgiip.exe/WService=BibSpeed/fullcit.w?xCID=331168

“Debuts: Michael Volle, Catherine Wyn-Rogers. . .” MetOpera Database > [Met Performance] CID: 355411 Arabella {53} Metropolitan Opera House: 04/03/2014.
Available @ http://archives.metoperafamily.org/archives/scripts/cgiip.exe/WService=BibSpeed/fullcit.w?xCID=355411

“Debuts: Patrick Carfizzi, Gloria Watson, Vladimir Jurowski.” MetOpera Database > [Met Performance] CID: 332264 Rigoletto {736} Metropolitan Opera House: 12/24/1999.
Available @ http://archives.metoperafamily.org/archives/scripts/cgiip.exe/WService=BibSpeed/fullcit.w?xCID=35398

“Debuts: Roberto Rizzi Brignoli, Vittorio Grigolo . . .” MetOpera Database > [Met Performance] CID: 353598 La Bohème {1218} Metropolitan Opera House: 10/16/2010.
Available @ http://archives.metoperafamily.org/archives/scripts/cgiip.exe/WService=BibSpeed/fullcit.w?xCID=353598

Marriner, Derdriu. “2017-2018 Metropolitan Opera Season Offers Five New Productions.” Earth and Space News. Monday, June 26, 2017.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2017/06/2017-2018-metropolitan-opera-season.html

Marriner, Derdriu. “Thaïs Is Jan. 20, 2018, Met Opera Saturday Matinee Broadcast.” Earth and Space News. Monday, Jan. 15, 2018.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2018/01/thais-is-jan-20-2018-met-opera-saturday.html

Metropolitan Opera @MetOpera. "For the performances of Tosca on April 21eve, 26, 30, May 4, 2018, Yusif Eyvazov sings Cavaradossi, replacing Marcelo Álvarez. #CastChange." Twitter. April 11, 2018.
Available @ https://twitter.com/MetOpera/status/984088401833091077

Metropolitan Opera @MetOpera. "For the performances of TOSCA on May 8 and 12, Cavaradossi will be sung by Najmiddin Mavlyanov (making his debut). #CastChange." Twitter. April 23, 2018.
Available @ https://twitter.com/MetOpera/status/988516058058420224

Metropolitan Opera @MetOpera. "Jennifer Rowley will sing the title role in tonight’s performance of Puccini’s Tosca, replacing Anna Netrebko who is ill. #castchange." Twitter. May 4, 2018.
Available @ https://twitter.com/MetOpera/status/992526074138517504

The Metropolitan Opera @MetOpera. "The new production of Tosca opened to critical praise on New Year's Eve. Sonya Yoncheva and Vittorio Grigolo star in Puccini's grand melodrama through January 27." Facebook. Jan. 2, 2018.
Available @ https://www.facebook.com/MetOpera/posts/10159937795490533

The Metropolitan Opera @MetOpera. "'Rome wasn’t built in a day. When the Metropolitan Opera decided to create a new production of Puccini’s 'Tosca' true to the work’s Roman settings, the company’s army of artists and artisans started work nearly a year before its opening night, on New Year’s Eve.' -- The New York Times." Facebook. Dec. 28, 2017.
Available @ https://www.facebook.com/MetOpera/posts/10159916116955533

"Performances Statistics Through October 31, 2016.” MetOpera Database > The Metropolitan Opera Archives > Repertory Report.
Available @ http://archives.metoperafamily.org/archives/Database%20Opera%20Statistics.xml

Sunday, January 21, 2018

Fragile Forktail Damselfly Habitats: Exclamation Mark Design on Thorax

Summary: North American fragile forktail damselfly habitats from Canada all the way to Mexico and Guatemala get exclamation mark-patterned thoraxes.

North American fragile forktail damselfly habitats allow arboriculture, master gardening and master naturalism along slow-watered distribution ranges from Newfoundland through Florida inland into Kansas, Minnesota, Nebraska, Oklahoma, Texas and southward through Guatemala.

Pollution-tolerant fragile forktails bear their common name for diminutive sizes and fork-tipped abdomens and the scientific name Ischnura posita (thin tail positive) for exclamation mark-patterned thoraxes. Common names channel the consensus of scientific committees convened by the Dragonfly Society of the Americas, whose Argia journal issues since 1989 can be consulted online. Scientific designations dissect descriptions in 1861 by Hermann August Hagen (May 30, 1817-Nov. 9, 1893), specialist from Königsberg, Prussia, in extant and extinct damselflies and dragonflies.

Fragile forktail damselfly lifespans expect slow-flowing ditches, lakes, marshes, ponds, rivers, streams and swamps with dense, shaded beds of grass, herbaceous vegetation, sedge and woody plants.

January through December function as maximum, most southerly flight seasons even though May through August furnish wildlife mapping opportunities throughout all northern and southern habitat niches.

Female and male fragile forktails grab the same grassy, herbaceous, shrubby branches, stalks and stems for daytime perching at oblique, and night-time roosting at right, angles. They head from hidden, overlapping perches and roosts to open perches in emergent, floating mare's tail, pondweed and water lily beds during cloudy, cool, predator-free days. They incline toward grassy, herbaceous, sedge and shrubby beds even along polluted, slow-moving lakes, marshes, ponds, rivers, springs, streams and swamps and in polluted, shady woodlands.

Ants, assassin flies, biting midges, ducks, falcons, fish, flycatchers, frogs, grebes, lizards, spiders, turtles and water beetles and mites jeopardize North American fragile forktail damselfly habitats.

Immature fragile forktails keep to dull-colored, small-sized forms even though dark-bodied, immature females and brown-bodied tenerals respectively know bright blue and exclamation mark-like, interrupted shoulder stripes.

Incomplete metamorphosis lets fragile forktail damselflies live as eggs in aquatic vegetation, as egg-hatched, multi-molting larvae, naiads or nymphs underwater and as shiny-winged, soft-bodied, weak-flying tenerals. Tenerals quickly mature sexually into adults that mate and make ovipositing a female, not tandem, maneuver into the emergent stems of such floating vegetation as duckweed. Forktail members of the Coenagrionidae pond damsel family need aphids, beetles, borers, caddisflies, copepods, crane flies, dobsonflies, gnats, leafhoppers, mosquitoes, rotifers, scuds, water fleas and worms.

North American fragile forktail damselfly habitats offer season-coldest temperature ranges, northward to southward, from minus 43 to 35-plus degrees Fahrenheit (minus 42.77 to 1.66-plus degrees Celsius).

Beech, bellflower, birch, bladderwort, cattail, daisy, grass, greenbrier, heath, laurel, madder, maple, nettle, olive, pepperbush, pine, pondweed, rush, sedge, water-lily and willow families promote fragile forktails.

Black abdomens graying with age and dull upper thoraxes with blue, faded, interrupted stripes darkening with age and patterned like exclamation points quicken adult female identifications. Shiny adult males reveal black thoraxes with green interrupted stripes reminiscent of exclamation marks, green eyes and faces, green-segmented black abdomens, small eyespots and yellow-green faces. Adults show off 0.83- to 1.14-inch (21- to 29-millimeter) head-body lengths, 0.63- to 0.87-inch (16- to 22-millimeter) abdomens and 0.39- to 0.63-inch (10- to 16-millimeter) hindwings.

No other forktails transmit black abdomens and thoraxes with interrupted stripes in exclamation mark-like patterns as they transit through overlapping North American fragile forktail damselfly habitats.

Acknowledgment

My special thanks to talented artists and photographers/concerned organizations who make their fine images available on the internet.

Image credits:

Fragile forktail damselflies (Ischnura posita) display unique thoracic stripes patterned like exclamation points; female fragile forktail damselfly at Kenilworth Aquatic Gardens, Washington DC; Saturday, Aug. 29, 2015, 09:35: Judy Gallagher, CC BY 2.0 Generic, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Fragile_Forktail_-_Ischnura_posita,_Kenilworth_Aquatic_Gardens,_Washington,_D.C._-_20604912774.jpg;
Judy Gallagher (Judy Gallagher), CC BY 2.0 Generic, via Flickr @ https://www.flickr.com/photos/52450054@N04/20604912774/

Fragile forktail's characteristic exclamation point pattern of thoracic stripes is green for males and blue for females; male fragile forktail dragonfly (Ischnura posita) in Woodbridge, Prince William County, Northern Virginia; Saturday, April 30, 2011, 12:30: Judy Gallagher, CC BY 2.0 Generic, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Fragile_Forktail_-_Ischnura_posita,_Woodbridge,_Va._-_5678072683.jpg;
Judy Gallagher (Judy Gallagher), CC BY 2.0 Generic, via Flickr @ https://www.flickr.com/photos/52450054@N04/5678072683/

For further information:

Abbott, John C. Dragonflies and Damselflies of Texas and the South-Central United States: Texas, Louisiana, Arkansas, Oklahoma and New Mexico. Princeton NJ; Oxford UK: Princeton University Press, 2005.

Beaton, Giff. Dragonflies & Damselflies of Georgia and the Southeast. Athens GA; London UK: University of Georgia Press, 2007.

Berger, Cynthia. Dragonflies. Mechanicsburg PA: Stackpole Books: Wild Guide, 2004.

Bright, Ethan. "Ischnura posita (Hagen, 1861: 77 -- as Agrion) -- Fragile Forktail." Aquatic Insects of Michigan > Odonata (Dragon- and Damselflies) of Michigan > Zygoptera, Selys, 1854 > Coenagrionidae, Kirby, 1890 (Pond Damselflies) > Ischnura Charpentier, 1840 (Forktails).
Available @ http://www.aquaticinsects.org/sp/Odonata/sp_oom.html

Hagen, Hermann. "6. A. positum! Agrion positum Hagen!" Synopsis of the Neuroptera of North America. With a List of the South American Species: 77. Smithsonian Miscellaneous Collections, vol. IV, art. I. Translated from Latin to English by Philip Reese Uhler. Washington DC: Smithsonian Institution, July 1861.
Available via Biodiversity Heritage Library @ https://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/18918180
Available via HathiTrust @ https://hdl.handle.net/2027/aeu.ark:/13960/t32241f34?urlappend=%3Bseq=112

"Ischnura posita." James Cook University-Medusa: The Odonata - Dragonflies and Damselflies > Zygoptera > Coenagrionidae > Ischnura.
Available via James Cook University-Medusa @ https://medusa.jcu.edu.au/Dragonflies/openset/displaySpecies.php?spid=3755

Paulson, Dennis. Dragonflies and Damselflies of the East. Princeton NJ: Princeton University Press, Princeton Field Guides, 2011.

"The 2012 USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map." The National Gardening Association > Gardening Tools > Learning Library USDA Hardiness Zone > USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map.
Available @ https://garden.org/nga/zipzone/2012/

Saturday, January 20, 2018

No Southern House Mosquitoes on Hawaii Five-0's Na Keikia Kalaihaohia

Summary: Southern house mosquitoes round up no victims on Hawaii Five-0 2010 episode Na Keikia Kalaihaohia Jan. 19, 2018, even though they ruffle native birds.

male (left) and female (right) southern house mosquitoes (Culex quinquefasciatus), under synonym Culex fatigans Wiedemann (1828), illustrated by Ernst Lohse (1873-1930); E.A. Goeldi's Os Mosquitos no Pará (1905), Plate I, figures 4 and 5: Not in copyright, via Biodiversity Heritage Library

Southern house mosquitoes and four other naturalized mosquito genera are not causal agents of a malaria death in Hawaii Five-0 2010 active police procedural series episode Na Keikia Kalaihaohia Jan. 19, 2018.

Director Peter Weller and writers Eric Guggenheim and Peter Lenkov begin Season 8's 14th episode with a "pretty exotic way to go for a local boy." The series' 182nd episode overall, The Children of Kalaihaohia, calculates, concerning Hawaii-rare malaria, "So you could pretty much count the number of fatalities on one hand." The "Not many cases of malaria in this part of the world" derive from blood-sucking insects such as Southern house mosquitoes not domiciling natively in Hawaii.

An article in the Honolulu Gazette April 17, 1903, explained exotic mosquito establishments as ensuing from the ship Wellington's entry into Lahaina harbor, Maui, in 1826.

The Honolulu Gazette article fit common night mosquitoes (Culex pipiens) among first introduced makika ("mosquito") during William Richards' (Aug. 22, 1793-Nov. 7, 1847) Lahaina missionary years.

William Alexander's (April 2, 1833-Feb. 21, 1913) father-in-law Dwight Ballard (Sept. 29, 1798-Jan. 3, 1886) and Henry Peirce (Dec. 15, 1808-July 29, 1885) generated similar reminiscences. The Hawai'i Digital Newspaper Project has southern house mosquitoes (Culex quinquefasciatus) as Culicidae (from Latin culex, "gnat, midge" and Greek εἶδος, eîdos, "appearance") family introduced members. Southern house mosquitoes, identified in 1823 by Thomas Say (June 27, 1787-Oct. 10, 1834), include egg, larval, pupal and mature stages within completely metamorphosing life cycles.

Physically and sexually mature 10- to 19-day-old females journey through one- to 20-mile (1.61- to 32.19-kilometer) distribution ranges for avian and mammalian blood and for mates.

Avian and mammalian blood kept in six lower-lip, needle-like stylets and then in proboscis, thoracic and abdominal food channels kindle five 100-plus-egg rafts within 30-plus days.

Caterpillar-like, worm-like, jerking, thin-shelled wriggler larvae leave oval, semi-adhesive rafts after five- to eight-day temperatures at 86 degrees Fahrenheit (30 degrees Celsius) in nutrient-rich, standing waters. Broad-headed, two-eyed wrigglers manifest two bushy, short antennae; algae-, bacteria-, protozoan-manipulating, long-haired, yellow-filamented brushes; movable jaws; eight-segmented abdomens with air-breathing, buoyant, tube-like siphons and barrel-shaped saddles. Southern house mosquitoes, named scientifically Culex quinquefasciatus (from Latin culex, "midge"; quīnque, "five"; fasciātus, "banded, bundled") need four molts within four to 10 days to pupate.

Comma-shaped, thin-coated pupal southern house mosquitoes offer fused heads and thoraxes; downward-curved, eight-segmented abdomens; buoyant, side-located air spaces; paired air-breathing, buoyant, trumpet-shaped thoracic tubes; two-haired paddles.

Big-headed, compound-eyed, funnel-mouthed, short-necked adults with two female fine-haired or two male bushy-haired sensory antennae pierce 36-hour-old pupal backs at 80.6 degrees Fahrenheit (27 degrees Celsius).

Brown, 0.156- to 0.167-inch- (3.96- to 4.25-millimeter-) long adults queue up 13-segmented antennae; triangle-shaped thoraxes; two scale-edged, thin wings with scale-covered veins; six five-jointed, two-clawed legs. They release surface air into interior tubes through two paired, side-spaced spiracles that eight pairs on long, point-tipped, tube-like abdomens with hair-like, scaly, thread-like surfaces reinforce. Southern house mosquitoes sustain 1,000 wing movements per second even as low-toned adult males, with seven- to 10-day survival rates, seek high-toned moves of mating-motivated females.

Virus-transmitting southern house mosquitoes and four other introduced makika genera terminated many Hawaiian low-altitude native birds even though they trouble Hawaii Five-0 task force members once.

Hawaii Five-0 Task Force Lieutenant Commander Steve McGarrett (Alex O'Loughlin) confronts mortician Curtis Rice (Walter S. Gaines) at Roseland Mortuary about the exhumed body of Travis Hinkley, a diamond mule and malaria victim, in CBS TV's Hawaii Five-0, season 8, episode 14, Na Keikia Kalaihaohia (The Children of Kalaihaohia): CBS Hawaii Five-0 episode 8.14 promotional photo, via SpoilerTV Jan. 19, 2018

Acknowledgment

My special thanks to talented artists and photographers/concerned organizations who make their fine images available on the internet.

Image credits:

male (left) and female (right) southern house mosquitoes (Culex quinquifasciatus), under synonym Culex fatigans Wiedemann (1828), illustrated by Ernst Lohse (1873-1930); E.A. Goeldi's Os Mosquitos no Pará (1905), Plate I, figures 4 and 5: Not in copyright, via Biodiversity Heritage Library @ https://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/8677823

Goeldi, Emilio Augusto [Émil August]. 1905. "1. Culex fatigans. Wiedemann. (1828)." Os Mosquitos no Pará. Memorias do Museu Goeldi (Museu Paraense) de Historia Natural e Ethnographia IV: 86-93. Pará, Brazil: Estabelecimento Graphico C. Wiegandt.
Available via Biodiversity Heritage Library @ https://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/8677710

Hill, Stephanie; and Roxanne Connelly. June 2009. "Southern House Mosquito: Culex quinquefasciatus Say." Revised May 2013. Reviewed June 2016. University of Florida Entomology & Nematology Department > Featured Creatures Publication Number EENY-457.
Available @ http://entnemdept.ufl.edu/creatures/aquatic/southern_house_mosquito.htm

Marriner, Derdriu. 13 January 2018. “What Is Gone Is Not Hawaiian Bobtail Squid on Hawaii Five-0 2010.” Earth and Space News. Saturday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2018/01/what-is-gone-is-not-hawaiian-bobtail.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 7 January 2018. “Criminals Rare as Guernsey Dairy Cattle on Hawaii Five-0 The Roundup.” Earth and Space News. Sunday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2018/01/criminals-rare-as-guernsey-dairy-cattle.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 6 January 2018. “Hawaiian Cattle Roundups and Hawaii Five-0 2010 The Roundup Criminals.” Earth and Space News. Saturday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2018/01/hawaiian-cattle-roundups-and-hawaii.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 19 November 2010. “Hawaii Shave Ice Images and Take-Outs on Hawaii Five-0 2010 Ho'apono.” Earth and Space News. Friday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2010/11/hawaii-shave-ice-images-and-take-outs.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 14 November 2010. “Hawaiian Wild Boars Around Hawaii Five-0 2010's North Shore of O'ahu.” Earth and Space News. Sunday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2010/11/hawaiian-wild-boars-around-hawaii-five.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 13 November 2010. “Limu Lipoa Hawaiian Seaweed on Hawaii Five-0 2010 Episode Nalowale.” Earth and Space News. Saturday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2010/11/limu-lipoa-hawaiian-seaweed-on-hawaii.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 12 November 2010. “Hawaiian Blueberry Botanical Illustrations for Hawaii Five-0 Pancakes.” Earth and Space News. Friday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2010/11/hawaiian-blueberry-botanical.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 7 November 2010. “Hawaii Five-0 2010: Respect the Land and the Pizza Without Pineapples?” Earth and Space News. Sunday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2010/11/hawaii-five-0-2010-respect-land-and.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 6 November 2010. “Pygmy Hippopotamuses for Grace of the Hawaii Five-0 2010 Family?” Earth and Space News. Saturday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2010/11/pygmy-hippopotamuses-for-grace-of.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 5 November 2010. “Pineappley Hala Tree Botanical Illustrations for Hawaii Five-0 Pilot.” Earth and Space News. Friday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2010/11/pineappley-hala-tree-botanical.html

"Mosquitoes in Hawaii." Hawai'i Digital Newspaper Project > Subject and Topic Guides.
Available @ https://sites.google.com/a/hawaii.edu/ndnp-hawaii/Home/subject-and-topic-guides/mosquitoes-in-hawaii

"Na Keikia Kalaihaohia: The Children of Kalaihaohia." Hawaii Five-0 2010: The Eighth Season. Los Angeles CA: Paramount Pictures Corporation, Jan. 19, 2018.

Say, Thomas. April 1823. "2. C. 5-fasciatus." Pages 10-11. In: "Descriptions of Dipterous Insects of the United States. Read Dec. 24, 1822." Journal of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia, vol. III, Part I (April 1823): 9-53. Philadelphia PA: Printed for the Society by J. Harding.
Available via Biodiversity Heritage Library @ https://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/24668631

Sirivanakarn, Sunthorn; and Graham B. White. July 1978. "Neotype Designation of Culex Quinquefasciatus Say (Diptera: Culicidae)." Proceedings of the Entomological Society of Washington, vol. 80, no. 3 (July 1978): 360-372. Washington DC: Smithsonian Institution Department of Entomology; published quarterly for the Society.
Available @ https://apps.dtic.mil/dtic/tr/fulltext/u2/a512419.pdf
Available via Biodiversity Heritage Library @ https://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/16381459

Friday, January 19, 2018

Paris Ritz Hotel Robbery: Jewels Back, Three of Five Suspects Jailed

Summary: The Paris Ritz Hotel robbery Jan. 10, 2018, in France, ends with all jewels back, three on-site arrests, one wrecked getaway car and two missing suspects.

view of back entrance of Paris Ritz after Wednesday, Jan. 10, 2018, jewelry theft; photo by Davy Park: Reuters Top @Reuters, via Twitter Jan. 11, 2018

The Paris Ritz Hotel robbery adds another jewel theft to the new year's first three high-profile crimes, after the diamond-adorned Russo-Baltique vodka bottle and the Al Thani brooch and earring set extractions.

The Paris Ritz Hotel bash-and-burgle Jan. 10, 2018, in France, brought some same-week closure, like the brief Cafe 33 break-in Jan. 2, 2018, in Copenhagen, Denmark. It compared to the contrastingly cautious carry-out from the Doge's Palace (Venezia Palazzo Ducale) Jan. 3, 2018, in Venice, Italy, in its completion during operating hours. It distinguished itself in its destructive path from a rear staff entrance to ground-floor display cases and jewelry stands with €4.5 million ($5.42 million) in jewels.

The Paris Ritz Hotel robbery ended before the week-end, like the Cafe 33 break-in and unlike the Doge's Palace carry-out, with recovery of the entire extraction.

Two customers furnished central Paris police patrols on the Place Vendôme with details of the gun-firing, hatchet-flourishing intruders in the Reza at the Ritz jewelry boutique.

Online sources give the black-clad, gash-and-grab hotel invaders with black gloves and ski masks arrivals around 6:30 p.m. local time (5:30 p.m. Coordinated Universal Time [UCT]). They have noisy perpetrators inside to hack-and-hustle through display cases and jewelry stands in the hotel art gallery between the Place Vendôme and Rue Cambon entrances. They indicate the capture of three, identified as from the Seine-Saint-Denis area 12.43 miles (20 kilometers) north of Paris and in their 20s, 30s or 40s.

Hemingway Bar patrons, jewels in the street and on scene and Reza at the Ritz customers joined three immobilized suspects as Paris Ritz Hotel robbery evidence.

Second District police kept in 24-7 shifts on the Place Vendôme knew of additional evidence in the wreckage of a Renault Mégane in the Seine-Saint-Denis area.

Eyewitnesses and police listed two suspected accomplices in one man leaving on a moped that left a passerby slightly injured and another in a Renault Mégane. Peter Allen and Darren Boyle mentioned, for Daily Mail online editions, the second suspected accomplice as maneuvering a Renault Mégane from Rue Cambon onto Rue Saint-Honoré. Online sources noted a lack of injuries despite eyewitness accounts of 10 rounds of ammunition fired from two handguns and reports of axes, hatchets and sledgehammers.

Local media obtained no information on observations by Niki Lazar, 21-year-old Hemingway Bar visitor from Chicago, Illinois, of a bartender "being tended to by a paramedic."

Security systems that, unlike the Doge's Palace postponed theft-detection alarms, prevailed upon nearby police and pulled doors shut pushed the Paris Ritz Hotel robbery toward resolution.

Reuters reporter Emmanuel Jarry quoted sources close to investigations, "I can confirm that all the stolen jewels were found in the bag recovered by police officers." Gérard Collomb, Interior Minister since May 17, 2017, revealed that "Their calm, their professionalism and their swift response is a credit to the (second arrondissement) Police." The Paris prosecutor's office said that the Paris Ritz Hotel robbery suggests investigations into armed robbery and criminal conspiracy by perpetrators suspected of organized crime associations.

Tampered alarms, triggered doors and trustworthy tips turned the Doge's Palace, Paris Ritz and Cafe 33 thefts into respectively 100, 20 and 50 percent successful takeouts.

police cars outside Paris Ritz after Wednesday, Jan. 10 jewelry theft at Reza at the Ritz jewelry boutique; photo by Thomas Samson/AFP (Agence France-Presse): Bloomberg @business, via Twitter Jan. 11, 2018

Acknowledgment

My special thanks to talented artists and photographers/concerned organizations who make their fine images available on the internet.

Image credits:

view of back entrance of Paris Ritz after Wednesday, Jan. 10, 2018, jewelry theft; photo by Davy Park: Reuters Top @Reuters, via Twitter Jan. 11, 2018, @ https://twitter.com/Reuters/status/951436061430992901

Police cars outside Paris Ritz after jewelry theft at Reza at the Ritz jewelry boutique; photo by Thomas Samson/AFP (Agence France-Presse): Bloomberg @business, via Twitter Jan 11, 2018, @ https://twitter.com/business/status/951338778005778432

For further information:

Allen, Peter; and Boyle, Danny. 10 January 2018. Updated 11 January 2018. "'We Feared It Was a Terror Attack': Witnesses Describe 'Total Panic' After Five Masked Robbers with Guns and Axes 'Open Fire' at Ritz Hotel in Paris Before Making Off with £4.2 Million in Jewellery." Daily Mail > News.
Available @ http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-5255877/Axe-wielding-robbers-storm-Ritz-Carlton-hotel-Paris.html?ITO=1490

Associated Press. 12 January 2018. "Paris Prosecutors to Probe 3 Ritz Jewel Heist Suspects." Access WDUN.
Available @ http://accesswdun.com/print/2018/1/625093

Bloomberg @business. 11 January 2018. "Thieves raid a jewelry boutique at Paris' famed Ritz Hotel." Twitter.
Available @ https://twitter.com/business/status/951338778005778432

Jarry, Emmanuel. 11 January 2018. "All Jewels from Paris Ritz Heist Recovered: Source." Reuters > World News.
Available @ https://www.reuters.com/article/us-france-crime/all-jewels-from-paris-ritz-heist-recovered-source-idUSKBN1F026F

Marriner, Derdriu. 5 January 2018. "Al Thani Collection Brooch and Earrings Stolen at Venice Exhibition." Earth and Space News. Friday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2018/01/al-thani-collection-brooch-and-earrings.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 12 January 2018. "Stolen Diamond-Adorned Russo-Baltique Vodka Bottle Found Dented, Empty." Earth and Space News. Friday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2018/01/stolen-diamond-adorned-russo-baltique.html

McKirdy, Euan; Said-Moorhouse, Lauren; and Andrews, Frank. Updated 11 January 2018. "Thieves Steal Millions in Jewels from Paris' Ritz Hotel." CNN > Europe.
Available @ http://www.cnn.com/2018/01/10/europe/paris-hotel-jewels-robbery/index.html

Reuters Top @Reuters. 11 January 2018. "Armed robbers steal millions from Ritz Paris hotel." Twitter.
Available @ https://twitter.com/Reuters/status/951436061430992901

Reuters World ‏@ReutersWorld. 12 January 2018. "Sinatra at the Paris Ritz: the surreal moment when gangsters struck." Twitter.
Available @ https://twitter.com/ReutersWorld/status/951874731283828736

"Vol à main armée au Ritz à Paris, Trois Personnes Interpellées." Le Figaro > Actualité > Flash Actu > Mis à jour le 11/01/2018 à 7:25 / Publié le 10/01/2018 à 19:43.
Available @ http://www.lefigaro.fr/flash-actu/2018/01/10/97001-20180110FILWWW00306-vol-a-main-arme-a-la-bijouterie-du-ritz-place-vendome.php

Wednesday, January 17, 2018

Crater Timings for Jan. 31, 2018, Total Lunar Eclipse Show Umbral Span

Summary: Crater timings for the Jan. 31, 2018, total lunar eclipse show the umbral span by besting limb contacts in predicting Earth's variably sized shadow.

Langrenus Crater in the eastern sector of the moon's Southern Hemisphere is the site of Fred Espenak's final crater timing for the Jan. 31, 2018, total lunar eclipse: Langrenus Crater viewed Dec. 24, 1968, from an altitude of 150 nautical miles by Apollo 8, the first manned mission to the moon: NASA/Apollo 8, Public Domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Crater timings for the Jan. 31, 2018, total lunar eclipse show the umbral span more accurately than suggested lunar limb, or edge, contacts by yielding careful predictions of Earth’s variably sized ecliptic shadow.

Retired NASA astrophysicist Fred Espenak, known as “Mr. Eclipse,” credits Philippe de La Hire (March 18, 1640-April 21, 1718) with discerning that Earth’s umbra displays variably-sized enlargements from one eclipse to the next. In 1702, the French astronomer and mathematician discovered that enlarging the umbra’s radius by one arc minute more than deemed by geometric considerations increases the accuracy of predicted durations of lunar eclipses. One arc minute equals one-sixtieth (1/60) of one degree. One degree represents one-three hundred sixtieth (1/360) of a turn, or full circle.

Earth’s atmosphere influences the umbral enlargement. The process, however, eludes complete understanding as the reason for seemingly variably-sized lunar eclipses remains a mystery.

Careful timings of prominent lunar craters during entrances, termed immersions, into and exits, termed emersions, from the umbra provide clear measurements of a lunar eclipse’s umbral enlargement and yield closely accurate duration predictions for the eclipse’s partiality and totality.

Espenak provides shadow contact timings for lunar eclipses on his dedicated lunar and solar eclipse website, EclipseWise. His table of crater immersion and emersion times for the Wednesday, Jan. 31, 2018, total lunar eclipse tracks umbral contacts with 25 well-defined lunar craters. His predictions for the blue moon total lunar eclipse assumes an approximate atmospherically-induced umbral enlargement of one percent.

Espenak’s calculations begin with Riccioli Crater, located near the western limb in the moon’s Southern Hemisphere. Immersion, or entrance, happens at 11:54 UT. His calculations end with Langrenus, located near the eastern lunar limb in the Southern Hemisphere. Emersion, or exit, happens at 15:05 UT.

The list’s 25 prominent lunar craters are scattered across the western and eastern sectors of both the Northern and Southern Hemispheres of the moon’s near side. Southwestern umbral contact timings comprise five craters:
Billy: 12:03 UT immersion, 14:12 UT emersion;
Campanus: 12:16 UT immersion, 14:22 UT emersion;
Grimaldi: 11:55 UT immersion, 14:12 UT emersion;
Riccioli: 11:54 UT immersion, 14:12 UT emersion;
Tycho: 12:29 UT immersion, 14:26 emersion.

Southeastern umbral contact timings comprise four craters:
Censorinus: 12:32 UT immersion, 14:56 UT emersion;
Goclenius: 12:39 UT immersion, 15:00 UT emersion;
Langrenus: 12:43 UT immersion, 15:05 UT emersion;
Messier: 12:38 UT immersion, 15:02 UT emersion.

Northwestern umbral contact timings consider six craters:
Aristarchus: 11:54 UT immersion, 14:23 UT emersion;
Copernicus: 12:06 UT immersion, 14:32 UT emersion;
Kepler: 11:59 UT immersion, 14:23 UT emersion;
Plato: 12:06 UT immersion, 14:41 UT emersion;
Pytheas: 12:04 UT immersion, 14:33 UT emersion;
Timocharis: 12:06 UT immersion, 14:37 UT emersion.

Northeastern umbral contact timings comprise 10 craters:
Aristoteles: 12:14 UT immersion, 14:49 UT emersion;
Autolycus: 12:11 UT immersion, 14:44 UT emersion;
Dionysius: 12:24 UT immersion, 14:49 UT emersion;
Endymion: 12:23 UT immersion, 14:58 UT emersion;
Eudoxus: 12:15 UT immersion, 14:50 UT emersion;
Manilius: 12:18 UT immersion, 14:47 UT emersion;
Menelaus: 12:20 UT immersion, 14:50 UT emersion;
Plinius: 12:24 UT immersion, 14:54 UT emersion;
Proclus: 12:33 UT immersion, 15:03 UT emersion;
Taruntius: 12:36 UT immersion, 15:03 UT emersion.

Espenak’s summary of the Jan. 31 eclipse suggests times of the event’s major phases based upon lunar limb, or edge, contacts with Earth’s penumbra, or light, outer shadow, and umbra, or dark, inner shadow. Lunar limb contact calculations place the penumbral phase from 10:51:13 Universal Time (UT) to 16:08:32 UT. Partiality begins at 11:48:28 UT and ends at 15:11:14 UT. Totality spans 1 hour 16 minutes 8 seconds, from 12:51:49 to 14:7:57 UT.

Amateur, expert and novice skygazers can record their own timings with two simple tools: a low-power telescope and a watch synchronized with radio time signals. Espenak suggests aiming for a precision of 0.1 minute (six seconds) in timings.

The total lunar eclipse Wednesday, Jan. 31, 2018, occurs as the month’s blue moon. January opens with a full moon, reaching fullness on the month’s second day, and closes with a full moon. In a month with two full moons, the second is designated as a blue moon.

The takeaway for crater timings for the Jan. 31, 2018, total lunar eclipse, which occurs during the month’s blue moon, is that the activity encourages familiarity with lunar features and yields more accurate predictions of eclipse durations.

map of lunar features between 45 north and south latitudes, with Riccioli Crater (site of Fred Espenak's first crater immersion timing) highlighted in blue and Langrenus Crater (site of Fred Espenak's final crater emersion timing) in green: The Defense Mapping Agency Aerospace Center for National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), Public Domain, via NASA Headquarters

Acknowledgment

My special thanks to talented artists and photographers/concerned organizations who make their fine images available on the internet.

Image credits:

map of lunar features between 45 north and south latitudes, with Langrenus Crater highlighted in green and Riccioli Crater highlighted in blue: The Defense Mapping Agency Aerospace Center for National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), Public Domain, via NASA Headquarters @ https://www.hq.nasa.gov/alsj/NASALunarChart.jpg

For further information:

Espenak, Fred. "Crater Timings During Lunar Eclipses." EclipseWise > Lunar Eclipses > Eclipses During 2018 > Total Lunar Eclipse of January 31
Available @ https://eclipsewise.com/oh/oh-help/LEcrater.html

Espenak, Fred. "Table 1: Total Lunar Eclipse of 2018 Jan 31 Crater Immersion and Emersion Times." EclipseWise > Lunar Eclipses > Eclipses During 2018 > Total Lunar Eclipse of January 31.
Available @ https://eclipsewise.com/oh/oh-tables/ec2018-Tab01.pdf

Espenak, Fred. "Total Lunar Eclipse of January 31." EclipseWise > Lunar Eclipses > Eclipses During 2018.
Available @ https://eclipsewise.com/oh/ec2018.html#LE2018Jan31T

La Hire, Philippe de. Tabulae Astronomicae Ludovici Magni Jussu et Munificentia Exaratæ et In Lucem Editæ: In Quibus Solis, Lunæ Reliquorumque Planetarum Motus ex Ipsis Observationibus, Nulla Adhibita Hypothesi, Traduntur; Habenturque Praecipuarum Fixarum in Nostro Horizonte Conspicuarum Positiones; Ineundi Calculi Methos, cum Geometrica Ratione Computandum Eclipsum Sola Triangulorum Rectilineorum Analysi, Breviter Exponitur; Adjecta Svnt Descriptio, Constructio & Vsus Instrumentorum Astronomiae Novae Practicæ Inservientium, Variaque Problemata Astronomis Geographisque Perutilia. Ad Meridianum Observatorii Regii Parisiensis in Quo Habitae Sunt Observationes ab Ipso Autore. Parisiis [Paris, France]: Joannem Boudot [Jean Boudot], M.DCC.II [1702].
Available via HathiTrust @ https://hdl.handle.net/2027/mdp.39015011942300

Marriner, Derdriu. "Blue Moon Month January 2018 Opens New Year With Two Full Moons." Earth and Space News. Wednesday, Dec. 27, 2017.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2017/12/blue-moon-month-january-2018-opens-new.html

Marriner, Derdriu. "Jan. 31, 2018, Blue Moon Total Lunar Eclipse Belongs to Saros Cycle 124." Earth and Space News. Wednesday, Jan. 10, 2018.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2018/01/jan-31-2018-blue-moon-total-lunar.html

NASA Aeronautics and Space Administration. Lunar Chart. NASA Headquarters > Apollo Lunar Surface Journal.
Available @ https://www.hq.nasa.gov/alsj/NASALunarChart.jpg

Sinnott, Roger W. "Useful Projects for a Lunar Eclipse." Sky and Telescope > Astronomy News > Observing News. Feb. 19, 2008.
Available @ http://www.skyandtelescope.com/astronomy-news/observing-news/useful-projects-for-a-lunar-eclipse/