Partial lunar eclipse to be observable in Russia hours before New

St PETERSBURG, December 30 (Itar-Tass) - On the night before the New
Year, the Russians will be able to observe a partial lunar eclipse - a
fact that may give some additional flavor to the mystics' perception of
the holiday.

"To make our sensations acuter, the lunar eclipse will be out there
if, of course, whimsical weather doesn't play its tricks on us again,"
said Sergei Smirnov, the press secretary of Russia's main observatory at
Pulkovo, St Petersburg.
"The Earth will overshadow only a small part of the Moon from solar
light, just a few percent of the visible disc in the southern part of the
Selene," Smirnov said.
"The transition of the Earth's only natural satellite into the
semi-shade, or penumbra, will begin at 20:15 Moscow time /17:15 GMT/ and
the eclipse will begin slightly more than an hour later," he said.
The Moon's exit from the penumbra is expected at around 21:00 hours
GMT.
Smirnov vehemently rejected all the apocalyptic speculations by some
Russian astrologers who are trying to convince the public that a New Year,
the arrival of which is accompanied by a lunar eclipse, does not have
anything good in store for this country.
"That's just outright nonsense," he said categorically. "Observations
show that lunar eclipses don't have anything to do with our earthly life
and there's no link between them /eclipses and life/ whatsoever."
He indicated that an annular solar eclipse is expected January 15.
"We evidenced two solar and four lunar eclipses in the outgoing year,
and nonetheless life continues in spite of all the celestial phenomena,"
Smirnov concluded with an obvious note of optimism.