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Dublin: 11 °C Friday 25 May, 2012

Written in the stars: why Easter is a moveable feast

Image: PA Images/The Gainesville Sun, Matt Stamey

DO YOU KNOW why Easter is a moveable feast every year?

David Moore of Astronomy Ireland has been telling TheJournal.ie that Easter won’t fall as late as it is this year until 25 April 2038. He said:

The date of Easter is defined as the first Sunday after the first full moon after 21 March. This means that the date of Easter can fall as early as 22 March and as late as 25 April.

Then things get really complicated if you listen to Eric Weisstein’s World of Astronomy. He says that Easter is not the first Sunday after the first full moon of the vernal equinox, but the first Sunday after the Pashcal full moon. No, us neither.

We do know it has something to do with the Passover. This home schoolers’ resource makes the link between the lunar calendar, the Passover, the Jewish calendar and how the Christian tradition hopped on board that with gusto.

If you’d prefer to see stars than talk about them, Astronomy Ireland has a public Sun Show all day today at their HQ at Unit 75 Butterly Business Park, Kilmore Road, Artane Dublin 5. It’s free in and you’ll be shown to views of planets, stars and sunspots three times the size of Earth.

If the sunspots are anything as spectacular as this one, we’ll SO be there.

Sun spot emits massive solar flare towards Earth>

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Comments (3 Comments)

  • Fergus O'Neill 23/04/11 #
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    If you’ve got Excel, and put the year into cell A1, the date of easter can be calculated with:
    =ROUND(DATE(A1,4,1)/7+MOD(19*MOD(A1,19)-7,30)*14%,0)*7-6

    Simple, eh?

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  • Elpenor Dignam 24/04/11 #
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    “David Moore of Astronomy Ireland has been telling TheJournal.ie that Easter won’t fall as late as it is this year until 25 April 2038.”…by which time the cost of the bank guarantee scheme will have passed the 100 quadrillion mark.

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  • Elpenor Dignam 24/04/11 #
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    Love this ….”Views of planets, stars and sunspots three times the size of Earth” ….all to be seen in unit 75, Butterly Business Park, Artane….. bet unit 75 is a secret portal to another dimension.

    Reply

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