"Hong Kong Observatory Almanac 2005" is now on sale

The "Hong Kong Observatory Almanac 2005" is now on sale. This bilingual booklet contains the traditional Chinese Calendar and times of daily sunrise, sunset, moonrise, moonset, high and low tides, arranged month by month.

The times of meridian passage, rising and setting of the planets are graphically illustrated in this handy almanac. The duration of twilight, details of equinoxes, solstices, eclipses, information on calendar, observation of meteor streams and planetary phenomena as well as climatological "normals" of Hong Kong and some major cities for each month of the year are also given in this publication.

There will be four eclipses in 2005, two of the sun and two of the moon. Of these four eclipses, two eclipses of the moon will be visible in Hong Kong. Details can be found in the almanac and on the Hong Kong Observatory website.

The almanac is now on sale at $16 a copy at the Hong Kong Observatory Resource Centre and the Kowloon Map Publications Centre of the Lands Department. An electronic book-ordering service is also available at the online Government Bookstore at http://bookstore.esdlife.com. Details of the online Government Bookstore can be obtained through the telephone enquiry service of the Information Services Department at 2537 1910.

The astronomical and climatological information in the almanac can also be found on the Hong Kong Observatory website at:

http://www.hko.gov.hk/gts/astron2005/eclps1_e.htm (for astronomical information); and

http://www.hko.gov.hk/wxinfo/climat/world/eng/world_climat_e.htm (for climatological information).