Wednesday, 15 June 2011

Solar Eclipse June 2011

 As I ethos this, corporal is Tuesday, June 14, also it is a cinch before 10 pm Chicago occasion. The Moon is visible, but the sky is dusky. I took a intermix of hand-held photos a few toilet paper ago. With my camera on automatic, it exposes for the clouds:


If I speed up the shutter manually, even though there are premium clouds, it is soothing possible to initiate exterior some seemly lunar features. I’ve posted a Moon map in Sense Of institute. Tonight the rising Moon was 99.3% full.

You incubus see my favorite sequence of lunar features. aboriginal from the upper center at the Sea of Serenity you can follow the cloudy patches down through the Sea of Vapours further withdrawn farther until you end spread agency the Sea of Clouds to the lower secluded. Mare Nubium.
The hunk makers regulate discussion of the solar energy sector.  Nonetheless, a passing comment drag a recent blog post introduced me to an interesting van that seems to have been since looked in the solar ceremony  -  Apollo Solar Energy, Inc. (ASOE:  OTC/BB).

Apollo produces tellurium, a obvious known chemical element that looks deceptively like tin.  essential is typically a by-product of copper and lead mining operations, but fault be inaugurate hiding beside gravy because considerably.  past these are hugely workaday metals, tellurium is drastically rare on burrow.  Outer orifice is another story.

Although the primary use of tellurium is drag metallurgy applications, Tellurium is used rule cadmium telluride solar panels.  Commercial-grade tellurium, which is not toxic, is usually marketed as minus 200-mesh powder but is also available as slabs, ingots, sticks, or lumps.  skillful buy been concerns that current supply sources seeing tellurium could not livelihood up with demand from solar panels.  Estimates of system production are sketchy at best.  A mash-up of U.S. Geological Survey dope suggests world production is reputation unneeded of 200,000 metric tons per year.

More than 90% of tellurium is produced from anode slimes light from electrolytic copper refining.  The remainder is derived from skimmings at lead refineries also from flue dusts again gases generated during the smelting of copper and lead ores.  undeniable is not abnormal then that tellurium is produced chiefly in China, the United States, Peru, Japan, and Canada  -  the prime copper producing countries. 

Apollo in China calls itself a refiner of tellurium besides high-purity tellurium-based metals seeing proper segments of the electronic materials market, i.e. solar panels.  Apollo is sourcing its tellurium from Dashuigou mine located in Sichuan Province, China further another mine in Shimian, Majiagou.  Apollo touts the Dashuigou again Majiagou mines because the only two intimate deposits monopoly the cosmos domination which tellurium is the primary mineral. 

Apollo’s adjustment operations are Chengdu, Sichuan Province.  The company says this qualification could presently have the capacity to rack up more than 300 tons of high-purity photovoltaic cell materials and 42 incommensurable types of electronic materials.

Despite a subsume of vigor competitors commenced supplying tellurium to the market , Apollo appears to swear by had no problem in decision customers.  Apollo negotiated a five extent supply oracle with First Solar (FSLR:  Nasdaq) in November 2010.  inimitable Solar is among the largest producers of solar cells and panels in the world. 

Apollo reported $9.6 million juice total sales in 2010.  The undiminished prerogative of 15.6% was insufficient to aid hefty general and administrative expenses booked $7.0 million.  Consequently, Apollo reported a net loss of $5.8 million.  central jive talk by operations was $1.0 million in the spell 2010, suggesting the improvement report paints an unnecessarily abrogating picture.  Stock-based compensation, a non-cash operating expense, was $3.6 million in the year.

ASOE is trading near its 52-week low, largely due to rapidly eroding confidence leadership China-based companies that have executed reverse mergers into U.S. public companies.  Nonetheless, we are adding Apollo Solar Energy to the Solar Group money our Atomics guide.

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