harikumar1964's blog

Not many knew there was a lunar eclipse today morning- of course it was not visible in India. And wherever it was visible – mainly in the southern hemisphere, it was a penumbral eclipse- means- moon will be only under light shadow of earth, so pretty difficult to detect and far from spectacular unless you have some viewing aids like a powerful binoculars or telescope.

And it is heyday for astrologers- the doomsday mongers. Because as per them it is a series of triple eclipse starting today. On 22 july, India will witness a total solar eclipse and on 6^th August there will be a partial penumbral lunar eclipse. They say it is very rare and is associated with calamity. Any astral event is a harbinger of doom in astrology. Be it aligning of two or three planets, or closest approach of a planet, or of course the visit of comets. Even in this 21^st century they find more takers  to it than ever before.

Some say Kurukshetra war was preceded by a triple eclipse. We don’t know whether there really was a Kurukshetra war and if at all it took place, in which year it happened. This and some other speculative events like the deluge of Dwarka are the basis for these doomsday predictions. How easily we conclude things based on certain myths(?)  and hearsay.

Triple eclipse is not a rare phenomenon. Infact all full moon and new moon days are potential candidates for an eclipse. It does not happen because of the tilt in the lunar orbit around earth with respect to earth’s orbit around sun. Infact the last one happened in 1991 july and nothing alarming happened then. But then if you start tracing for some calamity, each year something or other happens.  

You have eclipses happening every year, triple and double happening less frequently, but not utter rarity.  Comets visit every now and then. Some are more magnificient with long tails, others are invisible. And we don’t know for sure when the next visit will be- as we don’t know how many comets are wandering around in solar system and what is their time period of solar approach. Some may come back more frequently like the Haley’s comet, some may appear only once in thousands of years. Many of them many not have been logged so far.

This is the year of astronomy- being the 400^th anniversary of Galileo’s telescope- a watershed in astronomy. And by chance there is a total solar eclipse and the closest approach of Mars to earth in August- which will make the red planet brightest in the recorded history of mankind. Lets enjoy these celestial events. Understand the true science behind them. Not shut down indoors and starve.

During the 1995 total solar eclipse, I have seen people in our colony remaining indoors with doors and windows shut. I was the only soul in the terrace trying to get the real view with the help of welding glasses.  And then the most peculiar phenomenon, immediately after the eclipse, nomads appeared from nowhere, collecting food from houses cooked before the eclipse. It is believed by some that the food becomes poisonous during eclipse and so they give it to nomads. But then if it is really poisonous, if we are religious and pious and ethical people, as we claim to be should we give it to a fellow human being. Fortunately those illiterate nomads are less superstitious than the so called educated lot like us. And so they get a good meal at least on that day.  

The timing of this eclipse is not the most suitable for viewing. July is the peak of Monsoon season in India. And the eclipse starts early in the morning- so there is every chance of the skies remaining cloudy. Lets hope for a clearer day on 22^nd july atleast till 10 AM. Otherwise we will be missing the longest eclipse of the century and of course our lifetime.

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