Tag: Astronomy & Stargazing

“Stars are beautiful, but they must not take an active part in anything, they must just look on forever. It is a punishment put on them for something they did so long ago that no star now knows what it was.”

History, Travel

Prehistoric Megalithic Observatory near Hazaribagh (Jharkhand)

Megalithic monuments are among the earliest and most permanent of archaeological structures, and so many of them were used, or more properly, have been used and reused for thousands of years. Their original intent is likely lost to the ages, but they may have had multiple functions as they were used by different cultural groups over the centuries and millennia. Continue reading Prehistoric Megalithic Observatory near Hazaribagh (Jharkhand)

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Guru Purnima 2022 | Biggest Supermoon of the Year

July’s full Moon orbits closer to Earth than any other full Moon this year, making it the biggest and brightest supermoon of 2022. During the 13 July supermoon, the Moon appeared as much as 14 per cent brighter and 30 per cent brighter. For Hindus, Buddhists, and Jains, this is Guru Purnima (Guru Full Moon), celebrated as a time for clearing the mind and honouring the guru or spiritual master. The Europeans called this the Hay Moon for the haymaking in June and July. The Algonquin tribes of northeastern United States called this the Buck Moon. This full Moon has many other names. Continue reading Guru Purnima 2022 | Biggest Supermoon of the Year

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Chandrayaan-2 | Kudos ISRO!

The Chandrayaan-2 mission serves as the second phase of India’s Chandrayaan lunar exploration program and is a follow-on to the highly successful Chandrayaan-1 mission, which featured a lunar orbiter and an impactor known as the Moon Impact Probe (MIP). Both spacecraft were launched aboard a Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) on October 22, 2008, and Chandrayaan-1’s data helped determine the presence of water ice on the … Continue reading Chandrayaan-2 | Kudos ISRO!

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He knew how the stars will die | Chandrasekhar

Chandrasekhar became famous for his discoveries about the evolution of the stars. His work was vast, and he began early, developing his theory of stars’ evolution before he had even turned 20. Google is changing its logo globally to a doodle of him and the Chandrasekhar Limit. That refers to his calculation that once a star reaches 1.44 times the size of our own sun, it doesn’t form a white dwarf as expected but collapses, eventually becoming a black hole. Continue reading He knew how the stars will die | Chandrasekhar

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ISRO Launched 104 Satellites in One Mission | Record

India has created history today by successfully launching 104 satellites on a single mission, overtaking the previous record for most spacecraft launched at a single attempt, which currently stands at the thirty-eight orbited by Russia’s Dnepr in June 2014, of which thirty-two were deployed from the rocket itself while a thirty-third failed to separate. Salute to ISRO scientists! Continue reading ISRO Launched 104 Satellites in One Mission | Record

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Solstice & Strawberry Moon

Today, the summer solstice and full moon coincide — a rare event, indeed, that hasn’t happened in nearly 70 years, according to The Old Farmer’s Almanac. It’s a once-in-a-generation pairing: the start of astronomical summer and emergence of the full “Strawberry Moon.” June’s full Strawberry Moon got its name because the native American Algonquin tribes knew it as a signal to gather ripening strawberry fruit. Continue reading Solstice & Strawberry Moon

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Travel

Jantar Mantar (New Delhi)

The Jantar Mantar is an equinoctial sundial, consisting of a gigantic triangular gnomon with the hypotenuse parallel to the Earth’s axis. On either side of the gnomon is a quadrant of a circle, parallel to the plane of the equator. The instrument is intended to measure the time of day, correct to half a second and declination of the Sun and the other heavenly bodies. Continue reading Jantar Mantar (New Delhi)

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