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LUNAR ECLIPSE 2018 A total lunar eclipse will take place on January 31, 2018. The moon appears as copper/ blood moon, supermoon, perigee being on January 30. Additionally it is the first blue moon eclipse in 2018 The Blue Blood Supermoon Eclipse of January 2018 Begins: Wed, 31 Jan 2018, 18:07 (IST) Maximum: Wed, 31 Jan 2018, 18:59, 1.32 Magnitude Ends: Wed, 31 Jan 2018, 21:38 Duration: 3 hours, 31 minutes Visible at: East Lunar Eclipse: A lunar eclipse occurs when the Moon passes within Earth's umbra (shadow). Copper Moon or Blood Moon: During a total lunar eclipse the moon can turn a deep red, sometimes called a “copper moon” or “blood moon”. Blue Moon: The traditional term is referred to an "extra" moon. A year normally has 12 moons, has come with 13 instead (the second full moon to occur within the calendar month). Super Moon: It is a full (or new) Moon approximately coincided with the closest distance that reaches to Earth in its elliptical orbit with earth, moon and sun are all in a line. The moon's diameter will appear about 7 percent larger than average. Due to the moon's elliptical orbit, its distance from Earth varies by about 12 percent, bringing it closer (perigee) and farther (apogee) during every 27.3 day circuit of Earth. The moon runs through its phases on a separate cycle of 29.5 days. From time to time, the two cycles synchronize for a few months, allowing the moon to be full while near perigee, causing it to be up to 30 percent brighter and 7 percent larger than average. The three full moons in December 2017 and January 2018 are all supermoons. Viewing the Lunar eclipse is completely safe One can see with naked eye … Enjoy the rare phenomena of the nature…
Inching towards the edge of discovery After a successful lunar mission: Chandrayaan 1, India is prepared to witness the unknown with Chandrayaan 2. Indian lunar mission will go boldly where no country has ever gone so far…. the moon’s South Polar Region. Chandrayaan 2 will make India first country to make a soft landing on moon’s South Polar Region. Why are we going to the moon? Moon is the closest cosmic body at which space discoveries can be attempted and recorded. It is also a promising bed to demonstrate technologies required for deep space missions. These insights and experiences aim at a paradigm shift in how expeditions are approached for years to come – propelling further voyages into the farthest frontiers. Chandrayaan 2 aims to encourage a new age discovery, increase our understanding of space, stimulate advancement of technology and promote global alliance. The primary objectives of Chandrayaan-2 are to demonstrate the ability to soft-land on the lunar surface and operate a robotic rover on the surface. Scientific goals include studies of lunar topography, mineralogy, elemental abundance, the lunar exosphere, and signatures of hydroxyl and water ice. The orbiter will map the lunar surface and help to prepare 3D maps of it. The onboard radar will also map the surface while studying the water ice in the South Polar Region and thickness of the lunar regolith on the surface. Chandrayaan-2 will attempt to soft land a lander - Vikram and rover - Pragyan in a high plain between two craters, Manzinus C and Simpelius N, at latitude of about 70° south. The wheeled rover will move on the lunar surface and will perform on-site chemical analysis. The data can be relayed to Earth through the Chandrayaan-2 orbiter as well as lander, which will fly on the same launch. Launch of Chandrayaan-2 is scheduled for 14 July 2019 at 21:21 UTC, and a successful landing would make India the 4th country to soft-land on the Moon, a feat achieved only by the space agencies of the US, USSR, and China.
Lunar Eclipse & Guru Purnima 2019: 2019 is really special Eclipse as a Partial Lunar Eclipse and Guru Purnima will take place on the same day July 16 after 149 years. The Moon should be about half-covered by the Earth's umbral shadow at maximum eclipse. This is the last lunar eclipse of this year and the next lunar eclipse will take place on May 26, 2021. India would have a special impact as it comes with Guru Purnima. Last time when Guru Purnima and Lunar Eclipse were together, on July 12, 1870, the moon was eclipsed, which had a profound effect on the quantities. Guru Purnima 2019: The partial lunar eclipse occurs when the Earth comes in between the Sun and the Moon but they do not form a straight line. When this occurs, a small part of the Moon s surface is covered by the darkest part of the Earth s shadow that is called Umbra. As the moon moves deeper and deeper into the Earth s shadow, the moon changes colour before your very eyes, turning from grey to an orange or deep shade of red. Lunar Eclipse July 2019: The Penumbral lunar eclipse will begin at 12:13 am on July 17and the Partial Eclipse will occur at 1:31 am. The maximum eclipse will take place at 3 am. The partial lunar eclipse will end at 4:29 am. The Penumbral eclipse will end at 5:47 am.
Dr. Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan was an Indian philosopher and statesman who served country as the first Vice President of India and the second President of India. He was born on 5th September 1888 at Thiruttani, Tamilnadu. Dr. Radhakrishnan believed that "teachers should be the best minds in the country". Since 1962, his birthday has been celebrated in India as teachers' day on 5 September every year. Quotes: "It is not God that is worshipped but the authority that claims to speak in His name. Sin becomes disobedience to authority not violation of integrity." "Reading a book gives us the habit of solitary reflection and true enjoyment." "When we think we know, we cease to learn." "A literary genius, it is said, resembles all, though no one resembles him." "There is nothing wonderful in my saying that Jainism was in existence long before the Vedas were composed." "A life of joy and happiness is possible only on the basis of knowledge. "If he does not fight, it is not because he rejects all fighting as futile, but because he has finished his fights. He has overcome all dissensions between himself and the world and is now at rest... We shall have wars and soldiers so long as the brute in us is untamed." Awards and honours Radhakrishnan on a 1989 stamp of India 1931: appointed a Knight Bachelor in, although he ceased to use the title "Sir" after India attained independence. 1933-37: Nominated five times for the Nobel Prize in Literature. 1938: elected Fellow of the British Academy. 1954: The Bharat Ratna, the highest civilian award in India. 1954: Sash First Class (Banda de Primera clase) of the Orden Mexicana del Águila Azteca 1954: Order Pour le Mérite for Arts and Sciences (Germany) 1961: the Peace Prize of the German Book Trade. 1962: Institution of Teacher's Day in India, yearly celebrated at 5 September, Radhakrishnan's birthday, in honour of Radhakrishnan's belief that "teachers should be the best minds in the country". 1963: the British Order of Merit. 1968: Sahitya Akademi fellowship, The highest honour conferred by the Sahitya Akademi on a writer (he is the first person to get this award) 1975: the Templeton Prize in 1975, a few months before his death, for advocating non-aggression and conveying "a universal reality of God that embraced love and wisdom for all people." He donated the entire amount of the Templeton Prize to Oxford University. 1989: institution of the Radhakrishnan Scholarships by Oxford University in the memory of Radhakrishnan. The scholarships were later renamed the "Radhakrishnan Chevening Scholarships". He was nominated sixteen times for the Nobel prize in literature, and eleven times for the Nobel Peace prize.
Our Sun emits a continuous outflowing stream of electrons and protons into the solar system, called the solar wind. The solar wind plasma which has charged particles embedded in the extended magnetic field of the Sun, moves at speeds of a few hundred km per second. It interacts with solar system bodies including Earth and its moon. Since the Earth has a global magnetic field, it obstructs the solar wind plasma and this interaction results in the formation of a magnetic envelope around Earth, called the magnetosphere. The Earth’s magnetosphere is compressed into a region approximately three to four times the Earth radius (~22000 km above the surface) on the side facing the Sun, but is stretched into a long tail (geotail) on the opposite side that goes beyond the orbit of Moon. Approximately, once every 29 days, Moon traverses the geotail for about 6 days centered around full moon. Thus Chandrayaan-2 also crosses this geotail and its instruments can study properties of geotail at a few hundred thousand kilometers from Earth. The CLASS instrument on Chandrayaan-2 is designed to detect direct signatures of elements present in the lunar soil. This is best observed when a solar flare on the Sun provides a rich source of x-rays to illuminate the lunar surface; secondary x-ray emission resulting from this can be detected by CLASS to directly detect the presence of key elements like Na, Ca, Al, Si, Ti and Fe. While this kind of “flash photography” requires one to await an opportune time for Sun to be active, CLASS in its first few days of observation, could detect charged particles and its intensity variations during its first passage through the geotail during Sept.