Lunar Eclipse - View from Vijaynagar - II

INTRODUCTION

Spacecraft have been studying the Moon for nearly half a century. The history of direct lunar exploration formally began in 1959, when probes from the Soviet's Luna spacecraft first flew by and then impacted the Moon's surface. Around the same time, NASA's Pioneer 4 passed within 37,000 miles of the Moon. Lunar Prospector is the first NASA mission to the moon in 25 years. Here you can take a look at some of the ideas and events that have paved the way.

Lunar History

Recounts the dramatic events of the last 40 years leading up to the launch of Lunar Prospector on January 6, 1998 (9:29 p.m. EST). It also includes some preliminary lunar findings and how they contribute to our understanding of the universe.

Moon Mythology

Examines the pre-scientific understanding of the Moon. Many stories from around the world can be found here along with brief histories of the various Godesses (and Gods) that have been associated with the Moon over the ages.

Lunar Timeline

It can be viewed in two formats. If you don't see anything when you try the Flash version, it probably means you do not have the Flash Plug-in installed on your system. We've provided another version so you can still check it out. Whichever version you chose you can get information on any mission that's ever studied the Moon. It even includes some missions that are still in the planning stages!

It’s a natural phenomenon which happens, when the Earth’s shadow will fully cover the moon. It’s a rare event, as it can only happen, when Sun, Moon and Earth are in the right positions, with the Earth sandwiched in the middle. Hence the moon is always a Full Moon, when a Lunar Eclipse happens. This usually happens only twice a year, although partial eclipses can occur more often.

The type and length of an eclipse depend upon the Moon’s location relative to its orbital nodes.

The Moon will start as a Full white circle, but will slowly turn red, while Earth’s Shadow will cover it completely, just leaving a few rays of sunlight pass on the edges of her shadow, refracted by her atmosphere – thus allowing Moon to be only dimly lit by deep red colour light.

From time to time, the Moon (or a portion of it) enters the Earth's shadow in what is known as a lunar eclipse .The Moon is dimmed partially or almost completely, depending on whether it passes through the less dark part of the Earth's shadow, thepenumbra , or the darker part, the umbra .

The Lunar Prospector relied on sunlight to recharge its batteries. Scientists were concerned that whenever the Lunar Prospector was in the darkness of the Earth's shadow, its batteries could have drained to the point where they could not be recharged.

Prospector survived penumbral lunar eclipses on September 6, 1998, and January 31, 1999, without damage. It also survived a much darker umbral eclipse the following July.

Below are the some lunar eclipse snaps. These snaps are snapped by great photographers. Whatever knowledge I have on eclipse, I shared everything here. If anybody wants to share more...they are welcome.

Calendars

Astronomical calendars are based on the rotation of Earth (the day), the revolution of the Earth around the Sun (the year), and the revolution of the Moon around the Earth (the month). Things would be much easier if all these cycles were synchronized. Unfortunately they do not quite jive. Three distinct calendars have arisen out of this problem.A solar calendar, such as the West's Gregorian calendar, is based on the tropical year. Every four years (leap year), an extra day is added to keep things on track. A lunar calendar follows the phases of the Moon irrespective of the tropical year, and a lunar-solar calendar follows the lunar cycle but has an entire month added every few years in order to keep in sync with the tropical year.

The Islamic calendar, for example, follows a purely lunar cycle. Over a period of about thirty-three years, the months slowly regress through the seasons. Each month begins with the first sliver of the waxing Moon, although for civil purposes a tabulated calendar is used that approximates the lunar cycle. The mean length of the month on the civil calendar is only 2.9 seconds less than the synodic cycle

MOON MYTHOLOGY

The urge to explain and understand the world of natural phenomena cannot properly be seen as particularly scientific, but must be seen, rather, as generally human. It is well known that long before Copernicus described his radical and revolutionary picture of a helio-centric universe that human beings, from around the world, were giving form to the origins, motions and motives of the vastly complex and depthless sky above them. Through mythic narratives of super-human heroes and anthropomorphic goddesses and gods, pre-scientific societies placed order among the cosmos.

The Moon has always held a place of particular fascination in our earthbound lives, provoking the imagination to escape its limits and, as we look outwards, moving us towards an understanding of our inner selves, in all our human complexity. Monuments and shrines have been built to her; calendars follow her motion; ancient Gods and Goddesses mimic the Moon's gentle and unending pull on the forces of life. Myths, as Carl Jung has described, bring us back in touch with ourselves and, to that effect, can never be replaced by science. In this sense, it would be detrimental to completely dissolve these mythic narratives into an archaic and unsophisticated past.

Is it not possible, on one hand, to deny the factual accuracy of these stories while, on the other, appreciating their import in our socio-political world, to see them as "facts of the mind," which, when projected, take on a worthwhile reality unto themselves; to understand them, not as the antitheses of science but, instead, its antecedents; to understand, not only their dangers, but also their power to free the human imagination, enabling us to envision new worlds, overcome old boundaries, and eventually move us all forward to a better understanding of ourselves and the universe around us

It’s a natural phenomenon which happens, when the Earth’s shadow will fully cover the moon. It’s a rare event, as it can only happen, when Sun, Moon and Earth are in the right positions, with the Earth sandwiched in the middle. Hence the moon is always a Full Moon, when a Lunar Eclipse happens. This usually happens only twice a year, although partial eclipses can occur more often.

The type and length of an eclipse depend upon the Moon’s location relative to its orbital nodes.

The Moon will start as a Full white circle, but will slowly turn red, while Earth’s Shadow will cover it completely, just leaving a few rays of sunlight pass on the edges of her shadow, refracted by her atmosphere – thus allowing Moon to be only dimly lit by deep red colour light.

So, are you interested in watching the Total Lunar Eclipse?

Regards

Yogesh Shinde

3/B/16