Sky Watchers' Association of North Bengal (SWAN), India

Sun. 3rd Dec. 2023.
With Sun Spots and Surface Granulations. Stack of 8 frames
Cam: Nikon z6, F: 2000mm, f/10, ISO: 800, S: 6400. Full Aperture Baader Astrosolar.

At the begening of Umbra Phase. Partial Lunar Eclipse of 28th - 29th October 2023. Astack of 5 frames taken with SLR using F600mm Lens. No Dark. No Flat.

"We are the product of 4.5 billion years of fortuitous, slow biological evolution. There is no reason to think that the evolution process has stopped. Man is a transitional animal. He is not the climax of creation," ~ Carl Sagan.

Touch of UMBRA. Partial Lunar Eclipse. 28 - 29 th Ocxtober 2023. As seen from Siliguri, India.

SWAN invites all interested ones to attend its Moon Observation session today. Time: after 5:30PM. Location: SUBARNA ENCLAVE. BESIDE ARYA SAMITY CHILDREN PARK. NEAR LOKENATH TEMPLE. ABAN TAGORE SARANI. DESHBANDHU PARA. SILIGURI.

26°41'59.6"N 88°25'45.3"E Find local businesses, view maps and get driving directions in Google Maps.

SWAN MEMBERS, THEIR GUARDIANS, CLOSE FRIENDS... PL EXTEND SUPPORT TO SWAN RELIEF FUND FOR THE TEESTA FLASH FLOOD VICTIMS. CHECK SWAN WHATS APP GROUP FOR FURTHER DETAILS.

ADITYA L1: UPDATE-5
Time to cheer the strong and healthy progress of Aditya L1. Aimed to a point 15 lakh km from Earth towards Sun, India's space borne Solar Observatory Aditya L1 has already reached a distance of near 9.5 lakh km from earth and crossed Earth's Sphere of Influence (SOI) at a distance of 9.2 lakh km. From Earth. On the 30th of September, it has crossed Earth's SOI where the influence of Earth's gravity and Sun's gravity was just equal on it. So now the space craft is more governed by Sun's gravity while Earth is the secondary influencer now.
As per ESRO communiqués, the craft is moving absolutely as planned and as expected. It is scheduled to reach the Lagrange 1 point by the end of November. With a very unique and special kind of trajectory maneuvering, it will enter into a Halo orbit around L1 point. The orbit will be of around 2.4 lakh x 1 lakh km elliptical one.
This is the first time India is trying to touch L1 point. The whole world has tried it just 9 times only, Aditya included. man has so far taken the courage to attempt over 140 Lunar missions to Moon and over 40 missions to Mars. But L1, just 9. And that includes India's Aditya L1.
Yes, our scientists our engineers are amonfg the bests in the world. Smarter than many others.

When you hit your own head. That's TELSTAR Incident. 1962

It was then that Soviet Union was the boss after successfully sending the first man-made satellite, SPUTNIC, into space. Mad to catch up in the cold war race, the USA was desperate to have a big jump. And they jumped big, indeed. But the landing was never painless. Because USA had hit its own head.

The first fully functional communication satellite that could have man communicating across the Atlantic without the help of under-sea cable or noisy terrestrial radio signals had to have a premature death because of a high-altitude nuclear test of its own country. USA. The satellite was TELSTAR. Launched on July 10th, 1962, this USA-originating NASA satellite, made by Bell Laboratories, had man talking over the telephone, receiving faxes, or watching TV shows across the Atlantic. But it could not function for more than a couple of months as high-energy radiation literally fried up its electronics. The radiation came from a high-altitude nuclear test performed by the USA itself on the July 9th. One day prior to the launch of Telstar.

You may like this radio Talk in Bengali on Chandrayaan 3 and Aditya L1. Tune your radio to AIR Siliguri 711khz or take the audio streaming from any of these links. https://liveradios.in/air-siliguri.html
https://onlineradiostations.in/.../758-air-siliguri.html
https://onlineradiofm.in/stations/all-india-air-siliguri
https://onlineradiofm.in/.../siliguri/all-india-air-siliguri

OSIRIS-REx SPACECRAFT MISSION (FROM BENNU WITH LOVE) .............................................................
Today at around 8.30pm (IST), 3pm UTC, the capsule of OSIRIS-REx (Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification, Security, Regolith Explorer) spacecraft is going to bring raw material from an asteroid named 'Bennu'. It's going to land at UTAH TEST AND TRAINING RANGE, (in the desert of Utah) USA. It will help the scientists know about the origin of our solar system.
A few details of OSIRIS-REx have been given below:

1. MISSION TYPE: Asteroid Sample Return.
2. LAUNCH DATE: 08 September, 2016, from Cape Canaveral, USA.
3. LANDING DATE ON BENNU: 20 October, 2020
4. LANDING SITE: 'Nightingale'
5. SAMPLE MASS COLLECTED: Above 400gm.
6. BENNU'S DISTANCE FROM EARTH: 450 million km (45 Crore km).
7. RESEARCH TIME TO LAND AT BENNU: For 2 years analysed the surface of Bennu, to find a suitable site for landing & extracting samples.
8. TYPE OF ASTEROID: C - Type, (Carbonaceous)
9. ORBITAL INSERTION AT BENNU'S ORBIT: 31 DECEMBER, 2018
10. ORBITAL DEPARTURE FROM BENNU: 10 May, 2021.

007- JAMES BOND IS RETURNING TOMORROW.
An agent of humankind is reaching his base tomorrow after successfully collecting samples from a huge mineral resource. There are millions of similar mines waiting to be explored. A true boon for humanity.
The resource mine at a distance of near 45 crore km from us is only 450,00,00,000 years old. And our detective, James Bond, has taken just 7 years to accomplish his mission. To reach the mine, collect samples and come back home again. Safe and healthy.
Yes. this James Bond is OSIRIS Rex. A Space Craft of NASA. Weighting 2000 kg and launched in September 2016, Osiris REx travelled all the distance, to a dark asteroid named Bennu. It kept on flying above the asteroid for almost three years to map its surface and to decide own landing spot. Following a successful landing on Bennu, Osiris collected near half a kg of rock sample and started its return journey to Earth.
NASA is all prepared to welcome OSIRIS Rex back home tomorrow. On the 24th of September with near 400 gm of extra terrestrial samples. It must be very rich in minerals and carrying signature of the time of the beginning of our Solar System.
Bravo OSIRIS REX, the 007- James Bond.

Our member Arijit gives a brief account of Aditya L1 Mission. A senior member of SWAN is a deep integral part of this mission.

THE ADITYA L1 SPACECRAFT MISSION..........................................................

Launch Dt.: 02/09/23
Launch Venue: Satish Dhawan Space Centre SHAR, Sriharikota
Launch Time: 11.50 am (IST)
Rocket: PSLV – C57
Total Payload: 7 (for different purposes to study Sun)
Trajectory: It will be first place in Earth’s low orbit, the after few fly byes (where the path would be made more elliptical), the spacecraft would be pushed towards the Lagrange Point (L1), using it’s on board jets for propulsion. Once the spacecraft leaves the gravitational Sphere of Influence (SOI) of Earth, it will fly to its destined point & will be injected into a large halo orbit around L1.
Travel Time: Around 4 months to reach ‘Lagrange 1’ point.
L1 Distance from Earth: 1.5 million km (15 lakh km). Approximately 4 times the distance between Earth & Moon.
Facility of Lagrange 1 point: Continuously viewing the Sun without any occultation/eclipse with any heavenly bodies.
Few Mission Objectives: 1. Coronal heating & solar wind acceleration.
2. Solar wind distribution & anisotropy of temperature of Sun.
3. Initiation of Coronal Mass Ejection (CME), flares & near earth space weather.
4. The dynamics of the Sun’s atmosphere/corona.
[6:40 pm, 28/08/2023] Arijit swan: Anyone interested to witness the launch from the Launch View Gallery at Sriharikota can register here: https://lvg.shar.gov.in/VSCREGISTRATION/index.jsp Commencement of registration will be announced there.

CHANDRAYAAN 3. UPDATE 16/ Tuesday Aug 22 2023 11:40:00 GMT+0530 (India Standard Time)
HI BIG BROTHER.....
A sweet rendezvous of two brothers. Ch 3 with CH 2.
The clock is ticking for 23rd evening to come. If everything goes well, CH3 lender will touchdown the Lunar surface on the 23rd evening. Though most unlikely, in case of an emergency, it may be shifted to 27th.
CHANDRAYAAN 2 ORBITER. That is flying over Moon since 2019 is being brought back to action to support the CH 3 lander. An intelligent and cost-optimizing strategy of ISRO. "Why have a new full-function orbiter when we already have one there ready to operate? "
Right at the intended time of landing of Ch3 Lander, the CH2 orbiter will be almost on the opposite side. But will fly over CH3 soon after landing.
DSS 36 Antenna, a giant 34-meter wide Dish, built in 2016 under Deep Space Network and situated at Canberra, Australia, will be engaged in the radio signal communication with the Lander at the time of landing tomorrow.

Pic: DSS 36 Antenna.

INDIA .... RUSSIA... and now JAPAN ...... DESTINATION MOON.
After India or Russia, J*pan is also sending its Lunar Lander to touchdown the silvery ball soon. Scheduled to be launched on board a powerful H2A rocket vehicle on the 25th of August, the SLIM or Smart Lander for Investigating Moon will aim to land within 100 meters of its targeted spot. An ambition that is truly Astronomically high.
The pressure on the J*p space agency JAXA is quite high on this as it had to have a failure of its previous Lunar Lander on April 25th 2023. Despite a successful launch, orbital performance and maneuvering over Lunar Surface, a software glitch caused it to crash on Moon at a velocity of 300km per hour instead of touching the ground like a flying feather.
As a space enthusiast from India, I wish you all the success SLIM.
JAXA Lunar Probe SLIM unveiled inside assembly bay.

CHANDRAYAAN 3. UPDATE 14
Thursday Aug 19 2023 00:10:00 GMT+0530 (India Standard Time)
Both Tortoise and Rabbit are reaching their destination. No matter who comes first. Both will accomplish their own mission.
While Chandrayaan 3, after its 37 days long journey now, is on its planned orbit correction around Moon, Rusia's Luna 25 on its 7th day of the mission is at the final stage of decend.
The graphics attached to the post can give a brief account of two different kinds of trajectories used by the two space crafts. While CH3 took a very fuel-efficient, cost-effective gentle path of a long duration of around 40 days, Luna preferred power-packed fast travel of 7 days only. Both deserve equal appreciation.
At this moment, Chabndrayaan 3 Lander is on an orbit of 157km X 113 km. The next correction, known as DeBoost, is to take place in the next 2 hours. With the very tactical burn of its engine, the craft's altitude will be further reduced to bring it closer to the Lunar surface. It is following a fuel-efficient technique of multiple short-duration engine burns to have multiple corrections of a smaller scale. The landing is scheduled for the 23rd. Interestingly, the landing time surface scanner camera of CH 3 lander has already started taking note of the lunar surface and waiting for the desired spot of around 10 sq km to come under its footprint. The computer on board will be no sole command to guide the machine in its final spot selection. Because the time delay in radio communication between the lander on Moon and the Mission control scientists here on Earth will be over 1.5 sec. Too long to be of any use. Eventually, the onboard computer will take the final decision based on the program, logic, raw data etc loaded in it.
On the other hand, LUNA 25 lander is going by its trajectory with high thrust correctional burns requiring much more fuel. With this, it may touch down the land on the 21st.
I am wishing success for both.
By the way, neither India nor Russia is doing anything unique by gently touching down the surface of Moon. Scientists and engineers are doing this successfully since mid 60s.

India's SURJO PRONAM.
ADITYA L1 is to be launched soon.
India is heading towards its SURYA Pronam. ISRO will launch its first Space Based Solar Telescope Aditya L1 within a couple of days. The space telescope weighing 1500 kg will be placed at a very very critical point in between Sun and Earth from where, under pin-pointed gravitational balance between the pull of these two, it can SEE Sun uninterrupted round the clock. For any spacecraft, the journey to this special and critical point, known as Lagrange 1 point at a distance of 15 lakh km from Earth, is an adventure that not all dare to take up. ISRO is going to get into this adventure for the first time.
Feeling great as my son, grown up on the floor of the astronomy club (SWAN) that we established 25 years back, is one of those from ISRO and other premium institutes who have actually built Aditya L1 at the ISRO facility. So he, I may say, is a priest for this SURJO Pronam for all of us in India. 140 crore.

CHANDRAYAAN 3. UPDATE 10
Sun Aug 08 2023 11:30:00 GMT+0530 (India Standard Time)
Chadrayaan 3- Taking deep breath to jump on Moon.
Our Chandrayaan 3 had its transfer from Earth bound phase to Moon bound phase via around 4 lakh km long path in Lunar Transfer Orbit on the 5th of Aug. With firing in its engine , at 19:30 on the day, it entered into a highly elliptical orbit around Moon to become a Moon of Moon.
After passing through this extremely elliptical of 170km x 18,000 km distance from Lunar Surface, CH3 had the next correction with another burn of its engine at 23:19, of 6th Aug. That thrust reduced the larger side of the elliptical orbit making it one of 176km x 4313 km from Lunar surface.
Following these corrections, now at this moment, CH3 is moving around Moon along this 176 km x 4313 km orbit. Gradually few more burns in the next couple of days to come will give it almost a perfect Circular Orbit of around 100 km x 100 km from Lunar Surface by 17th Aug. And that will be the time for the Lander Separation. And the Lander start descending towards Moon to have a soft landing on Moon on the 23rd Aug. With everything on track, this will make India as one of the four countries capable of soft landing on the surface of Moon.

CHANDRAYAAN 3. UPDATE 9
Sun Aug 06 2023 00:50:00 GMT+0530 (India Standard Time)
Finally, and as expected, Chandrayaan 3 is now a man made Moon of Earth's Natural Moon. Leaving the primary gravity influence of Earth, now it is under gravity arrest to Moon.
Following a powerful burn of its engine on the 1st Aug 00:13AM, the craft attained an enormous velocity of 10.74km per second. That has given it a very long long elliptical orbit of which the longer side can reach the distance of Moon. That is called Transfer Lunar Orbit. After running along that for 4 days and travelling almost 4 lakh km, finally CH 3 reached closer to Moon. Without any other external influence, CH3 at that time with very low velocity of 0.01km a sec would have started going back to Earth again along that long elliptical path. But the path was calculated and planned so meticulously that the moment coincided with the arrival of Moon at that very place. Eventually CH3 came under Moons gravity influence. To further facilitate its arrest by that gravity influence of Moon, the engine of CH3 was fired again at 5th Aug 19:29 hr. That burn has put the craft into a long elliptical orbit around Moon- on a new orbital plane.
The first part of mission is accomplished. That too almost exactly as it was planned. Please join me in Congratulating our ISRO scientists.

It was a wonderful interactive session yesterday evening form me to talk on Chhandrayaan 3 and my experience on its Launch at Sri Harikota. Facing such a strong audience of over 250 head count comprising bright students, their teachers and people from all walk I felt honoured there on stage. Thank you Softech Computers for being with SWAN.

CHANDRAYAAN 3. UPDATE 7
Tue Aug 01 2023 23:43:00 GMT+0530 (India Standard Time)

After stormy night yesterday, it is nearly cool phase for our Chandrayaan 3 in its journey to Moon. It had its engine firing last night to gain en enormous speed of around 10.77 km per second to get into a long long elliptical path stretching almost upto Moon. It is called Lunar Transfer Orbit. While running along it, now the craft has reached almost half the distance of Moon within less than 24 hours. But it will take 4 more days to cross rest half. Because as per gravitational laws, its velocity will keep on decreasing with increasing distance from Earth. Following its enormous 10.77 km per sec velocity last night, now it is just 1.39km per second. It is so designed that by the time it reaches desired close to Moon, its velocity will touch bottom low level of near 0.01 km per second. That will help it in getting arrested by Moon's gravity. Then only it will become Moon's Moon.

CHANDRAYAAN-3 UPDATE: 4
Wed Jul 29 2023 10:8:00 GMT+0530 (India Standard Time).
Almost absolutely on track and as per plan, Chandrayaan 3 is in its final orbit around Earth with 1.4 km per second velocity. More it comes closer to Earth more it gain in speed to attain around 10 km per second when closest. This is as per the Gravitational rule God created at the beginning and Kepler explained it to us. On the 1st Aug, right after midnight here at around 00:13 hr (IST) it will have its final push to get into Transfer Orbit. Means the elongation of the shape of its elliptical orbit around earth will be so high that the longer side of the ellipse will reach almost Moon. When the Craft reaches that point, it will have another burn to get arrested by Moons gravity. From that very moment, it will become a Moon of Moon. We will wait.

CHANDRAYAAN-3 UPDATE: 3
Wed Jul 26 2023 10:11:00 GMT+0530 (India Standard Time).
The Bird is at the last lap around Earth before getting its final push to jump into its long Moon bound path. It will get captured there by Moon's gravity and start moving around Moon to become Moon's Moon. From initial highly elliptical orbit there, gradually it will attain a Circular orbit at an altitude of around 100 km above Lunar Surface. That will be the time for the detachment of the lander.

ADITYA L1.
FEELING GREAT !!!!!
'Aditya L1.' India's first Space Born Observatory Class Telescope to observe SUN or Aditya, our nearest Star from a very critical point in space known as 'Lagrange 1' point. At a distance of 15,00,000 km from Earth surface, from this critical L1 point, Aditya L1 will be able to 'See' Sun round the clock without any interruption. One of Aditya L1's main Science Goal Component is SUIT. A high tech 'Eye' of the space telescope to 'see' Sun in Ultra Violate range of light.
Feeling great as one of our members Janmejoy is one the few Ph. D. students those who have actually built this SUIT at ISRO facility under the guidance of eminent scientists from IUCAA and other institutes.
IUCAA invites all to join the SUIT Team online tomorrow to celebrate the completion of SUIT.

Online Event: Celebrating the handing over SUIT payload to ISRO Aditya-L1 MissionThe first observatory-class space-based solar mission from IndiaCelebrating Completion of SUIT for Aditya L1 MissionJoin us online to celebr...

This is how our Sourav reports about SWAN's Outreach at an Orphanage in Kolkata. আমাদের প্রায় সবারই আকাশ দেখার প্রথম গাইড কিন্তু মা-বাবা। ছোটবেলায় কান্না থামানোর জন্য রাতের আকাশের দিকে আঙুল তুলে দিকনির্দেশ করা এবং একটা ছোট্ট শিশুর অপলক দৃষ্টিতে প্রথমবারের জন্য আকাশে অনেক বিন্দু বিন্দু তারার মাঝে একফালি চাঁদের দিকে কান্না ভুলে তাকিয়ে থাকা - আমাদের অনেকের ছোটবেলা হয়তো এভাবেই কেটেছে।
কিন্তু আমাদের মাঝে এমন অনেক শিশুই রয়েছে যারা নিয়তির ফেরে ছোটবেলায় মা-বাবার স্নেহ, সাহচর্য থেকে বঞ্চিত। অনেক সহৃদয় ব্যক্তি ও সংস্থার কল্যাণে সেইরকম অনেক শিশুই হয়তো বা বেঁচে থাকার ন্যূনতম চাহিদা এবং পড়াশোনার সুযোগ পায়। কিন্তু তাদের প্রথম আকাশ চেনার পাঠ কি অধরাই থেকে যাবে ?
Sky Watchers' Association of North Bengal (SWAN), India পৌঁছে গিয়েছিল এরকমই কিছু কচিকাঁচার কাছে তাদের আকাশ চেনানোর উদ্দেশ্যে। কোলকাতার অদূরে সোনারপুরে The Biswas Educational Foundation নামক এক সংস্থার দ্বারা পরিচালিত একটি অনাথ আশ্রম প্রায় 40 জন শিশুর বর্তমান ঘরবাড়ি। গত 26শে মার্চ SWAN এর 4 জন সদস্য প্রিয়দর্শন, ঋদ্ধি, প্রত্যয় আর সৌরভ গাড়িতে বোঝাই টেলিস্কোপ ও অন্যান্য যন্ত্রপাতি নিয়ে রওনা হয় সেই বাচ্চাগুলোর সাথে কিছুটা সময় ভাগ করে নেওয়ার জন্য। সাথে ছিল আরো দুজন বন্ধু ইশার এবং শুভেন্দু ।
সেই আশ্রমের 40 জন শিশু ছাড়াও পার্শ্ববর্তী South Calcutta Public School এর বেশ কিছু কচিকাঁচা এবং তাদের অভিভাবকের সামনে প্রিয়দর্শন ফুটিয়ে তুললো আমাদের মহাবিশ্বে কে সবচেয়ে বড় - এই ধারণা। সৌরজগতে পৃথিবী, নেপচুন, শনি, বৃহস্পতি ছাড়িয়ে আমাদের সূর্য, সৌরজগতের সীমানা ছাড়িয়ে সূর্যের চেয়েও অনেক বড় নক্ষত্র, ছায়াপথ, অনেকগুলো ছায়াপথের সমষ্টি বা Galaxy Cluster , আমাদের পর্যবেক্ষণের মধ্যে থাকা মহাবিশ্ব, তার বাইরের জগৎ - এই তুলনার শেষ কোথায় ! আমাদের দৈনন্দিন জীবনের হিংসা, ঘৃণা, মারামারি - এই সবকিছুই বন্দি ভয়েজার উপগ্রহের তোলা একটি ছোট্ট নীল রঙের বিন্দুতে - "a pale blue dot" এ ।
প্রত্যয়ের থেকে ছেলেমেয়ে গুলো শিখলো টেলিস্কোপের কার্যপ্রণালী, তাতে ব্যবহার করা বিভিন্ন রকমের আয়না ও লেন্সের ব্যবহার আমাদের দৈনন্দিন জীবনে এবং চোখে দেখে উত্তল - অবতল আয়নার পার্থক্য করা। সৌরভের বক্তব্য ছিল মঙ্গলযান এবং তার খুঁটিনাটি নিয়ে। পাশাপাশি বাচ্চারা হাতেকলমে শিখলো কিভাবে আর কত গতিবেগে ছুড়লে পৃথিবীর মায়া কাটিয়ে কৃত্রিম উপগ্রহকে কক্ষপথে স্থাপন করা যায়।
এরপরের কাজ ছিলো বাচ্চাদের হাতে ধরে টেলিস্কোপের কার্যপ্রণালী শেখানো আর তা দিয়ে চাঁদ, মঙ্গল এবং শুক্র দেখানো। কিন্তু আকাশ তাতে সায় না দেওয়ায় বিফল মনোরথ হয়েই ফিরে আসতে হল পরবর্তীতে কখনো আশা পূরণের প্রতিশ্রুতি দিয়ে ওই কচিকাঁচাগুলোর কাছে।

Thank you all for making this day so special for all of us at SWAN..... Debasis.

An honour for SWAN. A conglomerate of reputed organizations from different sectors has considered me as the recipient of 'North Bengal Star' award and invited me to take their Felicitation at a ceremony to take place soon. And their consideration is not 'Me' the person. But one of SWAN. Thus the honour is of SWAN. I am merely the courier only to collect it from the authority and pass it on to all SWAN members. The true recipients of this honour. - Debasis.

COSMIC BUDDIES...........................
The Hubble Space Telescope has sent a beautiful picture of 2 galaxies, which are coming close together like 2 great friends. The name of the left edge-on galaxy is NGC 4302 & the right tilted one is NGC 4298. The galaxies have arms of young stars that coil outward from their centres. The bright arms are regions of intense star formation. These 2 galaxies were discovered by astronomer William Herschel in the year 1784.

Few details about these 2 galaxies are given below:

1. Distance from earth: 55 million LY
2. Found in Virgo Cluster.
3. Constellations: Coma Berenices.
4. Type: Spiral galaxy.

Pic courtesy: NASA/ESA/Hubble Space Telescope.

By: Arijit Chakroborty.

It is always nice to have good gifts. And the pleasure multiplies when it happens in front of nice people. We have received a Binocular Vision Compounded Electric Microscope from Enzyme Drug Dist. Incidentally, national level senior manager of Indian Oil Corporation Mr. A Singh was present at SWAN when brothers from Enzyme brought us the nice gift. Thank you all at Enzyme.

This is how our member Arijit has expressed his mind on yesterday's Venus Moon Conjunction, along with his mobile click of the event.

VENUS - MOON CONJUNCTION..............................................................
After a long time in my life's junction...
I could see you both as the lovers in conjunction...
Remaining so far from each other...
Both of you appeared as if so near...
Proving that both of you are true lovers...
Being so poisonous, hot & beautiful...
Periodically, following the rules of the cosmos...
You come to take care of the rough & arid moon...
Still it's a mystery...
Why you remain upside down & rotate so slow...
Maybe that's why you are the symbol of love & passion...
And we mankind consider both of you as the symbol of love & lesion...
Watching both of you in the fabric of space-time...
Our emotions always glow in our lifetime...

Good Morning on a very spacial day today friends. World is getting a Hybrid Solar Eclipse today. One of the rarest Celestial Shows. A Solar Eclipse that starts as Annular to show Ring of Fire, turns Total with the glory of Corona and then becomes Annular again. Many of our friends are there in the tiny Australian village or Papua those are the only land surface within the shadow track of today's Eclipse. Many of our friends are there , waiting for the Sun and Moon God to rise and to play their part in the great cosmic show. Oliviere, Patrick, Fred are few among them. I was also with them online last night to share the excitement. I wish I could be there physically. However, those who are interested to watch it LIVE, here is a link. http://time.unitarium.com/events/eclipse/042023/live.html?fbclid=IwAR00UaVvI8VXxG3Tq9-h9u2LUE1_aHURAaJOtpD7B9dbm-9mbeGPJYqwqgk

Live Streams of the Solar Eclipse April 20, 2023 Where to watch April 20, 2023 Eclipse online. List of free live video streams, online broadcasts and webcasts - watch the April's eclipse over Australia and Asia

LUNAR OCCULTATION....................................
Social medias have been filled up today with the pics of Moon & planet Venus. So I take the privilege of explaining what & why this thing had happened today.
First of all its a celestial phenomena which occurs few times & there is nothing exceptional about this in cosmic universe.
The thing which had happened today is called LUNAR OCCULTATION, means our Earth, Moon & Venus came in a straight line. For a viewer from Earth, Venus got obscured (vanished) behind moon at around 4.50pm today. We couldn't see that at that time because the sky was too bright due to the sunlight. Venus again reemerged from behind the moon at around 6pm today. All the pictures we are seeing in different social medias are taken after the occultation.
The last time this celestial phenomena happened was on 12/10/21 & the next one will be in the month of November this year, but it won't be visible from India.
Pic Courtesy: Riddhi Chakraborty

One of the two pioneers in amateur astronomy culture in India Soumen Mukherjee is no more. He has left us yesterday evening at an age of around 80 years. Each and every one in our country attached to amateur astro-activities is indebted to him. Me too. He has done major works on Variable Star studies. His other major works includes telescope making or Mirror Grinding.

Come and join.

Cheer up Go Pro users.
Its no more a club of only the Elits like Nikon or Hasselblade. Go Pro has joined the league of NASA's Official Cameras. This Go Pro picture here is a 'selfie' of NASA's highly ambitious Orion spacecraft under its Artemis Mission with Moon and Small Earth in the background. Picture taken by a heavily modded Go Pro Hero 4 Black cam fixed at the exterior of the space craft. Taken this image at f/2.8 and F 3mm with Exposure duration 1/4098 sec at ISO 100 with its Flash On. Those interested on further deep detail 'Bio-Data' of this image may take a deep into the long text coming next. Its the EXIF of this picture.
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Our member Arijit Remembers Austrian physicist & mathematician Christian Doppler on his birthday (29th November, 1803). He was born in Salzburg, Austria. Out of his above 50 articles on mathematics, physics, he is famous for his principle known as DOPPLER EFFECT. Doppler Effect is the change in wave frequency during the relative motion between a wave source and its observer. This effect is widely used in studying astronomy & medical science.