Felt like a child on Jan 31st, 2018-Super blue blood moon!
Hi friends,
If I am back soon after the last post, it is out of passion and eagerness that I am doing so. Hmmmm, not that soon. Again, travel and some other things kept me away from this space. The palpable excitement that I felt on January 31st this year may not be replicated anytime soon, as I considered fortunate enough not only to be alive, but also at the right place to comfortably view the once-in-a-lifetime celestial, astronomical event which was 'super blue blood moon' or as I coined it, the 'BLUNAR ECLIPSE'. Nature had cooked for us an astronomical treat in 'one pot'. The rare ingredients are the totally eclipsed moon, the super moon (moon closest to the earth), the blue moon as it was the 2nd full moon in the month, the pinkish red color which became blood red as the part of the shadow of our earth fell on it. The visual treat was served to us in a platter 'free of charge' to be directly viewed opposite to the complex where we live. All the evening programs were cancelled and everybody was hovering around to get the glimpse of the rarest moon in their lifetime! And just when everybody was starting to get impatient around 6:30 PM, it appeared faintly among the skies in all its pink like a naughty, sweet child playing truant. The skies were thankfully clear and it appeared that they made way for the celestial wonder. The kids were the first to exclaim excitedly when they spotted the faint, pinkish red moon. And of course, many residents in our complex were armed with phones, telescopes, powerful cameras to capture the nature's glory. The moon slowly transformed from the pinkish ball to bloody red ball. I was a child all over again forgetting the mundane worries, delighted in seeing the moon taking the baby steps from the pink baby to the bloody red ball and lastly coming out bright and big from the earth's shadow in all its glory! Somebody suggested that NASA was streaming the eclipse live, but we all know that no amount of live streaming can match the direct viewing of our or nature's beloved baby giving an incredible, unbeatable live performance. The thin, bright rim which was visible on the bottom right of the moon when it started coming out of the shadow was such a delight to watch. Slowly, people started to head back to attend to routine chores. I stood for some more time in the biting cold January evening till I could no longer bear to stand. I watched the rest of the event from our corridor. The previous celestial event similar to this occurred in the year 1866 and the next may occur in 2037 according to the sources and much water would have flowed by that time. I did not have a good camera and my cell phone could not capture the best images, though I tried umpteen number of times! I know, there will be any number of images and videos on this, but I don't have anything to claim my own. The images and a video I am going to post here are the borrowed ones! I am sure there are many who watched this event all over the world, and many who were not lucky enough to watch. One of those who were not lucky to watch was my maternal grandpa who was aged 97 and passed away 10 days before the super blue blood moon! I would just like to keep viewing more of astronomical events and wonders to forget the big 'I' in myself and remind myself that all our tensions and worries are just infinitesimal compared to the endless and vast astronomical world!!
https://www.facebook.com/deepa.nagaraj.5/videos/10211004900022942/?t=50
Love,
Deepa.
If I am back soon after the last post, it is out of passion and eagerness that I am doing so. Hmmmm, not that soon. Again, travel and some other things kept me away from this space. The palpable excitement that I felt on January 31st this year may not be replicated anytime soon, as I considered fortunate enough not only to be alive, but also at the right place to comfortably view the once-in-a-lifetime celestial, astronomical event which was 'super blue blood moon' or as I coined it, the 'BLUNAR ECLIPSE'. Nature had cooked for us an astronomical treat in 'one pot'. The rare ingredients are the totally eclipsed moon, the super moon (moon closest to the earth), the blue moon as it was the 2nd full moon in the month, the pinkish red color which became blood red as the part of the shadow of our earth fell on it. The visual treat was served to us in a platter 'free of charge' to be directly viewed opposite to the complex where we live. All the evening programs were cancelled and everybody was hovering around to get the glimpse of the rarest moon in their lifetime! And just when everybody was starting to get impatient around 6:30 PM, it appeared faintly among the skies in all its pink like a naughty, sweet child playing truant. The skies were thankfully clear and it appeared that they made way for the celestial wonder. The kids were the first to exclaim excitedly when they spotted the faint, pinkish red moon. And of course, many residents in our complex were armed with phones, telescopes, powerful cameras to capture the nature's glory. The moon slowly transformed from the pinkish ball to bloody red ball. I was a child all over again forgetting the mundane worries, delighted in seeing the moon taking the baby steps from the pink baby to the bloody red ball and lastly coming out bright and big from the earth's shadow in all its glory! Somebody suggested that NASA was streaming the eclipse live, but we all know that no amount of live streaming can match the direct viewing of our or nature's beloved baby giving an incredible, unbeatable live performance. The thin, bright rim which was visible on the bottom right of the moon when it started coming out of the shadow was such a delight to watch. Slowly, people started to head back to attend to routine chores. I stood for some more time in the biting cold January evening till I could no longer bear to stand. I watched the rest of the event from our corridor. The previous celestial event similar to this occurred in the year 1866 and the next may occur in 2037 according to the sources and much water would have flowed by that time. I did not have a good camera and my cell phone could not capture the best images, though I tried umpteen number of times! I know, there will be any number of images and videos on this, but I don't have anything to claim my own. The images and a video I am going to post here are the borrowed ones! I am sure there are many who watched this event all over the world, and many who were not lucky enough to watch. One of those who were not lucky to watch was my maternal grandpa who was aged 97 and passed away 10 days before the super blue blood moon! I would just like to keep viewing more of astronomical events and wonders to forget the big 'I' in myself and remind myself that all our tensions and worries are just infinitesimal compared to the endless and vast astronomical world!!
https://www.facebook.com/deepa.nagaraj.5/videos/10211004900022942/?t=50
Love,
Deepa.
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