Apratim

I've always struggled with Marathi... and so, to bring a Marathi adjective out of me, the cause had to be Apratim... Incomparable.

The time was 06h:28m:30s on the 22nd July 2009. The place was the terrace of a local school in Bihar Sharif, India. The cause was the 2nd Diamond Ring from the spectacular Total Solar Eclipse I had just witnessed. I am now proudly, one of the few people in India who actually wanted to, travelled for and saw the eclipse.



Here is a video of the indescribable hysteria which prevailed...

1st Published Picture

Yes! This is my first Astro picture to be published in a newspaper (Sakal). Of course, whether you realise it or not, it is a great picture.

Catching that slightest of darkening of the Moon during the Partial Lunar Eclipse of Feb 09, 2009 was the aim. A penumbra refers to a partially shaded outer region of a shadow that an object casts. In a Penumbral Eclipse the moon's surface is not completely shadowed by the earth's umbra (the darkest part of a shadow). The moon passes through the faint penumbral portion of the earth's shadow and observers see only the slightest dimming near the lunar limb.

The Moon rose eclipsed on the East horizon as the eclipse started at 18:09 IST... before moonrise. As the Full Moon passed into the outer shadow of the Earth it dimmed slightly, but no shading was visible to the naked eye until about two-thirds of the moon's disk was immersed in the penumbra. In the picture, the faint penumbral shadow of the Earth is on the top left of the Moon's limb. The image appears mirror inverted as it is captured with the 14" reflecting telescope we have in our terrace observatory. In fact this is a very difficult shot as I had to do it hand-held for the lack of a camera-telescope adapter. Considering the required sharpness, I had to stop it at f/5 and hence an exposure of 1/8 sec was the most I could hold steady. Although the cropping is not ok, the sharpness for me is surprisingly & pleasurably good.

Here is a pic of the Eclipsed Moonrise.



I am now looking forward to the Total Solar Eclipse of July 22 morning and the Partial Lunar Eclipse of December 31 night. These will give us a good chance to celebrate this UN declared International Year of Astronomy.

The New Pinup-Girl

She's the One! Was born to be the One! ...Always will be... till the next one comes along...!

Oh its not the beauty in the picture that I am talking about [see end]. This is about something much hotter...

Global Warming! The Science-praising/bashing, controversy-raising, Nobel-winning, issue of the decade.

An award-winning film is out - "The Inconvenient Truth". An Indian scientist gets a shared Nobel prize. And Global warming is suddenly in the limelight. But its not Gore's or Pachauri's fame that perturbs me. It is the way one or the other issue is always hyped out of proportions and is then left hanging without a conclusion as another more exciting threat to the the world is afoot! Just like a hot new starlet, there are more films to be made on that subject that will sell so much more if it is hyped.

Let me draw your attention to a few issues I have seen while growing up. These are all issues that are very important still & need to be given attention on an equal priority

Cancer - As a really small kid, there was always the talk of cancer. Mostly the one due to smoking and use of tobacco. I made my dad give up tobacco. But have seen many others fall to throat cancer from their addictions. There are ofcourse other cancers which too are still without cure and taking their toll. But tobacco induced cancer is something that a person can spread. The number of commercials showing actual ill effects of smoking and those educating cures of cancer are gone off the media. Oh yes... there are some ads about breast cancer, & I do hope they reach and better the lives of those few that watch cable television.

Drugs - When I was in school, TV used to make me feel that every one of those young guys on the streets was a druggie! Now india seems to be totally cured of this disease... only because we do not have youngsters injecting their groins and sniffing hash in filthy nooks or besides rail tracks. The problem is gone... from where it could be in the public's eye. Drugs are still rampant behind closed doors or in villages where noone peeps. There still are unemployed (or temporarily employed in BPOs) youth falling into the well of drugs thinking they will get high!

Population - This is in my view the most serious issue that concerns the World today and always... Overuse of resources by an uncontrolled population of a dominant species. Almost all evil that we see happening around is due to this. It was high on the propaganda just a few years ago, but its mellowed now. People slowly realise that the more kids they have, the more troubles they will have in their life. And they have other sources of entertaiment than sex. But are we really cured? The average number of kids might still take some time to reduce to 3 per couple. The issue will also need more coverage on the media to be effective sooner. I ve heard that a "Condom" publicity campaign is on I hope it is not the stereotyped gaonwali-behenji-prescribes-Mala-D ad or another steamy Kamasutra ad.

Ozone Hole - First thing... Its Not a hole in the atmosphere on top of your head... and it does not happen only over polluting cities! Ozone layer depletion does NOT cause Global Warming! It is a totally different natural disaster.
The "Hole" was detected as a reduction in the ozone layer over the North and South Poles. This 30% reduction could in future spread to lower latitudes. The misconceived notion is that due to it you will soon get skin cancer while sunbathing or later even when going to school! No... SPF100 sunscreen is not the way to escape the ozone hole! The problem will arise from the krill in the oceans & life stock on land getting ill. If it affects plants then we are done for. This will cause famine and endanger the generations to come before you even feel the symptoms of cancer. The causes of course are related to human activities. We have already been tackling it by reduced use of ODS. But the ozone Hole isn't shrinking!!! It is still as serious a problem as Global warming and we will only see in a decade which we should be thinking more about.

OK...
I know it is impossible to be uninformed about all this. But its easy to be misinformed. Moreover, disillusioned by disappearance of the hot topic we might just assume that the danger has passed. Well dear fellows... it hasn't. Its only that WE get less news about it because WE want variety in our coffee-table discussions. Let us not treat Life like films and ask for a new pinup topic every year. Let us keep following, in our capacities, at least one of the problems that can really affect us.

Of course I am not to forget... Laetitia Casta has finally made it to The Swank Pad! She has always been and will be the best pinup girl for me :)

Lucky Saturn

Saturn, to me, it is the most beautiful planet after the Earth. The rings of Saturn have fascinated multitudes for ages and still draw out the 'oooh's & 'wow's everytime I show it to people through a telescope.

Here is a page with more pictures by Christopher Go. He has been following it with a telescope for the past year of "Saturn season". You can catch it for yourself too. All of the next month or so, it is going to be a nice, bright, starlike evening object in the East.

10th February 2007 [the day the above pic was taken] was the day of opposition for Saturn. 'Opposition' is the time when the Earth lies between an outer planet and the Sun, making the Sun and planet appear in opposite directions as viewed from the Earth. So to us, the planet rises as the Sun sets. Now magine yourself out in space and draw out the position of the Sun and the orbits of the earth and the planet on opposition day. Its easy to see that the Earth will be closest to the planet on this day. The distance in between them is of course the distance between their orbits, which is unimaginably huge. The occurrence of oppostion for various planets differs and it was Saturn's turn yesterday.

Since the early morn TV channels were full of 'news' about what all can happen on this day and how there were so many people praying to appease saturn!

"Saturn is the worst planet to have in your horoscope... & God forbid if it be close to the earth at that time... All hell will be let loose!"

So say some of the astrologers. Or at least thats the picture they paint, but will deny it when countered. In India, for ages Shani or Saturn - the angry god has been the harbinger of bad luck.

It seems that the media did finally remember that there are some dudes who are more in touch with Saturn than the astrologers [most of whom have not even seen it!]. So we had a TV team from a channel at our Science centre for a 2 minute interview to counter all the stuff transmitted all day. My senior put up a few good points. I happenned to barge in with one point that was missed and got invited to face the camera too. I was instantly transformed into an expert on astronomy giving comments on TV about the latest sensational celestial event!

I dont know about the half a billion Leo's who walk the Earth. They are "predicted" to share the same bad luck for the next few months, due to Saturn's presence in a group of stars that resembles a Lion, if your imagination can leap like one. But it turned out to be very lucky for me... If you believe that Saturn favours me, then please contact me for more details on "How to use Saturn to become famous!"

For more time-pass follow the following weblinks to sites about the spaceship Cassini, which is near Saturn doing a lot of research.

More Links:
JPL >> NASA

Fun with e=mc^2

Here's the powerpoint I made for My talk Today. The title is apparently clear and I hope the point is too after you go through it :) You are free to use it properly.


Thanx: Michael Chabin for idea inputs.

My Sun

I see the Sun go down. Those monotonous hues crowd the sky again in a last ditch effort to mask its real darkness. But, how long? The millions of distant Suns can't be kept back. Neither can I. I am close to the Sun.

This is My place. I can be high or low here. Here I depend only on Myself. I know the window gives me an exaggerated view, but, it makes me feel great. They can't come in here and mess it up. They think They are diminutive, trivial, Their deeds insignificant. I've done my part amongst Them. They need to learn, but Their chance is almost gone. I lean back as I am close to the Sun.

She will not have to cry anymore. She will no longer have to defend me. She will not love me, nor will She hate me. She will not entice me. She will not break my heart. She will not ignore me. She will not mock me. She won't whisper softly to me, nor will She call out my name. She will no longer run Her hands through my hair. She will not find me funny anymore. She will stop waiting for Her wedding ring. She will never again hug me. How will She Punish me? She will cease to remember me. I am closer to the Sun.

He will not share my joys and sorrows. He will not borrow from me my possesions, my moments, my knowledge. He already can't inspire me, but, He will also not drive me jealous. I will no longer fear Him. He will not always be right. I will not sacrifice for Him. No longer will He be excused for shattering the best of my dreams. He won't break His promises anymore. He will not remain the Manlier one. He will not crave for Fame & Fortune. He will no longer need to grow a Brain or a Backbone. The Sun is closer than ever.

I hear Them say - "Unidentified aircraft...Your approach to the Fusion Facility is unauthorized. You may be treated as a threat." I depress the glowing switch that says 'Armed'. On its course, the silver sliver slices the night as perfectly as I prefer. I head West. I see their Sun again. But, behind me, My Sun rises on the obliteration of obnoxious oblivion. Soon, I exist alone and I alone exist!

This is an old piece I'd written and it somehow still has the same feelings involved in it. Today I made a different Sun for Myself. The pic above is not the real Sun but something I made in Photoshop [PS]!!! PS is an amazing tool for which I have to keep coming back to M$Windows. I was wondering how difficult it is to make the images that an illustrator I'm working with, is making. And I could do it in 7 steps only!!! And I convinced someone who knows the Sun very well, to believe that it was a photograph!! I consider that a feat. :)

The second reason for this post is that I have just become a part of the outreach program for The International Heliophysical Year. The year 2007 is slated as the year to build up public knowledge about how Solar physics interacts with Geophysics. [In simple words... how the Sun affects us in important ways we are not aware of!]