Monday, June 13, 2011

Lunar Eclipse 2011


On the 15th June 2011, there will be a total lunar eclipse visible from all of Africa, Central Asia and parts of South America. The show starts at 20:23 with the main event scheduled to start around 21:22 and lasting till around 11 pm. Other than total cloud cover, you have no excuse not to witness this event, unless of course, you are a werewolf and prefer not been caught out in mid howl, naked  and confused. Actually if you were planning a lunar party and the weather does not play it's part, you could always project the webcast of the event from http://www.skywatchersindia.com




My family and I are planning a little lunar party in our driveway (if there was no lunar eclipse we would have just been having a regular Ides of June party). Thankfully, Thursday is a public holiday so the kids can stay up late as well. I would prepare the little ones for the event though. I am telling Siddiqa that I will be performing a magic trick and making the moon disappear, just like Colombus did to the poor 'Indians' he found in Jamaica.

There are of course lots of superstition surrounding an eclipse and my mother told me a story today of how my grandfather banished her to her bedroom while she was expecting me. It is an Indian superstition that pregnant women should not hold a blade during an eclipse, otherwise they would have children born with a cleft lip or other deformities. My thinking around such superstition is, what harm could it do?, if your in laws insist that you effectively 'take a day off'.

So banish the X-Box, PS3  and Nintendo and enjoy this great spectacle that nature has to offer. Note that the iPhone was intentionally excluded from the list above!

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