Lunar eclipse experience: Interplay of shadows!

Hello! Yesterday’s lunar eclipse was memorable! The night began with clouds and rains. Initially it was the shadows of clouds! We were ready with two telescopes and a binocular. When the Moon entered the penumbra, the eclipse began. But the Sun is so bright that even after being partially covered, lowering of brightness of the Moon is negligible. But later when the Moon entered the umbra (when the Sun was completely obstructed by the Earth), then the edge of the Moon got darkened. Still clouds continued. Just for a few seconds they would give an opening and the Moon would become visible. Its eclipse was clearly visible. From the Full Moon, it gradually became a crescent! And as more and more area of the Moon came inside the umbra, it became reddish! It was a treat to watch it! 

As far as photos are concerned, due to clouds, I could not take great photos. My friend- Gireesh Mandhale took great photos through his 8 inch telescope. They can be seen here.

 

Fun and experiment no. 38

Experiment 38. Interesting concave shape

A simple question. What is common in these things- Our eyes, our ears, dish of dish tv, glass of a torch and glass of a spectacle? Think a little. There is one common thing and that is concave shape. All these things are spherical or half- spherical and having curvature. Concave shape is very useful for focusing. If there is a concave mirror, then it focuses all light rays on one point. That’s why concave mirrors are used in telescopes. Due to its curved shape, all rays gather at one point. This is the magic of focus. Our eyes are made of two concave natural lenses. Even our ear is concave in shape. And think, if you want to hear someone, but you cannot hear his or her voice. Then what you do by your hand? You create a ‘concave shape’ or a sort of C by using your hand for proper hearing. That helps for better voice. That means, we also at the back of mind know how these things work. And even mirrors of vehicles too have these properties. And to show broad view i.e. to zoom out, we use convex mirror. And even headlights of the vehicles too have concave glass!

Activity 38. Study like a concave mirror

Now remember this. Due to concave shape, a mirror becomes a part of a telescope and shows us details. But if the mirror had been plain, it would not show us details. So now onward when you study, think of this- are you studying like a concave mirror or a plain mirror? If you study like a concave mirror, you will get wonderful focus and its results will be great. Always remember this. Focus gives strength.

प्रयोग 38. जादुई वक्राकार (कॉन्केव शेप)

एक सोपा प्रश्न. ह्या सगळ्यांमध्ये काय समान आहे? आपले डोळे, आपले कान, डिश टीव्हीची डिश, टॉर्चची काच आणि चष्म्याची काच. थोडा विचार करा. ह्या सगळ्यांमध्ये एक गोष्ट समान आहेत व हे सर्व वक्राकार किंवा अंतर्वक्र आहेत. कॉन्केव्ह शेप्सने बनलेले आहेत. ह्या सर्व गोष्टी गोलाकार किंवा अर्धगोलाकार आहेत व त्यांच्यात वक्रता आहे. अंतर्वक्र आकार खूप उपयोगी असतो, कारण तो सर्व किरण एका जागी आणतो. त्यामुळे दुर्बिणींमध्ये अंतर्वक्र आरसा वापरला जातो. वक्र आकारामुळे त्यावर येणारे सर्व किरण एका बिंदूवर येतात. एकाग्रतेमुळे ही (फोकस) जादू होते. आपल्या डोळा दोन नैसर्गिक अंतर्वक्र भिंगांनी बनलेला असतो. आपला कानसुद्धा अंतर्वक्रच तर असतो. आणि विचार करा. तुम्हांला कोणी सांगत असलेले ऐकू येत नाही तेव्हा तुम्ही हाताने काय कृती करता? तुम्ही हात खोलगट करून (C प्रमाणे) कानाजवळ धरता, म्हणजेच हाताने एक ध्वनीसाठीचं अंतर्वक्र भिंग तयार करता. त्यामुळे व्यवस्थित ऐकू यायला मदत होते. म्हणजे आपल्यालासुद्धा ही अंतर्वक्र आकाराची गंमत माहिती आहे कुठे तरी. वाहनांचे आरसेसुद्धा वक्र असतात पण ते मोठा व्ह्यू झूम आउट करून दाखवतात म्हणून बहिर्वक्र (कॉन्व्हेक्स) असतात. आणि वाहनांच्या हेडलाईटसवरही अंतर्वक्र काच असते!

गंमत 38. अंतर्वक्र आरशाप्रमाणे अभ्यास करा

आता हे लक्षात ठेवा. अंतर्वक्र आकारामुळे आरसा टेलिस्कोप बनतो व आपल्याला खूप गोष्टी दाखवतो. पण जर तो साधा सपाट आरसा असला असता तर हे करू शकला नसता. आता पुढे तुम्ही जेव्हा अभ्यास कराल, तेव्हा विचार करा की, तुम्ही अंतर्वक्र आरशासारखा अभ्यास करत आहात का साध्या सपाट आरशासारखा? जेव्हा तुम्ही अंतर्वक्र आरशाप्रमाणे अभ्यास कराल, तेव्हा तुमची एकाग्रता खूप वाढेल व तुम्हांला खूप मोठे परिणाम मिळतील. नेहमी लक्षात ठेवा. फोकस केला तर खूप बळ मिळतं.

Sky watching session with kids and elders!

✪ International space station like a bright moving star!
✪ Saturn rings, Jupiter moons and orange Mars
✪ Beautiful Pleiades cluster- A scene of 400 years ago
✪ Moon craters and surface features
✪ Vast universe thrashes egoistic delusion
✪ Wonders to be watched just through eyes
✪ Zestful parents and energetic kids

Hello. Currently conditions are best for sky watching. Except for a few passing clouds, we can enjoy beautiful sky in the night. I got opportunity to show kids and elders the wonders of sky on the eve of 8th December when Ayurveda Vyaspeeth, Parbhani arranged a sky watching session. For this, first of all I thank Dr. Kanhe madam, Dr. Sandeep Chavan sir and their team, the organizers, the kids and also their parents. Here I would like to share which wonders we did enjoy and what fun we had. Recently I had taken such sessions for three consecutive days in Aurangabad, but the sky was not this clear there. On 8th December, the sky was so clear.

When some kids were still to come, we observed an interesting object. From north, a bright artificial satellite was visible. It was as bright as Jupiter and it was slowly moving towards East. It was visible for five- six minutes and then it went to South- East side and got out of sight. When I saw its speed and brightness, I felt this must be International Space Station- ISS. On the next day, I checked its timing and visibility location and then it was confirmed! So the kids who had come on time could also see the space station!

We started telescopic observation from Saturn. Everyone could enjoy its rings! Then we saw Jupiter and its four moons. Also within short time, we could also experience change in positions of the moons. Mars was in opposition recently (i.e. Sun- Earth- Mars in one line) and therefore it is much closer to the earth- at around 7.5 crore kms. Its red disk was visible in the telescope. The most beautiful object was Krittika cluster- Pleiades M45. Kids counted number of stars there. This cluster is located around 400 light years from us. That means the light departed from the cluster reaches us after 400 years. The light that travels 3 lac kilometers in a second! That means the stars we observe there are actually from the year 1600!

While observing this so much vast distance and stars much greater than Sun- forget our earth- makes us speechless. It is something like meditation. We always have delusions about us like I am someone special, this or that. Or my sorrow is greatest in the world. But when we see this infinitely vast sky, these delusions fade away! After the Pleiades, we saw the most thrilling objects for many- the Moon. Initially we saw with 20 magnification and later on also 50 magnification. Anytime one sees it, it is just beautiful and everyone likes it!