Phases of the Moon 2012

I have previously made postings on Arunachala Grace on the relevance of the Moon at Arunachala, on the story of Lord Ganesha and the Moon, and also a posting telling of a charming legend called Moonlight.

At the time of this March Poornima (full moon) I thought it would be interesting to post the below video which has recently become available.

For the last three years NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter has been taking high resolution photos of the Moon's surface. The below video was composed by the Goddard Visualization Studio, by using a selection of the NASA photographs, to show all the Moon Phases and Libration (i.e. oscillation) in 2012.

To read more about this project check out this narrative at Discover Magazine.

Lunar Eclipse from India

The Lunar eclipse on June 16th which will be partially visible in India, is a rare central eclipse where the Moon passes in front of the center of the Earth's shadow. The timing of this eclipse in India is as follows:

June 15th, 2011 23.56 IST – June 16th, 2011 03:04 IST







During a lunar eclipse, the moon moves through the shadow of the earth. Which means, that the earth is positioned quite exactly between the sun and moon and casts its shadow onto the moon. This is only possible at full moon and if some other requirements are met, depending on whether the moon passes the partial or the core shadow of the earth, we speak of a partial or total lunar eclipse.

When the moon touches the core shadow of the earth, the first parts of the moon surface begin to darken. If one was to stand on the moon, one would experience a total solar eclipse. As soon as the moon immerses completely in the core shadow, the surface of the moon begins to glow copper red. Towards the centre of the core shadow, the light fades and turns dark red to brownish grey.

NASA explains the Lunar Eclipse

To read the legend of the eclipse in Indian mythology, and for more information about what to do and what not to do on these days go to this link here.