"The moon was a ghostly galleon tossed upon cloudy skies" those words by Alfred Noyes came to mind as I beheld the fascinating heavenly drama last night.It was the longest and darkest moonlit night when the earth stood between the sun and moon . The ellipse lasted 100 minutes starting at 11.53 pm on June 15th, most of it happened after midnight on June 16th.
All the news channels were abuzz with the ellipse story specially the Hindi channels. In India the English and Hindi news channels treat news stories differently. The Hindi ones lean towards sensationalism some of them targeting a semi literate , traditional audience ( at least that' s what I think) and the English news channels are for more sophisticated and Westernized viewers. I jump channels whenever I find an interesting story. But I must add some Hindi channels feature excellent programs with India' s top journalists, analysts and news reporters. I don 't want to appear biased against them.
The discussions on TV followed 2 streams or angles.
One group of people viewed the ellipse as a natural phenomenon and made rational scientific comments about it. They were scientists, star gazers astronomers and lay folk among them.
The other group consisted of Hindu priests, astrologers, horoscope readers and suchlike who were cautioning viewers against the calamities that might befall them if they don 't fulfill certain religious obligations and rituals. They were bent upon invoking fear and apprehension. The clash of opinions was very vociferous and ear-splitting on one frequency.It was quite amusing - maybe they were staging it to increase their ratings. But all serious and responsible news anchors were telling people not to be fearful of this natural occurrence and fulfil their religious practises at the same time. Sort of the middle path.
Many people fasted, made offerings at temples (whose doors were shut during the eclipse) and took
baths in holy rivers in order to appease the gods and for good luck.
My heart was full of worship and wonder for the living God , our Creator. He is the one who rules us and not the network of stars which He has flung out in space.
"The heavens declare the glory of God and the firmament showeth His handiwork" BIBLE Psalm 19:1
I took a few photos with my Sony Cybershot at various stages of the eclipse. I like the reddish bronze glow in the last pictures.
"Space is the stature of God", so said Joseph Jourbert. How right he was
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All the news channels were abuzz with the ellipse story specially the Hindi channels. In India the English and Hindi news channels treat news stories differently. The Hindi ones lean towards sensationalism some of them targeting a semi literate , traditional audience ( at least that' s what I think) and the English news channels are for more sophisticated and Westernized viewers. I jump channels whenever I find an interesting story. But I must add some Hindi channels feature excellent programs with India' s top journalists, analysts and news reporters. I don 't want to appear biased against them.
The discussions on TV followed 2 streams or angles.
One group of people viewed the ellipse as a natural phenomenon and made rational scientific comments about it. They were scientists, star gazers astronomers and lay folk among them.
The other group consisted of Hindu priests, astrologers, horoscope readers and suchlike who were cautioning viewers against the calamities that might befall them if they don 't fulfill certain religious obligations and rituals. They were bent upon invoking fear and apprehension. The clash of opinions was very vociferous and ear-splitting on one frequency.It was quite amusing - maybe they were staging it to increase their ratings. But all serious and responsible news anchors were telling people not to be fearful of this natural occurrence and fulfil their religious practises at the same time. Sort of the middle path.
Many people fasted, made offerings at temples (whose doors were shut during the eclipse) and took
baths in holy rivers in order to appease the gods and for good luck.
My heart was full of worship and wonder for the living God , our Creator. He is the one who rules us and not the network of stars which He has flung out in space.
"The heavens declare the glory of God and the firmament showeth His handiwork" BIBLE Psalm 19:1
I took a few photos with my Sony Cybershot at various stages of the eclipse. I like the reddish bronze glow in the last pictures.
"Space is the stature of God", so said Joseph Jourbert. How right he was
(the above photo is from Google)
***********************
The Met dept. has made an announcement
that could make us break out in sweat.
It has not been hot enough this summer.
The highest temperatures have
fluctuated between 40 -43* C (low 100s F).
But for a good monsoon the
mercury should have risen up to
47 * C or 110* F.
Well dark clouds do roll along
from time to time and we 've
had a light shower too.
Lets see what happens.
9 Fertilize my soul:
Dear Amrita,
I hope you get a good monsoon anyhow.
In Norway we say, Men predict, God verdict.
He's still in charge.
Fascinating moon pictures.
How right you are that God is the creator of the universe and all that lays beneath and He ordains the fate of men not the stars or their positions. Your photos of the lunar eclipse are fantastic. India is always beset with superstition and religious bigotry and Christians are persecuted there. I hope and pray for the conversion of India. Thanks for the post. God bless you always.
Great moon pictures, Amrita. Thanks for sharing!
I wish we could have seen the eclipse here, how cool that you could
I love reading the things you share. :)
How odd that the temp has to hit so high to have a "good monsoon." I'd never thought of such a thing.
I had clouds in this time, so I couldn't see that... But I remember the sun eclipse from January - it was amazing, what is more - I didn't know that it would be that morning. I came with my dog for walking, and I saw "strange moon" - it was sun eclipse :)
Your photos are really well done.
"The heavens declare the glory of God", Psalm 19: 1.
Thanks for the photos.
Dear friends, today the monsoon really broke in seriously. We 've had heavy rain all day. It has become very pleasant, but the downside is that we 've had several hours of power cuts, right now I am functioning on battery.
Well, one can 't have everything.
Dear Kathryn, in reply to your question. High temperatures create a low atmospheric pressure area which attract rain bearing clouds as the winds blow towards this low pressure arera.
Wonderful photos. I didn't see the eclipse myself. It’s quite funny to learn about the Hindu priests making all sorts of dire predictions connected with this event. It is so typical of them to make all sorts of fabulous predictions and to be proved wrong!
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