Museum - Equinox Planetarium in Dehra Dun, India

There it is, the elusive comet C/2020-F3 Neowise. Elusive because of the monsoon clouds. After several days of search, finally using a binocular caught a glimpse of the Comet as it leaves our inner solar system at speeds of 160,000 Kmph. Its not going head first, its actually going tail first. A comet's tail always points away from the Sun. It is no longer visible through the unaided eyes, you definitely need a telescope or preferably binoculars, because binoculars will give... you a wider field of view while you search for it. This Comet is estimated to be 5 kms across. All comets are balls of dust, gasses and water thats frozen. This one has enough water to fill up 13 million Olympic sized swiming pools. The enormous amount of water on Earth actually is attributed to the millions of comets that collided with our planet over millions of years during the birth of the solar system. The deep freeze of the outer solar system keeps comets intact and tailless, but as they approach the Sun the frozen ice warms up, melts and starts releasing the trapped Gas and dust forming the tail which can be millioms of kms long. The solar wind (yes there is wind in space but its different) keeps the tail pointing away from the Sun. Some comets plunge into the Sun wheras some return back far away and go into deep freeze again until their next return which in case of this comet will be 6800 years later. Comet C/2020-F3 Neowise will fly by Earth again around the year 8820, wonder what Earth then will be like, will Humans still be around, or countless generations would have come, lived out their happy sad mixed lives, and gone. There is a strange feeling about this fact. 6800 years later the same object, will fly across the same sky, like some ancient sailing ship it will just sail across the ocean of space, oblivious and careless about the change that has taken place on a planet, whose dwellers were last time so obsessed with catching just a glimpse of it. It is this vastness of space and the enormity of time that makes astronomy such a humbling, wondering experience. Ps: NEOWISE stands for Near Earth Object Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer. A satellite dedicated to search and track near Earth objects. Since this comet was discovered using this satellite it is therefore catalogued as C/2020-F3 NEOWISE The photograph is too raw as it was taken simply by holding the phone behind the binocs. Most of the other images you may have seen are far better as they are stacked up frames using DSLRs with long exposures, an art that I am just beginning to explore.

Delighted to see we could engage children from various cities in India and overseas to build a Solar Projection Box. It must have been a wonderful feeling viewing the eclipse through an instrument they bulit on their own. Thanks to the Teachers and Parents who assisted them. We don't need to teach science to children, we just need to give them a taste of it now and then and the rest will follow.

Here is how you can easily see the Annular Solar Eclipse tomorrow. Give it a try, your kids will love it.

At Equinox, Science popularization remains of foremost importance to us. The present scenario may prevent us from conducting our various outreach programs, nevertheless to popularise the science of astronomy, we have designed some videos that explain and educate in a structured manner certain concepts that can help you kick start in Astronomy. For this outreach, we also rely on YOU to share our videos with your friends, not only if they are interested in astronomy, but also so they can show their children some useful educational content. There is nothing we believe in more than getting young minds interested is science.

We, came across a video that is doing the rounds on whatsapp regarding the recent flyby of asteroid 1998-OR2. The video is terrific and shows just how narrowly this few km wide Asteroid missed our planet. The 1st video below is the video that we are talking about. Now in space you can view the planets from anywhere, top, bottom, sideways along their orbit. Different vantage points can give different perspectives. See the 1st video is a simulation which is not wrong, but th...e vantage point to view has been chosen cleverly and is nothing but a brilliant attempt of some sensationalist. The 2nd video is a simulation where in we dont use one point in space to see the asteroid move, we follow it from behind as though we are chasing it, and we also orbit around it slowly to get the correct perspective of the proximity of the flyby. Also we zoom in close enough to resolve the Earth and Moon separately so you can compare the distance of the Asteroid from Earth vis-a-vis The distance between Earth and Moon. See more

Expand the pic and you will see that the dark part of the Moon also does shine, this is due to the light from Earth and is called Earth Shine. If you understand the basic concept and the positions of Earth, Moon and Sun and as to why we see different phases of the Moon, this could be easy to understand. Read carefully and along the read pause and use a little of your imagination of the positions of Earth, Moon and Sun during a full Moon and a no Moon noght. A full Moon nigh...t on Earth is a no Earth Night on the Moon. Same way, a No Moon night on Earth is a full Earth night on the Moon. Now a few days after or before a full Moon, the Moon still shines bright enough to light up the nights on Earth. Same way a few days before or after a full Earth night on the Moon, the Earth also lights up the the nights of the Moon and rather more brilliantly because Earth is far bigger than the Moon. So the Earth's shine on Moon illuminates the nights on the Moon much more than the Moon illuminates the nights on Earth. That is why here you can see the night/dark part of the Moon is also lit up and this is called Earth Shine. But remember, we from Earth, can never see a full Earth night on the Moon because we dont see the Moon that day. Remember when there is a Full Earth night on the Moon, there is a no Moon night on Earth and on a No Moon how can we even see the moon. But a few days before or after a No Moon night on Earth, is also a few days before or after a Full Earth Night on the Moon. So in these few days, from Earth we get to see a crescent Moon but the Nights on Moon sees a big gibbious Earth only a tiny bit less than a Full Earth. So this pic is just a few days after a No Moon night on Earth or you can say a Full Earth night on the Moon. Confusing is it? Let us know, but there is one more way we have formulated as rule you can remember to understand this concept and that is..... As much of the portion of the Moon that you DONT see from Earth. Is equal to As much of the Earth you WOULD GET TO SEE from the Moon.

Turn your screen horizontally and just look at those clouds, the sheer turbulence within them following no rules of architecture yet creating beautiful sculptures and the setting Sun adding ever changing hues. Suddenly a burst of paint appears and slowly diffuses, as if God is in the mood and playing on the canvas. A 40 min video hyperlapsed to 36 secs, Music taken from Pink Floyd, titled 'Marooned'.

Is this the Love we want in the air???

We've been getting queries and calls regarding things people have noticed in the night sky, evidently skies are clearing up, people have the leisure, for the first time everything can actually wait. Calls we get are great for us, keeps us busy, takes up some of our time doing what we love the most, 'Science Popoularization'. Most of the queries we get are pertaining to very obvious and bright celestial objects like Venus, people for the first time have seen objects as obvious... as and bright as Venus and when they are told they spotted Venus, they get surprised that they have actually seen another planet, an object they'd only heard of in text books as kids. Never before this age, have we had such deep knowledge of the Universe, considering dedicated work going on in space exploration and at the same time never before people are so disconnected with the real world out there. We are glad you looked up, it's the first step you have taken towards knowing your surroundings and to those who follow us, here is a beautiful poem for you. A tapestry jewelled hangs over the night; Have you looked up to see where it gleams? There are rubies and sapphires and diamonds white, Interwoven with mists of lost dreams. This tapestry ancient was hung up for you Before Time tried to reckon with Space; And for ages to come it will hang in the blue, Starry jewels each one in its place. Each star has a story, each mist is alight; If you seek to know each priceless fold You will treasure this tapestry hung up at night. Ps: Joy in looking and comprehending is natures most beautiful gift to us.

WE DON'T ACTUALLY HAVE A LEAP YEAR EVERY 4 YEARS. Today 29th Feb is the day the Earth is precisely where it was on its orbit around the Sun 4 years ago. This additional day that was added today to the year compensates for the 4 times the earth had rotated 0.24 of a day extra while orbiting the Sun on each of the last 4 years. But we dont actually have a leap year every 4 years. Remember that 0.24 is not exactly a quarter of a day, an exact quarter of a day would be 0.25 day,... there exists a difference of 0.01 day, hence going on adding an extra day every 4 years eventually pushes the whole system out of sync again by 3 days every 300 years as 0.01 days X 300 years = 3 days. In order to redress this imbalance we have to skip 3 leap days every 300 years. For this, an easy rule to remember for when or when not to add an extra day to the year has been formalized. The rule is that a leap day will only be added on years that are divisible by 4, that is 2020, 1996, 1904. But a leap day WILL NOT be added on years that are divisible by 100 like year 1500, 1700, 1900. So 1896 would have been a leap year though the next leap year after 1896 would have occured 8 years later in 1904. But there is one more exception to the above rule. If a year is divisible by 400 for example year 2000,1600,1200, an extra day WILL be added to these years, making them a leap year again. And if you really get down to atomic clock level and precise time keeping business, there is also a leap second that is added sometimes. Because the Earth's rotation speed varies in response to climatic and geological events, leap seconds are irregularly spaced and unpredictable. Insertion of each leap second is usually decided about six months in advance by the International Earth Rotation and Reference Systems Service. Wish you a happy leap day.

The Moon & the solemn feeling while you just stare at it is wonderful.

Spring has sprung! (in the southern hemisphere) Fall has fallen! (in the northern hemisphere) The Sun today takes a step down & nights will grow colder and long. Soon leaves will lull themselves to sleep and in time golden hues will fall on the lawns as if burying summer memories in the ground. ... Happy Autumnal Equinox!