Golden Ring of Fire - Thus Spake Tan!

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“A human being should be able to change a diaper, plan an invasion, butcher a hog, conn a ship, design a building, write a sonnet, balance accounts, build a wall, set a bone, comfort the dying, take orders, give orders, cooperate, act alone, solve equations, analyze a new problem, pitch manure, program a computer, cook a tasty meal, fight efficiently, die gallantly.
Specialization is for Insects

Robert A Heinlein
(American science-fiction writer,1907-1988)

Golden Ring of Fire

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Today, there was a Total Solar Eclipse. Another one! But it was different too, like every other one else. This eclipse was seen after long time and will only be visible again after mere 1000+ years. The feature of this terrestrial event was that even it was a total solar eclipse, it did not give the Diamond Ring which forms generally at the peak of an eclipse. This time, it gave a Golden Ring of Fire. This time, what I felt is that the moon was further from earth and hence, showing more part of the sun while in eclipse. This is the reason, we got a thicker ring of the sun around the moon and there was no diamond ring. So, the one we saw is named as Golden Ring of Fire.

However, it was not visible from Bangalore and I never knew about the occasion too. It was only when my wife woke me up from sleep in the middle of the afternoon and told me about it, I went outside and watched the eclipsed sun through an X-ray plate. Well, I know it was not safe, but then I did not watch it for long; just a few seconds of exposure to direct radiations from the sun. I called up my parents and they asked not to look at the sun, while I already did that. We from Bangalore, could see only half or slightly more than half of the eclipse. The Golden Ring of Fire was visible only from Rameshwaram. Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) sent a few rockets yesterday, today during the eclipse and will send some tomorrow to spy around and see the activities before, during and after the eclipse. Some fellow on TV was researching on animals’ and birds’ behavior during the time. I liked the concept. Do more research fellows and hope you find out something which would aid the planet and its environment and we would see less of calamities like the Quake in Haiti, recently.

Well, people in office were not sitting idle too. They took out their cameras and captured the eclipsed sun from a few angles too. The Golden Ring was visible for almost 11 long minutes and the total eclipse time went over 2.5 hours this time. That was a boost to the spectators who travelled from different places to be at the best place they could to watch the Sun being eclipsed by the Moon. People all over India and other parts of the world paid homage to the Gods and did various Puja and offerings, during the period, which ended with a holy dip in the nearest (auspicious) river. Would not see this happen again in this life! Hope to see some more such supernatural events which tell us every time that even if we ask science to come in between and reason, we know and trust the existence of God somewhere deep in our hearts. Thank you God for letting us see this event.

I will leave you with a few pictures taken from office today by my colleague, Unnikrishnan. Enjoy! (I envy his camera :P)




To know more about today’s Solar Eclipse and for more pictures of the Golden Ring of Fire, please visit the following link: Indiatimes >> Picture Stories >> Solar Eclipse 2010.

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