Aug 1 2008: Solar eclipse in India to last two hours

Every year we have two solar eclipses and two lunar eclipses. A solar eclipse and lunar eclipse are sepearted by two weeks. We get to see a total solar eclipse on August 1 2008. The following lunar eclipse will be on August 16 2008. Previous total solar eclipse occureed on 2006 March 29 .Next total Solar eclipse will occur on 2009 July 22 .

The solar eclipse being total will last for two hours in India. In Delhi, the maximum impact will be impact at 5:02 pm. the visual treat will start at 4:03 pm in Delhi and last for about two hours. In rest of country, the eclipse will be partial. Bangloreans can go to the planeterium to see the unique phenomenon.

The Moon is not a planet, so orbits the Earth, not the Sun. It takes around 27days to complete its orbit . The exceptions are a New Moon and a Full Moon. What's the difference. A New Moon occurs once a month when the Sun and Moon conjunct. That is, they are at the exact same position in the sky. We can't see the Moon at this point, it's blocked out by the Earth's shadow. Because these two heavenly bodies come together, it is always in the sign that the Sun is moving through. A New Moon is always a time of new beginnings. Since our early history we have planted on a New Moon. Not for any superstitious reasons, but because early man discovered that crops and plants REALLY did grow better under a New Moon. In astrology you have the power of the Sun and Moon combined, as they are both coming from exactly the same point in the heavens. A New Moon is the time to launch and begin new projects. But what should we be launching?

There are 13 lunar months in each year and 12 solar months - that means that each year one sign gets 2 New Moons - the 11 other signs get one New Moon. That means that each sector of your chart has at least one New Moon. There will be a New Moon that is the best time to launch a new career, a new job, a new romance, a new home or a new creative endeavour.
Full Moon comes around 13 - 14 days after the New Moon. The Moon has travelled half way around the signs and is now opposing the Sun. They are at opposite sides of the zodiac. The word opposing is the same in any language. To oppose means they're at loggerheads. That is just one of the reasons why a Full Moon can be a very difficult time emotionally. Also, because a Full Moon is a time of fruition. The Moon is full and so to is the situation in whatever sector of our chart the Full Moon falls.

Like the New Moon, there are 13 Full Moons each year - one more than there are Solar months. When the extra Full Moon also falls in the same calendar month - it's called a Blue Moon - this is rare, only happening every 3 - 5 years. Hence the saying 'once in a Blue Moon'. A blue Moon isn't the second full Moon in a calendar month
That idea came from a typo in a 1946 issue of Sky and Telescope magazine. A science reporter used the mag as the source for her astronomy radio program about blue Moons in 1980. The program was heard - and used - by the authors of a children's almanac, which ended up being the source for a question in Trivial Pursuit. The definition isn't right, but this 60 year old typo is so entrenched in folklore and pop culture it might as well be.
(Sky and Telescope magazine have well and truly made up for their misprint. They did an extremely tedious analysis of 40 editions of the Maine Farmers' Almanac, the source for the 1946 article and it looks like a blue Moon in 19th century Maine was actually the third full Moon in a season that's got four full Moons).


The uniqueness of this lunar event makes the phenomenon of two new moons in the same month of August on August 1 and August 30. Such a new moon is sometimes called a blue moon. The Moon usually looks white because it's reflecting white light from the Sun. It doesn't have an atmosphere, so there's no air or dust to filter the light and change its colour.
If terra-lunar geometry was more thoroughly thought out, we'd have a total lunar eclipse every full Moon.

But during a total eclipse the only light that reaches the Moon has already been filtered by the Earth's atmosphere. Once light hits all that gas and dust, it gets scattered. Long wavelength reddish light tends to bounce right out into space - it's the light that reaches the Moon. Shorter wavelength blue light keeps bouncing around off molecules and doesn't really get a chance to escape. (That's why the sky usually looks blue - the red light bounces away, so blue is all that's left).

The uniqueness of the event when a