121 : Geminids revisited.

     In this post sourced from the AFA-Goa blog, I revisit one of the most thrilling experiences of my life; the Geminds shower of 2010! Since then, I have grown from discovering one of the best and the most user friendly meteor shower websites to working as a managing editor of the same website, Spacedex which is run by an amazing guy, Travis Brown! The moon phase kills it this year around though.

 

      

           14th December 2010 would have passed of in my life as an another rather ordinary day, had it not been for some bouts of craziness that only astronomy can instil in oneself. Since a few years that I have been involved in amateur astronomy, this was one of the most fulfilling moments that I had. I was on duty at the observatory, a cold winter night promised me some of the usual delights of the sky including the awesome nebula in Orion and the Andromeda galaxy, along with a dazzling display by the Moon and Jupiter to brighten my day up. Little did I know, that there was a big thing waiting in line, down the horizon!  

 

           As me and my colleague and friend Anmol Naik let the visitors peep through the universe through the 5” telescope, we managed to catch a glimpse of a few meteors here and there, which aroused our interests. As an amateur, I am not supposed to forget stuff like prominent meteor showers, but that is what I did!! Realising that we had a good sky in hand, one of the best of the season, we decided to have a meteor watch the very next day after checking out the fine details of the event. But, confusion with time zones prevailed and this led to the chaos!    After resuming my usual internet browsing session at home that very night, I found to my horror that the shower was meant to peak at midnight. The very same night!

 

 

               Realizing that I had just a hour or two in hand, I pressed the panic button and started making frantic calls to my seniors and fellow observers to hatch a plan for observation. This started to look seemingly difficult to materialize as our seniors were just returning from a programme at Bondla. But after a few swings from one end to the other, we finally got the nod for the night!!!   

     And there we were, the three of us, me, Anmol and Omkar Borkar who had decided to brave the cold nights of December to catch a glimpse of this amazing annual display called Geminds! Getting a little technical, the Geminids have a radiant lying just besides Castor, one of the heads of the twins in the constellation Gemini. This shower is said to be the 2nd most consistent meteor shower annually, after the Persids and has garnered a lot of attraction from astronomy fanatics this decade due to the rise in its activity which is caused due to the remains of comet 3200 Phaethon in the the orbit of the Earth around the sun. The expected peak rates for India ranged from a 60-140 ZHR. But, as we were to observe form a location affected by light pollution, we expected much less of a show. The last time I had stayed back for a shower, I had seen only 15 meteors through-out the whole course of observation throughout the night, that being the 2009 Quadrantid shower. As I was leaving home, I just managed to message a schoolmate of mine, Riya Borkar that there was shower happening tonight as I knew she was very much interested in astronomy and incidentally one can see her window from the Observatory, and thus ensued a round of crazy gesturing to her to communicate to her the general direction to look up to. I was really glad to see people getting interested in such events, by looking at the number of updates posted about the shower on Facebook. But now, was the time for the show to begin! 

 

             After a quick tour through a few Messier objects,  we settled down, our heads making an angle of 120° with each other. As the show began, we realized that we would get much more than expected!!!   Our main motive being to enjoy the shower, we didn’t give much strain on carrying out a detailed observation nor photography due to the lack of manpower, but did not forget to make a mention of every meteor that we observed, with respect to its path and magnitude. For an hour or so, we had to face the extreme. From a period of a few meteors in a minute to a dry spell of about five minutes, we had to face it all! But, with the true spirit and patience of an amateur, we sang and talked our way, perhaps just to make sure that we do not doze off! 

 

              After a short break and a tally, we concluded that the plan was a success and truly worth all the hassle taken! Most of the brighter meteors ended up in the constellations of Orion, Canis Major, Canis Minor and Auriga, with Gemini not far behind. During the next spell, the mercury dropped even lower, making way for the chilly winds. Although the magnitudes of the meteors ranged from -3 to 4, we did no distinct fireballs or ‘bolides’ were observed, but that is very much typical of the Geminds. By that time we had a tally of 121 meteors, and that number would be good enough to last me for a few lifetimes, to put it straight! This was our first major shower observation, and the number of ‘WOW’s would have made our mood very clear to you, if you had graced your presence!  

 

             Unfortunately, at about 2:25 am, due to the wind-speed, we had clouds moving in slowly and thus forcing us to cut short our observation, almost half-way!! Although, this very news was disheartening, it could not overshadow the joy of seeing all those bright wonders, streaks of light that made my day! We wrapped up in a matter of minutes and despite being prepared to stay awake the whole night, we found more sense in sleeping under the table (employed some science in here) in the observatory room besides the terrace, thus ending another one of our crazy endeavours with an equally funny thing. Besides that, we also conducted observation of Venus and Saturn in the morning before leaving for our respected houses. Oh yes, I missed school that day. But it was worth it in the end!

 

Yours,

Thebiggerbang

 

(A time-lapse video of the Geminids sourced from YouTube)

Astronomy–The Mother of All Sciences

Below, you will find a copy of the talk that I delivered on the occasion of the Science Seminar organised by my school, Mushtifund Higher Secondary. Do feel free to share, download and spread knowledge!

Astronomy - The Mother Of All Sciences

Work in Progress.

Isn’t it all that we are? Work in progress?

Fly like a bird in the yonder,
Be there where you never were.
Let the night wait for another day,
Fear, let it hide for a while.

No unknown awaits those who,
Know thyself, in and out.
Be the leaf that knows to be one,
with the water it drifts in.
Forever. And ever.

Morning shall come. Oh, so soon.
Dig away all you can, gold or dust.
The glitter that matters is not,
That yellow but your eyes.

      That’s what I felt when I was walking down from quite an abstract experience from a recent movie that I saw. It was all there, in the air. The mind lay bare naked, waiting to be interpreted. So I thought to myself, why don’t you do the same? A cloud of thoughts, unrelated perhaps but brought together under one roof. And that’s what I have done. I’m here to experiment! Let it be a conversation!
     Not many have asked me why I maintain a blog. Let me be very frank with you. I blog so that I can preserve a slice of my life for years to come. Everything else is secondary! Yes, there is the fame and the praise that you get along with years of sweat. I must say that people don’t like what you write until you can relate it with them. Incentives, people look for them. Today, I’m writing because my heart tells me to do so. Over a year, my writing has become more effective and that credit goes to this blog. It is often easy to impress others, but not yourself.
      Have you ever lived a moment in slow-motion? Have you ever felt time slow down at a particular moment? There are the times which you would always love to carry around in your heart. If these were all that you had for life, you’d be more than happy. Right from those few moments of eye contact, a hug from your mother to winning what you truly wished and worked for. Everybody has those moments. But hey, have you ever lived any sad moment in slow motion?
      Have you ever made a person who was crying laugh? I think I have! Boy oh boy, it does feel good doing so! What can be better than this? People tell me that I look very ‘serious’ all the while. Sometimes I think whether that is good or bad! But all I can say is that if I can, so can you! Learn from me that you don’t need to be a joker to make a people laugh! You just have to be a person who is willing to make someone’s day. Have you anytime made someone’s day and preferred to not let the person know that it was your deed?
     Jokers, eh? It’s their job to make people laugh. Once, somebody told me to be like one. Even if you are hurt, you are in pain, no worries. Spread happiness. Maybe that will make you happy! If you can’t be happy, let others be! It’s real easy, to put on a fake smile. And if you are not a good actor (I am not!), it is even more easier to catch you in the act. Don’t act happy to fool your own self, it will never work. Act happy to fool others, it might just work!

The next time some guy dials up a wrong number and get’s connected to you, tell him that mistakes do happen. Tell him that it’s no problem. And yes, don’t forget to wish him goodnight. Why are we so shy?

      So when was the last time when you cried your heart out? Locked yourself in a room and punched a few pillows? Was it the bad marks? Was it love that meted out injustice to you? Whatever the reason maybe, take care. Take care that you end up being a stronger person every time you come out of an horrendous experience? Hey, ever cried out of happiness?
     Goosebumps! I’m getting them all over my body right now. Funnily, I don’t know why! I’m acting hyper. Feels like I’m on caffeine!  Have you ever felt like Superman? Have you done anything crazy lately? Danced alone on a song, perhaps? Or laughed staring into nothingness? I do that all the while. People think I’m mad. And I love it that way! Do you?
       Sometimes I do mistakes. I do a lot one day, none on the other. But I’m not supposed to be perfect. No one is! Making mistakes makes me realize that I am as human as any other person. They do say that folks should learn from their mistakes. But there are times wherein I love to do the same mistake again, or do new mistakes for what I learn each time is new. Is there any particular mistake that you would love doing? Just for that experience! Every one has some or the other stuff that is to be proud of. Stuff that is locked up and stuffed in the attic of guilt. Yes, there are a few things that I’m not proud of. But I have learnt to live with them, and not totally wash my hands off them. Keeping them constantly in your mind helps you to steer clear of such land-mines that can leave you handicapped for life.
      Alright, answer this! Is it better that you know many people? Or is it better that many people know you? And no, one doesn’t always imply the other. I’m confused on this one! Maybe you can be of help. Though this up when I was at the saloon yesterday. For the first time in my life, I fell asleep while I got my hair cut! And someone proclaimed that I looked like a blue ‘Angry Bird’. All I could respond was by scratching my head and wondering, “Really?”
     So have you ever found yourself listening to a song for quite a long time? It might be a song that you love, a song that suites your current mood (maybe a mood-changer song!) or because you have had heartbreak? Have you ever heard about sematic satiation? It’s the phenomenon wherein a word loses its meaning when repeated often enough. Try it.
…love love love love love love love love love love love love love love love love love love love love….
    Yes, that’s the sad state. It is over used. Why do we have to go about naming every feeling? Sometimes I find that they loose their meaning when we cheapen them using words. And love is a broad word. I regret the fact that people sometimes use the word for anything and everything. It’s not a word that I’d look into a dictionary to find meaning for. And yes, it’s not only people that one can love. Frankly, I get scared of using the word. If I ever utter “I’m in love”, people pounce on me. “Who is the lucky one? Who is she?”. I can only sigh.
     To be selfless in love is not at all an easy task. It no ways is. It’s hard not to be jealous, frustrated and angry when someone does better than you at something that you love, when someone steals away your loved one. But if ever were so, that wouldn’t be love I say. It’s confusion and chaos. One never expects anything back. Keeps on going, dedication, hard work and a smile. If you do it for anything, that’s love!
       Lastly, have you ever stood on the edge of a cliff or in the deep sea? Surrendering thyself to the  forces of nature? The winds that whistles, the leaves that shimmer being the only sounds that matter. The waves rock you back and forth like a mother rocks her young one’s cradle. Let them overpower you. Take you away where you are destined to be. The vastness of the deep blue sea awaits, the transient currents being your vehicle. Let it go, your worries.
    Phew. What else do I have to say? Nothing. Yapped a lot today. But yes, this world is full of ‘oh-so-amazing’ people. People who are waiting to be discovered! People who have always been hiding their true selves. It is that they were hiding it, or you were not seeing it? Ask yourself.
    Go out. Show the world that you too are a work in progress. An instrument that craves for perfection despite knowing the fact that one can’t be so. Show them all that you live life for your own self.
Close your eyes, and give this a listen.
Keep it simple, silly!
thebiggerbang