Blood Moon to light up sky on Sunday night during rare celestial event
Bengaluru: Skywatchers are in for a celestial treat this Sunday night and early Monday morning as a rare total lunar eclipse is set to grace the skies. During the eclipse, the Moon will take on a dramatic red hue, commonly known as a Blood Moon, offering viewers a spectacular sight across the world.
“Eclipses occur when the Earth aligns between the Sun and Moon. When the Earth’s dark shadow completely covers the moon, it is called a full lunar eclipse, which is occurring this time,” The New Indian Express quoted BR Guruprasad, Director, Jawaharlal Nehru Planetarium, as saying.
The last time India witnessed a total lunar eclipse was in 2018. The next will occur on December 31, 2028.
Eclipses occur twice a year and are not uncommon. But this one stands out due to a full lunar eclipse, its colour and clear sighting, added the report.
However, the sighting is subject to weather conditions. “The red colour will depend on the dust in the Earth’s atmosphere,” TNIE quoted Niruj Mohan Ramanujam, scientist, Indian Institute of Astrophysics as saying.
The umbral phase, when Earth’s shadow first begins to creep across the Moon’s surface, starts at 9:57 PM IST on September 7. The highlight of the night — the totality phase, when the Moon is fully engulfed in Earth’s shadow — begins at 11:00 PM IST and lasts until 12:23 AM IST on September 8, as reported by India Today.
In Karnataka, the Platform for Astronomy Communicators (PACK) is preparing to raise awareness about the eclipse and dispel common myths associated with such astronomical events on September 7. Interested visitors can visit Jawaharlal Nehru Planetarium or Visvesvaraya Industrial and Technological Museum.
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'Rear-guard action': BJP over Mamata accepting sports minister's resignation after Messi event
New Delhi (PTI): The BJP on Tuesday alleged that West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee's accepting Aroop Biswas' resignation as the state sports minister is nothing but a "rear-guard action" to douse public anger over the mismanagement of football icon Lionel Messi's event last week.
BJP co-in-charge for West Bengal Amit Malviya alleged that this is also an "open confession" that the Messi event fiasco was not accidental but a government-manufactured disaster, borne out of the poor governance of Banerjee, her ministers and the state bureaucracy.
Banerjee on Tuesday accepted Biswas' resignation as the sports minister in the wake of the controversy over the mismanagement of football icon Messi's event last week, a senior leader of the ruling TMC said.
Biswas, who had written to the chief minister seeking to be relieved of his responsibilities as sports minister, will continue as a cabinet minister, retaining charge of the power department.
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Reacting to the development, Malviya said in a post on X, "TMC Sports Minister Aroop Biswas resigns after the Messi fiasco and Mamata Banerjee accepts it in record time."
"Do not mistake this for accountability; this is nothing but a rear-guard action to douse public anger. anger! This is not 'Raj Dharma'," he added.
The BJP leader alleged that the incident was the outcome of "loot" of common people which is "so synonymous" with the TMC.
The incident was also the outcome of the "shameless VIP culture that TMC thrives on and deep-rooted cronyism promoted by Banerjee," he charged.
Malviya further alleged that Biswas' resignation exposes a "collective failure of Mamata Banerjee, her partisan bureaucracy, and her crony cabinet".
"This is a symbolic sacrifice, a political hoax, soon to be buried under layers of bureaucracy, with no justice, no accountability, and no remorse," the BJP leader said, adding, "No resignation will bring back the time lost, the money wasted, or the stolen chance for football lovers to witness Messi in Kolkata."
