नेत्रतज्ञ हल्ली ज्या प्रमाणे प्राथमिक नेत्र चिकित्सा करतात, अगदी त्याचप्रमाणे प्राचीन काळीदेखील नेत्र चिकित्सा केली जायची. फरक फक्त एवढाच होता की हल्ली डॉक्टर्स अक्षरे आणि चिन्हे ओळखायला लावतात, तर पुर्वी आकाशातील कृत्तिका नक्षत्र रुग्णास पाहावयास लावुन, प्राथमिक नेत्र चिकित्सा केली जायची. ज्या व्यक्तिला कृत्तिका तारकासमुहामध्ये सहा पेक्षा कमी तारे दिसत त्यास दृष्टीदोष आहे व ज्यास सात किंवा जास्त तारे दिसत, त्यास पुढे हेरगिरी, जासुसी सारख्या क्षेत्रात संधी मिळत असे. ज्यास सहा तारे दिसत, त्याची दृष्टी साधारण म्हणजे व्यवस्थित आहे असे मानले जायचे. पाहिलय का कधी तुम्ही , हे कृत्तिका नक्षत्र, आकाशामध्ये? या दिवसात जर तुम्हाला कृत्तिका पाहायचे असेल तर, संध्याकाळी, म्हणजे काळोख होतानाच, हो अगदी होतानाच व पुढचा काही काळच, हे नक्षत्र, आकाशामध्ये पश्चिम गोलार्धात दिसते. या दिवसांमध्ये अंधार होताना हे नक्षत्र उगवलेले असते. व आकाशात एक चतुर्थांश वरही आलेले असते. सर्व प्रथम आपण कृत्तिका चे चित्र पाहुयात आणि मग त्याची कथा. कृत्तिका या नक्षत्रामध्ये ३०० च्या आसपास तारे, दुर्बिणीतुन पाहता येऊ शकतात. व उघड्या डोळ्यांना ६ ते ७ तारे , विनासायास दिसतात. अत्यंत लक्षणीय अशी ठेवण असलेल्या ह्या तारकासमुहातील मुख्य ६-७ ता-यांच्या भोवती विशिष्ट निळ्या रंगाची प्रभा दिसते. पुण्यातुन जर आपण कृत्तिका, ह्या दिवसांत पहायचा म्हंटले तर संधीकाळानंतर अगदी थोडाच वेळ कृत्तिका बघण्याची संधी मिळते. तेच आपण नोव्हेंबर डिसेंबर जर कृत्तिका पाहु जाल तर, जवळ जवळ ६ ते ७ तास आपण कृत्तिका आकाशामध्ये पाहु शकतो. कृत्तिका उगवताना, तिची जी रचना असते, त्याच्या अगदी उलटी मावळताना दिसते. असे सर्वच तारका समुहांच्या बाबतीत घडत असते. कृत्तिकेच्या आधी अश्विणी, भरणी पश्चिमेकडे मावळतीकडे असतात तर, रोहीणी, मृग मागोमाग, दक्षिण-पुर्व आकाशामध्ये दिसतात. वर हबल टेलीस्कोप मधुन टिपलेले कृत्तिकाचे छायाचित्र आहे. कृत्तिका नक्षत्र पृथ्वीपासुन सुमारे ४०० प्रकाशवर्षे इतके दुर आहे. या तारकापुंजातील सर्वात तेजस्वी तारा म्हणजे अंबा; यास इंग्रजी मधेय Alcyone असे म्हणतात. हल्लीच केलेल्या एका शोधात असे समोर आहे आहे की या तारकापुंजातील सर्वच तारे त्यांची तेजस्विता बदलणारे आहेत. यांच्या प्रखरतेमध्ये होणारे हे बदल असंबंध्द म्हणजेच अनियमित आहेत. केवळ एकच तारा ज्याचे नाव Maia आहे, या ता-याची प्रखरता नियमित पणे बदलते. दर दहा दिवसांनी त्याच्या प्रखरतेमध्ये बदल जाणवतो. ही निरीक्षणे व अभ्यास केप्लर स्पेस टेलीस्कोप द्वारे केले आहेत. खालील आकृतीमध्ये तुम्हाला या ता-यांच्या प्रखरतेमध्ये होणारे ब्दल पाहता येतील. मनुष्याला पृथ्वीवर अवतरुन जितका काळ झाला अंदाजे तेवढेच म्हणजे २५ लक्ष वर्षे किंवा त्याहुन थोडेसेच जास्त वय आहे या तारकापुंजाचे. कृत्तिका नक्षत्र, राशी चक्रातील वृषभ राशीचा भाग आहे. वृषभ राशीमध्ये रोहीणी (पुर्ण), कृतिका (तीन चतुर्थांश) व मृग नक्षत्र (अर्धे) यांचा समावेश होतो. आता चित्रांची चित्तरकथा – भगवान भोले भंडारींच्या तेजाने, जन्माला आलेले मुल, सहा कन्यकांद्वारे वाढविले जाते. ह्या सहा कन्यका म्हणजेच कृत्तिका. व त्या मुलाच्या धातृ मातांच्या मुळेच भगवान शंकरांच्या त्या योध्द्या पुत्राला नाव पडले कार्तिकेय. एक कथा पुरांणांकध्ये अशी आहे की, कृत्तिका म्हणजे सहा ऋषिपत्न्या आहे. सप्तर्षी नावाच्या नक्षत्रातील सहा ऋषिंच्या सहा पत्न्या म्हणजे कृत्तिका. संभूती, अनुसुया,क्षमा,प्रीती,सन्नती,अरुंधती आणि लज्जा अशी ह्या कृत्तिकांची नावे आहेत. ( तर सातवे ऋषि वसिष्ट हे त्यांच्या पत्नी सहीतच, सप्तर्षी तारका समुहामध्ये आहेत. वसिष्ट व त्यांची पत्नी अरुंधती, ही एक जुळी ता-यांची रचना आहे. हे दोन्ही तारे, एकमेकांभोवती, अत्यंत संथ गतीने, एकमेकांभोवती फिरत असतात. या विषयी विस्ताराने पुन्हा कधी तरी ) भारताप्रमाणे अन्य संस्कृतींमध्ये देखील, या तारकासमुहाला वेगवेगळ्या नावाने आणि कथांनी ओळखले जाते. मुळ अमेरीकन संस्कृतीमध्ये देखील एक कथा येते. सात मैत्रिणी एकदा, चांदण्या रात्री, गम्मत, छंद म्हणुन दुरवर एका ठिकाणी नाचगाण्यासाठी जातात. तिथे गेल्यावर, नाच गाणे सुरु असताना, अचानक जंगली श्वापदे चहुबाजुंनी त्यांना घेरुन , ठार करणार, इतक्यात, त्या मुली, ज्या खडकावर उभ्या असतात, त्या खडकालाचा प्रार्थना करतात की त्या प्राण्यांपासुन वाचव म्हणुन. क्षणार्धात, तो खडक, असाच्या असा जमीनीपासुन, उंच उंच वाढु लागतो, व एक मोठा पर्वताचा सुळकाच त्या ठिकाणी उभा राहतो. पुढे जाऊन ह्या मुली तारका बनुन आकाशात जातात व तो सुळका आजदेखील उत्तर अमेरीकेमध्ये डेव्हिल्चा मनोरा किंवा पर्वत म्हणुन ओळखला जातो. प्राचीन ग्रीक सभ्यता देखील ह्या तारका म्हणजे मुली आहेत असेच मानायची. ग्रीकांच्या कथेमध्ये, या मुलींच्या मागे कुणी जंगली प्राणी लागलेले नसतात, तर ओरायन नावाचा शिकारी लागलेला असतो. सात वर्षे पळुन पळुन थकल्यावर त्या मुली झीऊस नावाच्या ग्रीक देवतांच्या राजाची प्रार्थना करुन वाचवण्याची विनंती करतात. झीऊस दयाळु होऊन, त्या सात मुलींना आकाशामध्ये स्थिर आणि सुरक्षित करतो. कृत्तिका या तारका समुहास, इंग्रजीमध्ये प्लेडीस असे म्हणतात. आधुनिक खगोलशात्र मानते की, कृत्तिका तारका समुह १० करोड इतक्या वर्षे वयाचा आहे. आणखी एक मतप्रवाह असा ही या पुंजातील काही तारे २५ लाख वर्षे इतक्या वयाचे आहेत. वैदीक काळात कृत्तिका हे पहीले नक्षत्र मानले जायचे. याचा अर्थ असा होता, सुर्य जेव्हा कृत्तिका नक्षत्रात असायचा तेव्हा वसंत ऋतु सुरु व्हायचा, म्हणजेच दिवस व रात्र सारखे असायचे. शतपथ ब्राम्हण नावाच्या एका ग्रंथामध्ये, असा ही उल्लेख आहे की कृत्तिका पुर्वेपासुन ढळत नाही, तर बाकीची नक्षत्रे पुर्वेपासुन हलतात. हे जर खरे मानले तर, याचा अर्थ असा होईल की पुर्वी कधीतरी दिवस व रात्र एकसमान असण्याची, सुर्य कृत्तिकेमध्ये असतानाची असावी लागेल. वसंत विषुव म्हणजेच (मार्च) इक्विनॉक्स मार्च (चैत्र) मध्ये न येता कार्तिक मध्ये येत असावे. सुर्य चंद्र पृथ्वी यांच्या गतिमानतेमुळे, विषुव व संपात बिंदु (मार्च व सप्टेंबर इक्विनॉक्स) पश्चिमेकडे सरकतात. एकुण २६००० वर्षांनी पुन्हा विषुव व संपात पुन्हा त्याच बिंदु वर येतात, हे आधुनिक खगोलशास्त्राने सिध्द केले आहे. याच विषुव बिंदुच्या सरकण्यामुळे कृत्तिका हल्ली पुर्वेला उगवत नाही. उलट गणिते करुन कृत्तिका पुर्वेला उगवायचे हे सिध्द केले गेले आहे. तो काळ होता इस पुर्व २५०० वर्षापुर्वीचा. त्यामुळे, भारतातील नक्षत्रांची यादी जगातील सर्वात जुनी आणि गणितीय सिध्दांतावर आधारीत अशी वैज्ञानिक यादी आहे. याच तारका समुहा मधील HD 23514 नावाच्या एका, सुर्यापेक्षाही मोठ्या ता-याभोवती, धुलीकण सापडल्याचा दावा शास्त्रज्ञांनी केला आहे. शास्त्रंज्ञांच्या मते, धुलीकण सापडणे म्हणजे ता-याभोवती ग्रहांच्या निर्मितीची प्रक्रिया असु शकते. पुढच्या वेळी अशाच एखादी आकाशातील चित्तरकथा जाणुन घेऊयात. आकाशदर्शन आपणा सर्वांनाच आवडते. यासाठीच आम्ही प्रत्येक महिन्यास, काळोख्या रात्रीच्या आसपासच्या शनिवार-रविवारच्या रात्री, आकाशदर्शनच्या कार्यक्रमाचे आयोजन करीत असतो. आमचा पुढील आकाशदर्शन (Stargazing near Pune) कार्यक्रम येत्या २५ जानेवारी रोजी आयोजित केला आहे. नावनोंदणी व अधिक माहिती साठी कृपया इथे क्लिक करा.
Meteor shower, stargazing, star charts, sky event updates and many more. Find out everything about star gazing in and near Pune.
सर्वप्रथम आपणास हे समजुन घेतले पाहिजे की आपल्या मोबाईल कॅमे-यामध्ये एकापेक्षा जास्त ‘मोड’/ Mode असतात फोटो काढण्यासाठी. त्यातील आपण जो सर्रास वापरतो तो म्हणजे ॲटोमॅटीक मोड. यात आपणास फक्त ॲन्गल व कॅमे-याच्या लेन्स वर पडणा-या प्रकाशाच्या बाबतीत लक्ष ठेवायचे असते. कोणत्याही फोटोग्राफीचा पहिला नियम आहे प्रखर प्रकाश कॅमे-याच्या लेन्स वर येणार अशा ॲन्गल ने मोबाईल हातात धरावा. जर प्रकाश सरळ लेन्स वर पडत असेल तर तुमच्या फोटोतील ऑब्जेक्ट (म्हणजे ज्या वस्तु अथवा व्यक्तिचे छायाचित्र काढायचे आहे ते) फोटोमध्ये दिसणार नाही. जर त्याच ॲन्गल ने फोटो काढणे निकडीचे असेल तेव्हा आपल्या एका हाताने लेन्स वरील प्रकाश अडवावा व मग क्लिक करावे. हे अगदी सोपे आहे करुन पहा.
Hey all, Hope you have enjoyed this monsoon to its full. Well, there way too much around Pune to explore in monsoon. If you don’t know yet what all things you must do when in Pune, keep reading our blogs and listen to our events all the time so that you would know whats happening around Pune. As we have reached the end of monsoon this year, now is the time to Lie back and look up. Yes i mean it. We literally should lie on our back and keep our eyes high up in the deep dark sky above. And you know what? this is the best time to stargaze. Why? because the rains have just stopped and it also have cleared, wiped down all the dust in the atmosphere and that’s why we get to see even the faintest of the celestial objects with our naked eyes. But to do so, you must move out of the city and find some place where there is no light pollution at all. Light pollution affects stargazing great way. See some photos taken of same portion of night sky from different area, and you will then realize how important it is to get in some dark places. In this series of articles, I will share a some interesting stories from the deep dark sky of the stars and the constellations. Each culture in the world has seen some figures in the star patterns and they associated some really very interesting, some times funny, sometimes outdated stories. Yes these stories might seem obsolete now a days to us. However our ancestors, may be thousands of years ago have already figured out the great knowledge, which now we call as scientific discoveries. My objective is to make you aware of different aspects of astrology and not get into any sort of arguments over past, history or mythology. Lets start then. Our first Tell-a-tale is of The great Scorpius. Ohh, you must have recollected the movie, The Scorpion King. Right? Yes. Hollywood has used the celestial objects very creatively in movies. We can see many sky objects as living beings or even gods in such movies. May be in some other article i will write/list names of all such great sci-fi movies which awakens curiosity to know the universe far better way. Let’s not off track ourselves now. You have got only a few days left to see the great Scorpius in the night sky. Because after some days, we wont be able to see this constellation in the sky. And you might will have stay awake till late night or even early morning to see it. Where to Scorpius in the sky these nights? We gotta look south-west, just above the horizon and can see this constellation almost parallel to the horizon. See the picture below. Increase brightness of phone and flip the phone to see bigger image. Letter S in red means south direction and keep looking toward west (your right) and you can see Scorpius (inverted question mark, parallel to the horizon) Got it? Each constellation in the sky is mere an arrangement to standardize the process so that everybody could refer to the same group of stars, when a name is uttered. Zodiac signs and constellations are same things. But these two are way apart. Astrology and astronomy are two different things. We are not going to talk about astrology in these articles and even later. We focus on astronomy -the science. What time to look for this constellation? These days and coming a month may be, we look for Scorpius around 7 or later in the evening. As the sun sets, and it starts getting darker, the stars in this constellation start illuminating. (Avoid city light – hope you remember this also) Orion is considered as the God of Hunting Greek-o-Roman civilization. And being really apt at his hunting skills, Orion get over confident and declares that he is going to hunt down all the animals form Earth. Mother earth, also a Goddess, named as Gaia, concerns about this and sets Scorpius in the pursuit of killing Orion. Scorpius bites Orion on his leg and Orion starts running. Scorpius chases him and chases and chases. The chase is never ending. The chase is still going on. This is a great Greek myth to explain why these constellations are separated in the night sky. And that’s how mother nature saves all the animals on Earth. In another version, Orion get overconfident and declares himself as the best hunter of all the Gods. Artemis another goddess of hunting and especially Goddess of health and beauty and virginity i women. She feels inferior of the claim. She feels being rejected. So she orders Scorpion to kill Orion. In another version, Her brother Apollo, sets Scorpius to bring down Orion. When the battle between Scorpion and Orion ends, when Orion is brought down, Apollo allots places to both of in the heaven, and at opposite side of the earth. There isn’t any tale associated with Scorpius in Indian scriptures. The idea of constellation is adopted Indians from the Greek-Roman cultures. This idea was brought to India to introduce Indian version of Astrology. However Astronomy was very well studied by Indians since Vedic period. We will look into such references also in coming articles. One more very important thing about Scorpius is the fact that, it makes a wonderful view while rising up. You can the brightest star in Scorpion. This star looks reddish. In Indian astronomy, we call this star as Jyeshtha. Jyeshtha means the elder. Why would Indian scholars have named it Jyeshtha? The reason is they thought or found out that this particular star is bigger may be biggest. And you know what modern astro-physicists say about this star? This star is 700 times the diameter of our very SUN, large enough to engulf the orbit of Mars, if the solar system were centered on it. Interesting ! Isn’t it? How could Ancient Indian scholars have come
It was a usual early morning, My younger son, Shiva, woke me up and insisted to go on hiking the hill near our village. I also got ready immediately. We got ready and headed to scale the mountain. Awakens the enthusiasm of the Child It was dark outside; however, the Sun had already sent its beautiful saffron lights along the eastern horizon. We hadn’t come out of the village yet, and Shiva pointed towards a few stars overhead and exclaimed that the stars were falling. I knew the stars were stationary, but it was a big challenge to make him understand the concept. I still tried. According to my opinion he is too small to grasp the vastness of the universe. We climbed the hill. All tired and sweating. Bit relaxed and in no hurry, we spent some more time up on the hill. The Sun already had marked its presence in the eastern sky. While descending down, Shiva again pointed towards the Sun, and asked, “ Baba, Is the Sun biggest of all? And there is sunlight beyond the Sun?” I had shown my kids the Sun and the moon occasionally. Sometimes some stars also. However, when he proactively started speaking about the celestial bodies, I felt really good. Now was the time to answer his questions. I knew, he would remember very few things or even he may forget all. But still I told him few things about our solar system and the Milky Way. I could sense that his curiosity was satisfactorily addressed. He looked happier upon knowing something big. Something about, up high in the sky. And there I learnt another lesson from him. The lesson is very clear and bold. When you aim high in life, set your eyes on something really great, you become happy. And it’s not only about study of astronomy or making career in space science. Once you started getting amazed by such wonders of nature, you hardly care for worldly, material successes or failures. It’s a Sanskar, which would help us make ourselves calm, look up and stay amazed. Material life’s have’s and don’t have’s, hardly make any difference. The dive into celestial data We came home. He proactively went on to study(He is in Anganwadee). He looked quite confident. When I was telling him about the celestial objects, I realized that whatever knowledge I had, was very limited. Then I researched and based on the facts found by modern science, I got amazed by, the way the universe is functioning. I came across many startling facts. So why not try to understand what are these things and how these things can help us. Video – It begins with the Sun. Life on Earth is dependent on the Sun. Explore the inner workings of our nearest Star To begin your journey to star gazing, you first must understand some basics. First things First One ray of light originated from our Sun, travels approximately 3 lac kms in one second With this speed, whatever distance, ray of light travels in a human years’ time, is called as a light year It means one light year is approximately 94,63,00,00,00,000 kms. One ray of light from reaches earth in 8 light minutes and 18 seconds. (You try calculating the distance. One second is 3 lac kms so calculate for 8 mins and 18 seconds..) The nearest neighbor star of our is termed as Proxima Centauri. This star is 4.3 light years away from earth. Now can you try calculating the distance in kilometers? Well, though the near neighbor, we, with our naked eyes, or even from the earth’s environment cannot see this star. It’s that faint. The amazing part hasn’t started yet. Though the nearest neighbor, we cannot see Proxima centauri, which is only 4.3 light years away. There is another very bright star in Orion constellation. We Indians call this constellation as Mriga(मृग नक्षत्र). The brightest star in Mriga nakshatra, is Rigel, which is the brightest star in this constellation. Now the fun starts. This Rigel star is 860 light years away from earth. Still we can see it, with our naked eyes. The second largest star, in Mriga Nakshatra, is at a distance of 2000 light years from earth. We can see this star also with our naked eyes. But we cannot see Proxima Centauri. Is not it surprising? Some how, if we could get up there on the Rigel star, and try to locate our Sun, can we see our Sun from there? The answer is a big NO. its because our sun is not among the brighter or brightest stars and also its size also among the low volume stars. Means there are many, at least 100 billion, stars in milky way and our Sun stands nowhere when looked at the sizes and magnitudes of other stars. Isn’t it amazing? It’s a common understanding that, all planets in our solar system revolve around the Sun. This means the sun is still. Right? That’s what our assumption is. However it’s not true. The Sun also is in motion and it revolves around the center of the Milky Way. Our Sun revolves at a speed of approximately 300 kms per second. Wow, Aren’t you amazed yet? Our Sun is a very small element of The Milky Way. We know that there are 8 planets orbiting around our Sun. The fact is there are more than 7 lac planets, comets, clusters, meteors, rocks orbiting around our Sun. And Hope you remember the very fact that Our Earth is a very small element of our Solar System. Apart from Our Sun, there are approximately 100 billion other stars in the Milky Way galaxy. Each star may have its own planetary system. Sometimes there are two stars in system, such two starred solar system is called as binary star or twin star. Now comes another piece of information to get amazed. All these stars, rocks, clusters, clouds of gases orbit