total solar eclipse

8th December 2016

Total solar eclipse – a total cosmic spectacle

A solar eclipse is an astronomical event that occurs when the moon obscures the sun for some time. There are different kinds of solar eclipse – total, annular, hybrid and partial. During a total solar eclipse, the moon completely blocks out the sun. In an annular eclipse, the moon obscures only the centre of the sun. A hybrid eclipse occurs either as total solar eclipse or annular eclipse. In a partial solar eclipse, the moon blocks only a part of the sun.

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Sunlight

30th November 2016

Sunlight: World’s most ancient traveller

Sun, the pivotal element of the solar system, is a middle-aged star that is around 4.6 billion years old. This near-perfect sphere is made up of 70 per cent hydrogen and 28 per cent helium. With the amount of hydrogen left on it, it can survive for another 5 billion years. In the last stages of its life, it will begin burning helium. In this phase, the sun will grow in size and eventually consume Mercury, Venus, and Earth, till its collapse. Although the mass of the sun will remain the same after the collapse, its volume will reduce to about the earth’s current volume.

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18th February 2016

Astronomer who died immediately after the publication of his revolutionary theory

Nicolaus Copernicus died immediately after the publication of his book De Revolutionibus Orbium Coelestium (On the Revolutions of the Celestial Spheres). Nicolaus Copernicus is known to propose the heliocentric theory of the Universe as opposed to the then prevalent Ptolemaic geocentric theory. He probably started writing about the theory in 1514, but it got published in its complete form only in 1543. He died in the same year.

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