Jupiter, Venus and Mercury now within a 3-degree circle

Jupiter, Venus and Mercury are within a 3-degree circle on the sky’s dome on May 25-27, 2013. May 26 is the closest grouping of these three planets until the year 2021

The planetary trio has begun! That’s when three planets fit within a circle with a 5-degree, or smaller, diameter. Jupiter, Venus and Mercury meet that definition of a planetary trio from May 24-29, 2013. And they’ll be even closer – all be about 3 degrees apart – as evening dusk falls on May 25, 26 and 27. May 26 is the closest grouping of these three planets until the year 2021. If your sky is clear – and your horizon unobstructed – look for the planets in the west as soon as the sun sets on these May 2013 evenings. You’ll easily find the two brightest planets there: Venus and Jupiter. The innermost planet Mercury is fainter, but you’ll see it. Some are calling this late May 2013 event a triple conjunction, but a more fitting and descriptive name is planetary trio.

When and how do I look for the three planets? Start looking just after the sun goes down, about 30 minutes after sunset. Jupiter and Venus are now easily visible – both very bright – but they are low in the western twilight. Trees or tall buildings will block them from view. Mercury is also visible to the eye now. They are a very noticeable grouping, low in the twilight sky. Just be sure to look soon after the sun sets, because they’ll soon follow the sun below the western horizon.

Note that all three planets should be close enough together now for simultaneous binocular viewing. You can see them with the eye alone. Binoculars will enhance your enjoyment of the twilight scene.

Jupiter, Venus Mercury daily viewing guide

On May 24, Mercury passes Venus less than 2 degrees from Venus in right ascension. Around this time, the three planets will begin to look like a triangle in the twilight. Venus, Jupiter, and Mercury now all fit within a 5-degree circle and will stay that close together until May 29.

On May 26, the triangle of Venus, Jupiter and Mercury will be most compact, closer than you’ll see them again until 2021. Your thumb at arm’s length will almost cover them.

By May 27, the triangle is beginning to disperse, but wait … keep watching.

On May 28, Venus passes Jupiter in right ascension, at a distance of 1 degree. The two brightest worlds 1 degree apart! It’ll be an awesome sight

http://earthsky.org/space/venus-jupiter-mercury-late-may-2013-triple-conjunction-planetary-trio-may-26

Shuttle "Discovery": Pre-Flight Activities, Rarely Seen by the General Public

These photos deserve a wide viewing audience: the amount of thought and engineering that goes into every launch is immense; each successful take-off represents the Mankind's finest effort, and is a wonder to behold.

 

External tank arrives by barge from Louisiana:






External tank approaches Vertical Assembly Building (VAB):



Removing external tank:












Preparing to lift the tank to vertical:



Lifting the tank:



Solid rockets are attached:



Orbiter: External tank with Solid Rocket Boosters (SRB):



Engines are attached to the shuttle in the Orbiter Processing Facility:












Shuttle in sling ready for lift in VAB:



Shuttle has been moved to VAB and will be attached to external tank:






Shuttle is attached:












Payload Preparation in Space Station Processing Facility:






Multi-Purpose Logistics Module (MPLM):



Payload carrier leaves Canister Rotation Facility:






Payload being moved to Launch Pad:






Lifting payload into position for insertion into "Discovery"
when it arrives at the pad:









Shuttle "Discovery" leaves VAB:






Trip to launch:
Length - 3 1/2 mi
Time - 6-8 hours
Arrow indicates the Launch Pad.






Crawler Control






"Discovery" arrives at Pad:



Payload is also inside the Launch Pad:












Ready for Launch:



We Have Lift Off !

 

Soure:  http://www.funonthenet.in/articles/space-shuttle.html  

X-ray of rare Shiva statue surprises Amsterdam museum

Nevada (US), Jan 9 (ANI): 

Prestigious Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam recently conducted an X-ray of its thousand-year-old monumental Shiva-Nataraja statue as a part of research and was surprised to know that it was cast in solid bronze.

Hollow sculptures have reportedly been a common practice in Europe since the Greek Antiquity. The museum discovered that even the aureole and the demon under Shiva's feet were also solid.

Distinguished Hindu statesman Rajan Zed has applaudedRijksmuseum for its interest in Hindu artifacts.

This Dancing Shiva statue was X-rayed using high-energy digital radiation, along with the lorry transporting it, in the most powerful X-ray tunnel for containers of the Rotterdam customs authority, normally used to scan sea containers for suspicious contents. It is said to be the first research of its kind on a museological masterpiece.

At 153 cm x 114.5 cm, this 300 kilograms Shiva statue is claimed to be the largest known bronze statue from the Chola Dynasty kept in a museological collection outside of India. "This solid bronze Shiva is evidence of a high level of mastery of bronze casting", a Museum release says.

Zed, who is President of Universal Society of Hinduism, in a statement in Nevada (USA) today, urged the major museums of world to acquire more Hindu sculpture and art; dedicate permanent space to Hindu artefacts; and organize more exhibitions of Hindu art, sculptures, and architecture to make the present and future generations aware about their richness.

Rajan Zed argued that because of their richness and other factors, Hindu artefacts were becoming a favourite of museums in America and the West. Many prestigious museums already owned Hindu sculptures and other artefacts and many were planning to acquire them.

Even some formations in world famous Grand Canyon National Park of USA were named as Shiva Temple, Krishna Shrine, Vishnu Temple, Rama Shrine, Brahma Temple (7851 feet), and Hindu Amphitheatre, Zed pointed out.

According to Rajan Zed, various renowned museums in USA which have acquired statues and other artefacts of Hindu deities include Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; Ackland Art Museum in Chapel Hill, North Carolina; Los Angeles County Museum of Art, California; Asian Art Museum in San Francisco, California; Virginia Museum of Fine Arts in Richmond; Norton Simon Museum in Pasadena, California; Museum of Art and Archaeology in University of Missouri-Columbia, Missouri; Mingei International Museum in San Diego, California; American Museum of Natural History, New York; Philadelphia Museum of Art in Pennsylvania; Walters Art Museum in Baltimore, Maryland; Dallas Museum of Art, Texas; Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art in Kansas City, Missouri; etc.

Zed further says that other prestigious world museums, which possess statues of Hindu deities, include British Museum in London, United Kingdom; Musae Guimet in Paris, France; Museum for Asiatische Kunst in Berlin, Germany; Te Papa Museum in Wellington, New Zealand; Beijing World Art Museum, China; National Museum in Phnom Penh, Cambodia; Royal Ontario Museum in Toronto, Canada; Victoria and Albert Museum in London, United Kingdom; etc. Thailand reportedly has a private Ganesha Museum.

Rajan Zed asked foremost art museums of the world, including Musee du Louvre and Musee d'Orsay of Paris, Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, Los Angeles Getty Center, Uffizi Gallery of Florence (Italy), Art Institute of Chicago, Tate Modern of London, Prado Museum of Madrid (Spain), National Gallery of Art in Washington DC, etc., to frequently organize Hindu art focused exhibitions, thus sharing the rich Hindu art heritage with the rest of the world.

The Rijksmuseum is the national museum of the Netherlands, whose collection comprises 1.1 million objects dating from the Middle Ages to the 20th century. Its history goes back to 1800 and it attracts about 900,000 visitors each year. A. Ruys is Chair while Anna Slaczka is curator of South Asian Art of this Museum which contains many stone and bronze sculptures from India.

Zed said that art had a long and rich tradition in Hinduism and ancient Sanskrit literature talked about religious paintings of deities on wood or cloth. Hinduism, oldest and third largest religion of the world, has about one billion adherents and moksh (liberation) is its ultimate goal.(ANI)

( The Photo Shown here is the Statue in Murudeshwar - Karnataka )

http://in.news.yahoo.com/x-ray-rare-shiva-statue-surprises-amsterdam-museum-122456298.html

Should a class X CBSE students Opt for giving the External Exam or should they settle for the Internal School Exams ? - ( Reposted from Last year )

Should a class X CBSE students Opt for giving the External Exam or should they settle for the Internal School Exams ? - ( Reposted from Last year )

The CBSE has sought to strengthen the educational system by brining out the Examination reforms and has introduced the Comprehensive Continuous Evaluation (CCE) system for std. IX and X. 

The CCE is basically a school based evaluation system rather than the currently followed external examination. CCE addresses a more holistic assessment of the students.

While introducing the new system, the board has also retained board’s external examination which is optional. There are nearly eight lakh students for the CBSE Examination this year. Hence the question in every student’s mind is “Whether to opt for Board exams 2011 or not?”

Here are a few points which should be noted before arriving at any decision.

There are two types of schools under the CBSE System,

i)  Secondary schools that have classes only up to std X only. ( Such as in states like Maharashtra where the 11^th and 12^th fall under the term Junior College.)

ii)  Senior secondary schools that have classes up to XII.

In the first case the students have no option but to go for the External Examination system as they must necessarily  leave the CBSE system and follow the State Board System.

( Note : Minister of State for Human Resource Development, Mrs. D. Purandeswari, in a written reply to a question in the Rajya Sabha today, has clarified that students studying in CBSE's Secondary Schools will be required to appear in the Board's 'External Examination' because they will be leaving the Secondary School after Class 10. ) 

In the second case there exist three options

a) To rely on the new CCE System.

This option is only available to those who wish to continue in the CBSE board and in the same school.

b) To opt for the external External examination system.

This option is suitable if the student wishes to change either the school or the board or both.

c)  To do both the CCE and external examination.

This option is suitable for those students…

·        who want to be assessed independently on their Academic performance.

·        who wish to keep their options of choice of change of board or school open.

·        who do not trust the efficacy of the New System prefer the Time Tested old system.

·        who are better at achieving grades with intensive study rather than a Continuous study.

·        Who wish to make up in the external examination if they feel that they have not performed well in the CCE.

The New System if implemented in the right perspective will surely boost academic performance and rote learning based exam stress.

Dev Lulla.

For any query regarding this article please email : devlulla@yahoo.com

US Dollar Coolapse and the Collapse of the World Economic Order - A mathematical Certainity !

Weekend full moon the biggest in about 20 years ( By Ed Payne, CNN)

 If the moon looks a little bit bigger and brighter this weekend, there's a reason for that. It is.

Saturday's full moon will be a super "perigee moon" -- the biggest in almost 20 years. This celestial event is far rarer than the famed blue moon, which happens once about every two-and-a-half years.

"The last full moon so big and close to Earth occurred in March of 1993," said Geoff Chester with the U.S. Naval Observatory in Washington. "I'd say it's worth a look."

Full moons look different because of the elliptical shape of the moon's orbit. When it's at perigee, the moon is about 31,000 miles (50,000 km) closer to Earth than when it's at the farthest point of its orbit, also known as apogee.

"Nearby perigee moons are about 14% bigger and 30% brighter than lesser moons that occur on the apogee side of the moon's orbit," the NASA website says.

This full moon will rise in the east at sunset and should look especially big at that time because of what's known as the "moon illusion."

"For reasons not fully understood by astronomers or psychologists, low-hanging moons look unnaturally large when they beam through trees, buildings and other foreground objects," according to NASA.

Even though it may look close enough to touch, Saturday's full moon will still be at a healthy distance -- some 211,600 miles (356,577 km) away.

As rare as it is, it may be worth a look. Miss it and you'll have to wait until 2029 to see it again.

Japan - Struck by the force of Nature ! - Devastation and Disaster !

Would any one doubt the Force of nature ? The Sheer Power of the elements make us , as people feel humble and Powerless. I pray .....  Samsta Loka ...Sukhino Bhavantu....May all the worlds experience Peace !

http://totallycoolpix.com/2011/03/the-japan-earthquake-and-tsunami-aftermath/