Page 2 - Curiosity_June_2020_FB

EDITOR IN CHIEF:
Nakul Parashar
EDITOR:
Arvind C. Ranade
PRODUCTION:
Bipro Kumar Sen
EDITORIAL:
Sumita Mukherjee
ADDRESS FOR CORRESPONDENCE: Vigyan Prasar, A-50, Institutional Area, Sector-62, Noida-201 309, U.P, India
Tel: +91-0120 2404430 Fax No: +91-0120-2404437
E-MAIL:
curiosity@vigyanprasar.gov.in
WEBSITE:
http://www.vigyanprasar.gov.in
Vigyan Prasar is not responsible for the statements/opinions expressed and photographs used by the authors in their articles/write-ups published in “Curiosity”
Articles, excerpts from articles published in “Curiosity” may be freely reproduced with due acknowledgement/ credit, provided periodicals in which they are reproduced are distributed free.
Published and Printed by Dr Nakul Parashar on behalf of Vigyan Prasar, A-50, Institutional Area, Sector-62, Noida-201 309, U.P, India
Cover Design & Illustrations By:
BIPRO KUMAR SEN
Arvind C. Ranade
2
EDITORIAL
Ring of Fire – India’s Last Annular Solar Eclipse for the Decade
rom 18 May, 2020 India is go- ing through its fourth phase of lockdown. As per the experts, we may have to start living
with coronavirus. Obviously, challenges of it will continue to remain with us. We need to adapt ourselves with the norms of social distancing, frequent sanitation, and hand washing. I am sure, all club coordi- nators and members must be following the same and encouraging others around them in doing so. We understand the challenges involved in organizing science programmes and submitting monthly re- port. Therefore, we extend the relaxation in submission of monthly report for the month of May 2020.
The month of the June is going to be extremely exciting as the amazing natural phenomenon of hide and seek of the Sun and the Moon will be witnessed by many of us. On 05 June India is going to wit- ness the penumbral lunar eclipse. If you remember, on 26 December, 2019 south- ern India witnessed an Annular Solar Eclipse (ASE). Within six months we are going to witness another Annular Solar Eclipse on 21 June, 2020. This time, it will be visible from four states of north- ern India namely, Rajasthan, Haryana, Uttarakhand and a small part of Uttar Pradesh. The annularity will be visible only for 9 to 33 seconds on central line
of the eclipse. The maximum eclipse will be visible at noon time. Rest of India will witness a partial eclipse. The annularity will be observed in the belt of 750 km from the west of Rajasthan (Gharsana) to
the east of Uttarakhand (Joshimath). Vigyan Prasar geared up for the event and started their ASE campaign through
a special lecture series by in-house sci- entists. Many of you must have attended these lectures last month. Vigyan Prasar has also generated special resource mate- rial consisting of films, books, posters and presentations on solar eclipse and has uploaded them on VP’s website for easy access. You can download the material from https://vigyanprasar.gov.in/nation- al-campaign-on-annular-solar-eclipse/. We are organizing special training work- shops for our clubs from June 01, 2020. We also intend to arrange webcasting, telecasting and live streaming of the ASE on YouTube, VIPNET Facebook page, and VP’s website as well as on OTT platform of India Science and DD Science.
The current issue of Curiosity is also focused on astronomy in general and
ASE in particular. It has articles on ASE, quiz on astronomy, poems by our active members and a special article on ‘Zero Shadow Day’. It was indeed exciting to see participation of more than 80 clubs in finding the circumference of the Earth to the 90% accuracy on Zero Shadow Day. We urge our club members to conduct variety of activities at local level and watch the eclipse safely by using filters
or goggles and by maintaining social distancing norms.
Dr. Arvind C. Ranade is Scientist ‘F’ & VIPNET National Coordinator at Vigyan Prasar. Email: rac@vigyanprasar.gov.in
June 2020