Blue Moon for North Americans - 9:04 pm EDT, May 31st

Basically a Blue Moon refers to a second full moon in a month. Usually we just have one full moon in a month. But on rare occasions we may have two full moons in just one month. Currently, there are many definitions for this term. The other biggest misconception that people have is that during a blue moon night, moon appears blue. Though the moon has appeared to be blue very rarely due to the effect caused by smoke or dust particles in the atmosphere, it is not always true that moon turns blue on that day. So next time you hear about blue moon, please don't wait for a blue colored moon in the sky.

The term Blue Moon is around 400 years old. The Krakatoa Eruption had a global optical effect. Due to heavy amount of ash in the atmosphere due to the eruption, the moon appeared blue in the sky for almost 2 years.

North Americans are fortunate enough to view the second full moon in the sky on May 31st, 2007 (Thursday) at 9:04 pm Eastern Daylight Time. Astro-photographers can sent me their pictures on the email address provided on the left menu of this page and we can have those featured on the blog.

Ever tasted the Blue Moon Beer ? Try it !

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Mystery Behind the Anti-Matter !

What is antimatter? Does it indeed exist?
Can we detect the presence of antimatter?
Does your same body exist composed of antimatter?
Does dark matter contain antimatter?
How different would the two galaxies made up of antimatter and matter particles respectively look from earth?
Does antimatter have negative mass?
Is time travel possible due to existence of antimatter?

Well, it’s very interesting to know and understand the existence of exact opposite replica of every particle in this universe. In simple words, if we have an atom then we have an anti-atom also. Consider a hydrogen atom, for example; It has a nucleus and an electron revolving outside it. Now, there also exists an anti hydrogen atom, which has an anti-electron and an anti-nucleus in it. An anti-electron has a positive charge but has the mass as that of an electron.

It’s the ultra high speed collisions that create antimatter. It is very difficult to capture antimatter particles. Antimatter is created in the explosions taking place on the surface of stars and other inter-galactic collisions. Before the Big Bang took place there was absolutely no material particle which existed. It was only after this explosion that matter and antimatter particles were created in almost equal amounts. But according to theories and analysis a higher percentage of matter particles developed and remained in space.

It is possible to harness energy from the collision of matter and antimatter particles. Let us take a simple example to understand the principle and its use. Suppose we create a rocket that has an antimatter capturing cabinet. We can force the matter and antimatter particles to collide by throwing light on it obtained from the stars and sun. Through this collision we can generate energy which would help the rocket to propel forward towards its destination. In this process, high amount of energy would be generated and can be used in a controlled form. The biggest drawback is that it is very difficult and expensive to store antimatter. There are techniques to capture and store antimatter but again they require high amount of money and expertise. It is also very difficult to create antimatter artificially.

What is vacuum? Does it mean absence of particles?

Now if energy exists then a term like anti-energy should also exist. Well, the Dirac equation has a negative solution. Since it a relativistic quantum mechanical wave equation, it demands the presence of anti particles to have a proper explanation for its negative result. Therefore, the need of antimatter particles was felt. As of now, the expression for this equation is quite complex for a beginner in astronomy. It was at this point of time that Dirac proposed that vacuum is not actually an empty space but a space filled with electrons having negative energy. This would mean vacuums in universe are possessing high amount of negative energy. But this was not quite appealing to people. So absence of real particles or a state in which no particles exist is considered as a vacuum.

From the very beginning we have been studying Einstein’s famous equation E=mc².
The equation E=mc² is actually E²=p²c² + m²c⁴

We consider the special case, when the particle is at rest. This makes momentum (p) of the particle zero and the equation reduces to E=+(mc²) or E=-mc².
The negative sign explains the existence of antimatter.

Well, it’s antimatter all the way! Think about anti blackholes, anti ice creams or maybe anti….

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Easytobook - Big Discount On Hotels In Amsterdam

Plan your trip to Amsterdam by selecting a good hotel for your stay. From every luxurious hotel to a small cheap hotel in Amsterdam – Easytobook provides it all! Easytobook is a website which is dedicated towards providing its customers hotel bookings online through their site with the most reasonable and low prices. The bookings can me made with loads of variety based upon the need and choice of its customers.

It is the committed staff and members of the website that have involved almost every hotel in there to provide top class services. The website has a careful assortment of special offers and maintains a high user rating. The advanced search and mapping service on the website guarantees valuable and constructive results to its users. The website guaranteed a discount of upto 75% ! Best hotel is featured every month on the homepage of the website which draws customers to it.

It also provides an easy city guide to its users and ensures credit card safety. Easytobook provides a free booking facility. Yes ! It doesn’t charge its customers for booking hotel online through their website. Signup for the newsletter on their website and keep yourself up to date of various changes and discount offers. The prompt and active customer service keeps its customers aware of the various facilities and updates. It is just another stop for making your bookings a hassle-free and a more blissful experience.

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Eh ? Did they see it ?

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Sunset from Gliese 581

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Exosolar planet is present in habitable zone.

Using the ESO 3.6-m telescope, a team of Swiss, French and Portuguese scientists discovered a super-Earth about 5 times the mass of the Earth that orbits a red dwarf, already known to harbour a Neptune-mass planet.

It is reported that its radius should be only 1.5 times the Earth's radius, and models predict that the planet should be either rocky - like our Earth - or fully covered with oceans.

HARPS found it
HARPS(High Accuracy Radial Velocity for Planetary Searcher)is one of the most successful instruments for detecting exoplanets and holds already several recent records, including the discovery of another 'Trio of Neptunes'. It can measure velocity upto the precision of 1m/sec. Out of the 13 known planets with a mass below 20 Earth masses, 11 were discovered with HARPS!

Although 211 planets have been discovered to date beyond our solar system, this planet is the first that is assumed to be residing in a habitable zone - the region around a star where the temperature is right for water to be present in liquid form.

The planet's extremely elliptical orbit brings it within about 3.1 million miles (4.9 million kilometers) of its parent star on the inside, and swings out to a distance of about 9.6 million miles (15.4 million kilometers).

Resources
Video Of Mr. Michel Mayor
Research reported on Paper
Episode on Astronomy Cast

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Atheists are spiritually blind.

Science does have the power to explain things which exist in this universe the way they are. But even the greatest of the scientists bow in front of an eternal power that is believed to create this universe.

Atheists are just blind who very easily ignore the truth in this universe. No theories or mathematical formula can prove the existence of God. It means that Science limits itself to this stage. How can we question the existence of our Master? How can we use the same brain given by Him to question His existence?

Today there are many arguments in favour of existence of God.
The Ontological Argument
The First Cause Argument
The Moral Argument

Their details can be found on websites.

Atheists cannot explain the existence of god; they leave it to chance. There needs to be an eternal power that exists. This eternal power is responsible for the creation of this universe. Big Bang cannot take place on its own, right?

There is no physical body of God. He is just – faith, truth and immortality. Questioning the physical existence of God is a dim-witted and unintelligent question. He is composed of two basic components – Light & Sound. Today science has the capability to create an artificial human body but it cannot make it live! It cannot impart life to the artificially created human body. In simple words, science does not possess the power to make artificial souls. Each soul is a part of God. After death soul departs and merges into its creator – GOD! How do atheists explain this?

Ruthless, cold blooded and merciless people have undergone a dramatic change. They include Valmiki and Asoka. They have changed after becoming religious. Therefore, God exists.

In earlier years, there have been various forms of Lord Krishna visiting earth. These incidents have been recorded in various religious books. Doesn’t it prove the existence of God? Becoming an atheist is same as keeping yourself spiritually blind and ignorant of truth of life.


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