கண்ணுக்குள் நூறு நிலவு (Lunar Eclipse)

Life on earth is a miracle!!! Nature conspired a series of events that made life possible on earth. In addition, nature puts on a grand show every day/night for all of us. All you have to do is look up and enjoy. Since I missed last year's Total Lunar Eclipse due to clouds, I was desperate to watch this one. The next Total Lunar Eclipse is due only on April 15th, 2014.

The only problem for us in the US west coast was that the eclipse started at 4:45 AM :( Sheila told me NOT to wake her up so I went to bed without setting the alarm. Exactly at 4:30 AM, I woke up on my own, drank my tea and stepped in to the dark, cold backyard. I setup my telescope just in time to watch the beginning of the Eclipse :))  Right next to the telescope, I setup the camera on the tripod and switched back and forth between the telescope and the camera.

The following  fotos show the progress of the earth's shadow on the Moon:

 
  4:56 AM

4:59 AM

                                                                                                             

5:25 AM

5:28 AM

5:31 AM

5:59 AM

The following fotos were purposefully overexposed to bring out the golden/red shadow part of the Moon: 

5:29 AM

5:33 AM

5:48 AM

5:55 AM

 

5:58 AM

Total Lunar Eclipse started at 6:05 AM

6:05 AM

6:06 AM

Finally the Moon started setting behind the backyard fence, the Sun was rising up, the sky was getting more bluish and the Moon started fading out.

6:12 AM

Next Lunar Eclipse project:

Not sure whether the next Total Lunar Eclipse would be a morning eclipse like this one. If yes, I would love to capture the Eclipse over the Pacific in Torrey Pines Beach :)) 

Vedic Astronomy:

Finally, how could I end this post without referring to our Ancestors' astronomical and mathematical brilliance. They came up with precise calculations of the timings of the Solar and Lunar eclipses with the concept of Raaghu and Kethu. Here are sculptures of Raaghu with the Moon and Kethu :))

Raaghu

Kethu

கப்பல் ஓட்டிய தமிழன் !

Ok. I admit. I exaggerated like Sheila :)) It is not a கப்பல் but a Canoe, a "Hawaiian Outrigger Canoe". 

Recently one of the projects we are working on,  reached a major milestone and the whole team decided to celebrate at the beautiful Mission Bay, right off the Pacific ocean. If you love being in water or just enjoy the sunny outdoors, you can't go wrong with Mission Bay.

It has 27 miles of shoreline, 19 miles of beaches and 14 miles of bike path. On any given day, you would see people biking, roller-blading, kayaking, canoeing, swimming, volley balling, kite-flying, running, walking and sun-bathing.

I thought, I would go there, enjoy the lunch outdoors and take off early for home.  After reaching Mission Bay, I learned that there is going to be a Canoe race.  Having enjoyed  Canoeing and Kayking (back in Boston) Hawaiian Outrigger Canoeing sounded fun and I fully got in to competition mode.

We were divided in to teams of 5 and there were around 8 teams. Each team raced with 2 other teams 3 times. The instructors taught us how to use the paddle.

Each team was asked to come up with a "Victory Chant". I influenced the team to go with my suggestion and our victory chant was "ஏலேலோ ஐய்லசா ,  ஏலேலோ ஐய்லசா ,  ஏலேலோ ஐய்லசா " :))

We won all the 3 races :)) Another team also won all three of their races and we had a playoff race with them. We lost the final by few seconds. Win or lose doesn't matter it was a day full of FUN :))

விழிகளில் ஒரு வானவில் !

It had been raining the whole day in San Diego but as always the Sun peeped out eventually. As it got brighter out side, I suddenly looked out and saw a beautiful  Rainbow :)) Cellphone fotos.

Rainbow seems to be hanging just outside my window :)

Here is a much better, professional foto from San Diego newspaper website:

சுற்றுதே சுற்றுதே பூமி !

Until all of you complain, there will be more star trail fotos :))

For Sri :)

Since Sri asked in the last post for a "Moon Trail" shot, here it is.
Today being பௌர்ணமி, the moon is very bright.
The bright dot chasing the Moon is Jupiter.

Sri, Thanks for asking, I have more to learn :))
Will try with a crescent Moon in the future!!

விண்வெளியில் வண்ணக்கோடுகள்

Warned you, more of the Star Trails fotos coming up ;)

To Sir, With Love

Every Friday night we try to watch a good movie with Swetha and Shreya. Now that we have Roku2, Swetha was searching for another movie in Netflix and stumbled upon "To Sir, With Love". Though I have seen this movie before, we watched it last Friday night. This is definitely one of those outstanding, inspiring, classic, feel good movies you can watch any number of times.

The story is about an engineer (looking for a job),  temporarily working as a teacher in a school. I don't want to give away the whole story. I would rather you watch the movie and enjoy it :)) I guarantee you, this movie will remind you of your school/college days, your friends that you said bye and some highly emotional times in your student  life!.

Sidney Poitier is "Dashingly Smart and Brilliant" in this movie ;)

Baby Blues

Thank God, Swetha and Shreya are not like this :))

கறுப்பு கம்பளியில் வைரங்கள்

The silver lining of the September 8th, San Diego blackout is that we all got unplugged :)). That led to all of us spending time together in the backyard, lying on the hammock and on blankets, gazing at the millions of stars lighting up the night sky. I pulled out the telescope and we ended up watching:

1) Craters of moon
2) Vashister and Arundathi (in Sabtharishi, aka Ursa Major)

                                          3) Double Cluster in Perseus

                                          4) Ring Nebula

                                          5) Andromeda Galaxy

The above fotos are from the web. These fotos are almost like what you can see with my telescope. Right now, I can't take fotos like this but soon, I am hoping to!!!

The star trails foto below is what I took during the blackout. It is my first attempt and I have a lot to experiment and learn. Be warned, you will get a good dose of these fotos :)

தேள் தேள் தேள் !!!

Have been trying to capture the constellation Scorpio for a long time and finally did it today :))

Scorpio (from Google, for reference):

Sagittarius (from Google, for reference)

 
Here is the real Scorpio lying over the neighborhood houses with Sagittarius
(aka the teapot) to its left.
 

Ursa Major (from Google, for reference):

The real Ursa Major (aka Big Bear aka சப்தரிஷி ) rising over our house:

Senorita I love U :))

SPB Concert on Aug. 7th, 2011, @Chennai.

தாவணிப் பூக்கள்

தாவணிப் பூக்கள் என்றதுமே
உங்கள் எண்ணங்கள்
சிறகேந்திப் பறந்தனவோ ;)

இந்த ஜூலை நன் நாளில்(4)
நான் கண் விரியப் பார்த்தது
வானில் மலர்ந்த இவ்வண்ணப் பூக்களே :))

Once Upon a Time in Chennai

I was spending some time today evening, cleaning out and disposing old papers and came across this, yellowed, withered, dog-eared paper with some Tamil writing on it.  I wrote this in '85 when I was working in CMC at Chennai.  I love Sujatha's Tamil novels and his style of new age writing.  I took a day out of my typical work life in CMC, did "ஈ அடிச்சான் காபி" of Sujatha's writing style and wrote this.

Enjoy!!!

திங்கள் கிழமை எப்பொழுதும் போல் விடிந்தது.
சூரியன் எப்பொழுதும் போல் எழுந்தான். வேலைக்குச் செல்பவர்கள்
எப்பொழுதும் போல் எலெக்ட்ரிக் ட்ரெயினை பிடிக்க ஓடிக்கொண்டிருந்தார்கள்.

நான் தி. நகர் பஸ் நிலையத்திற்குச் சென்றேன். நீங்கள் தி.ந.ப. நிலையத்தை
பார்த்ததுண்டா? பார்த்திருக்கிறவர்கள் அடுத்த பாராவுக்கு செல்லவும்.
பார்க்காதவர்கள் கேட்கவும். இந்த ப. நிலையம் ஒரு காலத்தில் மிகவும்
சிறியதாக இருந்தது. இப்போதோ, வெவ்வேறு வழிகளில் பாரிமுனை 

செல்லும் 9, 10, 11, 11ஏ, திருவல்லிக்கேணி செல்லும் 12, 13, அண்ணா சதுக்கம் செல்லும்  13பி, பட்டினப்பாக்கம் செல்லும் 12ஏ,  கே.கே நகர் செல்லும் 12 ஜி எல்லாம் நின்று கொண்டிருந்தன.

முகப்பில் நின்று முதலில் வெளியே வந்த 11-இல் தொற்றிக்கொண்டேன். வழக்கமாக, அதே நேரத்தில், அதே பஸ்-இல், தோளில் வெள்ளை கோட்டுடன் வரும் மெடிக்கல் படிக்கும் பெண் என்னைப்பார்த்து சிரிப்பது (அல்லது புன்னகைப்பது) போல் இருந்தது! எதற்காக?  என் முகத்தில் ஏதேனும் பவுடர் திட்டோ?

பஸ் பனகல் பார்க்-ஐ கடந்து, ஜி. என். செட்டி ரோட்டில் விரைந்து,
அண்ணா சாலையை  83 டிகிரியில் வெட்டி, அண்ணா

                                               க  ஊ  ர்  ந்  து
                                      வா                             கீ
                                து                                          ழே
மேம்பாலத்தில் மெ                                                       இறங்கியதும்
என்னை  விடுவித்துகொண்டேன்.

ஆபீஸ்-இல் நுழைந்ததும் ஐ. டி. எம். -இல் பிரிண்டர் ரிப்பேர் என்றார் 

தேவராஜ். டூல் கிட்-ஐ  < ச்சே! என்ன கனம் >  எடுத்துக்கொண்டு லிப்ட்-இல் நுழைந்து, கீழே வந்து, ஆட்டோ பிடித்து ஐ. டி. எம்.சென்றேன்.

உள்ளே நுழைந்து, "குட் மார்னிங் ஹென்றி" என்றேன். ஹென்றி பதில் சொல்ல வில்லை. ஹென்றி, அந்த கம்ப்யூட்டர்-க்கு நான் வைத்த பெயர்.  இதனை இணைப்பதற்கு எத்தனை  மூளைகள் எத்தனை படித்து, எத்தனை கண் விழித்து, எத்தனை பாஸ் செய்து, எத்தனை இணைத்திருக்கவேண்டும்.

சி.பி.யு. கன்சோல்-இல் ஒரு ப்ரோக்ராம் என்டர் செய்து, பிரிண்டர் அருகே  சென்று, ஸ்டார்ட்  பட்டன்-ஐத் தட்டினேன்.

                                     டட்டர  டட்டர   டட்டர  டட் 

என்று ஒரு லைன் அடித்து விட்டு, "பிரிண்ட் செக்"  என்று சிவப்பு நிறத்தில் எச்சரித்தது. 36 ஆவது பொசிஷன் என்னை பார்த்து சிரித்தது.

ஹேமரும், காயிலும் ஒழுங்காக உள்ளனவா என்று டெஸ்ட் செய்து விட்டு, 36 ஆவது காயிலைபிரித்தெடுத்து, புதிய காயிலை இணைத்து, இன்சுலேஷன்  டேப் சுற்றி, மீண்டும் டெஸ்ட் செய்து, ஒ.கே. யூ கேன் டேக் தி சிஸ்டம் என்று ஆபரேடரிடம் சொல்லிவிட்டு, ஆட்டோ பிடுத்து ஆபீஸ் வந்தேன்.

Big Telescope @ Big Bear

When we were checking out the details of various hiking trails in Big Bear Discovery Center, Swetha spotted a sign indicating there would be star gazing with professional telescopes that night at 8pm.  All of us got excited and decided to check it out.

After an early and very spicy dinner at the Himalayan restaurant, reached the discovery center. An amateur astronomer, Tim Bagerly was setting up couple of big telescopes. Had a good conversation with Tim and got plenty of tips from him since I want to move up to one of the automated telescopes.

One of the telescopes was a monster 16" telescope. Couple of families with children and another young couple from Orange county enjoyed outstanding views of the crescent moon, Saturn and its moons.

After spending an hour, we headed back to our cabin by the lake. This turned out to be a perfect anniversary day/night -  starting the morning by the lake, spending time at Big Bear village, excellent lunch at  a Mom and Pop restaurant Saucy Mama's, hiking the trail by the lake, desserts at Sugar Pine Bakery, afternoon tea by the lake, spicy dinner at the Himalayan and capping it all off with views of Moon's craters and Saturn.

The Secret inTheir Eyes

Couple of weeks ago while clicking away the remote, came across this movie. While I am picky about watching only selected US made movies,  I always fall for foreign language movies since usually the story happens in a country or locale, I haven't visited yet. For this movie, I had no idea about the actors, the story, the language or the country of origin. This turned out to be a movie from Argentina and I was glad it had sub-titles :)

The story is about a retired criminal investigator who wants to write a novel about an unsolved murder he handled 25 years ago. In the process of digging out more, he ends up solving the mystery. With plenty of twists ans turns, interlaced with the hero's love story, I thoroughly enjoyed watching this movie. The ending is typical for these kind of movies but more than the story, what impressed me the most is the very cool demeanor & natural acting of the hero and others. The direction was superb and hooked me in for the entire length of the movie.

While writing this post today, I learned that this movie won the 2010 Oscar for the best foreign language movie. I patted myself on the back for deciding to watch this movie on the spur of the moment :)

Netflix has the movie. Check it out and enjoy :))