Reported By:
| Edited By: |Source: PTI |Updated: Apr 13, 2018, 02:10 AM IST
It is a rare occasion for both astrologers and astronomers, the former looking at it as an event that could spell doom while the latter feel fortunate to be able to witness the celestial rarity.
Although Nehru planetarium tags the people who would observe the triple eclipse as the lucky ones, astrologers have something different to say, giving a vent to what the rationalists call myths.
Eclipses are not a new phenomenon, but 2009 is one of the rare years to witness a triple eclipse.
"It is a natural phenomenon. The only matter of concern for us is that this is the monsoon period and the visibility of the sun, low on the horizon, just after sunrise, when the eclipse takes place, is doubtful from almost all Indian locations."
"There might be places the horizon would remain cloud free giving a lucky few, good views of this," said Rathnasree, director Nehru Planetarium.
Dr DK Hari, astrologer and author of 'Will history repeat itself? Triple eclipse, 2009' brings forth history to prove that triple eclipses have been the primary reason of destruction from the olden days."
"Our Indian text, Mahabharata is a witness to the fact that triple eclipse years are associated with bad luck. In the year 3067 BC Lord Krishna recorded the first triple eclipse. Within a month of this observation, Kurukshetra war broke out. Then after 36 years with a similar phenomenon the destruction of Dwarka took place", says Dr Hari.
The first in the series of eclipses was a lunar eclipse on July 7. The sunrise eclipse on July 22 is predicted to be of the longest duration 'Total Solar Eclipse' of this century followed by another lunar eclipse on August 6.
The totality belt is expected to move across several parts of India. Most of the areas will at least witness a large fraction of the disc of the sun eclipsed.
Cities like Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Hyderabad and Bangalore will witness a partial eclipse.
Although astrologers present a gruesome future, Indian Rationalist Association (IRA) rubbishes all the claims and considers this celestial phenomenon as absolutely normal.
Sanal Edamaruku , president IRA said, "These claims are baseless. Astrology is a business and astrologers need to enhance their business and they do this by giving statements like these,"
A significant point about this triple eclipse according to Rathnasree is that it is happening in the International Year of Astronomy, adding an element of interest to a celestial event that has already generated a lot of interest.
