January 3 is unique this year. Each year it is, given the birth anniversary of Savitribai Phule. This year, it is the planetary alignment that makes it special; in fact, simply unique.
It is the full moon day today. This very first full moon in 2026 happens to be a supermoon. Perigee wise, the moon is the closest to the earth. Simultaneously, perihelion wise, the earth is as close as is possible to the sun. In other words, we can say that the sun, the moon and the earth are as close to each other as is cosmically possible.
As if that is not enough, the earth is at its fastest orbital speed today which makes the imminent meteor shower most remarkably visible. Whenever such cosmic alignments take place, I regret staying in a city as the artificial lights dim such glory.
Earlier, I used to attend the planetarium kind of events to watch such unique cosmic combos through a powerful telescope. In the last week of February, 2026, six planets are going to appear in a row literally, and are, moreover, going to be visible to the naked eye. Here is hoping that I would get to see Mercury, Venus, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune orbiting in a row!
Pratima@ Each full moon day, I remember Aai ardently because she, despite her aching knees, would make it a point to watch the full moon every month in her eightieth year as it was the year of the "Sahastra Chandra Darshan". Neither rain nor cold nor the moon rising/being visible late could deter her. I love and hugely respect such unwavering commitment.
Quote of the day: "The sky is an endless dream," says Ralph Waldo Emerson. YES, indeed!
Word(s) of the day: 1)Perigee means the point in the orbit of the moon (or even a satellite) at which it is nearest to the earth. 2) Perihelion refers to the point in a planet's (or every celestial body's) elliptical orbit where it is closest to the Sun, occurring annually for the Earth roughly around January 3, when it is about 3 million miles closer to the Sun than at its farthest point (aphelion) in July. As it is the week-end, we would not learn grammar. Hence let us understand a little more how such terms are constructed. The prefix "peri-" comes from Greek, and means "around, about, near". In Greek, "ge" is the earth, while "helios" is the sun. Thus is it easy to remember such terms that refer to these distant objects and their 'peri'pheries.
N.B.: May be, the God is offered all the veggies as the "naivaidya" today, the Shakambhari (the name, too, supports this interpretation) Pournima, as the earth that gives us all the plants is the closest both to the moon and the sun.
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