An event occurring once in 150 years led most of the city based shutterbugs and astronomy enthusiast to leave their crowded bustling cities and head over to wide open locales of Manubhan tekri, national parks in vicinity and Science museum. The event was sighting of three celestial events overlapping with each other viz. blue moon, complete
lunar eclipse and super moon.
Youngsters from the city joined in on the worldwide excitement of this happening occurrence and left the city with friends in tow for wide open stretches. Sachin Joshi, along with his friends Animesh Singh, Neil Rudrajeet and Rohit Yadav made a beeline for Manubhan tekri on the outskirts of the city. “The moon did not appear at the listed time, so we had to wait for a while. But as it appeared in its regal red glory around 6.45 pm, we were left awestruck.” Likewise, Ayush Khare, an amateur photographer went straight to a lesser known site near Kaliyasot Dam to observe the phenomenon. “I went to the jungle area of the dam near the gates around 5 PM to set up my equipment and wait to get the best shot. Since it was a once in lifetime opportunity, I took as many shots as I could and also recorded a time lapse of the eclipse.”
While the shutterbugs made sure to capture the perfect moments of transition, sky gazers and astronomy enthusiasts pooled into Regional Science Museum on Shyamla Hills to catch the action on specially set up telescopes. Akkriti Sinha, a design student present at the venue shares, “What a sight it was to see the super blue blood moon transforming from the blood red to pristine white in a matter of minutes. My friends and I had planned this in advance and had reached the venue before time to grab the best spot.”