The Hindu : New Delhi News : Nehru Planetarium all set for the eclipse

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Wednesday, Jul 22, 2009
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New Delhi

Nehru Planetarium all set for the eclipse

Madhur Tankha

Devices set up at its Teen Murti House premises
Tremendous excitement among the young and old

NEW DELHI: To gear up for the total solar eclipse on Wednesday morning, Nehru Planetarium in the Capital has set up its good old telescopes, projection boxes and solar filters at its Teen Murti House premises.

Since Planetarium director N. Rathnasree will not be at the public sky watch event as she is in Katni in Madhya Pradesh to view the once-in-a-century event, two officials from the Planetarium will conduct the event.

“To prepare for the celestial event, the Planetarium has put up a gargantuan screen, binocular projectors and 25-year-old telescopes attached with filters. We have already sold 3,000 solar goggles to Delhiites so that they can easily watch the event from their homes. Ten to 15 people can watch from a single goggle for intermittent period. Each goggle supplied by Vigyan Prasar is priced at Rs.25. Anyone can come to the Planetarium to watch and understand the nitty-gritty of the celestial event,” said Mr. Gupta, an engineer at the Planetarium.

Even though it will not be a total but a partial solar eclipse in Delhi, yet there is tremendous excitement among the young and old for this once-in-a-lifetime event.

“As about 85 per cent of the Sun will be covered in Delhi, all professional and amateur astronomers have gone to destinations where the eclipse will be in totality,” said an official.

Although astronomers are interested that a large number of people should view the rare eclipse, they are also urging them to watch it with proper safety measures.

Stating that it was important to dispel the myth surrounding the celestial event, Dr. Rathnasree said there were some superstitions associated with the eclipse in some parts of the country. “But these are nothing but false beliefs regarding the total solar eclipse. These beliefs are nothing but hogwash and not established by scientific facts.”

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