“Super Blood Blue Moon” is a rare cosmic event that combines an extra big Super moon, a Blue moon and a total lunar eclipse.
Super moon – It occur when the full moon coincides with the Moon’s closest orbit point (perigee) to Earth.
During a super moon, the moon appears 14% larger and 30% brighter.
The farthest distance between the moon and the Earth is termed ‘apogee’, while the perigee is the nearest point.
Lunar Eclipse – It occurs when the Sun, the Earth and the Moon are so aligned that the full moon passes through the shadow of Earth.
The moon gliding into Earth’s shadow will gradually turn in to orange or red.
This is because the sunlight passing through the Earth’s atmosphere break down and red part gets scattered by the atmosphere and falls on the Moon’s surface.
For this reason, a totally eclipsed moon is called a “Blood Moon”.
Blue Moon – It refers to the second full moon (or second lunar eclipse) in a month.
The Moon does not turn blue but historically the second full Moon of an English calendar month is termed as a Blue Moon.
Typically, it happens every two years and eight months.
The world is going to witness this event on Jan 31st in parts of western North America, Asia, the Middle East, Russia and Australia.
VINBAX - 2018
VINBAX is the military exercise between armies of India and Vietnam.
It is the first ever such exercise boosting defence ties between the two countries.
It is going to be held in Jabalpur in Madhya Pradesh.
The joint exercise has been especially designed to enable and train officers from Vietnam in United Nations Peace Keeping Operations.
India – Vietnam relations
India and Vietnam had signed a protocol on defence cooperation in 1994.
The partnership was thereafter elevated to strategic level in 2007.
A pact on boosting bilateral defence cooperation was signed in 2009.
The strategic partnership was elevated to a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership in September 2016.
Meghadootam
Meghadootam (meaning cloud messenger) is a lyric love poem composed by Kalidasa about the 5th century AD.
The poem recounts the expression of love by Yaksha to his wife at Alaka,Mt. Kailash through the cloud as a messenger.
Most of the poem consists of a description of the landmarks, cities, and sights on the cloud’s journey to Alaka.
Chhattisgarh state artistes performing dance based on Meghadootam in Republic day won prize in best tableau category.
Kalidasa
Kalidasa is a great Sanskrit poet who lived in the court of Chandragupta II around 4th-5th century AD.
He wrote plays, poems such as
3 plays - Malavikagnimitram, Abhijnanasakuntalam, vikramaorvasiyam
2 epic poems - Raghuvamsa, Kumarasambhava
2 minor poems – Ritusamhara, Meghadootam
Asia’s largest drip irrigation project
Ramthal Marola project in Karnataka is the Asia’s largest drip irrigation project implemented with the help of technology from Israel firm.
As a part of this drip irrigation scheme, every farmer will receive water through a cylinder installed in their respective farmlands.
It also enables them to mix fertilisers and pesticides in the cylinder.
The technology used in this project will also purify the wastage that flows in the backwaters of River Krishna.
Udangudi Power Project
Coal-based supercritical Udangudi thermal power project is set to come up in Thoothukudi district of southern Tamil Nadu.
BHEL and the Tamil Nadu Electricity Board (TNEB) had signed a MoU to develop this power project in 2007.
The estimated Rs.100-billion project is to be funded by Rural Electrification Corporation (REC).
Source: The Hindu, BusinessLine, Business Standard
