Need to promote Astronomy

There is need to make people distinguish between astronomy and astrology as also to understand that there is more to science than the study of engineering and medicine.It is in this context that the gesture of President Pratibha Patil of planting one tree representing the 27 ‘nakshtras’ is to be read. It should be hoped that this will help revive the Indian interest in astronomy.

by ARABINDA GHOSE

At a time when lesser number of students are opting for science streams in schools and colleges and opting for engineering and commercial subjects, the action of President Pratibha Devisingh Patil to take a decision to plant one tree each representing the 27 “nakshatras” is sure to boost the study of astronomy and related sciences and one must welcome this decision wholeheartedly.

But then, not many people including those in the media appear to be totally unaware of what the “nakshatras” are and what, if any, relationships they have with astrology. Well, one must firmly reject suggestions of “nakshatras” having anything to do with astrology .

“Nakshatras “are 27 in number and they are stars, multiple stars or star clusters and even novae (plural of nova).They occur in the belt as visible from the earth within which are located all the twelve signs of zodiacs (“rashis”) and both the sun and the moon appear to traverse the sky although only the moon, of course, and not the sun, is visible in the night sky.

First the names. They are: Ashwini, Bharani, Krittika, Rohini, Mrigashira, Ardra, Punarvasu, Pushya, Ashlesha, Magha, Poorva Phalgooni, Uttar Phalgooni, Hasta, Chitra, Swati, Vishakha, Anuradha, Jyeshtha, Moola, Poorvashadha, Uttarashadha, Shravana, Dhanistha, Shatabhisha, Poorva Bhadrapada, Uttar bhadrapada, and Revati.

Astronomically speaking, the moon, during its circumbulation around the earth, appear to have “rest “ during the nights at each of these twenty even “Nakshatras”. Beginning with Ashwini the journey ends at Revati in 27 days and this is the nominal length of a lunar month. However, since the earth, during this period, has advanced in course of its revolution around the sun by some distance during these 27 days, the moon takes another two and a half days to arrive at the starting point, the “fixed star” Ashwini. Thus the length of the lunar month becomes 29 and half days and that of the lunar year, 354 days.(These are approximate periods. Actually, the length of the lunar month is 29.5306 days and that of the lunar year, 354.3672 days).

Since the moon appears to have “rest “during the nights in these stars, they are called by some as Pavilions. The Arabs, who too had observed this phenomenon, call them “Manzils”. If you are a habitual star gazer (alas, no longer possible to indulge in this pastime in Delhi because of “light pollution” of the sky), you can spot most of these 27 nakshatras by naked eyes. Some can easily be identified too, such as Rohini, which is a bright reddish star (known as Aldebaran). The nakshatra Mrigashira can located at the head of the hunter, the Orion constellation, during the winter months. The Nakshatras Ardra and Punarvasu, can be easily located these days in the Mithun Rashi (Gemini) and the astronomical (English) names of these two stars are Castor and Pollux. Several other Nakshatras can be viewed during the summer months. But during the winter months, you can certainly locate Krittika, a star cluster of six stars (Pleiades) .Interestingly, astronomers insist that there are only six stars in this clusters, and say that “some liars” have seen seven stars in the cluster).

The names of these “Nakshatras” in both Sanskrit and Englsih create confusion in popular minds. Well, Nakshatras are “Taras” in Hindi all right but they are special ‘Taras” as mentioned earlier and so have distinguishing names. Yes, Nakshatras too mean stars in Hindi, but if one understands the special locations of these 27 “Taras”, they will understand why they are called “Nakshatras”.

In English, most people including those familiar with astronomy call these 27 heavenly bodies constellations. This, one may submit, is rather confusing. A constellation is a group of stars which form particular patterns in the sky as seen from the earth such as the Great Bear (Saptarshi), the Leo sign of the zodiac (Simha Rashi), the Scorpio or Vrischik Rashi etc. The night sky has been divided into 88 such formations (including both the northern and the southern skies) and they are known as the constellations.

Astronomers have, therefore, named these 27 heavenly bodies as “asterisms” and one hopes amateur star gazers such as this writer would stick to this name. In conclusion, one must once again appreciate the step taken by the President, which will certainly further the study of astronomy among the young and the old, remembering that these names have nothing to do with astrology, which is another subject which have a very large number of believers, There are, however, an equal number of people who do not consider that astrology as a science.