Category: JD Editor

Solar Eclipse 2014

Annular Solar Apr-29Fred EspenakSeries: SEsaros148

Unlike the lunar eclipse which has a more spiritual signification as well as personal, the solar eclipse is of much greater importance as this shows the world changing around us. There are FOUR eclipses in 2014 (NASA Eclipse Web).

Lunar Eclipse of 2014

There are FOUR eclipses in 2014 (NASA Eclipse Web).

Eclipse Factor

Annular Solar Eclipse of May 31, 2003
Although the Sun is 400 times larger than the Moon, yet it is also about 400 times as far from the Earth than the Moon. This situation causes the two luminaries (Sun and Moon) to appear as about the same size in the sky. When the Moon passes between the Sun and the Earth, it casts a shadow. If this shadow falls on the earth, it causes an eclipse. The Moon passes between the Sun and Earth every month, yet it does not cause an eclipse to occur every month.

Defining the ayana

This opens a much bigger question that I have had: how should we actually define uttara-ayana. It seems that it was originally the winter solstice, where the days begin to get longer, but since it has become associated with Makara Saṅkrānti it has been riding a sidereal year, of which it is not really a sidereal calculation but a tropical calculation. If we truly are observing the Sun returning or the Sura increasing, then there is no relation to the signs, just actual ayanas (solstices).
Namah Shivaya
Freedom T.