Blood Moon from Sree Padmanabha Swamy Temple, Thiruvananthapuram

Blood Moon is sometimes used to describe a Total Lunar Eclipse. When the Earth casts its shadow on a Full Moon and eclipses it, the Moon may get a red glow.

Below is a composite photograph by me, which shows how a Blood Moon will look like when viewed from Kerala, Southern State of INDIA.

The image is taken in front of The World's Richest Temple Sree Padmanabha Swamy Temeple, Thiruvananthapuram Kerala. 

In recent years, the term Blood Moon has been frequently used to refer to total lunar eclipses. Some sources suggest that the term stems from the Bible. Christian pastors Mark Blitz and John Hagee claim that the eclipses of the 2014-2015 lunar tetrad fulfill a Biblical prophecy of forthcoming difficult and trying times.

Astronomers do not use Blood Moon as a scientific term. However, it is possible that the term came to describe total lunar eclipses because of the reddish color the eclipsed Moon takes on during totality. This happens because of Rayleigh scattering, the same mechanism that causes colorful sunrises and sunsets.


The full Moon of September 27/28 is a Supermoon – the Moon will be closest to the Earth. or at its perigee, as it turns into a full Moon. A rising Super Full Moon can look larger and brighter to spectators on Earth.

Total eclipses of Super Full Moons are rare. According to NASA, they have only occurred 5 times in the 1900s – in 1910, 1928, 1946, 1964 and 1982. After the September 27/ 28, 2015 Total Lunar Eclipse, a Supermoon eclipse will not happen again for another 18 years, until October 8, 2033.

This is how Blood Moon from Trivandrum will look like.

Fix - PayU India Payment Gateway extension problem

While you integrate PayU Money with your web application you may encounter an error message like “Sorry, Some problem occured”.

I'm taking the code for PHP,

$payupaisa_args = array(
                'key'             => $this->merchant_id,
                'hash'             => $hash,
                'txnid'         => $txnid,
                'amount'         => $order->order_total,
                'firstname'        => $order->billing_first_name,
                'email'         => $order->billing_email,
                'phone'         => $order->billing_phone,
                'productinfo'    => $productinfo,
                'surl'             => $redirect_url,
                'furl'             => $redirect_url,
                'lastname'         => $order->billing_last_name,
                'address1'         => $order->billing_address_1,
                'address2'         => $order->billing_address_2,
                'city'             => $order->billing_city,
                'state'         => $order->billing_state,
                'country'         => $order->billing_country,
                'zipcode'         => $order->billing_postcode,
                'curl'            => $redirect_url,
                'pg'             => 'NB',
                'udf1'             => $order_id,
                'service_provider'    => 'payu_paisa' // must be "payu_paisa"
            );

The Fix

The solution is to leave the Service Provide field as blank.

i.e.

$payupaisa_args = array(
                'key'             => $this->merchant_id,
                'hash'             => $hash,
                'txnid'         => $txnid,
                'amount'         => $order->order_total,
                'firstname'        => $order->billing_first_name,
                'email'         => $order->billing_email,
                'phone'         => $order->billing_phone,
                'productinfo'    => $productinfo,
                'surl'             => $redirect_url,
                'furl'             => $redirect_url,
                'lastname'         => $order->billing_last_name,
                'address1'         => $order->billing_address_1,
                'address2'         => $order->billing_address_2,
                'city'             => $order->billing_city,
                'state'         => $order->billing_state,
                'country'         => $order->billing_country,
                'zipcode'         => $order->billing_postcode,
                'curl'            => $redirect_url,
                'pg'             => 'NB',
                'udf1'             => $order_id,
                'service_provider'    => ''
            );

Trekking to Breamore Hills, Ramayana Cave, Madam Falls, Helipad

Started from Thampanoor.
There is a direct bus from Thampanoor at 6:20am to Breamore.
It reached Braemore at 8:30am

Madam Falls,

We had our lunch there, then started for the next landmark.

People can stay here in-case of rain.

Helipad near Madam Falls, there is a settlement also. Travelers can rest/stay during night in the settlement, but they have to get prior approval from the Estate Manager. There is a small kitchen and a hall area. In the open space, people usually setup camp fires at night. 
 

Water pool for animals,

Its a frog,

We started trekking to Ramayana Cave, we have no idea where it is. So we started walking forward hoping to find it at the earliest.

Varayattu Motta in the backdrop,

Yes, finally the Ramayana Cave

The Ramayana Cave

1000's of year old cave. Legend says that Rama stayed here during his Vanavasa period.

The piece of wood was not Rama's :) Its the remains of some other traveler/natives stayed there some days ago.

See the Banyan Tree(ആല്‍മരം) in the left, tampered by Elephant.

Bus timings,
Trivandrum - Breamore
6:20 AM
(Not sure about the rest)

Breamore - Trivandrum
9:30 AM
3:00 PM
6:30 PM

International Space Station over Sree Padmanabha Swami Temple Kerala INDIA

Above image is the passage of International Space Station over Sree Padmanabha Swami Temple in Kerala, India. You can see the brightest planet, Venus just above the temple.

Sree Padmanabhaswamy temple is a Hindu temple dedicated to Lord Vishnu.The temple is one of the 108 Divya Desams (Holy abodes of Vishnu).It is believed that Lord Vishnu’s idol was found in this place.In this temple Lord Vishnu can be seen in a state of sleep on Sheshnaag.The idol of this temple is made up of 12008 salagramams that compose the reclining Lord.The temple has blend of Dravidian and Kerala architecture styles.It has become as one of the richest temples in India with more than 1 lakh crore rupees of worth treasures.

View full version : https://www.flickr.com/photos/aravind_n_c/16242431257/

Interpreting the Data

The text listing is in a column format, a sample of which is shown below:
 

Satellite	Local (date/time)	Duration (min)	Max Elevation (deg)	Approach (deg-dir)	Departure (deg-dir)
ISS	Sun Feb 1, 7:06 PM	4	42	37 above W	10 above NNE

The left column is the satellite. The next column is the local date and the local time. The third column gives the duration, or the length of time in minutes the spacecraft is expected to be visible, assuming a clear sky. The fourth column gives the maximum elevation the vehicle will achieve above the horizon (90 degrees is directly overhead). The fifth column tells the direction and elevation at which the spacecraft will become visible initially. The sixth column gives the direction and elevation at which the spacecraft will disappear from view.
This sighting opportunity is illustrated in the figure below:
Image above: Satellite sighting graphic shows how to locate a satellite during a viewing opportunity. 

Credit: Richard Czentorycki (RSIS)/NASA.

Viewing Tips

For best results, observers should look in the direction and at the elevation shown in the appearing column at the time listed. Because of the speed of an orbiting vehicle, telescopes are not practical. However, a good pair of field binoculars may reveal some detail of the structural shape of the spacecraft.