Celestial Events

Celestial events are visible phenomena that can be seen in the sky, tied to astronomical alignments such as eclipses, meteor showers, planetary alignments, and phases of the moon. Celestial events play a  crucial role in scientific studies about space and the universe, helping scientists understand more about the universe’s history. Along with the scientific purpose, they serve as powerful symbols in some religious texts. 

Importance of celestial events on cultures, religions and science: 

Religions like Hinduism, Islam and Christianity use and incorporate the celestial events in their calendars and doctrines. Hinduism uses the celestial events for navigating and scheduling religious times to perform certain ceremonies and festivals. For example, they observe the lunar phases to find auspicious timings for important life events such as weddings, business openings and house purchases. For them the eclipses are known as spiritual events during which fasting and chanting is often practiced. The celestial observations are also used to define the Hindu calendars. They use it as a framework to understand the universe as well as for timekeeping. Many of the hindu festivals are also connected to the cervical occurring. For example Diwali (festival of light) is celebrated on the new moon night of the month of Kartika, which symbolises the “win” of light (goodness) over the darkness (the evil). 

Christianity incorporates celestial events in various ways.  One of the main significance of them is in the Bible;it shows the significance of God’s plan and creation. Genesis 1:14-15 mentions that God placed lights in the sky to serve as a guide for seasons, days and time – proving his ordained order. Key examples of the usage of celestial events include: The Star of Bethlehem, viewed as a sign guiding Magi to the birthplace of Jesus. 

Islam also uses the celestial events, in many different ways, starting with observing the solar placements to establish the precise timings for prayer during Ramadan (fasting). Moreover, the Islamic calendar depends highly on the visual sightings of the moon to begin each month. The main religious events, Ramandan and Eid al-Fitr are marked by the slights of the crescent moon. 

Studying celestial events have also provided scientists with great knowledge, which helps them come to better conclusions about life outside earth and understand the universe in a better, and a more precise way. One big opportunity provided to scientists through celestial events is to be able to study the Sun's corona and test theories like relativity, to understand the formation of planets and stars. A total solar eclipse gives scientists a better chance to study the Sun’s corona compared to during normal situations. On days without the eclipse the Sun’s bright surface makes the corona invisible, however, during an eclipse, the moon is covering the sun’s disk, making the corona much more evident and easier to study. 

Why is it important to study the Sun’s corona? 

Because it is highly responsible for the atmosphere of the space, and understanding the atmosphere of the space is important to see how it can affect the satellites we launch into space. 

Scientific approach to some celestial events:  

Blood moon: A phenomena, where the moon appears in the colors, red, yellow and orange. It is a type of a total lunar eclipse in which the Earth is positioned perfectly in between the sun and the moon. Earth’s position is the reason behind the moon appearing red to us, during a blood moon. Since the earth is positioned directly in the middle, the only sunlight reaching the moon is via the earth’s atmosphere, which means the light that reaches the lunar surface would be filtered. The earth’s atmosphere shatters shorter wavelengths such as blue and violet much more effectively compared to longer wavelengths such as red for example. Shattering of blue wavelengths results in the reflection of the remaining red and orange wavelength lights onto the moon’s surface making the red and orange color visible to us. There are other factors in the earth’s atmosphere that can influence the intensity of the color too. Factors such as the amount of dust, smoke, or clouds in the atmosphere can also determine the intensity of the color red. More atmospheric particles lead to a more intense red visible color on the lunar surface while a clearer atmosphere leads to more of an orange view. 

Most recent blood moon: September 7-8 2025 

Upcoming blood moons: March 3-4 2026 (Visible to many across the Pacific and in the Americas) 

Supernova (Astronomial event)

What are supernovas?

A supernova is a very powerful and bright explosion that occurs in our galaxy, one of the reasons which can lead to this is the death of a supermassive star. Once a massive star begins to die, it goes through various stages of letting go of elements, forming into a red giant. During this process of releasing different elements, more and more heavy material gets released into the stellar core (The extremely hot, dense central region of a star, it's the site for the nuclear fusion; the energy source for a star) of the star and after a certain threshold, it collapses under its own gravity. As the core collapses, that causes the outside layer of the star to burst outwards creating the supernova explosion. At the peak of the explosion, the supernova could be brighter than an entire galaxy. After the supernova, if the original star is really massive, the core of it can collapse completely, forming into a black hole. Supernovas are crucial for the formation of  planets and life. They are responsible for the creation and distribution of heavy materials like iron and silicon throughout the universe. 

Upcoming celestial event dates: 

• October 20-21: Peak of the Orionid meteor shower. 

•  November 5: A supermoon (Beaver Moon) will be visible.  

• December 14: Peak of the Geminid meteor shower, known for its high rate of meteors.

• December 21: The winter solstice occurs in the Northern Hemisphere.