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Some festivals in India, like Makar Sankranti, Pongal, Bihu, Vaisakhi, Poila

Science Baisakh, and Puthandu, are based on a solar sidereal calendar. These
Bytes
festivals usually happen on about the same date every year in the Gregorian
calendar, which is based on the tropical year. A long time ago, these festivals
Testimony
Makar Snankran is a were linked to the solstices or equinoxes, which are specific points in the
Hindu fes val which is Earth's orbit around the Sun. However, because the sidereal and tropical
celebrated on 14th
January every year. In this years are slightly different, the dates of these festivals slowly change over
fes val, we observe the time. This happens because of the slow wobble of the Earth's axis, kind of
transi on of the Sun into
capricorn. like how a spinning top wobbles. As a result, the dates of festivals based on
the sidereal calendar move forward in the tropical calendar. For example,

Makar Sankranti shifts ahead by about one day every 71 years.
Many Indian festivals are celebrated based on the exact phase of the Moon
at sunrise. Because sunrise happens earlier in Eastern India and later in

Western India, the festival dates can shift by a day between these regions,
even in the same year. To keep the dates uniform across the whole country,
the Positional Astronomy Center of the Government of India publishes the
Rashtriya Panchang every year. This book contains detailed calculations of

the positions of celestial bodies like the Moon and the Sun for a central
location in India. Using this information, the government receives advance
notice of festival dates to declare official holidays.

The Moon and moonlight have inspired many parts of Indian classical music
and art. Some ragas, like Chandrakauns, Chandranandan, and
Shubhapantuvarali (which means "auspicious moon"), are named after the

Moon and express its beauty through their melodies. In Indian classical
dance forms like Bharatanatyam, hand gestures called mudras , such as
Chandrakala and Ardhachandran, represent the Moon. Other
dance styles like Kathak, Odissi, and Kuchipudi also include
moon-related gestures. Traditional Indian art, including painting

styles like Madhubani and Warli, and crafts like sculpture and
pottery from tribes such as Saura and Gond, often show images
of the Moon and Sun. This shows how important these celestial
Warli painting Dhokra Brass
sculpture bodies are in daily life and culture.
WHY DO WE LAUNCH ARTIFICIAL SATELLITES IN SPACE?

The Moon is Earth's natural satellite, that revolves around our planet. In
addition to it, Several artificial or man-made satellites launched by various

countries also orbit the Earth. These satellites circle at altitudes of about
800 km above Earth's surface and take roughly 100 minutes to complete
one round. Though they appear as tiny moving dots in the night sky, they

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