Padma Vishnu Shridhar Wakankar observatory in Dongla village |
Mahidpur (Ujjain district, Madhya Pradesh): A small village called Dongla in Mahidpur tehsil will witness an amazing astronomical event on June 21, which is also the International Day of Yoga. Shadows of objects will disappear for a minute due to astronomical position of sun on Monday, the longest day of year.
The astronomical event will be visible at 12.28 pm at Padma Vishnu Shridhar Wakankar observatory in Dongla. The sun will come to extreme north and start moving towards southern hemisphere.
On this day, sunrise will be at 5.28 am while it will set at 6.52 pm, making it the longest day - lasting for 13 hours and 24 minutes. The night will be shortest - 10 hours and 36 minutes. From next day, days will become shorter and nights longer.
This will continue for next six months. In the middle of this period, duration of day and night will be equal on September 22 and March 22.
Why Dongla village?
In Dongla village, the tropic of Cancer and ancient Indian time meridian meet. On June 21, the sun will be positioned on Tropic of Cancer in northern hemisphere at 12.28 pm. This position lies exactly on top of Dongla village where tropic of Cancer passes. Together, this creates a phenomenon wherein shadows of objects vanish for a minute.
The observatory
The observatory was developed by MP Council for Science and Technology and named after well-known archaeologist Dr Vishnu Shridhar Wakankar run by Acharya Varahmihir Trust. It was inaugurated by chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan on June 11, 2013. Observatory has a dome of 5 metres and height of 12.05 metres. A telescope measuring 0.5 metre has been installed to study stars and planets.
June solstice
Solstice (Latin: solstitium) means sun-stopping. The point on the horizon where the sun appears to rise and set, stops and reverses direction after this day. On solstice, the sun does not rise precisely in the east but to the north of east and sets to the north of west, meaning it's visible in the sky for a longer period of time.
Although June solstice marks the first day of astronomical summer, it's more common to use meteorological definitions of seasons, making the solstice midsummer or midwinter.
