A chance to watch the celestial spectacle of Lyrids meteor shower from the foothills of Anaimalai

After the loss of life of his spouse Eurydice, Orpheus, the son of the Greek god Apollo and goddess Calliope, overcome with grief, ventured into the underworld to try to convey her again. He was an extremely proficient musician. He performed the lyre so fantastically that it even charmed the gods. So, Hades, the god of the underworld, and Persephone, his spouse, agreed to let Eurydice go along with Orpheus on one situation: that he didn’t look again at her till that they had left the underworld. 

Orpheus, nonetheless, couldn’t resist. He was suspicious that Hades was deceiving him. As they neared the exit, he rotated and checked out his spouse. As a end result, she was pulled again into the underworld, leaving Orpheus to mourn her loss once more. He spent the relaxation of his life aimlessly wandering, strumming his lyre. But to honour Orpheus’ unimaginable musical expertise, the gods positioned his lyre in the sky as the constellation Lyra. Or so goes the story in Greek mythology.

The constellation, nonetheless, is said to a visible spectacle than an auditory bliss. It is the place the Lyrids, one of the oldest and most placing meteor showers seem to come from. It has been noticed for over 2,700 years, with the earliest recorded sighting courting again to 687 BC by the Chinese. It normally peaks throughout late April. This 12 months, in accordance to NASA, it will likely be lively from April 15 to 29, peaking on 21 and 22 (22 and 23 in India).

In Coimbatore, the Pollachi-based tourism operators, The Papyrus Itineraries, in partnership with stargazing tour organisers Starvoirs, have deliberate a sky-gazing occasion to watch the meteor shower. About 20 individuals will collect in the foothills of Anaimalai on April 22 and 23 to witness the annual celestial spectacle.

Pravin Shanmughanandam, the founder of The Papyrus Itineraries, is happy. “This is the first time we are doing a stargazing event. We have invested in a telescope. This event is an extension of our wish to make people experience Nature. We already offer Nature walks, bird walks, and other treks.”

Located in the foothills of Anamalais, away from mud and lightweight air pollution, the individuals can have a transparent view of the night time sky, says Sarath Prabhav, an astrophysicist working with Starvoirs, who will information the sky-gazers. While the Lyrids meteor shower might be seen via the bare eye, the individuals could have a better view of different celestial objects like Venus and the Milkyway by way of the telescope.

“The Lyrids are bright and, at their peak, produce about 20 meteors per hour. The ideal observation time is between 12am to 5.30am. Apart from the participants at Anamalai, others can also observe the Lyrids from their homes. But they should be away from light pollution,” Sarath informs us.

But a sky-gazing session with Starvoirs is extra than simply taking a look at the sky, in accordance to its founder, Bhava Nandhi, an astrophotographer. “We combine teaching astronomy with a lot of storytelling. We sometimes try to incorporate music. For instance, in another Lyrids sighting event in Chidambaram, we are getting independent musician Siennor to perform. We try to get our participants hooked on astronomy,” he says.

He shares a narrative to make a case that one needn’t have a science background to get pleasure from astronomy. “During the pandemic, we had a cook from Bihar in one of our campsites. He was just 22. He came with me for one of the sky-gazing sessions. He got hooked. He learnt so much in the last three years that he now manages one of the campsites! He teaches the participants how to operate the telescopes among other things.”

Like the Greek gods mesmerised by Orpheus’s lyre, we, it appears, are endlessly fascinated by the stars above us.

For extra details about the occasion and reserving, contact 9123555031 or 9443976979