Pity I could not take the photograph of the full moon last night as I was engaged elsewhere. Last evening it was when goddess Lakshmi was worshipped in every Bengali household.
The goddess is otherwise worshipped every Thursday, and coincidentally the annual ritual this year fell on a Thursday. But there was yet another pleasant coincidence.
In nearly one hundred years the moon was not as close to the earth as it has today early evening. According to available data, in the last 500 years the moon was closest to the earth on January 4, 1912 when the distance was 356,375 km.
And today early evening at 1622 hrs the moon has come as close as 356,754 km. Since it was still daylight the moon could not be seen from Kolkata. Last evening however the moon came within 356,755 km at 1732 hrs, and then the moon shone the brightest in clear sky.
Astronomers say when the moon came closest last evening there was a peripheral increase by at least 14% while its brightness increased by 30%.
Clearly for worshippers of goddess Lakshmi, yesterday was one of the best days ever. The pictures below are taken today evening at around 2000 hrs.
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