[[Eclipses]] [[Eclipse PDFs]] [[Eclipse Sources]] [[5 Kinds of Astronomical Time]] ![[Attachments/ezgif.com-optimize (7).gif]] #### Rahu and Ketu Rāhu (Sanskrit: राहु, ☊) is one of the nine major celestial bodies (navagraha) in Hindu texts. Unlike most of the others, Rahu is a shadow entity, one that causes eclipses and is the king of meteors.[1] Rahu represents the ascension of the moon in its precessional orbit around the earth. Rahu is the north lunar node (ascending) and it along with Ketu is a "shadow planet" that causes eclipses. Rahu has no physical shape. It is an imaginary planet but considering the importance of Rahu in astrology, it has been allocated the status of the planet by Rishis A common myth among the Indian Hindu society is its solar and lunar eclipses are caused by Rahu and Ketu. They are also sometimes referred as the Chhaya graha, meaning shadowy planets. Ancient Hindu scriptures tell us that once Lord Vishnu became angry with the demon Rahu for stealing the celestial liquor and beheaded him with his Sudarshan Chakra. Thereafter, his head started to move across the sky and eventually ended up eating the sun and the moon, causing their eclipse. This story was told to the people in ancient India, as they were not interested in the scientific or the real meaning of Rahu and Ketu. They are nothing but two imaginary astronomical points called the ascending and descending lunar nodes, respectively. To understand the nodes, let us first understand the ecliptic plane. It is the plane containing the orbit of the Earth around the sun or in a geocentric perspective. Ecliptic plane is the plane containing the orbit of the sun around the Earth. Though both of them means the same thing, just differing in the frame of reference. The moon also revolves around the Earth in 27.3 days, so it must also have a plane containing its own orbit around the Earth. Now these two planes are not the same. The plane of the orbit of moon is tilted by an angle of 5.14 degrees from the ecliptic plane, keeping the center of Earth as their common center. You can imagine the ecliptic as a surface of water kept in a bucket and the plane of moon as a disk, which is half immersed in water at an angle of 5.14 degree from the water surface. Now, the circumference of the disk will intersect the water surface at two points, or in other words, the orbit of the moon intersects the plane of the sun at two points, two opposite points. As during revolution, the moon crosses the ecliptic twice because half of its journey in its orbit is below the ecliptic and in the other half above the ecliptic. As the center of Earth is the common center for both the sun Earth plane and the Earth moon plane. These two points are the lunar nodes. One is called the ascending node, as after crossing it, the moon goes above the ecliptic. This ascending node is called Rahu. The point lying 180 degree opposite to the ascending node is called the descending node. As the moon goes below the ecliptic after crossing this point in its orbit. This point is called K2 in Indian astronomy, the line joining Rahu and Ketu, or the ascending and descending node, is called the line of nodes. Now, Astrodynamics has proven that this line of nodes is not stationary due to precession of the lunar orbit. The line of nodes also revolves around the Earth and completes one revolution in every 18.59, nine 9 or 18.6 years. In other words, the lunar nodes keep sweeping along the orbit of moon and completes one revolution around Earth in 18.6 years. Now we come to the relation of Rahu and Ketu with eclipses. Remember, solar eclipse occurs when the shadow of the moon falls on Earth, and lunar eclipse occurs when the shadow of the Earth falls on the moon as light travels in straight line in space to cast shadow on each other, the sun, moon, and Earth have to form a straight line, or in other words, they have to be in the same plane. But these two heavenly bodies are not in the same plane with respect to Earth, except at the lunar nodes. Now, for eclipses to occur, two conditions have to be satisfied simultaneously one, the Earth, moon, and the sun have to be in a straight line. And number two is that moon must be at one of the nodes. This means that the moon must be present at one of the nodes at the time of full moon or new moon for eclipses to occur. This explains why we don't experience eclipse at every new moon or full moon, because the shadow of the Moon or Earth misses each other, as at that time the moon is either above or below the ecliptic plane. This also explains why we don't experience eclipse whenever the moon crosses the nodes, because again, the shadow of Earth and Moon will miss each other because they are not aligned in a straight line. Therefore, an eclipse can occur only when the moon is at either of its nodes at the time of New moon or full moon, so that the sun, moon, and Earth are exactly aligned in a straight line from every angle in space. At the time of New Moon. The moon is between Earth and the sun, and by chance, if it is at one of its nodes, it will cast its shadow on Earth, and people on Earth in that part will not be able to see the sun, or in other words, witness a solar eclipse. Similarly, at the time of full moon, the Earth is between the sun and the moon, and if the moon at that time is present at one of the nodes, Earth will cast its own shadow on the moon, and we on Earth will not be able to see the moonlight, because the moon will not get any light from the sun to shine. In other words, a lunar eclipse would occur. This is the whole story about Rahu and Ketu. They are not at all related to astrology, but are important components of astronomy as they are nothing but the ascending and descending nodes of lunar orbit. Only their myths and stories can be left for astrology. Okay, now answer one question in the comment section. There is a famous phrase in astronomy that an eclipse never comes alone, as it is always seen that whenever there is a lunar eclipse 14 days later, there is always a solar eclipse in some part of the Earth, and vice versa. What is the reason for this regularity? ![[Attachments/Pasted image 20240311065622.png]] http://www.jgiesen.de/saros/index.html | Period             | Solar years     | Days            | | ------------------ | --------------- | ---------------- | | **Saros**          | 18.03 years     | 6,585.3211 days | | **Nodes draconic** | 18.612958 years | 6,798.383 days  | | **Nodes sidereal** | 18.599525 years |                  | ![[Attachments/Eclipse and Lunar Nodes Kahu and Rahu.mp4]] ![[Attachments/Pasted image 20240311065629.png]] ![[Attachments/Pasted image 20240311065632.png]] The diagram illustrates the sequence of lunar months before and after the first and second eclipses, totaling six lunar months, which is a consistent pattern between eclipses. The position of the eclipses marks a significant moment in scientific time, confirming the motion of the moon and the establishment of the seasons beginning in year 0 A.M. The nodes of the moon, which revolve around its orbit in a direction opposite to its progress around the Earth, cause these two eclipses of the same character to repeat after an 18-year period, albeit not at the same time of the year due to their progressive motion. After 651 solar years, these eclipses return to their original dates, demonstrating the moon's completion of its maximum cycle and reaffirming the beginning and date of creation. If during its New Moon or Full Moon phase, the Moon happens to be travelling in the vicinity of one of its orbital nodes it is also aligned with the Earth-Sun plane and thus either: - **obscures the Sun** producing solar eclipse - **is obscured by the Earth** producing lunar eclipse Solar eclipses only happen during the New Moon and lunar eclipses only happen during the Full Moon. This may give some associations: - New Moon’s solar eclipse is a **“super emptiness of spirit”** - Full Moon’s lunar eclipse is an **“obstruction of life’s flow”** ![[Attachments/rahu-and-ketu.jpg]] ![[Attachments/694334_rahu and ketu, black bodies in the sky causing ecl_xl-1024-v1-0.png]] ![[Attachments/694335_rahu and ketu, black bodies in the sky causing ecl_xl-1024-v1-0.png]] ![[Attachments/694336_rahu and ketu, black bodies in the sky causing ecl_xl-1024-v1-0.png]] ![[Attachments/694337_rahu and ketu, black bodies in the sky causing ecl_xl-1024-v1-0.png]] ![[Attachments/694338_rahu and ketu, black bodies in the sky causing ecl_xl-1024-v1-0.png]] ![[Attachments/694339_rahu and ketu, black bodies in the sky causing ecl_xl-1024-v1-0.png]] ![[Attachments/694340_rahu and ketu, black bodies in the sky causing ecl_xl-1024-v1-0.png]] ![[Attachments/_c9c3dd4d-89fe-455b-b622-590775bc2da7.jpeg]] ![[Attachments/_8c73ead2-47ab-4bf2-8206-46586c362d41.jpeg]] ![[Attachments/694339_rahu and ketu, black bodies in the sky causing ecl_xl-1024-v1-0 (1).png]] ![[Attachments/694340_rahu and ketu, black bodies in the sky causing ecl_xl-1024-v1-0 (1).png]] ![[Attachments/694331_rahu and ketu, black bodies in the sky causing ecl_xl-1024-v1-0.png]] ![[Attachments/694332_rahu and ketu, black bodies in the sky causing ecl_xl-1024-v1-0.png]] ![[Attachments/694333_rahu and ketu, black bodies in the sky causing ecl_xl-1024-v1-0.png]]![[Attachments/771334_rahu and ketu, black bodies in the sky causing ecl_xl-1024-v1-0.png]] ![[Attachments/592433_rahu and ketu, black bodies in the sky causing ecl_xl-1024-v1-0.png]] ![[Attachments/592434_rahu and ketu, black bodies in the sky causing ecl_xl-1024-v1-0.png]] ![[Attachments/592435_rahu and ketu, black bodies in the sky causing ecl_xl-1024-v1-0.png]] ![[Attachments/592436_rahu and ketu, black bodies in the sky causing ecl_xl-1024-v1-0.png]] ![[Attachments/592437_rahu and ketu, black bodies in the sky causing ecl_xl-1024-v1-0.png]] ![[Attachments/592438_rahu and ketu, black bodies in the sky causing ecl_xl-1024-v1-0.png]] ![[Attachments/592439_rahu and ketu, black bodies in the sky causing ecl_xl-1024-v1-0.png]] ![[Attachments/592440_rahu and ketu, black bodies in the sky causing ecl_xl-1024-v1-0.png]] ![[Attachments/592441_rahu and ketu, black bodies in the sky causing ecl_xl-1024-v1-0.png]] ![[Attachments/592442_rahu and ketu, black bodies in the sky causing ecl_xl-1024-v1-0.png]] ![[Attachments/105176_rahu and ketu, black bodies in the sky causing ecl_xl-1024-v1-0.png]] ![[Attachments/105177_rahu and ketu, black bodies in the sky causing ecl_xl-1024-v1-0.png]] ![[Attachments/105178_rahu and ketu, black bodies in the sky causing ecl_xl-1024-v1-0.png]] ![[Attachments/105179_rahu and ketu, black bodies in the sky causing ecl_xl-1024-v1-0.png]] ![[Attachments/105180_rahu and ketu, black bodies in the sky causing ecl_xl-1024-v1-0.png]] ![[Attachments/105181_rahu and ketu, black bodies in the sky causing ecl_xl-1024-v1-0.png]] ![[Attachments/105182_rahu and ketu, black bodies in the sky causing ecl_xl-1024-v1-0.png]] ![[Attachments/105183_rahu and ketu, black bodies in the sky causing ecl_xl-1024-v1-0.png]] ![[Attachments/105184_rahu and ketu, black bodies in the sky causing ecl_xl-1024-v1-0.png]] ![[Attachments/105185_rahu and ketu, black bodies in the sky causing ecl_xl-1024-v1-0.png]] ![[Attachments/694331_rahu and ketu, black bodies in the sky causing ecl_xl-1024-v1-0 (1).png]] ![[Attachments/694332_rahu and ketu, black bodies in the sky causing ecl_xl-1024-v1-0 (1).png]] ![[Attachments/694333_rahu and ketu, black bodies in the sky causing ecl_xl-1024-v1-0 (1).png]] ![[Attachments/694334_rahu and ketu, black bodies in the sky causing ecl_xl-1024-v1-0 (1).png]] ![[Attachments/694335_rahu and ketu, black bodies in the sky causing ecl_xl-1024-v1-0 (1).png]] ![[Attachments/694336_rahu and ketu, black bodies in the sky causing ecl_xl-1024-v1-0 (1).png]] ![[Attachments/694337_rahu and ketu, black bodies in the sky causing ecl_xl-1024-v1-0 (1).png]] ![[Attachments/694338_rahu and ketu, black bodies in the sky causing ecl_xl-1024-v1-0 (1).png]] ![[Attachments/771325_rahu and ketu, black bodies in the sky causing ecl_xl-1024-v1-0.png]] ![[Attachments/771326_rahu and ketu, black bodies in the sky causing ecl_xl-1024-v1-0.png]] ![[Attachments/771327_rahu and ketu, black bodies in the sky causing ecl_xl-1024-v1-0.png]] ![[Attachments/771328_rahu and ketu, black bodies in the sky causing ecl_xl-1024-v1-0.png]] ![[Attachments/771329_rahu and ketu, black bodies in the sky causing ecl_xl-1024-v1-0.png]] ![[Attachments/771330_rahu and ketu, black bodies in the sky causing ecl_xl-1024-v1-0.png]] ![[Attachments/771331_rahu and ketu, black bodies in the sky causing ecl_xl-1024-v1-0.png]] ![[Attachments/771332_rahu and ketu, black bodies in the sky causing ecl_xl-1024-v1-0.png]] ![[Attachments/771333_rahu and ketu, black bodies in the sky causing ecl_xl-1024-v1-0.png]] ## 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