Pune Beat

Arvind Paranjpye of Inter University Centre for Astronomy and Astrophysics (IUCAA) said that Venus was clearly visible in the sky since early Thursday morning till it started moving behind the Moon in the afternoon at around 2.30 pm during the first occultation. Similarly Jupiter also could be clearly seen with the help of 6-inch binoculars, said Paranjpye.

However, the celestial delight for the anxious viewers was marred by the bad weather after 3.30 pm when a sheet of cloud moving from the west direction hampered the visibility of the event. Hence the people could not witness both the planets coming out from behind the Moon in the culminating part of the occultation.

The next similar twin occultation will take place between Mars and Mercury in the year 2056.

Paranjpye further said that on Wednesday night there was a meteor shower in the sky which could be seen in the 80 kms radius from Pune. All the three groups of experts camping at Giant Metrewave Radio Telescope sight at Narayangaon, Pune and Paud observed a very bright meteor at about 10.10 pm on Wednesday night, added Paranjpye.

Corpse waits 2 hours for hearse
The dead body of a Maruti car driver, killed in a crash with a Tempo, lay on the road for nearly two hours due to the non-availability of a hearse.The incident took place near the Shri Shiv Chhatrapati Sports Complex at Balewadi on the much sought Katraj-Dehu Road bypass road on Thursday.

The Mumbai-bound Maruti van had collided head-on with a Tempo around 5.45 p.m. While the car driver Kisan Bhalerao (25) from Dombivili was killed on the spot, RTO inspector from Mumbai, Yashvant Bhoir (45) and Pravin Tambe (35) were seriously injured, said Sub Inspector S D Potghan from Aundh Police Chowkey.

Immediately after the mishap, Potghan made arrangements to shift the injured to the Sassoon Hospital in a jeep. He also summoned a hearse van from the police headquarter. However, the hearse van failed to reach the spot for an hour as it had been summoned elsewhere.

Finally, the dead body was shifted in a hearse van summoned from the Sassoon Hospital around 8 pm, Potghan said.