 "Guru Purnima 2017: NASA tweets about full moon, Indian twitterati rejoice")
On Sunday, millions of Indians will celebrate Guru Purnima, the first full moon night after the summer solstice. It is celebrated as a day of teachers as students express their gratitude to them. The festival is celebrated by both Hindus and Buddhists. It is said that the celebration is related to the yogis worshipping Sage Ved Vyas on this day.
The festival also got attention from unexpected quarters. The US space agency, NASA tweeted out a picture of the full moon as it listed out the various names it is called by, namely Guru Purnima, Hay Moon, Mead Moon, Ripe Corn Moon, Buck Moon and Thunder Moon. The tweet had been retweeted over 5,000 times at the time of publication.
Full moon this weekend - called Guru Purnima, Hay Moon, Mead Moon, Ripe Corn Moon, Buck Moon, or our favorite, ⛈️ THUNDER MOON ⛈️ pic.twitter.com/XLufAdoDEQ
— NASA Moon (@NASAMoon) July 7, 2017
The tweet came from the NASA Moon twitter handle which is dedicated to updates about the moon. It was later retweeted by the official NASA twitter handle too. Now it is doubtful whether NASA meant the tweet as a celebration of the Indian festival, but it was still enough to set off Indian twitterverse.
Some were thankful to NASA for recognising the festival and wished them a happy Guru Purnima as well:
Thankyou for recognising Guru Purnima, or Teacher's Day as per vedic practices. Wish you all a blessed Guru (Teacher) Purnima (Full moon).
— 🇮🇳 अजीत অজীত Ajit అజిత్ અજીત اجیت अजित (@the_ajitsingh) July 8, 2017
धन्यवाद @NASAmoon
— नरेन्द्र 🇮🇳Narendra Shivaji Patel 🇮🇳 நரேந்திர (@nsp2106) July 8, 2017
गुरु पूर्णिमा की हार्दिक शुभकामनाएँ व अभिनंदन https://t.co/ZfZJwpzkod
While others were busy telling NASA about space:
Guru Purnima moon aligns the closest in the night sky to the center of our galaxy - which is the densest (Guru) area of the Milkyway
— Krishna Ramadas (@sky3102bce) July 7, 2017
#GuruPurnima
— Dileep Kumar (@DileepKumar_) July 8, 2017
Moon shines by reflecting light of the sun,and glorifies it,all disciples can dazzle like the moon by gaining from their Gurus pic.twitter.com/vIrTls2gQx
Some people were deeply worried about NASA’s reputation:
My God. Now, NASA with be labelled a Communal organization, affiliated to RSS.
— Suresh Kochattil (@kochattil) July 8, 2017
Nasa will also lablelled as SANGHI.😀😀
— जयराम खेमका (@JAIRAMKHEMKA) July 8, 2017
Now #NASA will b calld an organization which works under @RSSorg 😆😆😆
— Just an avg engineer (@Engnr_S) July 8, 2017
At least one guy got it right though:
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 "WATCH: Intuitive Machines' Odysseus lands on the moon, first successful American lander in 50 years")
 "How Japan’s first-ever wooden satellite will be a game-changer")
 "NASA wary of space collision between US spacecraft, Russian satellite")
 "US spacecraft Odysseus tips over, falls sideways after dramatic landing")
 "WATCH: Intuitive Machines' Odysseus lands on the moon, first successful American lander in 50 years")
 "How Japan’s first-ever wooden satellite will be a game-changer")