Astronomy - An Insightful Journey

Star gazing is one of the oldest human avocations going as past as recorded history.
Every major culture had its own astronomy tradition and folklore. Human beings related the patterns formed by stars in the night sky to objects, animals, folk stories of their time. Surprisingly however, the civilizations around the earth tended to have a common identification and assign common names for a number of constellations – Scorpio for example.

Greek, European, Arabic and Indian civilizations had famous astronomers – Hipparcus, Tycho Brahe, Ptolemy, Copernicus, al-Khwarizimi, Bramhagupta, Aryabhatta etc. Noticeable fact is that astronomers were great mathematicians. Algebra, trigonometry, laws of planetary motion and cosmology have roots in astronomical observations.

Before the advent of modern navigational aids, position of stars was the only navigational
beacons to sailors.

A star filled dark night sky is an awesome sight to behold, if only we city dwellers have access to dark skies. At first sight one gets confused with the seemingly irregular sprinkling of stars with varied color and brightness. However, once a person gets to identify the patterns formed by the stars and identify the constellations, the story gets interesting.

Astronomy as a hobby gives a deeper perspective to human thoughts. It helps to appreciate how immense the universe is and helps develop a sense of broadminded ness in one’s thinking.

Any one can get started in the hobby – there is no age bar, language bar, intellect/ education bar. One just needs to look up and an astronomer in you can be set going.

It is an immense pleasure for us in “Lets do something” to bring an introductory series of interaction with astronomers to enthuse the participants to get started in this hobby. You will get to learn how to read night sky, identify constellations, the kind of astronomical objects that fill our universe – stars, planets, star clusters, galaxies, nebulae, galaxy clusters, the celestial coordinate system, what are various kinds of telescopes, how to use a telescope, telescope optics, do an actual observations through a telescope from within the city and a trip to a place outside the city for observations.

The plan for these are set out as below:

Introductory – Three sessions:

Session 1 – One to two hours – History of astronomy, Introduction to constellations,
types of objects in night sky. Question and answers and interaction.

Session 2 – One hour - A film on solar system. Question and answers and interactions.

Session 3 – Demonstration of a night sky map software – a primer to identifying
constellations followed by actual observations through telescope from a city location.

Session 4 – Trip to a place outside the city and observation from a dark place. Simple
astrophotography. (Provided the sky is clear for a viewing)

Those who are interested can be continued with a full fledged three month course on Astronomy with curriculum developed by European Southern Observatory (ESO) and several observations and field trip to Kavalur observatory. All participants will be dully informed when these sessions begin.

 

Age Group: 8yrs - 80yrs old
Fee: Rs. 750/participant
Date: Oct 2nd
Time: 1 - 4pm

Venue: Lets do Something, Velachery.
Registration & contact details : www.letsdosomething.in or call in at 044-45014350
NOTE: Kids below the age of 13yrs need to be accompanied by a parent during the outdoor trip.

REFUND POLICY: In case of bad weather students would be refunded Rs. 300 and informed of on a later date, when sky-viewing is possible.

Click below to Register and block your seat today... Hurry !!!!

Workshops Scheduled in Sep & Oct

 

1. Pottery & Pot Painting – Sep 12th, Sep 19th (Adults & Kids)
2. Crystal Painting – Sep 18th
3. Marble Finish Painting – Sep 18th
4. Japanese Art of Origami – Sep 26th
5. Journalism Avenues for Career (for Kids) - Sep 26th
6. Astronomy - Theory and Overnight Sky viewing for Moon and Jupiter – Oct 3rd
7. Rubik cube Solving – Oct 9th, 10th
8. Terracotta Jewellery Making – Oct 23rd 
9. Clay Sculpting & Modern Clay Work – Oct 24th
10. Basics of Share Trading – Oct 30th
11. Personality Development and Communication for Kids – Oct 31st

Join our online communitiesto be posted on the latest workshops coming up.

 

** ** ** ** Free Events for Kids ** ** ** **

 

Drawing and Painting Competition– Sep 25th

** Talk to us if you’d like to be part of our community initiatives