Sky Observation @ Vangani

A weekend at a place called Vangani on 28th of March, 2009 for a Sky Observation was just the same as last time. Fanstastic! The Observation session was Organized by Khagol Mandal. For me it was a night-sky sprinkled with stars & the constellations to identify. Astronomy was my passion long time but Martial Art & Engineering Career Aspirations got in the middle. The Club, Khagol Mandal has been conducting these sessions for more than 20 years, but silly me, I never went there before even though I heard about it so many times. In fact Vangani is like just 5 stations away from my place, but still something had blindfolded me before. I was oblivion to pursue this career due to a so-called "dedication" to Martial Art and people around it for a good 14 years! Then came family & their problems. Obviously being the eldest and the only son, I had to take the seat behind the wheel. Sadly, many opportunities were lost mean time. But today, getting back there as a hobby is really exciting. I am enroute to pursue a career in Astrophysics full time, but some things had to be fixed before that.

The Observation sessions were really well-organized. It was at a Farm House of some good Samiritan named Mr. Chavan. Our anchors were members of Khagol Mandal. The programme was divided into sections between Tea Time(s) & Dinner. There were two sets of groups organized for people who would like to listen in English and the ones in Marathi. The anchors were very well experienced in their work. There were also few students doing their MSc & few working professionals but interested in Astronomy or have been following this club for long time, to present some aspects of Astronomy. Knowledge regarding Constellations, Comets, Asteroids and Planets were given in the manner so that even non-science participant can also comprehend. The most interesting part of the event was seeing Saturn & Jupiter through Telescope. I saw Saturn with its rings & Jupiter with its four satellites, thanks to the eight inch Telescope. I wanted to take snaps with the new Digital Camera, but I did not know how to use the night vision & also placing it on the Telescope and rearranging the setup was not feasible, since so many people were lined up. But I will make it some other time soon. The view of Saturn was fantastic, since it was once in 17 years. The rings were edge on. Another interesting was the Meteor Showers & Satellite Motions. We saw at least 4 satellites in different orbits. It is a spectacular view. One of the meteor shower was an awesome show of two red fireballs making a raging parabolic surge in the Earth's atmosphere. I wish it could be anticipated and capture it. But Sky-Observations are always a surprise.

I must say Sky-Observations are quiet geeky way of camping. Many of the observers were found napping or yawning or in deep sleep. I guess they came with some one who was interested. I did not have a wink of sleep.

Though very interesting, today with my awareness of Physics, I am interested in Astrophysics. Astronomy has tinge of Astrology, which I am skeptic. But it is interesting to listen. The Q & A sesions were usual with the same queries such as Black Hole, Hypernova etc. I guess google has better answers. But still when people ask such questions like Black Hole, Dark Matter, Dark Energy etc, I find too amateurish! Most of these could be understood only Mathematically & even today we have not got the technological capability to see them. But they are so mysterious, that every body jumps into it the first chance they get either in the form of Questions or Analysis. I never dare to ask questions, not because I have stage fear or think my question will be stupid, but instead I feel I would like to solve my questions & just an answer by the Speaker in a limited time is reasonably insufficient for such topics. Besides that reading only about one topic will help in discovering plethora of topics & answering many questions, hence I keep mum in the Seminars, Public Lectures and Observation sessions. Also, one has to have certain type of grasp in the basics of Physics & Mathematics. But questions asked by kids are welcome, since that shows they are interested.

All in all, it was wonderful experience. Here are some snaps which are not any Celestial Objects but The Sun!

The Sun set captured in some amateurish way!



A Garden near the Observation Block!