Key Contributors



By admin; Published 20 Oct 2009

Hemant Hariyani

Hemant Hariyani is one of the founding members of BAS and one of the key people behind it's inception as a formal organization. As the president of BAS ever since, He has helped formulate and provide directionality towards BAS values and activities that keep us going today. He's also been a prolific contributor to BAS activities often taking various activity initiatives by himself and inspiring others by example.

His Astronomy interests include Astrophysics, Observing, Astrophotography as well as instrumentation. He also pursues a Masters' degree in Astrophysics. Apart from his good humor, Hemant is also known for the number of telescopes he's owned - which he has also generously shared with others for all BAS activities.

Hemant is currently based in the UK. He continues to take keen interest in BAS activities albeit remotely until he is slated to return.

Email: hemanthariyani at gmail dot com


Naveen Nanjundappa

Naveen joined BAS in September 2006. Ever since, he's been instrumental in organizing, handling and mentoring our outreach activities. Naveen has also been the Vice-president of BAS through this period and his work in managing BAS administrative activities and Volunteers has been enormous. Naveen also handles our public relations and is the first point of contact for various interests in BAS. He also speaks at various amateur astronomy sermons and programs for school children.

His Astronomy interests include Observing, Astrophotography and Physics. Apart from working tirelessly for BAS, Naveen is a software professional for a living. On the parallel, he also pursues a Masters degree in Physics.

Email: naveen.nanjundappa at gmail dot com

Akarsh Simha

Akarsh Simha has been part of BAS since Nov 2006 although his association with other BAS members goes beyond that. Since then, He's taken keen interest in BAS activities and has contributed voraciously to BAS administrative tasks and events. Sharing intense zeal and passion for BAS and it's activities, He contributes ideas, helps analyze and tackle problems and take decisions.

Akarsh is also one of the foremost observers in BAS. His passion for observing is reflected in his love for large aperture telescopes. Observing apart, Akarsh is also interested in Astrophotography and Physics. Akarsh also develops, contributes to and maintains KStars - a free and open source planetarium software for KDE. His other interests include free and open source software, Classical Music and spirituality.

By academics, Akarsh pursues an Engineering degree in Physics from IIT Madras. He also plans to pursue physics as a career.

Email: akarshsimha at gmail dot com
Blog: http://kstars.wordpress.com/

Amar Sharma

Amar Sharma is one of the founding members of BAS. Famous in the local astronomy circle for his comet-obsession, Amar is a prolific and obsessed observer who's amassed 400+ Deep Sky Objects and about 25 Comets in his observing career. Amar's all encompassing dream is to discover a comet one day (or night). One of the most active people in the group, Amar is infamous for his restlessness to go observing, irrespective of the time of week, month or the state of weather.

Equally well known for his curiously amusing quotations, Amar in many ways personifies the zeal for Astronomy that is a common trait shared across the group. He enjoys much (and deserving) posterity in BAS circles for all things Observing related.

Email: amar10sharma at gmail dot com
Web: http://angelfire.com/space2/amar