An outreach program was arranged for about 40-50 students of PPEC on Saturday, 17th Jan 09. A brief introduction was given about Bangalore Astronomical Society.
Instruments provided by school: Newtonian Reflector 8 inch and Refractor 4 inch. Students were explained about the telescopes and how to handle a telescope. I gave the students some tips for night sky observation, explained about the different types of stars. We watched various objects like Venus, Orion Nebula and various stars like Aldebaran, Betelgeuse, Rigel, Sirius, Polestar.
I explained about how to measure the distance of a star from the horizon through simple ways and the coordinate system. Using the Astronomical Laser and I showed the Students the different constellations and explained about the Zodiacal constellation and how to find a star/constellation in the night sky. Showed some astro photos to students and explained a few objects.
Due to time constraints we had to close our observation sessions at 9:30 pm. BAS would like to thanks PPEC teachers for providing the support. Students of PPEC were enjoying every moment learning astronomy. Some of them infact tried to point and focus various celestial objects in 8" scope.
"The whole the event was a huge success thanks to Naveen. My friends and my teachers enjoyed it a lot and want to arrange another one somewhere in February. My teachers also loved the way Naveen interacted with the students and thought them in very simple ways." - Utkarsh, Student PPEC.
Event Coordinator : Naveen Nanjundappa.