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 Have your ever observed the night sky with its
countless stars and wondered what the universe is made up of? Do you know that besides the
beauty of it, lie enormous facts about the stars, planets, comets and meteors? The Tamil
Nadu Science & Technology Centre has been organising a basic course in Astronomy -
'The Universe in 9 Steps' for the public and students to understand more in detail about
these wonders of the universe.
The nine - day course
on Saturdays in the evenings will include, besides lectures and planetarium shows, actual
viewing of the constellations, some nebulae and meteors through the telescopes from the
Science Centre grounds under the expert guidance of Dr. Nirupama Raghavan. The first batch
of 50 people is already on the path of learning the fascinating science of Astronomy from
February 12th. "We have received an overwhelming response for the course," says
Dr. M. Sargurumoorthy, Executive Director of the T.N. Science & Technology Centres.
"The aim of this course is to help the enthusiasts enjoy the wonders of the night
sky, besides understanding them. The course will provide a practical, hands-on,
non-mathematical summary of all that one wants to know," he adds. Such is the
enthusiasm among the public that more than 70 people registered for the first batch.
 "But we want to restrict the number to 50, because we want to pay individual
attention to each one of them," says Dr. Nirupama, the Course Director who has also
designed the course. She has conducted similar courses at the Nehru Planetarium, New
Delhi, where she retired as the Director. So, for the real enthusiasts, the Scientists
plan to have more batches immediately after the first batch. There will be lectures,
discussions, and fieldwork, namely, Constellation, star identification and sky gazing.
Explaining about these features, Dr. Nirupama says, "We want to take the participants
to a higher level of understanding. Essentially the first four days will concentrate on
how to orient yourself, how to locate prominent constellations, how things will move in
the sky, time measurement, difference between our clock and the clock used by the
astronomers, etc. There will be activities in the sky theatre too. In simulated sky inside
the planetarium, the celestial coordinating system to identify the stars will be
explained.
 There will be lectures about how the motion of the moon is used to prepare the
calendar in our system and identification of the stars corresponding to each of our
'Nakshatram' mentioned in our 'Lunar Zodiac', to kindle the curiosity of the participants.
In the present day context how the moon is important to us in terms of space exploration
will be dealt in detail. "The most important is exploring the Solar System - how the
discovery came about, the modern aspects of solar system, how every star is a Sun, how the
laws of Physics and Chemistry are used to find the composition of galaxies - all these
will be explained. The Universe can be called a 'grand mother' from which was born the
Sun, which is our parent. Thus we are intimately connected with the Universe. This
approach leads us to the discussion - "Are we alone in the Universe?" This forms
the final session of this course. Understanding all these will certainly take them to a
higher level of enjoyment," concludes Dr. Nirupama.
 After the satisfactory completion of the nine-day course, participants will get a
participation certificate. "They will have to do their home work properly according
to our instructions to get a better understanding of the subject," says Dr. Nirupama
Raghavan. Generally there is a curiosity among the public to know more about these
scientific phenomena these days, thanks to the media, which plays a role in kindling to
this effect. As the next step, the T.N. Science and Technology Centre has taken the right
step to take them on a voyage of learning!
R. Bharathi |
