Astronomy outreach event for School Vivekananda.

All knowledge that the world has ever received comes from the mind; the infinite library of the universe is in our own mind. swamy vivekananda.

When volunteers donate their time, equipment and resources and share it with others. ABAA volunteers know that the only thing better than a night under the stars with a telescope is sharing the observing experience with others. One of our main missions is to share the wonders of the night sky and support science education. To accomplish this goal we volunteer our time, telescopes and other resources to groups that are interested in learning more about astronomy.

Association of Bangalore Amateur Astronomers conducted an Astronomy outreach program on 6th February for School Vivekananda in Sahakaranagar Bangalore North. There was a huge turnout for the event which was estimated around 700 school kids and their parents. This outreach program was one of the series of outreach programs which will be conducted in and around Bangalore by Association of Bangalore Amateur Astronomers for IYA 2009
The event started by an introductory talk given by Jayanth and his son Rahul who is also one of the active young members of our association. Rahul’s topic was stellar evolution which kindled much interest.

Jayanth and Rahul talking about Introduction to astronomy and Setllar evolution.

Next talk and slide show was delivered by Nagaraj. His talk was about solar system and man made probes to the planets in our solar system. School Vivekananda had made all arrangements for the LCD projector and the screen. Colorful slides for Mars, Jupiter, Saturn etc., captured the interest and imagination of the school children who thoroughly enjoyed each and every slide with a WOW!!. There were around 300 students present in the huge auditorium and this was the first time that we had conducted the events with such large numbers.

Late evening after dark our activity shifted to the school ground, all the school kids were grouped and made to sit according to their classWe had set up 4 telescopes of different aperture

Naveen’s 6 inch open dob with 25 mm eye and Arun’s 4 inch were focused to moon as dobsonian has a low profile this was mainly dedicated to kindergarden children. Jayanth’s 8 inch and Anil’s telescopes were focused to Venus .

Naveen showing Moon through 6" Dob.

School kids were very happy to see through the telescopes and seeing the details of moon astonished each one of them. Many were found coming back again and again in the Queue to see the moon.

As the evening passed by the onlookers and bystanders got curious and came in to see what’s going? A separate queue was created and Arun’s telescope was dedicated for parents and for the general public who wanted to see through a telescope. So the event turned out to be sidewalk astronomy event along with Astronomy outreach for school.

Parents and onlookers queuing up to have a peep through the telescope
A couple of local Sahakaranagar residence who live near the field dropped in to check out what’s was the event about and we ended up showing the local residence as well.
Lot of curiosity was instilled in the minds of young and old, as usual there were lots of Q & A sessions and discussions happened throughout the telescope-viewing event.

We packed up around 9:30 PM in the night as some of the members had to go to other part of the city in Bangalore South. This event that ABAA had conducted for IYA 2009 got a good response and was hugely successful, for which ABAA members are proud of.

We thank the school principle Ms Amitha Shireesh for making all the arrangements for the event and for giving us the opportunity to conduct this event.

ABAA members who made the event successful.
Geeta, Jayanth, Rahul, Naveen, Nagaraj, Arun, Anil & Akshay.

IYA 2009 Astronomy outreach event at Tumkur

IYA 2009 Astronomy outreach events is at a feverish pitch for ABAA &(Association of Bangalore Amateur Astronomers ). ABAA had organized Outreach program for Tumkur Science center at Kaalidaasa Junior college Tumkur. Tumkur science center is one of most active science club in Tumkur district.

Nagaraj discussing with Tumkur Science center representative.

Me(Naveen), Nagraj and Anand from ABAA had volunteered for the event. We were told that there would be around 300 school students from various schools of Tumkur. School had two telescopes an 8 inch Dob and 6 inch reflector which were built with the assistance of ABAA in one of the ATM workshops. Event started bit late around 7:30 pm in the evening as we reached bit late, all thanks to Bangalore-Tumkur road construction which made out KSRTC but to crawl.

After a warm welcome and quick Tea we were taken to the college terrace where we were supposed to show through the telescopes. we were surprised to see such a huge crowed and they were waiting patiently for us to show the sky.

Nagaraj talking about planets

As it was very difficult to handle such a large crowd with only two telescopes we had to rework on our strategies. We divided the group into 2 so that for one group we engaged them with a talk about Introduction to Night sky while 2nd group were observing throught the telescope.

Naveen talking about Astronomy

We started out with a introduction on IYA 2009 event and the significance about the Outreach program that we were conduction. We gave a brief introduction about Amateur Astronomy and what does amateur astronomers do followed by introduction to constellations.

School children listening to the talk attentively.





IYA 2009 Objectives like "She is an Astronomer", "Astronomy for All" and "Young Astronomers" were also addressed in the event.

Anand had keep one set of students around 100 of them busy with his Q & A sessions and rest for the group were busy viewing through telescope. As the limiting magnitude of the sky at the college was low, the most viewed objects were Moon and venus. School children were patient and waited for there turn to come. It was a fantastic and most successful event. We really thank & appreciate Tumkur Science center and Kaalidasa college for calling us to conduct the event.