One of the best things that attracts me to North India are the hills. Although I have an aversion to travel in four wheelers in the hills since the U bends make me sick, still the charm of the mountains is irresistible. Driving, I have driven up to Shimla/Nainital only, has been a better experience than being a passenger. Trekking among the lush greenery or just resting under the woods is my idea of a good holiday.
Gomukh |
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Best use of the telescope till now |
However, the equipment was hardly used, out of laziness to set things up. The working of the telescope is easy, however, since the zoom is very high, one need to first set it up in daytime with a visible reference point and then adjust it to point at night objects. For navigating between points in the sky with such high zoom, a small eyepiece is provided but it takes years of practice before it feels easy.
When I was transferred to North India again, I was excited to go for treks and witness the clear sky again. With a telescope with me, I thought a good use will be to go for a trip in the hills where the clear sky would give ample opportunities for star gazing. Last September, searching through the web I chanced upon a Govt of Uttarakhand initiative where they have tied up with private operators to arrange star gazing holidays, aptly called Nakshatra Sava. The Govt had tied up with a start up in Gurgaon (Starscapes Pvt Ltd) to provide curated holidays which included learning about stars, star gazing and talks about astronomy in general. The event was happening in Takula (a small village about 10 kms away from Nainital). I booked the tickets for last week of November.
Nainital is a drivable distance form Panipat. The road was good except a stretch of few kilometers in UP which was yet to get the blessings of either Gadkari ji or Yogi ji. Except that, the road till the destination was smooth. A small stretch of the road passes through the Jim Corbett National Park. End November Nainital was chilly. Our 1st night's stay was up in the hills near the lake. The next day two days and two nights we planned for star gazing.
Day-1 Takula Camp (Nakshtra Sava)
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Sun with the Solar Flare (marked in blue). Height of Solar Flare can be as high as 500000 km (more than 3 times the diameter of earth) |
After the sun set, Venus, Mars, Saturn and Jupiter along with its moons were observed through the different telescopes. The volunteers also explained the different star clusters and how ancient civilizations have created stories with the star clusters especially the Greeks.
The highlight of the day was a talk by Prof Aniket Sule, Assistant Professor of Homi Bhaba Center of Science Education. He gave a lecture on how our calendars have evolved over time, detailing about Luni Solar Calendar and solar calendars.
Day-2 Nainital and Star Gazing from a Homestay
We spent the previous night in a homestay we had booked earlier. The homestay also had a tie up with an agency called the Astro verse, which carried out star gazing activities. There was a planned visit to the observatory nearby in the daytime, but we choose to visit the Naini Lake and had a nice lunch besides the lake. In the evening, Kuldeep from our home stay again showed us all the planets and star clusters. The milky way was also faintly visible to the naked eye. Since we had more time for star gazing here, we could see the Andromeda through the telescope. Andromeda can be spotted with naked eye but need a clear sky. Andromeda, catalogued in the astronomy world as Messier 31, is the nearest galaxy to the Milky Way which is just 2.5 million light years away from the earth (a small distance in the cosmic scale). Andromeda and Milky way are set to merge with each other after 3.9-5.6 billion years.
What amazes me the most is these celestial objects / stars / clusters were observed by ancient Indian Civilizations, may be without any sophisticated instruments. Indian Civilization had not only observed but they had calculated the distances, sizes, made charts with crude instruments. Further they had the knowledge of time dilation which was later popularized by Theories of Relativity.
The other fact, which fascinates me is the size of the known universe. Andromeda, the closest galaxy is 2.5 million Light Years away. 2.5 million Light years is the distance equivalent to the length light will travel in 2500000 years. For information, light travels approximately 300,000 km per second. So, the light we see from Andromeda, had started 2.5 million years ago. If a more advanced civilization is there in a solar system in Andromeda and someone is observing the earth right now, all he could see will be early humans in the form of apes learning to walk and brush us off as insignificant beings. Andromeda is just one galaxy; the known universe has infinite number of galaxies containing infinite no of stars which further have infinite no of planets. The paradox that the universe is so big but intelligent life is only on earth is called the Fermi Paradox. I feel there must be life elsewhere, but we are yet to find each other, or they just choose to ignore us. Considering the vastness of the universe, our civilization is less than a blink of an eye. Earth is habitable, just because it is finely balanced in the solar system. Any small deviation will be catastrophic.
I would encourage young parents and kids to explore this type of activities, which is both educational and recreational. It will also generate an interest in science among the kids. Misha was especially happy seeing the planets herself after reading about them.
I have attached links to both the agencies that carry out the stargazing camps nearby Nainital.
Links:
Astroverse (Astroverse: Wanderers in Space)
Starscapes (Starscapes | India’s Astrotourism & Stargazing Experiences)
Dates I travelled: 29th Nov-1st Dec' 2024.
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