and we start with a bang!
As i mentioned, i am part of the amateur astronomy club at IIT Madras called Astro IITM and almost 6 weeks into the semester, we finally had our first freshers introduction session. this time around, as we are part of CFI (center for innovation), we were able to book CLT (central lecture theater). The session happened from 8-10:30 on the saturday, 15th September. Though we intended to have a theory session from 8-9 and move on to the roof top of the building to show them out telescopes and woo them, it started to rain 30 mins into the presentation and all our hopes for the rest of the night were swept away in the rain. but, we did continue the theory session till 10PM, continued further talking about observations, black holes and what not till 10:30, at which point, the guard asked us to wrap it up as it was getting too late :D...
the session was based on the scale of the universe flash website, we introduced them to the different yard sticks when it comes to sizes, the small and extra large. after we quickly ran through the smaller scales, we moved on to the bigger scale, it being the solar and galactic scales. we explained the different yard sticks like AU, parsec and how they are relevant to astronomy, we talked about the star cycle, we discussed interesting trivia on astronomy and other topics. it was one of the most active and involving crowd we've had in a long time and it was good fun giving the talk. Srinikethan and I were presenting and Suraj joined us half way through the lecture. Praveen dropped by with his violin but quickly declined out requests for him to play in CLT.
after finishing the scale of the universe, we discussed Stellarium , a popular observation tool used by amateur astronomers. and we asked around if they had smartphones with them and asked them to install Google Sky Maps or the iOS equivalants .
overall, it was a successful session interms of the people turning up, interms of audience participation and in terms of out anticipation! :D ...
we'll have one more on the 19th September, from 10-12AM on
"Astronomy and the EM spectrum : Energy from the Stars" which will deal with the emissions from the stars and understanding this radiation. Let's see how that goes ....
Adios ..
the session was based on the scale of the universe flash website, we introduced them to the different yard sticks when it comes to sizes, the small and extra large. after we quickly ran through the smaller scales, we moved on to the bigger scale, it being the solar and galactic scales. we explained the different yard sticks like AU, parsec and how they are relevant to astronomy, we talked about the star cycle, we discussed interesting trivia on astronomy and other topics. it was one of the most active and involving crowd we've had in a long time and it was good fun giving the talk. Srinikethan and I were presenting and Suraj joined us half way through the lecture. Praveen dropped by with his violin but quickly declined out requests for him to play in CLT.
after finishing the scale of the universe, we discussed Stellarium , a popular observation tool used by amateur astronomers. and we asked around if they had smartphones with them and asked them to install Google Sky Maps or the iOS equivalants .
overall, it was a successful session interms of the people turning up, interms of audience participation and in terms of out anticipation! :D ...
we'll have one more on the 19th September, from 10-12AM on
"Astronomy and the EM spectrum : Energy from the Stars" which will deal with the emissions from the stars and understanding this radiation. Let's see how that goes ....
Adios ..
