Epsilon- Association of the Department of Physics at SJEC organized a Stargazing programme on 21 st March 2018 for the staff and students of the College. The objective of the programme was to build interest among staff and students in Astrophysics. Around 60 students and Faculty participated in the workshop with great enthusiasm.
The programme started at 5:30 pm in Bethania Hall. Dr Vincent Crasta- Convener and HOD-Physics welcomed the resource persons, staff and students present for the programme. Dr Rajesh Kumar P C and Ms Venita Navya Monteiro, Faculty of Physics Department florally welcomed the resource persons. Dr Vincent Crasta introduced the resource persons of the day Dr Jayanth H, Retired Professor, St Agnes College, Mangaluru, Mr Jaganath, Curator, Pilikula Regional Science Centre, Mangaluru, and their team to the participants present, after which he briefed the participants on the purpose of conducting the programme and outline of events for the evening.
Dr Jayanth H in his briefing shared his view about why stargazing started in ancient times, the experiences and observations of sky watch by ancient people and explained about various stars, constellations, planets, moon, galaxies, other celestial objects and various phenomena in space.
After the briefing, high tea was served to all the participants. After the break, sky watch began at 7:00 pm in front of the Bank in the campus. Three telescopes were used for star gazing – one of Dr Jayanth H, other of Mr Jaganath, Pilikula Reginal Science Centre and third of Dr Sridevi Saralaya, HOD, Department of Computer Science & Engineering.
Participants were able to watch moon, stars, nebula and constellations until 9:30 pm. However due to lot of smog accumulation, further viewing was not possible. The participants in discussions utilized the remaining time. The resource person also used various models to explain on solar eclipse, lunar eclipse and other phenomena. The discussions went on until 10:30 pm after which the session was winded up. The Stargazing programme was a success and provided a platform to the students and staff to study various celestial objects and phenomena to build interest in Astrophysics.
