Abstract Details

Name: Avinash Kumar
Affiliation: RAD@home Astronomy Collaboratory, India
Conference ID: ASI2020_484
Title : Spreading astronomy education through #RGBviaNASAnRADatHomeIndia and citizen science research through #DilSeDiscovery
Authors and Co-Authors : Avinash Kumar, Preet Agnihotri, Megha Rajoria, Akshat Kumar Misra, Sushrut Mane, Apoorva Prakash, Sanjay Kumar, Alakananda Patra, Arpita Misra, Abhishek Hota, Joydeep Naskar, Ananda Hota
Abstract Type : Poster
Abstract Category : Extragalactic Astronomy
Abstract : Govt of India, through "Vigyan Samagam” Mega-Science Exhibition, has given high priority to public awareness of seven international research projects. Three out of seven of these, namely SKA, TMT, and LIGO, are in astronomy. To make India prepared for that mega-science era, there is a serious need to spread both multi-wavelength astronomy education which is absent in Universities and Nation-wide Inter-University Citizen Science Research. Since April 2013, RAD@home Collaboratory ( #RADatHomeIndia www.radathomeindia.org ) has been training the public on how to make and interpret X-ray-UV-Optical-IR-Radio RGB+contour images following a specific manual and using the NASA Skyview web site. These pretty #RGBviaNASAnRADatHomeIndia images not only attract the public but also teaches them basic astronomy of galactic objects like Krittika (Pleiades) constellation, supernova remnant, planetary Nebulae, star-forming regions, and nearby galaxies, radio galaxies, clusters of galaxies, high-z galaxies, etc. With the help of a dozen research institutes, nearly a thousand people have been trained. Using the PIN of their home-towns and Universities, students/citizens can create images and discuss them online sitting at home. Furthermore, nationally-selected 150+ of them have been trained to an advanced level, in one week-long Discovery Camps, to discover faint-fuzzy new/unpublished radio sources from TGSS DR5/ADR1 data taken with the GMRT. Those sources have been followed up through the GTAC-approved GOOD-RAC project with the GMRT. Through the recently launched #DilSeDiscovery activity, in collaboration with the Camp-trained e-astronomers, any RGB-trained citizens can discover and contribute to GOOD-RAC. We shall present several new results from uGMRT imaging of various relic-lobe radio galaxies and diffused emission from clusters of galaxies.