For centuries, scientists have been using simple equipment to make fairly precise measurements of the nearby universe, and infer many of their properties. A good part of this predates the invention of the telescope. We would like to encourage school and college level projects using equipment that is not difficult to obtain, which helps elucidate basic concepts in astronomy. Please do write to us about your ideas, or if you would like to organise such projects at your institution.
National campaign to measure the Earth’s diameter
We are giving out a call for all schools and amateur astronomy clubs in India to participate in this campaign.
The aim of this activity is to get amateur astronomers, teachers and students to estimate the circumference of the Earth using the same principle used by Eratosthenes,the Greek mathematician, poet, athlete, geographer and astronomer, over 2000 years ago.
Measuring the sky using Jantar Mantar
The Jantar Mantar observatories (at Delhi, Jaipur, Ujjain and Varanasi) have the potential to be used as a wonderful teaching laboratory for positional astronomy. Without confining ourselves to just these cities, we could use the concept of these instruments and their pedagogical value towards teaching basic positional astronomy through construction of models of these instruments.
Gathered here are resources to understand the usage of the Jantar Mantar observatory instruments for positional astronomy measurements
Celebrating the 900th anniversary of Bhaskaracharya
Bhaskaracharya (b 1114AD) is very well known for his contributions to mathematics and astronomy. His works Lilavathi, Siddhanta Siromani, Graha Ganitha and Beeja Ganitha –– are cited heavily by all later astronomers.
This year, being the 900th birth anniversary, many conferences are being planned all over India and abroad. Scholarly lectures and discussions are arranged.