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AdvisoryCommittee

An advisory committee was formed to look into the desirability and the proposed modalities of the Astrophotography and Image Processing workshop.

Members of the Committee

• Prof. Amitabh Mukherjee, Director, Centre for Science Education and Communication, Delhi University
• Prof. Rupamanjari Ghosh, Dean School of Physics, JNU
• Prof. Patrick Das Gupta, Department of Physics and Astrophysics
• Prof. V.B. Kamble, Director, Vigyan Prasar
• Prof. Gauhar Raza, Senior Scientist, NISTADS
• Prof. Narayani Gupta, JNU

Minutes of the Committee meeting that met on the 26th of June 2008, to discuss the desirability and the proposed modalities of the Workshop.

The following points were discussed orally, during the meeting of the committee.

1. All committee members agreed on the desirability of holding such a workshop for students and amateur astronomers.
2. The mode of selection of the possible participants for the workshop was considered suitable, by the committee members. Concern was expressed against making the participation Delhi centric, and the Planetarium was advised to ensure a wider participation of students and amateur astronomers from all over India.
3. The committee members also advised that the workshop should not be confined to work done during a few days. Attempts should be made to ensure that every one of the participants in the workshop becomes engaged in a long term project in Astronomy, which could be mentored with the help of professional astronomers and educators. It was suggested that such projects should be of at least a year’s duration and be presented in a follow up workshop that could be held towards the later half of 2009, for the same group of participants.
4. Some concerns were discussed related to the possible heterogeneity of the participants in the workshop. These concerns were answered by drawing the attention of the committee, to the fact that the selection process of participants in the workshop, which would be based on the work that they have already done related to either astrophotography or some analysis oriented projects that they may have undertaken in Astronomy, would ensure some relative homogeneity in the level of understanding that could be expected from the participants.
5. Logistics problems with the envisaged plan of holding the overnight observing sessions at Sanchi were discussed by the committee and the planetarium was advised to look for a relatively closer location to Delhi, which might be suitable from the point of view of dark skies.
6. The planetarium was advised to look into the possibility of giving a telescope to each of the participants, to ensure that they have some basic equipment to carry on the envisaged projects. The Planetarium was advised to approach NCSTC for the necessary funding.
7. The possibilities of online and video conferencing participation of amateur astronomers from outside India, who have done commendable quantitative work, through the collaboration of the workshop with the United Nations special project “Astronomers without Borders” was appreciated by the committee members. This would also ensure an enlarged participation of Indian students and amateur astronomers who would not be able to be present at the Delhi workshop, through such online and video conferencing possibilities.
8. The possibility of upgrading the planetarium exhibition area, through the usage of TWAN images (TWAN - The World at Night, a United Nations recognized special project for the International Year of Astronomy) that might be offered to the Planetarium by TWAN astrophotographers, free of licensing charges, was also appreciated by the committee members. The Planetarium was advised to make full utilization of this possibility to transform the exhibition foyer area of the planetarium into an enchanted area celebrating the connections between the land and the sky.
9. The possibility of inviting a TWAN astrophotographer from Greece, who has so far done the best work worldwide, towards imaging an analemma of the Sun, was discussed. This invited delegate could train the Indian amateur astronomers to produce analemma images against Indian monuments, particularly those which have astronomical alignments. This possibility was well appreciated by the committee members. The possibility of making this into countrywide analemma related activities for educational purposes was discussed. The possibility of imaging the annual movement of Sun’s shadow on the Niyat Chakra dials of the Misra Yantra, as part of these activities, was also discussed.
10. The possibility of encouraging all the participants of the workshop, to work for imaging and analysis oriented projects for the July 2009 Total Solar Eclipse, was discussed by the committee members.
11. The Planetarium was advised not to narrow down the topic of the workshop, to astrophotography alone and to widen the scope of the discussions by including some general astronomy awareness topics for beginners.