Public Skywatch activities at the Nehru Planetarium, Nehru Memorial Museum and Library, Teen Murti House, New Delhi
Sky watch schedule from January 2018 - Second Saturday of the month
The Nehru Planetarium, New Delhi, has recently been facilitated with the purchase of an 8" and a 14" telescope with some backend instrumentation, as a part of a turnkey project, by the National Council of Science Museums, Kolkata.
Here is a time lapse video of the setting up of the 14" telescope with German equatorial mount. Ajay Talwar (AAAD) was the co-ordinator for the setting up of these telescopes.
There was a small first light ceremony with the telescopes, wherein, these telescopes were used for the first time, in a public skywatch, on the 12th of April 2014. This activity was conducted by the Nehru Planetarium, Nehru Memorial Museum and Library, in collaboration with the Amateur Astronomers Association, Delhi.
Yes, that was how bad, was the light pollution situation here, and yet, we had some very good viewing and imaging undertaken. Ajay Talwar was the co-ordinator for these activities. Prof. H.P. Singh, Department of Physics and Astrophysics, Delhi University, kindly graced the occasion, as chief guest.
During First Light, the two telescopes were installed for operation in the front lawns of the Teen Murti, for a public skywatch.
One of the first enthusiasts, for the skywatch, was one of our resident peacocks in the Teen Murti campus, which you can see amongst the branches of the tree above ;)
And here, well before twilight ended, is an image of Jupiter and three of the visible Galilean moons at that time, projected on to a screen from the 14" telescope, for public viewing.
The following observations were undertaken during First Light: a) Observing the shadow of Io on the surface of Jupiter ( 19:20 hrs) b) Observing Mars close to its opposition c) Observing the dwarf planet Ceres, near its opposition d) Observing Vesta, near its opposition e) Observing Lunar craters
And finally, here is an image of Jupiter obtained through the 14 inch telescope and processed, by Ajay Talwar.
In the months of May/June weekly skywatch activities were organised at the planetarium with an enthusiastic participation by the visitors.
Discontinued during July/August months due to monsoons, the weekly skywatch sessions : First saturday of every month with the AAAD, will be held from October onwards.