The aspiring astronomers or sky gazers from GIIS Bangalore were all set to experience the most exciting and interesting show from the sky above. The first-of-its-kind ‘Night Sky Observation’ study tour with night stay for the Astronomy students of Grade 4-9 was a wonderful experience for one and all. The venue for the night stay was the Pyramid Valley International, situated off Kanakapura road in Bangalore. The first session started with the introduction to the Night Sky. This was meant to sensitize the astronomy students about all the things they would be watching in the night. The students were excited to know more about the constellation, the big bang theory, meteors, comets, galaxies, clusters, red and blue shift phenomenon and much more about the mystic world of astronomy.  The teachers made the session very interactive and cited simple examples to explain the various celestial observations.

After a sumptuous dinner, the students were given another quick theoretical session on sky mapping, constellation watch and how to use the Planisphere. Then the students set off for their first ‘Sky Gazing’ experience with torches in their hands and a short adventurous trek to the nearest hillock, ideal to witness the live show. The walk was worth every spectacle that everyone experienced. With the help of a green laser pointer, generally used by astronomers for sky gazing sessions, their teacher made all the stars, clusters, planets seem so much nearer to the young sky watchers. The students could identify stars like Sirious, the Betelgeuse, many star constellations like Orion, Ursa major and minor, Leo, Corvus and Hydra Centaurus, zodiac constellations like Leo, Taurus, Aries, Capricorn  and even Saraswati supercluster during the enlightening mid night session under the shelter of the sky. One interesting activity was to track the time by observing the position of the stars and using the planisphere wherein they were able to tell the exact time without using a watch or mobile phones. They could track movement of planets and were very excited to watch the planets like Jupiter, Moon and Saturn in the early hours with the help of telescopes. The moon mapping activity was also exciting.

Overwhelming responses from students and parents

The students gave candid feedbacks with broad smiles. ‘The best part was watching the stars and the zodiac constellations shown using the green laser beam light.’ ‘Watching Jupiter with 4 stars beside it, Saturn with rings and the craters of the Moon was exciting.’ The parents were thankful and happy with the school and the team for making astronomy a passionate hobby for students. They said that such educational trips would definitely enhance their knowledge beyond books because what children see, gets registered in the minds for longer. Moreover, the world of stars and planets are sure to attract the young minds with surprises.