Astronomical Events of Mar 2023

Astronomical Events of Mar 2023

MAR-2023
  • Thursday, March 2, 2023 
    • at 3:05:00 PM Mercury 0° 56′ S of Saturn 
    • at 4:11:00 PM Venus 0° 32′ N of Jupiter 
  • Friday, March 3, 2023 
    • at 6:40:00 PM Moon greatest lat. N 5° 04′ 
    • at 11:30:00 PM Moon at apogee 
  • Tuesday, March 7, 2023 
    • at 6:10:00 PM Full Moon 
  • Wednesday, March 8, 2023 
    • at 7:14:00 AM Mercury greatest helio. lat S 
  • Saturday, March 11, 2023 
    • at 2:23:00 PM Moon in descending node 
  • Tuesday, March 14, 2023 
    • at 11:04:00 PM Venus in ascending node 
  • Wednesday, March 15, 2023 
    • at 7:38:00 AM Last Quarter 
  • Thursday, March 16, 2023 
    • at 5:10:00 AM Neptune in conjunction with Sun 
    • at 8:37:00 PM Mercury 0° 25′ S of Neptune 
  • Thursday, March 16, 2023 
    • at 11:40:00 PM Mars in square with Sun 
  • Friday, March 17, 2023 
    • at 4:12:00 PM Mercury in superior conjunction 1° 28′ S of Sun 
  • Friday, March 17, 2023 
    • at 4:26:00 PM Moon greatest lat. S 5° 09′ 
  • Sunday, March 19, 202
    • at 8:43:00 PM Moon at perigee 
    • at 8:52:00 PM Saturn 3° .60 N of Moon 
  • Tuesday, March 21, 2023 
    • at 2:54:00 AM Vernal Equinox 
    • at 12:17:00 PM Neptune 2°.40 N of Moon 
    • at 10:53:00 PM New Moon 
  • Wednesday, March 22, 2023 
    • at 5:40:00 AM Mercury 1°.80 N of Moon 
  • Thursday, March 23, 2023 
    • at 1:26:00 AM Jupiter 0°.50 N of Moon Occultation 
  • Friday, March 24, 2023 
    • at 7:37:00 AM Moon in ascending node 
  • Friday, March 24, 2023 
    • at 3:57:00 PM Venus 0° 10 N of Moon Occultation 
  • Saturday, March 25, 2023 
    • at 6:09:00 AM Uranus 1°.50 S of Moon 
  • Monday, March 27, 2023 
    • at 9:02:00 AM Mercury in ascending node 
  • Tuesday, March 28, 2023 
    • at 6:46:00 PM Mars 2° .30 S of Moon 
    • at 8:04:00 PM Mercury 1°.27’N of Jupiter 
  • Wednesday, March 29, 2023 
    • at 8:02:00 AM First Quarter 
  • Thursday, March 30, 2023 
    • at 9:06:00 PM Moon greatest lat. N 5° 11′ 
  • Friday, March 31, 2023 
    • at 11:40:00 AM Venus 1° 18’N of Uranus 
  • Friday, March 31, 2023 
    • at 4:48:00 PM Moon at apogee 

compiled by: Rohan Yadav (yrohan31(at)gmail(dot)com)

Partial Solar Eclipse – 25th October 2022

On 25th October 2022 along with Diwali, India is going to experience a partial solar eclipse. Solar eclipse will be visible from the most of part of India excluding North-East states. Here are few highlights and related scientific explanation of this astronomical event.

What is Partial Solar Eclipse?

Solar eclipses occurs when the Moon comes in between the Sun and Earth. As a result, an observer from Earth can see the Moon passing over and covering the Sun.
Also, during solar eclipse, due to the Sun, the Moon’s shadow is casted on the Earth.

A partial solar eclipse occurs when, the Moon, the Sun and Earth are not aligned in a perfectly straight line. In this type of eclipse, the Sun is only partially obscured by the Moon. From our perspective, this looks like the Moon has taken a bite out of the Sun. In partial solar eclipses, the Moon casts only the outer part of its shadow, the penumbra, on Earth.

Where the Eclipse is visible?

This partial solar eclipse will be visible from Europe, Russia (Ural region and Western Siberian region) ,Central Asia and Western Asia, and north-east of Africa.

The animation shows how the moon’s shadow moves over the globe.

What are the timings of Eclipse?

First location to see the partial eclipse25 Oct, 08:58:21 UTC
Maximum Eclipse25 Oct, 11:00:16 UTC
Last location to see the partial eclipse25 Oct, 18:09:00 UTC
Partial solar eclipse ends25 Oct, 13:02:11 UTC

Precautions

The Sun’s UV radiation can burn the retinas in the eyes leading to permanent damage or even blindness. This can occur even if your eyes are exposed to direct sunlight for just a few seconds.

Proper eye protection, like eclipse glasses or a Sun filter, is the only safe option

According to NASA, the following materials should never be used to view a solar eclipse: sunglasses of any kind , color film, medical X-ray film, smoked glass

Timing in Mumbai (Local time adjusted)

Partial solar eclipse begins25 Oct, 16:49
Maximum Eclipse25 Oct, 17:42
Sunset time25 Oct, 18:09
Partial solar eclipse ends25 Oct, 18:32

Timings for the other Indian Cities

Eclipse 25-oct-2022
Eclipse Visibility in India Source: Rashtriya Panchaang by Positional Astronomy Centre, Kolkata

Partial solar eclipse begins when the Moon starts moving over the Sun’s disk.
Maximum eclipse happens when the Moon covers the maximum of the Sun’s disk than at any other moment during the eclipse.
Partial solar eclipse ends when the Moon stops covering the Sun.

Direction of Moon over Sun during eclipse.
If we consider Sun as dial of a clock, then moon will ascend on the Sun from 9 o’clock direction i.e. from South west direction and before the eclipse ends, the Sun will set.

What is Saros Number?

This eclipse belongs to Saros 124 series. It is number 55 of 73 eclipses of this series. All eclipses in this series occur at the moon’s descending node. The moon moves northward in relation to the node with each succeeding eclipse in the series.

It is found that eclipses repeat itself after 18 years and 10/11 days. This means after every 18 years and 10/11 days, the Earth, the Sun, and Moon come in same position with respect to each other. As a result, due to similar alignment, eclipse repeats itself after same duration. This duration is called ‘Saros Cycle’.
All the solar eclipses happening due to a particular alignment of positions of the Sun, the Moon and the Earth and in one set of repetitions are clubbed into a Saros series/Saros family.

Magnitude of Solar Eclipse

The fraction of the apparent diameter of the disk of the Sun covered by that of the Moon at time of maximum eclipse is called the magnitude of eclipse.

Magnitude of partial solar eclipse is 0.8620. The Greatest Eclipse Point is placed at coordinates [61° 38′ 55.6″ N, 77° 20′ 44.7″ E]. From the Greatest Eclipse Point, at the time of maximum eclipse, the Moon covers 82.11% of Sun’s surface.
.
For Mumbai, magnitude of this eclipse is 0.3601. Maximum Eclipse will be at 17:43:00 local time when the 24.41% of Sun’s surface will be covered by the Moon

By- Mayura Behere

Astronomical Events in Oct -2022

Astronomical Events in Oct -2022

Astronomical Events Oct-2022

Below is the list of prominent astronomical events in Oct-2022

Note: All the timings are in IST

  • Saturday, October 1, 2022
    • at 8:19:00 PM Mercury Stationary in RA 
  • Sunday, October 2, 2022
    • at 10:37:00 AM Mercury in ascending node
  • Monday, October 3, 2022
    • at 5:44:00 AM First Quarter 
  • Tuesday, October 4, 2022
    • at 10:03:00 PM Moon at perigee 
    • at 10:14:00 PM Moon greatest latitude S 5°. 07′
    • at 9:21:00 PM Saturn 4°.08 N. of Moon 
  • Friday, October 7, 2022
    • at 2:29:00 AM Mercury at perihelion 
  • Saturday, October 8, 2022
    • at 8:03:00 AM Neptune 3°.10 N. of Moon 
    • at 11:32:00 PM Pluto stationary in RA 
    • at 11:42:00 PM Jupiter 2°.07 N. of Moon
  • Sunday, October 9, 2022
    • at 2:43:00 AM Mercury greatest elongation. W. (18°.0)
  • Monday, October 10, 2022
    • at 2:25:00 AM Full Moon 
  • Wednesday, October 12, 2022
    • at 3:19:00 AM Moon in ascending node Wednesday,
    • at 12:16:00 PM Uranus 0°.85 S of Moon Occultation
  • Saturday, October 15, 2022
    • at 10:01:00 AM Mars 3°.62 S of Moon 
  • Monday, October 17, 2022
    • at 7:50:00 AM Mercury greatest helio. latitude N.
    • at 3:50:00 PM Moon at apogee 
  • Monday, October 17, 2022
    • at 8:31:00 PM Venus 3°.49 N of Spica 
    • at 10:45:00 PM Last Quarter
  • Tuesday, October 18, 2022
    • at 9:24:00 PM Moon greatest latitude N 5°. 12′
  • Wednesday, October 19, 2022
    • at 7:00:00 PM Pluto in square with Sun
  • Thursday, October 20, 2022
    • at 7:44:00 AM Mars in ascending node 
  • Sunday, October 23, 2022
    • at 2:48:00 AM Venus in superior conjunction 1°03’N of Sun
  • Sunday, October 23, 2022
    • at 2:00:00 PM Saturn stationary in RA 
  • Monday, October 24, 2022
    • at 9:14:00 PM Mercury 0°.39 S of Moon 
  • Tuesday, October 25, 2022
    • at 4:19:00 PM New Moon; Solar Eclipse 
    • at 4:59:00 PM Mercury 3°.90 N of Spica 
    • at 5:35:00 PM Venus 0°.00 N of Moon 
  • Wednesday, October 26, 2022
    • at 12:00:00 PM Moon in descending node
  • Saturday, October 29, 2022
    • at 8:06:00 PM Moon at perigee 
  • Sunday, October 30, 2022
    • at 4:23:00 PM Mars stationary in RA

compilation by Rohan Yadav

Astronomical Events in Sep-2022

Astronomical Events in Sep-2022

astronomical events in SEP-2022

Below is the list of prominent astronomical events in Sep-2022

Note: All the timings are in IST
  • Friday, September 2, 2022
    • at 2:42:00 AM Moon in descending node
  • Saturday, September 3, 2022
    • at 11:38:00 PM First Quarter
  • Monday, September 5, 2022
    • at 1:41:00 AM Venus at perihelion
    • at 6:51:00 AM Venus at 0°.78 N. of Regulus
  • Wednesday, September 7, 2022
    • at 7:47:00 PM Moon greatest latitude S 5°01′
    • at 11:49:00 PM Moon at perigee
  • Thursday, September 8, 2022
    • at 4:01:00 PM Saturn 3°.94 N. of Moon
  • Friday, September 9, 2022
    • at 6:30:00 AM Mars 4°.34 N. of Aldebaran
  • Saturday, September 10, 2022
    • at 1:09:00 AM Mercury stationary in RA
    • at 3:29:00 PM Full Moon
  • Sunday, September 11, 2022
    • at 12:24:00 AM Neptune 3°.03 N. of Moon
    • at 5:45:00 PM Jupiter 1°.81 N. of Moon
  • Tuesday, September 13, 2022
    • at 8:43:00 AM Mercury greatest helio. lat S.
  • Wednesday, September 14, 2022
    • at 8:19:00 PM Moon in ascending node
  • Thursday, September 15, 2022
    • at 4:29:00 AM Uranus 0°.79 S of Moon Occultation
  • Saturday, September 17, 2022
    • at 3:51:00 AM Neptune in opposition with Sun
    • at 7:13:00 AM Mars 3°.61 S of Moon
  • Sunday, September 18, 2022
    • at 3:22:00 AM Last Quarter
  • Monday, September 19, 2022
    • at 8:15:00 PM Moon at apogee
  • Wednesday, September 21, 2022
    • at 6:06:00 PM Moon greatest latitude N 5°. 07′
  • Friday, September 23, 2022
    • at 6:34:00 AM Autumnal Equinox ☚
    • at 12:21:00 PM Mercury in inferior conjunction 2°. 52′ South of Sun
  • Sunday, September 25, 2022
    • at 10:38:00 AM Venus 2°.75 S of Moon
    • at 1:45:00 PM Mercury 6°.65 S of Moon
  • Monday, September 26, 2022
    • at 3:25:00 AM New Moon
    • at 6:44:00 AM Mercury 3°.8 S of Venus
    • at 6:13:00 PM Venus greatest helio. latitue N.
  • Tuesday, September 27, 2022
    • at 1:03:00 AM Jupiter in opposition with Sun
  • Thursday, September 29, 2022
    • at 5:13:00 AM Moon in descending node

compilation by Rohan Yadav

हान्ले मधील ‘न’ सांगितलेली दुर्बिण

हान्ले म्हटले की समोर येते ती २-मीटरची हान्ले चंद्रा optical टेलिस्कोप. हान्ले भेटी मध्ये ही दुर्बिण पहिल्यान्दा बघायचा योग आला. अर्थात, दुर्बिणीचा बाह्यभाग आणि तत्सम उपकरणे हौशी लोकांना बघता येतात. दुर्बिणीने घेतलेले photos आणि controlling हे IIA, बंगलोर येथून केले जाते.
4500 मीटर वर पृथ्वीच्या वातावरण्याच्या जाडीच्या बरोबर मधे असलेल्या हान्ले मधे अजुन एक टेलिस्काप ताठ मानेने उभी राहिलेली आहे, ती म्हणजे BARC ची Major Atmospheric Cherenkov Experiment (MACE) Gamma Ray Telescope. कदाचित, माझ्यासारख्या occasional हौशी अभ्यासकासाठी हे आश्चर्यच होत. अजून एक आश्चर्य म्हणजे, ह्या टेलिस्कोपवर काम करणाऱ्या आकाशमित्र सागर गोडांबे ह्याची हान्ले येथे प्रत्यक्ष भेट.
सागरची भेट पर्वणीच ठरली, त्यामुळे आम्हाला दुर्बिणी बद्दल माहिती, त्याची बांधणी आणि control center हे प्रत्यक्ष बघता आले.
BARC MACE बद्दल थोडेसे.

MACE-1
  • ही 21-मीटर ची दुर्बिण आकाराने जगातली दुसऱ्या क्रमांकाची मोठी GRT आहे. पण एवढ्या उंचीवर जगतील एकमेव GRT आहे.
  • अभिमानाची गोष्ट म्हणजे दुर्बिणी पूर्णपणे भारतीय तंत्रज्ञानाने बनविली आहे.
  • दुर्बिणीचा primary mirror हा honey comb पद्धतीने बनविला आहे. 1m x 1m पॅनलवर 50cm चे 4 आरसे अश्या प्रकारे 356 पॅनेल्स बसविण्यात आले आहेत.
  • दुर्बिणीचा focal point नियंत्रणात ठेवण्यासाठी प्रत्येक आरश्यामागे 3 actuators बसविण्यात आले आहेत.
  • Focal plane च्या जागी 1088 Photomultiplier tubes (PMT) ने बनलेला कॅमेरा बसविण्यात आल्या आहे. GRT अप्रत्यक्षपणे gamma rays चे अस्तित्व शोधते. PMT चे काम म्हणजे, gamma rays मुळे बनलेले सुक्ष्म असे चमकदार प्रकाश बिंदु शोधणे
  • PMT ने पकडलेले signals हे जवळच्याच control room मधे process केले जातात आणि सॅाफ्टवेअर gamma rays मुळे बनलेल्या data चे विलगीकरण करते.

सध्या ह्या दुर्बिणीची रंगीत तालिम चालु आहे आणि लवकरच ती अधिकृतपणे operational केली जाईल.
तर, हीच ती हान्ले मधील ‘न’-सांगितलेली दुर्बिण.

सागर गोडंबे (Sagar Godambe)आणि त्याचे सहकारी स्टाझीन नोर्लाह (Twitter handle: @snorl)ह्यांचे आभार, त्यांच्यशिवाय ही दुर्बिण माझ्या साठी एक रहस्यच राहिली असती.

श्रीधर पोफळी

Astronomical Events in Aug-2022

Below is the list of prominent astronomical events in Aug-2022

  • Monday, August 1, 2022 Mars 1.4 degree South of Uranus
  • Tuesday, August 2, 2022 Venus in ascending node
  • Thursday, August 4, 2022 Mercury in 9.74 degree north of Regulus
  • Friday, August 5, 2022 First Quarter
  • Saturday, August 6, 2022 Moon in descending node
  • Sunday, August 7, 2022 Venus 6.56 degree south of Pollux
  • Wednesday, August 10, 2022 Moon at perigee
  • Thursday, August 11, 2022
    • Moon greatest latitude 5 degree south
    • Uranus in square with Sun
  • Friday, August 12, 2022
    • Full Moon
    • Saturn 3.91 degree north of Moon
  • Saturday, August 13, 2022 Mercury in descending node
  • Sunday, August 14, 2022
    • Neptune 3.09 degree north of Moon
    • Saturn in opposition with Sun
  • Monday, August 15, 2022 Jupiter 1.86 degree north of Moon
  • Thursday, August 18, 2022
    • Moon in ascending node
    • Uranus 0.55 degree south of Moon occultation
  • Friday, August 19, 2022
    • Last Quarter
    • Mars 2.68 degree south of Moon
  • Tuesday, August 23, 2022 Moon at apogee
  • Wednesday, August 24, 2022
    • Mercury at aphelion
    • Uranus stationary in RA
  • Thursday, August 25, 2022 Moon greatest latitude 5 degrees north
  • Friday, August 26, 2022 Venus 4.29 degree south of Moon
  • Saturday, August 27, 2022
    • Mars in square with Moon
    • New Moon
    • Mercury greatest elongation E(27.3 degree)
  • Monday, August 29, 2022 Mercury 6.64 degree south of Moon

Remembering Henrietta Swan Leavitt

The woman who gave us a Universal ruler

Henrietta Swan Leavitt
Source: space.com

While talking about the History of Astronomy or other sciences, we hear very few names of women in the field. In the early 1900s era, it was very difficult for women to work outside their houses. But the astronomer Henrietta Swan Leavitt not only followed her passion for stars but also discovered a whole new way of measuring large distances to them.


Henrietta Swan Leavitt was born on this day, on 4th July in 1868. She worked in Harvard College Observatory, without pay! Later on, she was hired as a “human computer” in the same institute. She was one of the other few women working there as human computers. They have to do all the tedious work of calculations, only assisted by pencils and papers. Despite all the hurdles, Leavitt continued to work for her passion.


The work of observing brightness of variable stars was allotted to Henrietta Swan Leavitt. Due to the limitations of instruments, it was difficult to identify such stars. But Leavitt developed a new yet simple technique to identify and study them. She overlapped positive and negative photographic plates that showed the exact same spot in space days or weeks apart. Stars that had changed in brightness over that time, which were variable stars, appeared on the plate while the rest faded away. Thus Henrietta Swan Leavitt discovered 2,400 variable stars which comprised more than half of the total known variable stars even by 1930.


At that time, scientists did not know how to measure large distances to stars, (more than 1 kpc) with precision. Henrietta Swan Leavitt put forth a law based on her study of variable stars. This law could predict their exact distances. Leavitt studied the data of 25 variable stars and plotted a period v/s luminosity graph in which she found a logarithmic pattern.

She found that, “The brighter the star, the longer its period.”

Leavitt used this conclusion for other stars whose luminosities were unknown and observed their periods. Thus she could find their luminosities and furthermore, their distances from Earth!


Leavitt’s outstanding discovery helped many scientists like Edwin Hubble, Edward Charles Pickering in their research.
On the birth anniversary of legendary astronomer Henrietta Swan Leavitt, let us take a moment and appreciate her dedication to astronomy.

By Vallari Kurdukar

Ref: Biography on space.com

Basic Astronomy Course – 2022

Our “Basic Astronomy Course 2022” concluded yesterday. (05-Jun-2022) AM organized the course after a gap of 3 years.
This year in all 11 students registered. Range of participants was from Students studying in Std. 5th to elderly youngsters serving as IT professional, professor or bank emoloyee.
Total 5 weeks was the duration of the course starting from Saturday 7th May 2022. It was conducted every Saturday and Sunday. Total teaching sessions were 9 of 2hrs each. 10th session was the examination day.

Basic Astronomy Course

Students were provided a course kit. They were also given notes during teaching sessions.

There were 5 speakers who took part in teaching activity as per following details.
Shri.Mone sir 4 days, Shishir Deshmukh 2 days, Abhay Puranik 1 day, Vidyesh Kulkarni 1 day and Sunil Vidwans1 day.

Topics covered were Introduction to Observational Astronomy, Moon and its motion, Comets, Earth’s motion around sun and its significance, Rashis, Tithis, Sighting of planets, planetary motion (ex. Retrograde), Conjunction, opposition etc., a classroom exercise to draw orbit of mercury, Solar and Lunar eclipses, Reading and introduction to star maps, calendars, evolution of stars etc.

On the 10th day an examination with multiple choice questions. Certicates of participation in the course were given away. Parents did attend the function and also gave their feedbacks.

Apart from speakers others who helped to make “Basic Astronomy Course 2022” successful are Ganesh Pawar, Vallari Kurdukar, Mangesh Phatak, Rahul Phatak.

Thanks to All.🙏🏻

  • by Sunil Vidwans

Star Grazing Session on 26.02.2022

Report of a full night session of Astrophotography

On Saturday, 26th February, 2022 Ameya Deshpande, Nikhil Dhyani, Shishir Deshmukh, Mangesh Phatak and myself gathered at Akashmitra Office at Kalyan to take the telescope, mount and other equipment at around 2:00 PM. We started our journey in a car around 3:00 PM towards Dehene, which was our place of observation. Our route was, Kalyan – MamnoliMurbadShenaviDolkhambDehene. The road is in a great condition which provided us great comfort during the travel and we reached Dehene around 5:30 PM (The total Kalyan – Dehene distance is around 85 KM)

Dehene is a small village within the vicinity of famous Sahyadri mountains like Aajoba, Ratangad, Khutta, Alang Madan and Kulang. We were hosted by a local family in Dehene. They served us tea and snacks and we began our search for finalizing the exact place of observation.

Considering various factors like obstacles of the mountain ranges nearby, light pollution, power supply, safety, etc. We finally found a suitable place which still had small amount of light pollution in the West, but considering the other factors as well as the overall impact of the Western light pollution, we found the ground to be the most appropriate place for observation.

We started mounting our setup at around 7:00 PM. After setting up the mount and the telescope, we started balancing, polar aligning the scope and we successfully completed those procedures. But we faced some error while configuring and controlling the telescope with the laptop. We had dinner at around 10:00 PM. It consisted Bhakari, Bhaji, Kadhi, Rice, Dal and Papad prepared by the local family who hosted us.

Post dinner we assembled our tent and finally decided to align our telescope using the two star alignment method. We successfully aligned the telescope. We captured Asteroid Ceres which was in the constellation Taurus. Then we captured the Comet C/2019 L3 (ATLAS) which was in the constellation Gemini. Dark sky, tracking mount, well assessed camera settings helped us to take good long exposures and we were able to get some good photographs of the said objects.

Moonless sky was a boon! Then we started observing and photographing star 145 Canis Majoris which is a double star with amazing contrast. Then we observed and photographed some deep sky objects like M83 galaxy, some globular clusters like Omega Centauri, some other clusters in Centaurus, Hercules, Hydra, etc.

Then we changed the camera battery and the laptop battery and started taking periodic exposures at an interval of 3 minutes to plot the light curve of a short period Variable Star KY Hya. Our total exposure time for this star was 2 hours from 1:45 AM to 3:45 AM approximately. Clouds caused some hindrance in our variable star observation but it was quite negligible and we got good exposures as well.

At around 4:00 AM we photographed the Bernard Star. Meanwhile we tried some wide angle photography, capturing some Southern constellations, sky in the background of the tent and the mountains, Ursa Major, Ursa Major in the background of the telescope and so on which were just the by products.

At around 4:30 AM, we took rest in the tent. We had our morning tea and started our journey back to Kalyan at around 8:00 AM. We reached back at Akashmitra around 10:15 AM. We dropped the equipment at AM office and disbursed! Overall it was a wonderful and mesmerizing trip!

  • Archit Gokhale
    27.02.2022
Discovery of atmospheric pressure on the dwarf planet Pluto

Discovery of atmospheric pressure on the dwarf planet Pluto

Atmospheric Pressure Discovery of Pluto

Everyone has heard of the dwarf planet Pluto. Scientists have discovered the atmospheric pressure on the dwarf planet Pluto.

The atmospheric pressure on Pluto is 80,000 times less than that on the Earth. It was discovered by the team of ARIES scientists and international scientists. Former PRL Chairman and senior scientist Dr NM Ashok also played important role in this research.

Information about what exactly that discovery was, how it was done and the professional astronomers involved in it can be found at many places.

I congratulate them for their respectable work and a sense of respect for all of them arises in my mind. But now I am going to talk about 3 amateur astronomers who are involved in this research.

Atmospheric Pressure of Pluto Discovery
Dainik Jagran – News Paper Clipping

The planet Pluto occulted a star in 2020. The observations were made through telescope in the ARIES. After studying the light curve and studying many aspects of the said occultation, these 3 amateur astronomers submitted the details to ARIES. And that work contributed a lot towards this research. These 3 amateur astronomers are Shishir Deshmukh, Ameya Deshpande and Ganesh Pawar of Akashmitra Mandal, Kalyan.


Today, these three have proved the importance and role of amateur astronomers in conducting such professional research. If we acknowledge and spread the word about such works, then the interest of everyone, especially young people like me, in astronomy will definitely increase. These three showed people today that not everyone needs to be a professional scientist to contribute to the field of astronomy. 3

I have as much respect for these three astronomers as I have for the professional astronomers, and seeing their achievements, many young people and all those interested in astronomy will make many such discoveries as professional astronomers in future, and even if not necessarily professionals, I hope they will work to provide important and useful information to the professional astronomers and work for contributing to the scientific community at large. This news is very inspiring for young amateur astronomers like me!
~ Archit Gokhale
18.02.2022
@Amey Deshpande @Ganesh Pawar @Shishir Sir