Printer-friendly version

27 February 2004

Scanning the Night Sky in Nepal

Kedar P. Badu

In 1610, the Italian astronomer Galileo invented the telescope. When he directed his newly constructed instrument toward Jupiter, he identified four of its prominent moons. This discovery led to a breakthrough in scientific thinking by establishing that Earth was not the center of the Universe but a mere planet revolving around the Sun. This was a turning point in European scientific thinking that revolutionized science and technology during the Renaissance. From this date, European civilization left behind other civilizations in terms of progress and development.

The story of Galileo suggests that a knowledge of astronomy can be a crucial factor in changing social consciousness and accelerating development. Astronomy is a science that allows the practical application of other branches of sciences. Our children study science in schools and colleges, but this has mostly become a ritual of learning by heart, without any link to practicing the discipline. In order to give the children of Nepal an opportunity to study objects in the sky and help them to change their lives based on scientific knowledge, the Galileo Astronomical Society of Pokhara (GASPO) was established in early 2003 as a social initiative of the amateur astronomers of Nepal.

Astronomers worldwide believe that Nepal is one of the best places on Earth for astronomical observations. We have little light pollution, the sky remains clear for most of the year, except for the monsoon rainy season from July to mid-September. We have thousands of mountains that are above 3000 meters in height, many of which are perfectly suitable to set up observatories.

In spite of all these natural gifts, we have not been able to develop an astronomical science. Even 400 years after the invention of the telescope, amateur telescopes are not available in our shops, not to speak of magazines and journals on astronomy. This has seriously hindered the development of astronomy in Nepal. Therefore, GASPO has decided that it needs to focus its activities not only on star observations, but also on advocating the importance of astronomy with our government and raising public awareness on the importance of space exploration.

After establishing GASPO in early 2003, we found a donor in California, USA (Permission to Dream Project of Space Frontier Foundation), who agreed to donate a Meade 90mm ETX telescope to our club. With the help of this telescope, we are now conducting observations of the planets and other deep sky objects for children in two secondary schools in Pokhara, a town 125 miles west of Nepal’s capital city, Kathmandu. We have made a plan to show the school children the planets from Mercury through Saturn and some deep-sky objects. So far we were able to conduct observation of Moon, Mars and some deep sky objects like Globular clusters (M13, M92, M15), Orion Nebula (M42) and Andromeda Galaxy (M31).

One very interesting aspect of our astronomical activity is the stories the students tell after each observation. We have always encouraged these children to write stories about each planet after its observation with the help of the telescope. Due to this, many children have changed their attitude about life and enhanced their knowledge of the universe.

Some children used to believe that the moon was a God, but after seeing the craters of Moon they now think it is a wilderness full of pits! After observing Mars, some children said that it looked like our Moon but of red color. Some thought that its northern and southern hemispheres looked different. Others even argued that the Red planet has bluish colour at the edges. For us in GASPO, there is nothing more fulfilling and satisfying than showing a child the craters of Moon, satellites of Jupiter, the rings of Saturn and other wonders of space.

With the help of the telescope, GASPO volunteers have also been able to find many other deep sky objects, like clusters and galaxies. We were able to identify galaxies M31 and M81-82. The Cigar Galaxy looked more like a comet, a long patch of light. We were disappointed not to find the Triangulum galaxy, Helix and the California Nebulae. We hope that some day we will definitely find them. For us the most amazing thing was the Great Orion Nebula (M42). What a great picture! How can such a vast cloud of Hydrogen be exited to emit light? Something serious must be happening there. The Double cluster in the Upper part of Perseus was also interesting to see.

Currently we have a small 3.5-inch (90mm) telescope. So the images we see through it are sometimes very small. We can see images of the planets with better resolution on the screens of our computers through the Internet. However, the thrill of viewing these planets for real is still unsurpassed. Not only does it provide a link to Galileo, but, more importantly, it provides a link to the future explorers of the solar system. On some future date, people from Earth might walk the sands of Mars and the ices of Europa. In fact, one of these future explorers might be a child living in Nepal right now and dreaming of things to come. It is GASPO's vision to foster, nourish, and cherish those dreams, so that our children can explore the Universe and change life on Earth.

Kedar P Badu is president of the Galileo Astronomical Society of Pokhara (www.geocities.com/kedarbadu/GASPO.html). He can be reached at kedarbadu@yahoo.com.