Nehru Planetarium, Nehru Memorial Museum and Library, in collaboration with the Amateur Astronomers Association, Delhi, will be organising a Telescope Open House on the 4th of October 2014, with a sky theater interaction from 5:00 PM to 7PM and a skywatch with telescopes following that.

This event starts in the sky theater of the planetarium, ‘Under the stars”, with interactive discussions using full dome visuals, to be followed by an evening skywatch through telescopes. The sky theater interaction and discussions will be related to telescopes of all apertures – from a Galileoscope to the TMT. There will be presentations live as well as recorded. You will get to hear and interact with – seasoned amateur astronomers as well as professional astronomers working with cutting edge research in optical Astronomy.
During the day : From 12:00 Noon to 2:00 PM, there will be some simple sun observing activities with amateur telescopes (through projection and also using solar filters).
The sky theater interaction will be a combination of live and recorded segments of content related to telescopes. The presentation will be aimed at an appreciation of gains in understanding celestial objects, from each substantive jump in aperture – through history – to contemporary times.
Evening skywatch will be through 8″ and 14″ aperture computerized Go To Celestron telescopes facilitated at the planetarium, by the National Council of Science Museums.

The Schedule:

12:00 Noon to 2:00 PM : Observing the Sun through projection and through solar filters
Location : In front of the planetarium
5:00 PM to 7:00 PM : Telescope Open House in the Planetarium sky theater

On the Panel ; Ajay Talwar (AAAD), C. B. Devgun (SPACE), T. V. Venkateswaran (Vigyan Prasar), co-ordinated by Rathnasree (Nehru Planetarium, New Delhi).
Skype interaction with Prof. Tushar Prabhu (Indian Institute of Astrophysics, Bangalore) and Arvind Paranjpye, Director, Nehru Planetarium, Mumbai.
Recorded Presentations ; Prof. Gordon Squires (Communications and Education Head, Thirty Meter Telescope), Prof. Eashwar Reddy (Indian Institute of Astrophysics, Bangalore) and Prof. A. N. Ramprakash (IUCAA, Pune) and Prof. Chris Impey, University of Arizona

Inputs in this interactive session, are invited from all interested participants, and in particular, from those who have worked with telescope making/assembly/usage
7:00 PM to 8:00 PM : Evening skywatch with telescopes.
Please try and be present from 5 PM onwards, at the planetarium, on the 4th. Bring any questions you have on telescopes, to the planetarium.

Rathnasree, Nehru Planetarium