akarshsimha's blog

I really thought I should blog about the wonderful Messier Marathon experience I had this year. Compared to the "EPIC FAIL" of 2008, this was far better.

Let me summarize the event first:

Date: 13th ~ 14th March 2010
Venue: Doddamallayanapalya, Koratagere, Tumkur Dist, Karnataka.

Sky conditions: Reasonable. Hazy in the south east almost all
    through. Haze in the north west during evening (damn!).
    Alternating times of clarity and haze. Skies marginally better
    than 6th mag.

People:
   1. Rakesh Nath - primarily 10x50 binoculars
   2. Amar Sharma - 25x100 binoculars
   3. Keerthi Kiran - 8" equatorial telescope, 10x50 binoculars
   4. Achyut Jamadagni - 20x80 binoculars
   5. Akarsh Simha - primarily 17.5" f/5 dobsonian telescope
   6. Madan Kumar - primarily 10x50 binoculars.

Number of Messier objects observed:
   Rakesh Nath -- 57.
   Amar Sharma -- 100.
   Keerthi Kiran -- 95.

Wow! What an event! The star party of the night of 13th February 2010 has, for everyone -- surely for me -- etched memories in our personal lives. A respectable collaboration between
Professionals (Indian Institute of Astrophysics) and Amateurs, it was one of the best and biggest star parties in South India, at Vainu Bappu Observatory @ Kavalur -- the people, the equipment, the observations, and
moreover the prestigious location! Further, what
a way it was to romanticize with the Stars prior to Valentine's Day, for us Nature Lovers! :-)

Firstly,
we all would like to convey our sincere thanks to BAS member V. S. Shyam,
who served a "martyr" for the trip -- he managed to obtain permission for us
at the last moment, but unfortunately was not able to make it himself.

It was a really successful and wonderful trip. Probably one of the most fruitful trips organized by BAS so far. The attendees were mostly Engineers from Texas Instruments, which made the trip highly educative. The primary agenda of the trip was to learn, in detail, the functioning of the Radio Telescope, the concepts and electronics behind it - and this purpose was completely met.

We started off from Texas Instruments, Bagmane Tech Park, C.V. Raman Nagar at about 8:30 AM. With a few pick ups on the way, we made it to Gauribidanur pretty fast. On the way, we discussed about radio astronomy, antennas, interferometry, and GPS! We met Dr. Ramesh of IIA, with whom we had been in correspondence, and he extended us excellent hospitality.