Deep-Sky Observing Workshop?

[Akarsh Simha]

Will a deep-sky observing workshop be a good idea?

We have quite some experienced deep-sky observers like Amar at BAS and
Naveen recommended that some of us get together and conduct a workshop
on deep-sky observing.

The workshop, as I see it, will take a complete beginner to the
night-sky, to a level where he can attend and appreciate any observing
session and operate a telescope to find deep-sky objects.

I've attached a "proposed" outline. (You should open it with Wordpad
or Word on Windows).

The downside is that there isn't much scope for "practical" stuff at
this time of the year - but this "theory" cannot be covered at an
observing session. At observing sessions, every minute of clear-sky is
important! Last time we tried explaining stuff like that mentioned in
the outline at Hosahalli, we lost out on some clear time and had
nothing to do all night! Such a session aims to provide all the
prerequisite knowledge for our starparties in some sense.

Amar and I would like some feedback on this idea from this group. If
many of you think that it is a good idea, we will work towards
organizing such a thing. I wanted to know if folks like it!

Regards
Akarsh

[Karthik Vijaykumar]

HI,
Very nice plan indeed, this will surely take the absolute beginner a
long way in observational astronomy.

Regards,
Karthik

--
Karthik Vijayakumar,
3rd year,Msc (intgd) Mathematics and Scientific Computing,
IIT Kanpur

[ravi babu]

Hi,

Sure. This would be just perfect for beginners like me and for people who wants to know more about this field..

Regards

Ravi Babu

[Akarsh Simha]

On Sun, Jun 28, 2009 at 12:04:34PM +0530, ravi babu wrote:
> Hi,
> Sure. This would be just perfect for beginners like me and for people who
> wants to know more about this field..
> Regards
> Ravi Babu

Thanks for the positives.

I'd like more people to express their opinions before we decide to
take this further.

Regards
Akarsh

[mohan babu]

hey

this sure looks like a fantastic idea.

count me in

mohan babu

[Suma Rao]

Sounds great! Would love to attend the workshop but depends on when
you plan on having it.

Suma

[Vishnu Reddy]

Great idea. If there is an online component to it I can join!
Vishnu

[acchu]

I am definitely there for it....... we shud do this.....

[Amar Sharma]

Wow this is indeed great response from everyone. So many newcomers have pitched in, showing the keen-ness everyone has for deep sky observing. The topics Akarsh has posted cover nearly everything DSO has to offer. We all would surely work hard for it's success and research more, since practical sky watching is the main focus in everyone's eyes. I request Akarsh to plan and post the dates here. Hoping for the best.

[sunil gobbannavar]

Hi folks,
This is an excellent idea....pls go ahead, i am in for attending as well as organizing...
I may be going to Pune in near future...& IUCAA as well,  Should i try to request any professor there to come to Bangalore to deliver a talk or a small workshop on relevant topic....
i know Ajit kembhavi ... not very well though but can try if something works out to arrange an event on our BAS schedule. What say, how feasible would it be ?

With Best regards,
Sunil G
9916925478

[Rakesh]

We could also include how to collimate the scope and what is the funda
behind collimation

I would really appreciate if we could also hold some stuff on optics
induced errors and how to figure them out.

Looks like a nice plan though :) Needless to say i am certainly in

On Jun 28, 7:45 pm, sunil gobbannavar <astrosuniln...@gmail.com>
wrote:

> Hi folks,
> This is an excellent idea....pls go ahead, i am in for attending as well as
> organizing...
> I may be going to Pune in near future...& IUCAA as well,  Should i try to
> request any professor there to come to Bangalore to deliver a talk or a
> small workshop on relevant topic....
> i know Ajit kembhavi ... not very well though but can try if something works
> out to arrange an event on our BAS schedule. What say, how feasible would it
> be ?
>
> With Best regards,
> Sunil G
> 9916925478
>

> On Sun, Jun 28, 2009 at 3:18 PM, Amar Sharma <amar_unive...@yahoo.com>wrote:
>
>
>
> > Wow this is indeed great response from everyone. So many newcomers have
> > pitched in, showing the keen-ness everyone has for deep sky observing. The
> > topics Akarsh has posted cover nearly everything DSO has to offer.
>
> > We all would surely work hard for it's success and research more, since
> > practical sky watching is the main focus in everyone's eyes. I request

> > Akarsh to plan and post the dates here. Hoping for the best.- Hide quoted text -
>
> - Show quoted text -

[Sanjana Rangan]

wat wud the dates be???

---

ICC World Twenty20 England '09 exclusively on YAHOO! CRICKET

[Snehal Naphade]

Excellent idea !!! i would like to join !!
please post the dates soon :).


regards,
Snehal.

>  ObservingWorkshop_ProposedOutline.txt
> 2KViewDownload

[Nandan narasimha]

Sounds great,With onset of winter and hopefully clear skies just a couple of months away,I think this is a good time to start prepping for such a workshop.Count me in.

[Pavan Keshavamurthy]

>Sounds great,With onset of winter and hopefully clear skies just a couple of months away,I think this is a good time to start >prepping for such a workshop.Count me in.

I hate to dampen your spirit, but we're a good five months away from december and four from november (which is half a chance).

BTW. Nandan Narasimha sounds distinctly familiar to me. If I recall right, Are you the gentleman I met at the Air show a few years back? (The Nikon person?)

2009/6/29 Nandan narasimha <nandan.n...@gmail.com>

--
_PK
Skype: pavankeshavamurthy
http://grahana.net/

[Akarsh Simha]

On Sun, Jun 28, 2009 at 07:43:50PM -0700, Rakesh wrote:
>
> We could also include how to collimate the scope and what is the funda
> behind collimation
>
> I would really appreciate if we could also hold some stuff on optics
> induced errors and how to figure them out.
>
> Looks like a nice plan though :) Needless to say i am certainly in

Wow. This is some overwhelming response!

Okay, here are my proposed dates. It will be one of these two days:

11th July
12th July

I guess timings like 2:30 PM - 7 PM should work best from
organizational POV, since we don't want to make this a 'big' workshop
- involving organizing food, etc. [Unlike Vishnu's workshop, which was
'National level']

I expect mostly only a few Bangaloreans to be present. After all, the
workshop is by BAS members. Of course that doesn't close doors for
others, but we're going to be low on logistics.

Another option is to have this in August, but we really have different
plans for August, plus some of us will not be available.

I hope this works well with majority of the enthusiasts. Given that we
have such a +ve response, I guess we'll go ahead and find a venue.

Of course, since we aren't organizing anything - the workshop will be
free (or very nominally priced, if at all there's some reason to
include a fee); but we will gladly accept happy-attendee donations
towards BAS :-).

Regards
Akarsh

[Akarsh Simha]

On Mon, Jun 29, 2009 at 08:29:39AM +0530, Nandan narasimha wrote:
> Sounds great,With onset of winter and hopefully clear skies just a couple
> of months away,I think this is a good time to start prepping for such a
> workshop.Count me in.

Well, yes, the skies will clear sometimes in September for a week or
so. But till then, skies will be pretty bad (but it's worth the risk
on observing sessions because if it does rain and clear, it is
_really, really_ clear!).

But the idea of this workshop is that we can't give people an
introduction under the night-sky, because any clear-sky time that we
get in South India is really precious. I realised there's a lot to
know before getting into deep-sky observing, and I think it would be
best to have a workshop during the monsoons, so that people are
prepared to witness the clear skies of December.

Regards
Akarsh

[Akarsh Simha]

On Sun, Jun 28, 2009 at 04:39:48PM +0530, Vishnu Reddy wrote:
> Great idea. If there is an online component to it I can join!
> Vishnu

We'll try and plan an online component so that you can join ;-)

Regards
Akarsh

[Akarsh Simha]

On Mon, Jun 29, 2009 at 12:15:58PM +0530, Sanjana Rangan wrote:
> wat wud the dates be???

Hi Sanjana

We're planning 11th or 12th of July.

Regards
Akarsh

[abhay nayak]

Hey Guys

While a workshop is a good idea...

I guess starting from fundamentals would be the most immediate need,
instead of diving into deep space objects or collimating telescopes.
You will need to begin with how the celestial sphere and coordinate
systems work, the basic constellations, how to find the pole star.etc etc

You can see the contents of the 100 hour certificate course on astronomy
done by M.P Birla in the link below and it should serve as a blueprint on which
you can build.

http://sites.google.com/site/mpbifr/Home/100-hour-certificate-course-in-astronomy-and-astrophysics/syllabus-for-100---hour-certificate-course

In fact I still do have many of the ppt slides of that course so
if you require them do let me know.

I don't think there is an urgency to have it as soon as the 11th or
12th of July.
I would recommend you plan it out properly and then hold it in a months time
when everything is ready.

And for those who might be interested in M.P Birla's 100 Hour astronomy course
it usually begins in the month of August and you can know more about it at
http://sites.google.com/site/mpbifr/Home/100-hour-certificate-course-in-astronomy-and-astrophysics

Regards

Abhay

[namitha kumarswamy]

This looks like a wonderful place to start for a beginner like me. I
really hope the workshop happens soon!

Regards,
Namitha

[Prashanth Bangalore]

Hey, 

Sorry for the late response. I joined BAS online recently. And i would love to attend the workshop too. But I am working as an intern through july. So the only time i am free is on a sunday. So if you are having a one day program please please plan it out on 12th july(Sunday). And i think this might increase attendance too. Please let me know of further details....

Thanks,

Prashanth

RV College of Engineering.

On Mon, Jun 29, 2009 at 2:48 PM, Akarsh Simha <akars...@gmail.com> wrote:

[Ashwin]

Pls let know how all people like us i.e. non-Bangaloreans, can connect
by this online method...

--Ashwin--

[Narendra Gor]

Please do this workshop after TSE I mean we would be buissy with the preparation task of the Total solar Eclipse


Narendra Gor
Kutch Amateur Astronomers Club
Bhuj
Contact No +919428220472
http://kutchastronomy.blogspot.com
http://gujaratastronomy.blogspot.com/

On Mon, Jun 29, 2009 at 2:48 PM, Akarsh Simha <akars...@gmail.com> wrote:

--

[Sanjana Rangan]

Could it be held after the 25th plz?? --- On Mon, 29/6/09, Akarsh Simha <akars...@gmail.com> wrote:

From: Akarsh Simha <akars...@gmail.com> Subject: [-BAS-] Re: Deep-Sky Observing Workshop? To: b-...@googlegroups.com Date: Monday, 29 June, 2009, 2:48 PM

On Mon, Jun 29, 2009 at 12:15:58PM +0530, Sanjana Rangan wrote: >    wat wud the dates be??? Hi Sanjana We're planning 11th or 12th of July. Regards Akarsh

See the Web's breaking stories, chosen by people like you. Check out Yahoo! Buzz.

[Pavan Keshavamurthy]

I tend to agree. I don't think there is any specific urgency to hold it right
now. Maybe September would be good too in case it's hard for all of us to find
time before that.

We should probably hold an Eclipse awareness session on 12th instead.

--
-Pavan K Murthy
http://grahana.net/

[Amar Sharma]

Hello All, It's so overwhelming to see such great response for the Akarsh-initiated Deep-Sky Observing (DSO) workshop. Until now I was fine with any date, even 11th or 12th, even though it's little early to prepare. The workshop will go on sometime, but after seeing responses from few members about the priority of the upcoming Eclipse, I thought it justified to wait until it gets over. We could wait until we are back to our 'deep-sky' lives, and concentrate more on this. Akarsh's only problem here of proposing the early dates is his IIT-Madras classes will resume in August, and he may not be as free as he was completely in July. We could do like this. Akarsh, somehow in the interest of all, try to fit in this event for August (latest by September) on a weekend. We even get more time for spreading the word, and preparing. And one of the following monthly observing sessions (which we are anyway having every month) could be the official workshop observing session (with Akarsh's 17.5" Discovery and My 25x100 binocs + p-mount among the highlights, to a dark place). I would request the members who have expressed interest to hold on until we conduct this event with more time in-hand. As of now the people willing to participate are: 1. Akarsh Simha (Speaker) 2. Amar A. Sharma (Speaker) 3. Vishnu Reddy (Speaker) (Through an online component) 4. Achyut Jamadagni 5. Rakesh Nath 6. Pavan Keshavamurthy 7. Ravi Babu 8. Mohan Babu 9. Karthik Vijaykumar 10. Sunil Gobbannavar 11. Nandan Narasimha 12. Prashanth Ashwa 13. Ashwin S Nayak 14. Narendra Gor - Gujarat (?) 15. Suma Rao 16. Sanjana Rangan 17. Snehal Naphade 18. Namitha Kumarswamy I hope by then we will certainly get more responses. We would also like to have volunteer speakers to come forward, those who think could share something about DSO, or even their experiences. So whats the final thought now? Thanking You. Amar. PS - Yes, we could even have a section focussed on Messier Marathon 2010. :-)

[Akarsh Simha]

On Tue, Jun 30, 2009 at 11:08:04AM +0530, Sanjana Rangan wrote:
> Could it be held after the 25th plz??

That is hard, unless Amar finds a speaker to replace me :)

Regards
Akarsh

[Akarsh Simha]

On Tue, Jun 30, 2009 at 11:34:47AM +0530, Pavan Keshavamurthy wrote:
>
> I tend to agree. I don't think there is any specific urgency to hold it right
> now. Maybe September would be good too in case it's hard for all of us to find
> time before that.
>
> We should probably hold an Eclipse awareness session on 12th instead.

Maybe we should poll the date and fix it based on the maximum number
of votes?

@Pavan: Can we have a place where we can set up polls for small
decisions like this? It will do a LOT of help, for both council
discussions and other decisions taken with members' opinions.

Regards
Akarsh

[rmoh...@gmail.com]

I will attend. Pl include my name.

Mohan Ramanathan

Sent from BlackBerry® on Airtel

---

From: Amar Sharma
Date: Tue, 30 Jun 2009 01:48:09 -0700 (PDT)
To: <b-...@googlegroups.com>

Subject: [-BAS-] Re: Deep-Sky Observing Workshop?

[dinesh prodduturi]

hi,

    Iam also interested in attending  but please post the date early. So that we can plan accordingly.

[Neo]

Hi,
I too would like to join you people. Add me into the list.



With Regards,
Niranjan M

On Jun 28, 9:58 am, Akarsh Simha <akarshsi...@gmail.com> wrote:
> Will a deep-sky observing workshop be a good idea?
>
> We have quite some experienced deep-sky observers like Amar at BAS and
> Naveen recommended that some of us get together and conduct a workshop
> on deep-sky observing.
>
> The workshop, as I see it, will take a complete beginner to the
> night-sky, to a level where he can attend and appreciate any observing
> session and operate a telescope to find deep-sky objects.
>
> I've attached a "proposed" outline. (You should open it with Wordpad
> or Word on Windows).
>
> The downside is that there isn't much scope for "practical" stuff at
> this time of the year - but this "theory" cannot be covered at an
> observing session. At observing sessions, every minute of clear-sky is
> important! Last time we tried explaining stuff like that mentioned in
> the outline at Hosahalli, we lost out on some clear time and had
> nothing to do all night! Such a session aims to provide all the
> prerequisite knowledge for our starparties in some sense.
>
> Amar and I would like some feedback on this idea from this group. If
> many of you think that it is a good idea, we will work towards
> organizing such a thing. I wanted to know if folks like it!
>
> Regards
> Akarsh
>

>  ObservingWorkshop_ProposedOutline.txt
> 2KViewDownload

[Akarsh Simha]

On Tue, Jun 30, 2009 at 09:10:20AM +0000, rmoh...@gmail.com wrote:
> I will attend. Pl include my name.
>
> Mohan Ramanathan
>

> Sent from BlackBerry* on Airtel

Hi

Sorry to dampen the spirits down a bit.

We _will_ hold a session, but probably in the next month.

Venue became an issue, and many people voted against the idea of
having it before the eclipse. So we decided to push this away.

However, we might have a different surprise coming up for everyone on
the 12th :)

Regards
Akarsh

[Subhankar Saha]

Hi,

I would like to join too. This is what I was waiting for. Please
include my name.

Regards,
Subhankar.

[Bharadwaj, Madhu S (GE Infra, Energy)]

Hi

even I would like to join but put my name tentative .....

Thanks,
Madhu

-----Original Message-----
From: b-...@googlegroups.com [mailto:b-...@googlegroups.com] On Behalf Of Subhankar Saha
Sent: Friday, July 03, 2009 5:33 PM
To: b-...@googlegroups.com
Subject: [-BAS-] Re: Deep-Sky Observing Workshop?

[Pavan Keshavamurthy]

We'll come up with dates + an official announcement shortly.

[sundar mn]

Hi this is Sundar,
Pls do add my name also.
Thank you.

--
M.N.Sundar

[pradeep]

hi,
I would like to attend this workshop.
Please Count me in...

regards,
pradeep

[ravi babu]

Whats that surprise for 12th?

Eagerly waiting.

 

Best Regards

 

Ravi Babu S

[Akarsh Simha]

On Sat, Jul 04, 2009 at 11:15:04AM +0530, ravi babu wrote:
> Whats that surprise for 12th?
> Eagerly waiting.

The faster Pavan works, the faster we can finalize things and the
faster we can break the suspense. :P

Regards
Akarsh

[Amar Sharma]

Hi Akarsh, Dont worry. It was a good idea to push it until a better date, giving us and members and the event more time to plan. I will maintain an updated record of all members who have expressed interest to join, and cordinate.   BTW whats the surprise about?? I have no clue of it. Is it some new GOTO 14" telescope you are purchasing now? ;-) Please let us know soon. Amar.

--- On Fri, 7/3/09, Akarsh Simha <akars...@gmail.com> wrote:

Hi Sorry to dampen the spirits down a bit. We _will_ hold a session, but probably in the next month.

[Pavan Keshavamurthy]

I'll break the suspense because the bigger suspense (even to me) is when I
will go finalize things (venue et al). Hence it isn't better to keep the people
waiting :)

The surprise is that, there will be another workshop on the same day, but
about the TSE rather than about Deep sky observing. Mostly do's don'ts, info
and sermons about the event :)

[jaykumar hs]

Hi,

THis is Jaykumar.
Idea of workshop is great.
I request you to have this workshop either on 19th or 26th July.

Jaykumar

[namitha kumarswamy]

Ok! Please count me for this TSE workshop/sermon as well. Please let
us know of the finalised date soon.
Thanks!

Namitha

[sathya kumar prasanna]

me too included... :P

[ravi babu]

Hi

 

i'm also in this workshop.

let us know the venue and dates as soon as possible.

[Udayan Pandharipande]

Hi Amar,

I'm in this too! Its a great idea!  

On Sun, Jun 28, 2009 at 5:48 PM, Amar Sharma <amar_u...@yahoo.com> wrote:

Wow this is indeed great response from everyone. So many newcomers have pitched in, showing the keen-ness everyone has for deep sky observing. The topics Akarsh has posted cover nearly everything DSO has to offer. We all would surely work hard for it's success and research more, since practical sky watching is the main focus in everyone's eyes. I request Akarsh to plan and post the dates here. Hoping for the best.

[pradeep]

Count me in.. for TSE workshop as well..

regards,
pradeep

On Jul 4, 12:26 pm, Pavan Keshavamurthy <pavan.k.mur...@gmail.com>
wrote:

[Prashanth Bangalore]

Hey... I'm in too.... Please inform me of the dates and time....

Prashanth Bangalore

[RVK Rajasekhar]

Hi I'm Vedavyas I too want to join you

[Nandan narasimha]

>BTW. Nandan Narasimha sounds distinctly familiar to me. If I recall right, Are you the gentleman I met at the Air show a few >years back? (The Nikon person?)
Yeah Pavan, thats me.Believe we met at the 2007 airshow.

Small world huh??

I remember you were at the airshow with a friend, the name escapes me.Is he also on BAS.

 

Nandan

On Mon, Jun 29, 2009 at 1:24 PM, Pavan Keshavamurthy <pavan.k...@gmail.com> wrote:

>Sounds great,With onset of winter and hopefully clear skies just a couple of months away,I think this is a good time to start >prepping for such a workshop.Count me in.

I hate to dampen your spirit, but we're a good five months away from december and four from november (which is half a chance).

BTW. Nandan Narasimha sounds distinctly familiar to me. If I recall right, Are you the gentleman I met at the Air show a few years back? (The Nikon person?)

2009/6/29 Nandan narasimha <nandan.n...@gmail.com>

Sounds great,With onset of winter and hopefully clear skies just a couple of months away,I think this is a good time to start prepping for such a workshop.Count me in.

On Mon, Jun 29, 2009 at 8:13 AM, Rakesh <rak...@gmail.com> wrote:

We could also include how to collimate the scope and what is the funda
behind collimation

I would really appreciate if we could also hold some stuff on optics
induced errors and how to figure them out.

Looks like a nice plan though :) Needless to say i am certainly in

On Jun 28, 7:45 pm, sunil gobbannavar <astrosuniln...@gmail.com>
wrote:

> Hi folks,
> This is an excellent idea....pls go ahead, i am in for attending as well as
> organizing...
> I may be going to Pune in near future...& IUCAA as well,  Should i try to
> request any professor there to come to Bangalore to deliver a talk or a
> small workshop on relevant topic....
> i know Ajit kembhavi ... not very well though but can try if something works
> out to arrange an event on our BAS schedule. What say, how feasible would it
> be ?
>
> With Best regards,
> Sunil G
> 9916925478
>

> On Sun, Jun 28, 2009 at 3:18 PM, Amar Sharma <amar_unive...@yahoo.com>wrote:

>
>
>
> > Wow this is indeed great response from everyone. So many newcomers have
> > pitched in, showing the keen-ness everyone has for deep sky observing. The
> > topics Akarsh has posted cover nearly everything DSO has to offer.
>
> > We all would surely work hard for it's success and research more, since
> > practical sky watching is the main focus in everyone's eyes. I request

> > Akarsh to plan and post the dates here. Hoping for the best.- Hide quoted text -
>
> - Show quoted text -

--
_PK
Skype: pavankeshavamurthy
http://grahana.net/

[pradeep]

there has been no updates about this...
so when are we having this workshop??
eagerly awaiting..

regards,
-pradeep

On Jul 4, 12:26 pm, Pavan Keshavamurthy <pavan.k.mur...@gmail.com>
wrote:

[Amar Sharma]

Akarsh and Me would plan on this tomorrow (during our observing session) seriously. We would no doubt try to make it grand-in-results, looking at the overwhelming response. We would update you all at max by next week end.

[Akarsh Simha]

On Mon, Jul 27, 2009 at 01:34:47AM -0700, pradeep wrote:
>
> there has been no updates about this...
> so when are we having this workshop??
> eagerly awaiting..

We are planning to hold the DSO workshop in September, since there
will be a clear-sky period in September. I'm not very sure about that,
though. I expect it to happen between August end and September.

Regards
Akarsh