10,227 People, 128 hours, 30 Consecutive days - BAS sets a Record in Sidewalk Astronomy and Galilean Nights !

[Naveen Nanjundappa]

Dear All,

I would like to share the achievement of Bangalore Astronomical Society (BAS) during Galilean nights and Sidewalk Astronomy organized in Bangalore

As part of the International Year of Astronomy 2009 Cornerstone Project, Galilean Nights, BAS organized a 30 nonstop sidewalk astronomy nights event held at various places in Bangalore during Oct month. The Volunteers of BAS set the telescopes on the streets in most areas of Bangalore, pointing the wonders that Italian astronomer Galileo observed 400 years ago. The Moon and Jupiter.

Spread over thirty nights, BAS Volunteers share their knowledge and enthusiasm for space by encouraging more than 10,200 people look through a telescope. Of course, none of this would have been posible without the BAS Volunteers (List below) giving up their time and sharing their telescopes. The Team work, Passion for Astronomy and Commitment for BAS was evident !

Every evening of Oct, hundreds of people were able to look at the Moon and Jupiter through a telescope and most were amazed at the view of their life's first experience. Everyone enjoyed the experience, for most of the people it was the first time seeing the telescope and Jupiter.

This event has been a great experience for every volunteer in learning the skills of planning, organizing, presenting and facing the general public

Summary :

Dates : 2nd Oct 2009 till 31st Oct 2009 !
Total Number of days : 30 Consecutive Sidewalk Astronomy Nights ( as part of Galilean Nights, IYA 2009 Activities )
Total number of People count seeing through the telescope : 10227
Total Telescope hours : 128.58 Hours !
Total number of unique places : 39 areas in Bangalore City
Total Volunteers : 33
Telescope types and sizes : 2, 3, 4, 6, 8, 14 inch scopes ( details below )
Age group covered : 3 years to 85 years !
New memberships during the event : about 100
New Event Requests : about 30

Photos are shared here : http://picasaweb.google.co.in/bangaloreastronomicalsociety

Testimonials :

The 30 days non stop Sidewalk Astronomy celebrations by the voluntary group, the Bangalore Astronomical Society, seems relatively unique in the way purely voluntary efforts by a group of city based amateur astronomers spread telescope viewing to so many corners of the city in a sustained month long effort.
The activity speaks volumes for the love that the volunteers have for astronomy, and their zeal to share this love, their knowledge, and skills, with everyone they come across on the streets.

Rathnasree, Nehru Planetarium, New Delhi, India

Media coverage :

   1. DNA India (Bangalore) Sunday, September 27, 2009   

http://www.dnaindia.com/bangalore/report_bangalore-will-see-stars-this-october_1293283

   2. Deccan Chronicle, September 23rd, 2009   

http://www.deccanchronicle.com/bengaluru/plan-date-stars-october-054

   3. Citizen Matters, 13 Oct 2009   

http://bangalore.citizenmatters.in/articles/view/1418--sky-watch-bangalore--astronomical--society

   4. Citizen Matters, 10Oct 2009   

http://bangalore.citizenmatters.in/docs/de/citizenmatters_2009oct10-de.pdf

   5. Prajavani Kannada Daily, 26 oct 2009
   6. Sidewalk Astronomers Newsletters    

http://www.sidewalkastronomers.us/id197.html

Telescope

1. 2 inch Refractor
2. 3 inch Refractor
3. 3 inch Refractor
4. 4 inch Reflector Alt Atz mount
5. 4 inch Reflector Alt Atz mount
6. 4 inch Reflector Equ mount
7. 6 inch Reflector Dob mount
8. 6 inch Reflector Dob mount
9. 6 inch Reflector Equ Mount
10. 8 inch Reflector Equ Mount
11. 8 inch Reflector Equ Mount
12. 14 inch LX200- Meade GOTO

Places organized:

1. Forum Mall
2. Hebbal Kempapura
3. Jayanagar
4. Malleshwaram
5. Sankey Tank Lake
6. Hebbal Kempapura
7. Devaiah Park
8. Jayadeva Flyover, JP Nagar
9. Mariyappana palya Park, Malleshwaram
10. Shopper's Stop, Bannerghatta Road, J.P Nagar 3rd Phase
11. Planetarium - Know your stars
12. Purva Riverea, Marathalli
13. J P Nagar 2nd phase - Dhanavantari park
14. Shalini Ground, Jayanagar 5th Blk
15. Sahakaranagar main road.
16. R.T Nagar
17. Ram Madir Ground - Rajajinagar
18. Malleshwaram
19. P&T colony, Near R T Nagar
20. Hebbal Kempapura
21. BTM Layout (Udupi Garden junction)
22. J P Nagar 2nd Phase
23. RR Nagar complex area
24. IIAP Campus
25. Lalbagh / Galilean Nights
26. Aditi International School
27. Sampige Park, Malleshwaram
28. RajaRajeshwari Nagar park, beside Police Station
29. Pavitra College, Yeshwanthpuram
30. Vivekavardini School, Navrang.
31. Near Kadambas Hotel, opposite Maruthi Mandir, Vijayanagar
32. Adarsha College RT Nagar
33. amrrita school of engineering
34. Rajajinagar
35. Sultanpalya
36. Mantri
37. Yelhanka
38. Malleshwarm main road.
39. Jayanagar

Volunteer Participated :

1. Naveen Nanjundappa
2. Vivek Y
3. Achyut
4. Viswakeerthy
5. Keerthy kiran
6. Suma rao
7. Pravin S.
8. Alex
9. Ravi Babu
10. Shwetha Sharma.
11. Akaash
12. Shyam,
13. Shashank
14. Sharanu
15. Amar Sharma
16. Aparna
17. Madan
18. Sunil G
19. Sudarshan
20. Parag Kulkarni,
21. Sunil G R.
22. Girish Kumar
23. Gautham G Amberkar
24. Akarsh
25. Pavan K
26. Utkarsh
27. Narasimhamurthy
28. Hari
29. Inayath
30. Shiva
31. Saish
32. Mohan Kumar
33. Purushothama

Finally I would like to congratulate all the volunteers, for making this event a Big success and setting a record of its kind. your time, efforts, and passion for astronomy highly appreciated !

Thanks and Regards,

Naveen Nanjundappa
Coordinator, Galilean Nights, IYA 2009 India
Vice President, Bangalore Astronomical Society

[Abhay]

Congratulations to the BAS Team and all those
Volunteers who took part in these events.

It is quite an achievement considering most outreach
programs just reach out to a few hundred.

Shall give you a call in the evening Naveen..

Regards

Abhay

[Alt Blank]

+1 there... dudes, this is an absolutely awesome and amazing venture... congratulations!

cheers,

sridhar.

[Ashwin Nayak]

THUMBS UP!! BAS!!!!!!!!!
Splendid Outreach Event!
Really a Herculean Task u hav accomplished!!!
I can think of no better way of paying a tribute to Galileo!
How I wish I could hav been ther! My bad...
Keep up man! to tell u the truth u guys r the ones who hav kept my hopes in my career high!!!

--Ashwin--
   M'lore.

[Naveen Nanjundappa]

Dear Volunteers,

Apart from the appreciation you have seen about your hard work and passion in this email chain, I'm sharing some of the comments I have received.

Congratulations! That is a fantastic accomplishment. Please send my congratulations on to each of the volunteers. I have had a lot of positive response from some of our members about the recent articles and by looking at the web stats, the original article about your 30 nights had a lot of click-thrus from the newsletter. Congratulations again on a tremendous and successful effort.
Donna (International Sidewalk Astronomers)

Great job Naveen and everyone at BAS. Keep up the good work.
Vishnu Reddy

It is really an impressive work that BAS has setup in India.
I too congratulate to you and your team for the unique event. I hope the same spirit and enthusiasm will help us to reach to the masses and make people aware of the subject, its importance and myths and legend. Keep it up.
Dr. Arvind (Vigyan Prasar)

I am delighted to see the results of your BAS' 30-day star party.  You really did something great for Bangalore and the whole world by showing what can be done!  You've set the bar quite high for others who will follow.  I will write up something about this for the AWB newsletter and web site soon.  I hope you will post some photos of it in the AWB gallery.  The thumbnails will then show up on BAS' profile page on the site.  I'll link to them in the news article about the event as well.
Mike Simmons (President, Astronomers Without Borders)


Nice to see your achievements noticed all across the globe :)
Congratulations to all :)

Thanks and Regards,
Naveen Nanjundappa.

[Hariyani, Hemant]

Good going BAS!!!!

 

This is an awesome achievement. Keep on going!!!!

 

Regards

Hemant

 

 

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[Narendra Gor]

Congratulations to the BAS Team and all those
Volunteers who took part in these events.

Narendra Gor



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

[pradeep]

Congrats everyone...

Regards,
Pradeep

[Rakesh]

Great stufff folks

Did not expect it to kick off so well, really brilliant.

Lets hope it helps people get a peek into astronomy

On Nov 3, 6:31 pm, pradeep <pradeepd.pra...@gmail.com> wrote:
> Congrats everyone...
>
> Regards,
> Pradeep

[tomysir nirmalakabani]

Good attempt. continue such programmes