Prog : 52, 20-04-2009 at Manav Sadhana, Old Vadaj, Ahmedabad

Satisfying heavenly curiosity!

Yes, the Saturn is up there.

Proud winners!

Some lighter moments during interactive session!

All wanted to write every bit of information!

Hello!

Here’s a report on the 52nd TAS Program.

Today we visited NGO called Manav Sadhna & St. Mary Mercy Community center at Old Vadaj, Ahmedabad.

The center is very beautifully architecture in a middle of very poor community area. The center has many facilities like computer room, playground, toddler room, small prayer room, gym, study & reading room, kitchen, etc.

As usual, we were accorded a warm welcome by the students and the authorities excitedly awaiting the program.

The poster display was set up on the floor for the students to explore the mysteries of the solar system at their own pace. This time we also displayed posters used during 100 HA. And we watched them peruse the information and discuss the same with their friends. All of them, wrote nearly every bit of information mentioned in the posters.

The program started with interactive session without projector (the projector has some fault). The session started with Milky way information and ended up with Pluto. Another wonderful thing that gave us tremendous satisfaction is that the teachers too got into the spirit of things and participated wholeheartedly in the question – answer sessions that interspersed the session! Questions like – biggest & smallest planets, comparison of earth with sun or Jupiter, etc’ created some interesting debates. Some exceptionally bright students answered my questions with amazing clarity and were awarded prizes at the end of the presentation.

Now it was time for observation. Today they enjoyed mysterious and beautiful Saturn through 8” SCT. They were really amazed to see the edge on position of the rings. Many of them saw Saturn twice and thrice to quench their knowledge thirst.

Both, the teachers and students, were especially keen to have us come again to give them a deeper understanding.

We acknowledge the gracious support of the following people in making this program a success: Jagatbhai of Manav Sadhana NGO, Jigar Darji & Ravi Gamit for set up and photo documentation. We thank them all for their interest.

Summary:
1. Venue : Manav Sadhana, Old Vadaj, Ahmedabad
2. Date : 20-04-2009
3. Time : 7:00 to 9:30 pm
4. Object observed : Saturn
5. Participants : 43
6. Volunteers : 0
7. Photo : Jigar Darji & Ravi Gamit
8. Resource Persons : 2
9. Winners (1st, 2nd, 3rd) : Reshma Vaghela, Kinjal Paraghi, Rekha Makawana

Tanmaye Vyas
+91 9327019254
+91 9979861071

Prog : 51, 18-04-2009, Municipal school, Sarkari Vasahat, Vastrapur, Ahmedabad

Hello!

Here’s a report on the 51st TAS Municipal School Program.

Today we visited the municipal school at Sarkari Vasahat, Vastrapur, Ahmedabad. This school is adopted by Lions Club of Ahmedabad Greater as Permanent Service Center. Under this banner, they have invited NGO called “Samvedana” to take up the educational challenge of the students.

Today we were called in the morning hours for multi-media presentation of the Solar system. As usual, we were accorded a warm welcome by the students and the authorities excitedly awaiting the program.

The poster display was set up for the students to explore the mysteries of the solar system at their own pace. And we watched them peruse the information and discuss the same with their friends.

The program started with interactive session. The Solar flare, phases of Venus, Aurora Borealis, etc. slides fascinated them all. Another wonderful thing that gave us tremendous satisfaction is that the teachers as well as organizers too got into the spirit of things and participated wholeheartedly in the question – answer sessions that interspersed the presentation! Both, the teachers and students, were especially keen to have us come again to give them a deeper understanding. During the session we distributed Moon cards to all those bright students who spontaneously answered some questions correctly.

One student from UK and two from Germany – studying history were present too. Even though the session was in local language (Gurarati), they praised the presentation. As a memento, students gave us nice ornamental plant in decorative pot.

We acknowledge the gracious support of the following people in making this program a success: Jankiben Vasant - Founder of Samvedana NGO, Committee of Lions Club of Ahmedabad Greater, Jigar Darji & Ravi Gamit for nice setup. We thank them all for their interest.

Summary:
1. Venue : Municipal School, Sarkari Vasahat, Vastrapur, Ahmedabad
2. Date : 18-04-2009
3. Time : 9:10 to 10:30 am
4. Object observed : -
5. Participants : 58
6. Volunteers : 0
7. Photo : Jigar Darji
8. Resource Persons : 2
9. Winners (1st, 2nd, 3rd) : None

Tanmaye Vyas
+91 9327019254
+91 9979861071

Prog : 50, 11-04-2009, Gotri, Baroda

Interactive with kids.

Practicing before turn.

Dear all,

The 50th show of "Tanmaye's Amazing Space" was conducted at Baroda. Nearly 70 children gathered at one bunglow at Gotri area, outskirt of city Baroda. All eagerly awaited for the session since many days.

Though they were between 10-13 years old, they answered many questions with much clarity. All amazed to see Saturn with edge on rings and the Moon with many many craters. Few of them declared that they would be visiting moon in future and all applauded for their determination. During naked eye observation, all were keen to see their zodiac sign. Parents also joined star party.

Summary:
1. Venue : Gotri, Baroda.
2. Date : 11-04-2009
3. Time : 7:40 to 9:40 pm
4. Object observed : Saturn & Moon
5. Participants : 85
6. Volunteers : 1
7. Photo : Urvi Vyas
8. Resource Persons : 0
9. Winners (1st, 2nd, 3rd) : All were given Moon card and 100 HA lapels.

Tanmaye Vyas
+91 9327019254
+91 9979861071

Prog : 49, 09-04-2009, Radio Mirchi, Vejalpur, Ahmedabad

'Radio Mirchi' group who enjoyed the night sky for the first time.

Dear All,

In response to the unmatchable support during "100 HA" from 2-5 April 2009, we wanted to share secrets of the Solar system to all interested, working at Radio Mirchi.

We approached the program coordinator with an idea of announcing Astronomy Facts nearly ten times a day during 2-5 April. Along with this, we also asked to promote astronomy by asking astronomy related quiz and for winners, we offered special astronomy kits. The idea clicked and astronomy was on air for all 100 Hours of Astronomy!!!

During the multi-media session, all interacted in depth and had nice debates over few issues like ' How deep Sunspots are, how can a flag wave on lunar surface without atmosphere, etc'. The naked eye observation started with Sirius, Taurus, Orion, Leo and then Saturn through 8" telescope. They were all amazed to see bar like rings and then lastly all enjoyed crates and maria on the moon.

We distributed 100HA lapels to all along with Saturn bookmark.

We sincerely thanks Jigneshbhai and all radio jockeys for kind support, Ravi Gamit for single handed arrangement with photo documentation.

Summary:
1. Venue : Radio Mirchi, Vejalpur, Ahmedabad
2. Date : 09-04-2009
3. Time : 7:20 to 9:10 pm
4. Object observed : Saturn, Moon and other constellation
5. Participants : 21
6. Volunteers : 0
7. Photo : Ravi Gamit
8. Resource Persons : 1
9. Winners (1st, 2nd, 3rd) : No competition at station, but Radio quiz winners are mentioned in previous blogs.

Tanmaye Vyas
+91 9327019254
+91 9979861071

100 Hours of Astronomy '2-5 April, 2009 - Final Report'

Leading newspaper "Times of India"

One of the leading Gujarati language newspaper "Divya Bhaskar"

Local Gujarati Weekly magazine "Aarpar"

Leading newspaper "Times of India"

Leading newspaper "Times of India"

Local newspaper "Sandesh"

Very popular for local affairs "Ahmedabad Mirror"

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Dear All,

“100 Hours of Astronomy”

Our 100 Hours actually started in March!
That’s when we started chalking out the program for an ambitious 4 day extravaganza.
We planned to party every day of the 100 hours!

In keeping with the spirit of the IYA2009 mission of taking astronomy to those people who would not ordinarily be touched by what is perceived as a niche and elitist pastime, we consciously decided to base the venues for most of the programs within the old city walls of Ahmedabad and in the newly restored traditional houses called ‘Havelis’

Getting the various permissions from owners, the respective heritage boards and the other concerned authorities was a humongous task.

In order to arouse the attention and interest of the lay public, we created 100 posters for display at the venues. The posters were unique not only in the content which used one-liner facts presented in a unique graphic adorned way but more importantly, were also presented in the local language! They were such a great success that the young and old visitors alike were fascinated by them and sometimes to such an extent that people used notebooks to copy down the text!! Indeed, so many requests to turn the text of the posters into a handbook were received that we are seriously considering creating a series of such handbooks!! Just need some good Samaritans to pledge some funds!

In our attempt to add a fun element to the project, we decided to celebrate Yuri’s space anniversary on all the four days of our 100 Hour program. We created a life size cutout of Yuri in a space suit alongside an empty astronomer’s suit that allowed all participants to become astronomer buddies with Yuri for a few moments when they placed their faces in the suit and got their pictures clicked! On the 4th, we sang happy birthday to Yuri and distributed chocolates to all the 100 hour participants

We also gave away 500 lapel buttons with the 100Hours of astronomy logo to all the participants!

Our attempt to encourage a huge turnout at the 100 hours venues was colossal and well planned. We created 5000 event posters that were put up at all local clubs, popular stores as well as distributed in bulk around the venues themselves.

Another major campaign to drum up awareness as well as attendance for the 100 hours was our Radio Campaign which was aired for 5 days beginning April 1, 2009. The campaign announced the various programs for each day of the 100 hour celebrations while also running a quiz on astronomy! Prizes of astronomy kits and books were given away to the winners every day! There were ten radio spots everyday! And a total of 20 prizes given away!

We also managed to give the programs wide news coverage in the leading dailies of the town.

Our theme was: Global Star Party at a local hot spot!

Tanmaye Vyas

+91 9327019254

+91 9979861071