The Hindu : New Delhi News : All Delhi roads lead to Jantar Mantar today

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Sunday, Jan 04, 2009
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All Delhi roads lead to Jantar Mantar today

Madhur Tankha

NEW DELHI: To highlight the intimate connection between astronomy and heritage, Nehru Planetarium in collaboration with the Archaeological Survey of India, the Amateur Astronomers’ Association, Delhi, the Science Popularisation Association of Communicators and Educators and Astronomica is conducting a “Khagol Mela” at Jantar Mantar here this Sunday.

The aim is to make astronomy more accessible, useful and knowledgeable to ordinary citizens, particularly children. There will be dissemination of information on the merits of the centuries-old Jantar Mantar observatories by Nehru Planetarium Director N. Rathnasree with a view to improving scientific literacy.

The mela marks the beginning of astronomy-related activities for the International Year of Astronomy-2009. It will highlight usage of the ancient Jantar Mantar observatory instruments in the spirit of creating wider public awareness about astronomy and global heritage.

“Keeping in mind the possibility that the Jantar Mantar observatory might be included in the world heritage list during the International Year of Astronomy, it has become necessary to ensure that this live astronomy laboratory is used for teaching and appreciating its historical context. It is already on the tourists’ itinerary, but better appreciation of Jantar Mantar usage will make the tourists’ visit more fruitful,” said Dr. Rathnasree over the weekend.

Volunteers will be present on Sunday near every instrument of the observatory from 11 a.m. to sunset to help lovers of astronomy understand the usage of the instruments and make their own observations. They will also get an opportunity to check the accuracies of their observations with theoretical values to better appreciate the observatory instruments.

The mela is also part of the effort towards obtaining a large data base of positional astronomy observations with the Jantar Mantar instruments in order to understand the current status of the instruments and their masonry parameters. Nehru Planetarium is working towards preparing templates for restoration of the markings on all the instruments of the Delhi Observatory.

“We want the public to appreciate how accurately observations can be obtained through Masonic instruments. One of the thrust areas of the ‘Khagol Mela’ is the relationship between astronomy and heritage,” said Dr. Rathnasree.

There will be periodic lecture sessions and usage of Masonic instruments will be explained even during foggy weather conditions.

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