a | art WIN hd TO THE UNIVERSE AND BEYOND eso ” Mee MAO ele Pelt oleh Calend About the Astronomy Club AND MORE ASTRONOMY CLUB IIT (BHU) PRESENTS THE INNAUGURAL EDITIONSATURN FACTS Saturn is one of the most beautifful objects in the night sky. Many of us must have had a dog-eared book on the Solar System when we were kids,and all of us must have read it over and over, stopping and staring with wonder at the section on Saturn. Well! Those of you who haven't had that fortune, here are some interesting facts about the planet. Lighter Than Water Saturn has a density of 0.687 grams/cubic centime- ter. Just for comparison, water is 1 g/cm3 and the eT R/S Bsr Re RUC it would actually float if you could find a pool large enough. Mystery Ball Determining the rotation speed of Saturn was actually very difficult to do, because the fol elateime (o-oo Be) (eI eo Bee ane RU mene elie elcrore| ESE ELC measure the rotation of the plan- et’s magnetic field. \, Ithas an average day of 10 TTR Ee RSLs) seconds. Rings or Moons When Galileo first turned his rudimentary telescope on Saturn in 1610, he saw Saturn and its rings, but he didn’t know what he was looking at. He thought that the rings are two large moons stuck to either side of Saturn — ears maybe? It was in 1655 when Dutch astronomer Christian Huygens used a better telescope to ob- PSV Ror- Ua BC Mee Re UUme Rel mor- RY Retr A ie Ma Oe (1d was also the person to discover Saturn's largest moon, Titan. SEUAfter a successful launch of the hubble space telescope, high levels of sperical abberations were found in the images produced by the tele- scope’s mirror. To deal with the problem, two sets of corrective mirrors were put up. Later, all of its instruments were replaced with required correc: tions and the correcting mirriors were taken off. The Indian Astronomical Observatory at Mt. ‘Saraswati, Hanle, J&K is the second highest opti- cal telescope in the world. Situated at an eleva- ition of 4,500 meters (14,764 ft) it provides the best conditions for astronomical observations. The observatory has two telescopes capable of taking images in infrared, optical and gamma region of the light spectra. Tycho Brahe, is remembered as one of the best as- trnomers of his time. He was the first astronomer to scientifically acknowledge a supernova burst in eu- rope.He was an accuracy freak and this obession made him to achieve highest levels of accuracy at that time. It is known that he used to wear a metallic nose because he lost his real one in a duel! Heck!TIME We see all around us things happening; People going here and there, vehicles moving, birds flying, Sun revolving around the sky. We receive these perceptions and the important ones are saved in our brains as memories. Now, our br- 4f ain can date these memories to the past. This i But, what this “time” actually is? physics is defined as what a clock reads or by its measurement. But who cares about a defin- ition which is not convincing! So, lets define it in a way that’s catchy. Time is actually an obser- proper words to describe it.Many of us have seen Sci-Fi movies and played games involving unrealistic concepts of time. These kind of things always make us think about how really time behaves. Is Time like a river, that flows continuously in one direction forever? Or is Time like an ocean that have ripples and giant waves and it flows wherever the hell it wants to? Or neither of them! Well, we will find these answers one day but for now, we can only think about it. Those who know about Einstein's special theory of relativity can understand that Space and Time are relative, just like electricity and magnetism are. We don’t see these relativistic effects because for them to be visible, we must be at speed com- parable to the speed of light. Connection of Space and Time We all know that the dimensions corresponding to space are three, which are length, breadth and height. Time can be considered as the fourth dimension. Time and space are interconnected. It’s just that we can understand about spatial dimensions more “properly” than time as we can’t manipulate its flow. We are four dimensional beings. The movie “Interstellar” used a hypothesis that higher dimen- sional beings can manipulate the time dimension just as normally as the spatial di- mensions. Einstein’s special theory of relativity reflects on the changes of time and es © OR ONA CIE1 8G Ruy “5% Six tA By =a, 4 v e u space by changes in observer's speed (speeds comparable to light speed). Briefly, 1. Time dilation: Moving clocks are slower than stationary ones. 2. Length Contraction: Length of moving objects are shortened in the direction of motion. 3. Simultaneity: Two relative observers cannot agree on the outcome of an event (Or the concept of “now” is vanished). Time Travel Here comes the most fascinating topic of discussion. Is Time Travel possible?! Or is it actually a myth. Well according to today’s researches, if relativity theory has no flaws, Time, Travel in one direction is absolutely possible FUTURE. Yes! It is possible and I believe it. Build me a spaceship travelling near light speed and ill prove it. 1am even willing to be a test subject believe it or not! There are not many opportunities to go to the future (9) 0-2 9 you know. Ok lets not wait for a spaceship and fly in A our minds for now. Assume that you have the ship and want to have a ride and return home again. So, you went on and came back to see that the earth is no mo- 9) 9 0 re and life vanished from It long ago. Sad for youbut |) 2) Sa look at the bright side now! You are the only earthling [77052 5/0) left in the Universe! Well, lets not feel proud on that la fantasy and es © OR ONG EI(a and think of what actually happened. As you were moving at a high speed, for the people on earth your clocks ran slower and so when you returned, you saw the future as the earth aged faster. But wait! Didn’t with respect to you the earth made the tr Ok, the stuff about FUTURE TRAVEL is unboxed. Now is the time to do something about the travel to the past. There are many inconsistencies regarding time travel to the past. But I know one always thinks of going to the past at some point in his life to right the wrongs he has done. Like telling our past selves the answers to questions coming in the next exam! Lets see if we can actually do something like that. Assume that you have the time machine ready to sail to the past. You failed the chemistry exam and want to help yourself by giving you the question paper! I'll say it’s not a bad idea. So, you went with the plan and gave the papers. And you passed the exam this time. I congratulate you to change your future but HEY! What are you doing in the past? Your purpose of coming to the past is met so now in the future you will not have a reason to come to the past! Did you see the inconsistency? That’s what is a paradox. There are many regarding time travel. That’s why travel to the past is difficult if thought in this way. But, there are many ideas which solves those paradoxes. I'll tell you about two of them: 1.You went to the past to give the question papers but somehow no matter how much you try, you will not be able to pass maybe because dog ate those papers or they went wet somehow! In this solution, the traveller can’t alter the future be- cause nature don't allow him to do so. 2.This One is Good: You went to the past and actually succeeded in your great mis- sion! Ok, then you came back to see your report card which still had a big “F” in front of chemistry. What happened this time? You succeeded in your mission but you passed in another parallel universe not the one in which you live! But look at the bright side. You passed somewhere and you just proved the multiverse theory! I seriously believe that time travel is possible and may someone among us build a time machine in future to prove it. That's all guys ES «on oN TTWE, THE STAR GAZERS Have you ever gazed at the twinkling stars in a starry night sky and wondered what exactly they are made up of and how long they would be twinkling? Have you ever wished with all your heart to set up a telescope and observe the planets, the stars and everything that lies beyond? Have you ever thought of having your own album of photographs of the moon and the Pleiades just like those you see on the Internet? You've come to the right place my friend! We, the members of the Astronomy Club will help you with all of these and even more. The Astronomy Club comprises of a diverse bunch of people brought together by their common love for astronomy. Here, we maintain an equal balance betweenthe theoretical and observational aspects of astronomy. Discussions are held on a large array of topics like the life cycles of stars, formation of galaxies, dark matter, the solar system, only to name a few. Regular workshops are held on satellite fabric- ation, telescope fabrication ete. for gaining know!- ‘edge as well as for arming the members for the com- petitions ahead. The club is rather a forum where open discussions are held and doubts clarified. In the observational workshops, students are taught to set up the telescope to observe the celestial bodies. We have a proud collection of three powerful telescopes, two manual and one fully automatic with the feature of tracking the heavenly bodies constantly. We've observed the moon, Jupiter and Saturn in astonishing details. Seeing the moons of Jupiter and the rings of Saturn through the telescope is a joy that beyond comparison. Students are also taught to locate and identify constellations and prominent heavenly bodies in the sky. One of the most exciting and interesting parts of the observational workshop is astrophotography. We click pictures of the moon and various other bodies using a DSLR and telescope and then process those images to get pictures that are worthy of being showcased in worldwide exhibitions. Over the year, the club conducts various projects on different aspects of astronomy, like ionosphere monitoring, detecting radio signals, and detecting star clusters. The club members also go to various colleges all over the world and do projects on astronomy there. Astronomy club is not just about peacefully observing the heavens and unlocking mysteries. We are a fiercely competitive group and organize many competitions over the year. Quizzes, messier hunts, case studies, astrophotography contests are held with a handsome prize going to the best and guaranteed fun to the rest. The Club with its event Supernova gives the fitting end to the tremendously exciting days of Technex, the technical fest of the college. The members of this club have an immaculate record of finishing at the top of every event we participate in. Be it first position in Jaipur last year, both first and second positions in IIT Kanpur in 2015, top five finish in Inter IIT 2014, we can proudly say that winning is a habit here. through the stars. All you need is passion in your hearts and a longing for adventure!NIGHT SKY -_ This August..... August 11,12-Perseids Meteor Shower The Perseids is one of the best meteor showers to observe. Alas! It Oe ge Ce Rea aon En ere ei au es etc e runs annually from July 17 to August 24. It peaks this year on the ieee Ree ed lar Rie ROE Re ea ele ECs CMa MCMM CuK aceon cui eeicm et tee eae Ca nu ca N August 16-Mercury at Greatest Eastern Elongation TRE Rn Re Nene UR Ceo refers to the angle between sun and another planets with earth as the reference point. “Eastern” means it occurs on the evenings. Well! Now Ne eS eet eee ec aura eure eco Reta aie Re RRC Cane mI) ARS Oa eons ae oes a Ree en St Ree ee eR CU CeCe a August 27-Conjuction of Venus and Jupiter Venus is the brighest star in the night sky and is visible for quite a while after the sunset and it's pairing with Jupiter Cem Naas seas aT planets will be extremely close, just 0.06 degrees apart. 7 MCR SCmaunacR ea cun a eicucmstass set rea yd Ce eae eg ‘Astronomy Club EUR Rom Cees) SUC te a ROL Oe eR eg ae CA Re IN Design by - Tarush Tiwari, Harshita Bhati, Priyanka Baa See me Suc C RS eSeNccneey