Star gazing as a vocation: Karnataka to encourage rural students to pursue astronomy. Here's the plan

With sky gazing and astro-tourism picking up, chances of gazing at the sky unhindered in urban areas is becoming difficult. But rural areas offer unlimited opportunities.

Making the most of large swathes of dark sky in rural areas, the Indian Institute of Astrophysics (IIA) signed a memorandum of understanding with the Rural Development and Panchayat Raj Department (RDPR) to encourage people, especially students, to take an interest in astronomy and astronomical activities.

For this, 5,880 libraries, called Arivu Kendras or Gram Panchayat libraries, will be utilised.

“The libraries are operated by the government. We will train and mentor the library supervisors or librarians on how to guide people/ students in sky gazing, what to see in the night sky and understand what they are seeing. We will help people in rural areas understand and learn about the sky,” an IIA official told The New Indian Express.

This is the first time such an exercise is being undertaken. The training and dissemination of knowledge will be in the Kannada spoken in that region, for easy understanding of the people, especially children. As all libraries now have computers and active internet connections, literature and other educational astronomy material will be given in Kannada, the official added.

The MoU was signed by Annapurni Subramaniam, Director of IIA, and Arundhati Chandrashekar, Commissioner, Karnataka Panchayat Raj Commissionerate, RDPR, on Friday, January 3.

"The aim being to enable the two organisations to work together to provide information to the communities in Kannada, on astronomy events that can be seen with the naked eye, as well as details about quotidian astronomy. Library supervisors will be trained to conduct low cost hands-on activities for the public, especially students. Online interactions in the form of talks, contests and digital tools will also be promoted in libraries," RDPR officials said.

Urban pollution and increased lighting has made sky gazing impossible in urban areas. Due to this, sky gazing tours have become a trend, and people are taken on two to three days trips only for astronomical activities. But in rural areas, there is no such problem as the dark sky is large.

The aim of the exercise is to help rural folk make the most of it. Gradually, over time, telescopes and other sky gazing equipment will also be provided in libraries, after staffers are well trained. This will also be based on demand.

Promoting astronomy and science, especially in Kannada, will lead to increased science literacy, especially among students who access the Arivu Kendras. This will also help promote scientific temperament in the rural community, Arundhati Chandrashekar said.

Adding to this, Annapurni Subramaniam said rural communities have a fantastic scientific resource: Access to darker night skies. “We have been working with a few Arivu Kendras, especially through the COSMOS-Mysuru project. Through this MoU, we look forward to spread astronomy throughout rural Karnataka,” she added, according to the report by The New Indian Express.