Jawaharlal Nehru Planetarium launches telescope library programme, plans workshop

Bengaluru: The Jawaharlal Nehru Planetarium (JNP) has initiated a ‘telescope library’ programme as part of its science popularisation initiative.

Through the programme, educational institutions and the public can borrow telescopes, binoculars, and gnomons and use the instruments at their premises for a stipulated period.

The planetarium will organise an orientation workshop in connection with the programme, tentatively on May 16 and 17.

JNP said interested candidates will have to attend the workshop to avail the telescope library facility.

Participants are required to pay Rs 1,000 each to attend the workshop.

“The primary objective of the programme is to engage with students of government institutions that cannot afford to invest in instruments like telescopes,” MY Anand, senior scientific officer, JNP, told DH. As part of the programme, JNP will be making available optical telescopes, binoculars, and special-purpose solar telescopes, based on the participants’
requirements.

The workshop will cover the basics of telescope optics, working principles of telescopes, maintenance and usage of telescopes and binoculars, daytime astronomy activities using gnomons, night sky observations, and astrophotography.

Anand said the programme would hold significant interest for people who track solar activities. The solar maximum — the highest level of solar activity during the approximately 11-year cycle the sun’s magnetic field goes through — is estimated to occur in 2025. “These telescopes help users observe sunspots (that peak during the solar maximum),” Anand said.

For details on the telescope library programme, call 080-22379725/080-22266084.