For Padmanaban Gopalakrishnan, an IT professional, the world came to a standstill when he saw the Omega Centauri cluster a few months ago. “Astronomy teaches you to be humble,” says the 52-year-old, who came to the realisation at a “star party” in the city.It’s an initiative of the Chennai Astronomy Club, a volunteer-run, not-for-profit community that comes alive during weekends or days of astronomical importance. Members of the community comprising engineers, retired professionals and college-goers host ‘star parties’. They drive all the way up to Maduranthakam or Tada or sometimes set up camps in parks and quiet spaces in the city and its suburbs to observe the skies. At times, they also host lectures and workshops on topics ranging from telescopes to astrophotography.“The community is growing,” says A Sivasubramanyam, a software engineer who founded the group. “We find more people are interested in taking it up as a hobby. These gettogethers have broken the misconception that Chennai is not suitable for stellar and celestial observations.”It all began as a Facebook group with a handful of members in 2013, he says, and has grown into a full-fledged club with more than 700 members. “We have a WhatsApp group. Anyone interested in astronomy can join,” says Sivasubramanyam. The group has eight telescopes, 8- and 12-inch, owned by members. All expenses, from travel to accommodation, are split among the group, and every observation is recorded. Prior free registrations filter the number of participants. “We have named the logs as ‘night sky passports’, which come with charts and observation notes. It also helps people learn about the objects they are observing,” says Sivasubramanyam.The experience is surreal, says A Pranav, a mechanical engineer. “I come from a village in Maharashtra where I have observed celestial objects through the naked eye. Seeing them up close is magical. From an amateur stargazer, I learned about craters and observed the moons of Jupiter,” he says.Experts hope the initiative will promote an interest in astronomy. “For `50,000, one can get good telescopes to observe planets and smaller stars. But there aren’t many forums besides the Tamil Nadu Astronomy and Science Society working towards such observations. Initiatives such as this one are welcome,” says A Ramachandran, a retired engineer from Vainu Bappu Observatory.
