Dr Wali Mughni, CEO Ensign Communique, asked for a presentation on astronomy and a practical observation on “tonight’s sky” for his about 100 strong Call Center employees for the evening of Friday, 7th January 2011. The notice was short and KaAS was busy planning its next camp at Gorakh Hill. So a quick preparation was made and a public outreach activity was planned. A brief talk on Astronomy and its history and a sky show atop the Shaheen Complex was conducted with 8″ Meade telescope by Khalid Marwat President KaAS.
First was the observation. Karachi’s light pollution didn’t dampen the enthusiasm of Ensign Communique’s employees. Four day old Safar’s crescent Moon was the first chosen target as it was fast receding in the west behind the Shaheen Complex tower. Craters, earthshine and various other lunar features were the major attractions. Jupiter with its four Galilean moons was the next obvious target amidst urban Karachi lights. Four Galilean moons, Jupiter’s oblate shape and its equatorial belts were awesome for the first observers.
Then came the indoor presentation on astronomy. Gathering all astronomical themes in one presentation is always a challenge. So it merely was a run through major historical milestones that astronomy traveled during human history. Simple way was to describe the changing astronomy models over human history.
1.The very initial Aristotelian cosmos looked perfect in its time.
2.Above logic was considered unsatisfactory later and corrected by Eudoxan Solution. But his model too had errors.
3.Ptolemaic Epicycles seemed the correct replacement. This model prevailed for many centuries.
- As observations gained accuracies, above model waschallenged. Leading among these observers was Ulugh Beg.
5.Then came the Copernican breakthrough of heliocentric and not geocentric model. This model was then supplemented with Galilean breakthrough due optical observations. Kepler’s Laws further solved the nature of cosmology.
These transitions were always impeded and accepted only after a lot of religious and political oppositions to say the least. Amidst all these changing models and concepts astronomy was utilized to measure earth’s dimensions by Eratosthenes and was used for correct navigation by sea venturing Arabs. An interesting Q&A process continued making it all a lively exchange of information.
It is hoped that the event will raise interest in many Karachiites. We wish to further increase interaction with Ensign Communique and hope that the company will support us in our future work in whatever manner that they are able to.
This outreach activity will hopefully be emulated in many other institutions in Karachi and in Pakistan.
Khalid Marwat
President KaAS