Call them social gatherings, sky parties, or public astronomy sessions… One of the grand advantages of being a part of the KaAS team is that you get an invitation to help arrange any such events in advance. The gatherings themselves take place not just in Karachi, but also at dark sky regions in the vicinity of Karachi, and are held very frequently. Days, sometimes weeks of planning is put in to ensure that everything is in order for the big day. Many of the KaAS members choose to volunteer and bring their telescopes along for public sessions. Some help set up the scopes, while others greet and engage the public and present them with a concise tour of the night sky. You get to meet enlightening new people who share some of the same passions as you. At the same time, you also attain a sense of wonder and amazement as you get to glance at the wonders of the heaven using some of the most elegant equipment currently present in Pakistan.

I was and still am a fairly new member of the team. Thus I eagerly anticipated the day when I would get to attend my first astronomy gathering.

Then one day… It came in the form of an email! I am referring to my invitation, of course. There was a flyer included, articulately crafted, yet plainly attractive in design. The primary credit for this goes to a member of KaAS, Omer bhai of Lahore.

I was also told to forward this invite to as many people as I could, which I did. One of my relatives at SUPARCO was especially very enthusiastic about going. Two of my cousins also decided to tag along with me on a trip they hoped would be (in their words) ‘very unique and different’. I expected the same.

Initially I was required to assist as a volunteer, but as luck would have it, I found out my family had made some plans for the night too. So I promised to attend, but apologized for not being able to volunteer for the event. I would have to leave soon too :/

The event was arranged at the PAF Museum (almost… ahem ahem) thanks to Khalid Sahab. I think I should clarify something before proceeding further. Many of the people I sent invitations to had the PAF Museum confused with the Maritime Museum. They had a surprised look on their face when I told them they were different places. Let me elucidate on this:

As one can see, the PAF Museum is almost adjacent to the Karsaz Flyover which you have to drive over (or if you are coming directly from Shahrae Faisal) then make a left turn to reach the destination.

The team set up the base inside the PAF Museum where the Pink Marker is in the picture below:

(Now you know what I meant by ‘almost… ahem ahem’ in the second to last paragraph)

The troops had gathered there before 7 PM to arrange and set up the telescopes. The scopes at show were (and their respective owners):

The Equipment:

Scopes:

Meade 10” LX200ACF (Thanks to Naveed Sahab)

Celestron C8 (Thanks to Imran Sahab)

Celestron NexStar 130SLT (Thanks to Abbas bhai)

Accessories:

Celestron Powertank

Televue Naglers T2 31mm (A.K.A The Grenade) and 20mm

Denkmeier S2 PowerSwitch

Celestron eyepieces (X-CEL series)

Laser Pointers

The scopes were all on GoTo/Computerized mounts that came with equipment itself.

The Arrival:

I finally got there at about 7 PM with my relatives. There was a lot of potential fun and learning in the making. As I already said, the rest of the KaASians had already been setting up the telescopes by the time I was going to arrive.

Initially, it took a while for me to find out where the troops had set up camp as it was somewhat far away from the epicentre of the activity of the Museum. There is nothing more that astronomers detest than stray light falling on the equipment and ruining a nice peaceful observation session. However, it wasn’t so far away as to completely disappear from the public’s eye. This place was teeming with activity as well as I found out soon. As I walked into the base, my heart beat harder and harder (I feared that most KaASians, unlike me, will be complete experts when it came to the equipment, whereas I had almost 0 practical experience). Yet when I walked over and into the middle of the camp, where some of most advanced equipment in Pakistan and experts in the field surrounded me (I was ASTOUNDED! And speechless for a while), the guys were nothing but welcoming. I was nervous as I met my fellow team members, among them were: Zain bhai, Ebrahim, Naveed Sahab, Abbas Bhai, Imran Sahab, Irfan Sahab, Mehdi Sahab and Abu Bakr Bhai. They all greeted me and treated me like they knew me beforehand!

The Fun Begins:

The Celestron NexStar 130SLT was the first one to gear up. Powered by the Celestron Powertank, the GoTo system was proficiently aligned by Abbas Bhai. This ‘setting up’ of the scope is important, as that is what allows the mount to find and track objects in the sky which would otherwise fall out of the eyepiece view due to Earth’s constant rotation. What I liked most about this scope was that, performance-wise it was the perfect balance between a light-gatherer and a planet hunter. Its 130 mm objective was great for bringing it lots of light and yet the 650 FL, f/5 FR allowed the user to zoom into object using eyepieces of fairly modest FL. I guess one could call this scope the ‘Jack of All Trades’.

Our first target was: La Luna! (A.K.A The Moon). The eyepiece that was installed to this Newtonian was only 5 mm, yet its immense exit-pupil and eye-relief had me thinking it was at least of 12 mm or more. When my turn finally came to look through the eye-piece, what I saw was a crispy clear view of the Moon. The Southern Pole (I believe) was in the view. There was slight atmospheric turbulence apparent even at 130x. Ebrahim challenged me if I could name any of the craters, but all I could remember at the time were the names of the darker/basaltic zones of the Moon, all of whom start with “Mare” (Latin: Maria; seas). Thus, for someone who loves to read books and look at illustrations of the moon, I was kind of embarrassed! (Don’t worry Ebrahim, I will get back at you some day for this… Just kidding)

The other scope that was utilized that night, besides the 130SLT was the Meade LX200 10”. If there was ever a scope that any amateur astronomer would be proud to own any day, it would be this. Its immense light gathering power (though there are few better ones in Pakistan in terms of light gathering power), and some of the features that come along with it (to name a few: GPS, Primary Mirror Lock, Oversized Primary Mirror, SmartDrive, Smart Mount, AutoStar Star Finder), not to mention that scopes of this calibre were once used for research purposes – make this one of the finest instruments for Astronomical observation. To put things into perspective, Pluto was discovered using a 13” telescope at the Lowell Observatory. Amateur astronomers worldwide have made significant contributions to the fields of supernovae, comets, asteroids, etc, using much inferior equipment than this.

(Mr. Mehdi with the LX200; credit to Mr. Abbas for this picture)

This scope took a while to align. It uses information from the GPS (Global Positioning System) to become ‘self-aware’ of the sky. Then using the AutoStar controller you can just about point it to any object at your will (er, with permission from the owner of the scope of course).

The eyepiece complementing it is a monster itself. The Televue Nagler 31 mm (otherwise known as the Grenade in astronomy circles), which alone weighs 2 Kilograms, delivers the widest and crispiest field of view possible. Watching through it gave me the creeps at first, as for a second I thought I was really “out there”.

The LX200 was finally pointed and fixated towards Jupiter. It was appropriate to do so, as in a day’s time it would be in opposition (closest distance) to the Earth, and closest till 2022. Jupiter shone like a bright star in the sky, but in the scope it was truly a sight to behold. The bands of Jupiter were as clear as day at about 100x; both the south and north equatorial belts. I had never seen details in a planetary disc so vibrant before. Sadly for us, the Great Red Spot never came into view. But I think we got more than our trip’s worth!

(Zain bhai with the LX200; credit to Mr. Abbas for this picture)

It is quite well known that Jupiter’s four Galilean moons can be spotted as faint star-like objects through a pair of Binoculars, but in the LX200 they were vivid and fully defined points. Initially, we could only see 3 of them, and everybody started speculating on the names. I think Zain Bhai came quite to guessing correct, but instead it was Europa which was transiting Jupiter’s disc at the time, and not Io (as he guessed). It soon came into view like a star rising over the horizon. Truly was a majestic view!

Afterwards, once the KaAS members were done observing it was time to invite the general public. Irfan Sahab went about the museum telling almost everyone he met about the astronomers “over there” were showing things with their telescopes. People started pouring in soon, and in big numbers too. The children were the most eager ones – shouts of “Mujhe bhi Chaand Dekhna Hai”, were heard often. The ladies too lined up for it. It was nice to see some general support and keenness from the public.

(The public pours in; credit to Mr. Abbas for this picture)

At this point, Zain Bhai thought it would be a good idea to aim the LX200 towards Albireo as it too was on our list of targets for the night. ‘As You Wish, So Shall It Be!’ And now the scope had Albireo set in its sights. We observed the double for a little while, but it seemed like the colors never took on fully. Maybe it was due to my eyes not fully adapting, or I suppose it can be attributed to the light pollution in the vicinity. However, it was fun to see the split anyway.

Lastly, I had brought along with me a book that I promised I’d show to the folks. It was lying in the car, so I told me cousin to bring it over. It was The Backyard Astronomers Guide by Terence Dickinson. It is one of the most sought after references of observational astronomy. We skimmed through it quickly as I was short on time and had to leave soon. Had a short discussion on few of the pictures from the book with other KaASians. I promised to bring more books later.

Well, as I said earlier, I didn’t want to, but had to leave early. By this time it was nearing 10 PM. I greeted everyone once more, and was on my way back. The next day I was told by Ebrahim that the team also observed Uranus for a while through the LX200. Of course! It was just a degree or two away from Jupiter that night. I would’ve loved to increase my “planet count”, but that will have to wait till another day.

Needless to say, I thoroughly enjoyed my visit at this Astronomy camp. I would love to visit again if I get the chance. Thank you everyone for a memorable night.

 

 

Written by: Ramiz Qureshi