A grass-roots scientific association called the Khwarizmi Science Society
(KSS) is gaining popular recognition for creating scientific awareness
in far-flung areas of Pakistan. Using astronomy “astrofests” or
“falakyati melas” (astronomy festivals) it is generating momentum and
interest from people otherwise not exposed to such phenomena. The KSS
decided to take part in the International Year of Astronomy 2009 with an
idea to build a roving observatory and use astronomy as a means of
promoting science education in distant and rural schools. To bring these
heavenly bodies “live” to the enthralled audiences, they simply
connected a 14-inch Schmidt-Cassegrain Celestron telescope’s eyepiece to
a high-resolution CCD camera and projected the resulting images onto
multimedia screens. Most of the audiences will never have looked through
a telescope before and these brief moments of bliss can have a lasting
impact on their thoughts, hopes and choices. Once their gear was up and
running, the audience were delighted at what they saw, although the
lunar craters surprised many who were used to the Moon’s established
literary image! Similar melas have also been arranged in Lahore’s Punjab
University and at a large school in Phoolnagar, some 70 km from the
provincial capital Lahore. These events have attracted several thousand
schoolchildren and the most inspiring mela took place in September in an
all-girls school in Shahdara, along the banks of the river Ravi. The
Society also aims to correct people who are misinformed by the media,
such as silly superstitions associated with natural phenomena, like the
claim that pregnant women needed to be protected from the evil influence
of a solar eclipse.
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