ASTRONOMY CLUB ENDEAVOURS.

Ø  My trip to camp Mustang……

ASTRONOMY COMPELS THE SOUL TO LOOK UPWARD AND LEADS US FROM THIS WORLD TO ANOTHER….

This quotation is said by Plato, a classical Greek philosopher, astronomer as well as a mathematician and our experiences for this astronomy club level 1 truly recognize this as the truth.

On February 2015, camp Mustang in Gurgaon hosted by ZLife education’s Astronomy camp. There we observed planets, constellations and so on. The excitement was in the air.

The camp creates special program for school student groups where learning meets playfulness and creativity finds inspiration. It's a place where young children get to mingle with the great outdoors, discover the best-kept secrets of nature and indeed their own selves. An enthralling roller-coaster of adventure, discovery and fun through activities such as: backpacking, camping, rock-climbing, pottery, mud splashing, star-gazing, writing journals and learning crucial life-skills like leadership and teamwork through games were devised by the experts.

After our students reached there tents were allotted for them. After leaving the backpacks in the tent and all of them went for exploration with a teacher who from time to time explained to them about the activities, the games and the schedule. After that a PowerPoint presentation was shown regarding the Camp Mustang

Then, came the favourite part, it was the ‘Observation’. At 9 pm we all gathered and started the observation. The young learners were thrilled to see Venus, Mars, and Saturn and some were lucky to spot 2 comets too. Later the students relished the snacks which rejuvenated them.

Later everyone played treasure hunt and many other enjoyable games. The next day was the results were declared and the team SOHO attained the fifth position. Finally we packed our bags and this ended the night camp full of learning, fun and excitement.

The camp Mustang gave all of us beautiful memories to cherish for a long time to come! 

ØCAMP REDSTONE, DEHRADUN (Astronomy Club Level 2)

On 24^th April, 55 students along with 4 teachers, went on a 2 night, 3 days trip to Dehradun. The journey began at 5 am. After a long journey of 6 hours, we all reached Dehradun. We were told to trek down to reach the camp site. We reached the camp in 15 minutes. The camp ‘Redstone’ was really beautiful. There was a beautiful waterfall within the camp. Very soon after reaching, we went for a camp tour. There was a swimming pool too in the camp site. Our instructors took us to the pool where we had loads of fun. The first session was all about celestial sphere and pinhole cameras. We made our own pinhole cameras and clicked pictures from the camera, without a lens. The next morning, we all freshened up and had our breakfast. We all were divided into 2 groups- Group A and Group B. Group A went for the cave exploration first. We started our trek from the camp. After sometime, we finally reached the cave. We saw different kinds of stones and many bats. After cave exploration, we came back to our camp. Then, we made our own rafts by joining bamboo sticks and tubes from ropes and then raced on it. After river rafting, we went for our second session. It was about astrophotography and deep sky observation. We explored different kinds of celestial objects and clicked pictures of stars on our own. We also developed a negative picture we clicked the first day from our pinhole cameras. After the whole tiring day, we went to sleep. The next morning, we left the camp and started our trek to the bus. The bus began its way to school and we left Dehradun behind and reached Delhi. It was a wonderful experience, to learn new things in such way. This trip has given every student, a number of memories, which are unforgettable.

SHREYA MEHRA                                                                                        Ms.Namita Bhagat

     VIII - C                                                                                               Coordinator astronomy club