Astronomy at Taj promotes education, culture, and research
Situated on the banks of the Yamuna River,
Agra, India is a former capital city
of the Mughal Empire. Millions of tourists visit the city yearly
in order to see monuments like the Agra Fort, Fatehpur Sikri palace complex,
and the famed marble mausoleum known as Taj Mahal. During February 15-19,
2016, Agra also hosted a unique educational and cultural event, known
informally as "Astronomy at Taj". This was a joint effort between
Anand Engineering College, Agra, and Western University of London, Canada.
This unconventional event combined several initiatives.
It was an educational event,
as a winter school in astronomy for college undergraduate students.
It was also a focused research workshop in star formation research with
speakers from six countries. Finally, it represented a
cultural exchange and interaction between students from India and Canada.
For Canadian students it represented a valuable study abroad opportunity
organized by Western University's
Department of Physics and Astronomy, and
conveniently occurring during Reading Week at Western. Another goal was to
bring astronomy and science awareness to the general public in Agra.
About 65 students from India participated in the school, representing the
vast range of the country, from Jammu and Punjab in the north,
Gujarat and Maharashtra in the west, Kerala and Tamil Nadu in the south,
and West Bengal to the east. There were 12 delegates from Western, plus
their friends and spouses. There were 8 Canadian students at the event,
which was open to students from all disciplines as long as they had an
interest in astronomy, and these included Western students enrolled in
Astronomy, Physics, Anthropology, Engineering, English, and Political Science
programs. One student from Indonesia also made an admirable
effort and attended the school. The 40% female student participation rate was
higher than the typical North American average for Physics or Astronomy
undergraduate programs. There were ten internationally renowned
invited speakers, from India, Canada, Denmark, France, Japan, and the USA.
The organizing committee consisted of Prof. Shantanu Basu (Western), Pranav
Sharma (Anand College), Prof. Priya Shah Hasan
(MANUU, India), and Western
graduate students Sayantan Auddy, Mark Baker, and Pranav Manangath from the
Department of Physics and Astronomy, and
Deepakshi Madaan from the Department
of Applied Mathematics. The Director of Anand College, Prof. Anil Kishore
Saxena, and the Dean-Academics of Anand College, Prof. Amit Sharma, also
contributed immensely to the support and organization of the event.
From the start, the event combined fellowship with science, exhibiting Indian
hospitality and exuberance. The official opening saw the traditional
Indian lamp lighting ceremony, and a beautiful exposition of the Indian
traditional dance form Mohiniattam, by renowned dancer Vijayalakshmi.
Prof. Anil Kishore Saxena pointed out that
he was supporting the event because it would allow his students to diversify
their learning, examine new career options, and broaden their contacts.
Prof. Shantanu Basu pointed out that Astronomy at Taj had gone from conception
to execution in a mere four months time.
The opening research workshop talks highlighted the role of new global
observatories Atacama Large Millimeter/Submillimeter Array
(ALMA) and
Herschel Space Observatory
in revealing the initial conditions of star
formation. The winter school participants heard lectures about the recent
NASA New Horizons mission to Pluto, the possibility of extraterrestrial
life and the search for its existence. In this context, the first day
also saw the screening of the 1997 movie
Contact, based on a novel by
Carl Sagan. This movie led to an open discussion the following day on
both the accurate and inaccurate portrayals of science in the movie, as
well as important issues touched on in the movie, such as the position
of women in astronomy, the relationship between religion and science,
and the efficacy of doing conventional versus unconventional science.
The opening day also saw a keynote talk by Biman Basu on "Indian contributions
in shaping astronomy and astrophysics", which expounded on ancient
as well as more recent Indian contributions, with very interesting
insights like the development of the Indian calendar that incorporates
both lunar and solar cycles.
The opening day saw a stunning Mohiniattam dance performance by Vijayalakshmi, a keynote lecture by science journalist Biman Basu, and made local news headlines.
The second day witnessed a slew of science talks at the star formation
workshop, as well as talks in the winter school about relativity and the
recent detection of gravitational waves. The latter was an excellent
collaborative effort led by an Indian and a Canadian student. There was
also a special session for hundreds of students from local public
schools in Agra. The workshop talks illustrated the fast moving nature
of research, with results presented about the masses of stars.
New results showed that the mass distribution of stars in clusters can vary
significantly from one to the other, and particularly in the low mass
end of the distribution. A constant universal distribution of stellar masses
was definitely not favored by workshop participants and their data.
This variability was also true for the mass
distribution of prestellar cores, the precursors of stars, as seen
with new ALMA data. Student talks also illustrated new approaches to
characterizing the stellar mass function, and also a prediction for the numbers
of very low luminosity stars, still undetected, that may exist throughout
our Galaxy.
On the second evening, the conference participants shifted from Anand
College to the public lecture hall Sur Sadan in Agra city, for a public
event with Agra citizens. The evening got off to a rocking start with
a series of Indian dance performances representative of many different
regions of India. All performers were students of Anand College, part of
a very talented student body indeed! This was followed by the main event, a
public lecture on the new global observatory the Thirty Meter Telescope
(TMT),
by Prof. Devendra Ojha of the Tata Institute for Fundamental Research
(TIFR)
in Mumbai. India has recently joined the consortium as a partner, alongside
Canada, China, and Japan, as well as Caltech and the University of California.
Following the public lecture was a panel discussion on the subject "Are we Alone in the Universe?", moderated by Mr. Pranav Sharma of
Anand College, with panelists Prof.'s Shantanu Basu and Chris Essex from
Western, Prof.'s Priya Hasan and Najam Hasan from MANUU, India, Dr.
Doug Johnstone from NRC, Victoria, Canada, and Dr. Henry Throop from
Planetary Science Institute, USA. Does life exist elsewhere in the universe?
If so, where? Why have we not found it yet or why has it not yet found us?
Questions were taken from many of the
several hundred attendees of the Agra citizenry, and a
freewheeling discussion ensued. Prof. Najam Hasan also summarized the
discussion in Hindi.
At Sur Sadan, Agra, international panel discusses "Are we Alone in the
Universe?" and the cultural program ended with the enthralling Holi dance featuring Lord Krishna and gopis. Video links to dance part 1part 2.
The third day was spent entirely outdoors, at one of the world's most
spectacular settings. The morning session took place at the
Taj Nature Walk,
a short distance from the Taj Mahal, and with a majestic view of
the Taj from a hilltop. The
Archaeological Survey of India had
granted special permission to hold the event at this protected location.
In the marvelous surroundings, a group discussion took place about
careers in astronomy while a solar telescope was set up to view the sun
and its sunspots (only one visible that day). The wide-ranging discussion
dealt with very practical questions from students about strategies to
get accepted into graduate Astronomy programs both in India and in
Europe and North America. With free interaction and the presence of
so many senior astronomers from many countries available to comment,
many students found this to be one of the most valuable sessions of
the winter school. The afternoon was reserved for a tour of the Taj Mahal,
and participants made the most of the many hours on a beautiful sunny
day to view the Taj from many angles, each one spectacular in its own way,
to go inside, and to enhance fellowship with their fellow participants.
Back at Anand College in the evening, there was outdoor night sky viewing
with an 8-inch Celestron telescope, as well as a session on astrophotography
hosted by filmmaker and astronomy enthusiast Rakesh Rao.
Outdoor session at Taj Nature Walk followed by a tour of Taj Mahal. Members of organizing committee and some of the Canadian contingent shown here.
The fourth day saw more workshop talks in the morning, on planet formation and
time variability in stellar mass accumulation. The afternoon was spent
on a tour of the famed palatial complex at Fatehpur Sikri,
home of Mughal emperor Akbar and his wives. Participants got a view of the
complex architecture that combined Persian and Indian elements, the palaces
of the emperor and queens, and the awe-inspiring 55 m tall gateway, the
Buland Darwaza. As the week
drew to a close, the participants had bonded well with each other.
Many experiences had been shared, including communal meals at
the Anand College cafeteria. Freshly-made delicious North Indian vegetarian
food was served each day, and this was itself another cultural experience
for the Canadian students. The last evening was spent socializing around
a communal bonfire. An impromptu soccer match also
broke out, utilizing the large sports arena of Anand College.
Canadian and Indian students pictured together, enjoying a tour
of Fatehpur Sikri and later the communal bonfire.
By the time the last day arrived, emotions were running high as students,
professors, and Anand College volunteers and staff all realized how much
they had bonded together, but that they would soon be going their
separate ways. This event required that approximately
100 people, including the Anand College volunteers and staff, lived together
and shared learning and cultural experiences for a week. Many new friendships
were forged, that span the breadth of India as well as Canada to India.
There is no underestimating the camaraderie that was established, and
the age of social media means that these ties will be maintained and
nurtured. The closing ceremony saw an open microphone session where
participants spoke from the heart about their experience and how it had
changed them. The overwhelming conclusion was: this was a wonderful
idea and event, and let's do it again!
Canadian and other international delegates also spent the day before or after
the conference touring Delhi. Sites like the Akshardham temple,
Humayun's Tomb, Jantar Mantar (ancient astronomical observatory), and Red Fort
were visited, along with much shopping at Connaught Place.
Many more pictures and posts on the conference can be found on Twitter @astronomyattaj and #AstronomyAtTaj2016. See also
