SZABIST International Year of Astronomy 2009 project
Karachi, Feb 11: The Szabist Night Hawk Society launched their first project by the name of 'International Year of Astronomy 2009' here on Tuesday at the Shaheed Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto Institute for Science and Technology (SZABIST) Clifton campus.
Founder of the Szabist Night Hawk Society, Air Commodore (retd) Khalid Marwat, recalled the history of astronomy and discussed its importance. He also elaborated that the year 2009 has been named as the year of Astronomy by the United Nations (UN) and there is a drastic increase in activities related to astronomy the world over. "The Night Hawk society at SZABIST would be the first student society which will facilitate students interested in astronomy to broaden their horizons about the solar system", said Marwat.
The second part of the presentation was an exercise of sighting different stars, planets and the moon. Mr. Marwat and Abu Bakar Sheikhani, the co-founder of the society, explained the mechanics using an advanced 'Schemidt Cassegranian' telescope. The students sighted Venus, which appeared like a crescent, and stars namely, Sirius and Ligules. It was interesting to find out that the names of some characters from the famous Harry Potter series are inspired from the name of these stars.
Mr Sheikhani further informed for the audience that Karachiites can see Venus while standing at 'Do Talwar' near Clifton or at Keamari Port from sunset till 10pm, in the shape of a bright star.
Dr Najmi Haider, the faculty supervisor of SZABIST Night Hawk said: "Once the society is established and we have passionate youngsters working for this society, we plan to expand to other schools and institutes."
