Eyes on the skies: Power cuts are welcome at this star-studded event

Karachi Astronomers’ Society invites people to take a peek at the heavens.


Sohail Khattak June 02, 2013
People who turned up to the event organised on Saturday by the Karachi Astronomers’ society at Zamzama park take a look through the telescope set up there. PHOTOS COURTESY KARACHI ASTROMERS’ SOCIETY

KARACHI: While power cuts - especially in the sweltering heat of June - bring out the worst in some, there is a group of people in Karachi who welcome the darkness.

For the Karachi Astronomers’ Society, when the bulbs go out, more spectacular ones in the sky light up before their eyes. On Saturday it organised an event at Zamzama park to mark the death anniversary of noted scientist Abdur Rehman alSufi. Telescopes were set up to allow the public to be enthralled by the wonders speckled across the night sky and perhaps even see the mighty Jupiter rub shoulders with Saturn and its rings.

“When we look at them with the naked eye, we just think they are stars and nothing more. But when I saw Jupiter through the telescope, I felt that a planet had visited our neighborhood,” said Firdous Ali, after he had taken a peek at the jewelled sky with one of the telescopes. Some of the society’s members were busy imparting information about stars’ sizes to curious children who were anxiously waiting in rows for their turn to catch a glimpse of Jupiter before it vanished from the night sky.


People who turned up to the event organised on Saturday by the Karachi Astronomers’ society at Zamzama park take a look through the telescope set up there. PHOTOS COURTESY KARACHI ASTROMERS’ SOCIETY

Imran Rashid, 38, a member of the society, said, “I feel happy when people come to us seeking knowledge about stars. Usually they think we’re just crazy.” Rashid is in charge of a private school’s computer department and in his free time, he often gazes at the heavens with his telescope. His wife and family aren’t terribly pleased about this hobby, though.

“People get suspicious when they see us with our equipment - especially when we’re up on the roof. They think we might be peeping inside other houses,” said Rashid.

“The police even arrested one of our society’s members in Islamabad because of his telescope. They mistook it for a weapon!”

Rashid said he wishes to see the earth from space one day - though he doesn’t have enough in the kitty to do this. “Before the internet reached Karachi, I used to think I was the only mad man in the city. But then I connected with other people in the field via the web.” The society’s president, Muhammad Mehdi Hussain, who had brought his own telescope to the park, claimed he had even built one back when he was in school. “People confuse us with astrologists and that’s why they prefer to keep their distance.”

He works as a chief architect at a US-based software company but still takes time out for the hobby. Hussain fell in love with astronomy when he was just eight years old - it caught on after he saw a star with three separate lenses. “I was astonished when I saw three smaller stars around the one which I was looking at. My father bought books on astronomy and then I made my own telescope.”


Some participants had brought their own equipment. PHOTOS COURTESY KARACHI ASTROMERS’ SOCIETY

The society organises trips to other places in Sindh and Balochistan where the sky appears clearer and darker. Another member, Asim Qadri who came to the park from Gulshan-e-Maymar, said that such spots have a darker and clearer sky than most other countries. He said the society has 18-inch telescope which he claimed was the biggest privately owned telescope in South-East Asia.

Qadri was, however, unhappy with the excessive streetlights in city which cause light pollution and make it difficult to see the wonders in the sky. He blamed light pollution for the disappearance of stars from the city. “We are the only people in the city who pray for load shedding so that we can see stars,” he quipped.



His son Hayyan, a Matric student, is also following in his footsteps and hopes to study at the Institute of Space Technology, Islamabad. Qadri said those countries in which there had been research on space were the ones which went on to become superpowers. “Schools and colleges should offer courses in astronomy.”

Published in The Express Tribune, June 3rd, 2013.

COMMENTS (7)

Zain Ahmed | 10 years ago | Reply

@Hitler: Amateur astronomy clubs and some of their events in Isloo:

http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/PakAstronomers-ISB/

https://www.facebook.com/groups/IslamabadAstroSociety/

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=oa.354821434608753&type=1

http://www.nss.nust.edu.pk/NSSEve1011AST.php

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=180263088674441&set=a.180262308674519.43369.160738870626863&type=3&theater

Muhammad Akbar Hussain | 10 years ago | Reply

"Muhammad Mehdi Hussain, who had brought his own telescope to the park, claimed he had even built one back when he was in school"

Actually it is not just a claim but we have actually been designing and constructing telescopes since 1996.

http://amateurastronomers.org/archives/2010

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