Coep Astronomy Club

Who hasn’t marveled at the celestial wonders and experienced a sense of awe at being a part of such an infinite expanse? Since its foundation in 2004, the COEP Astronomy club seeks to build on this fascination and brings innovation and passion to its vision of spreading the awareness and knowledge of astronomy and space sciences to the students. The COEP Astronomy club, an ambitious team, driven by amateur astronomers, has managed to conjure up a lot of interest amongst students in the science of stargazing. Integrating technical skill with astronomical science, the club has initiated many projects, some of which being the construction of one of India’s largest amateur-built telescope – a 12” Newtonian reflector, construction of a mobile, inflatable planetarium dome, an amateur radio telescope, etc. The club strives to quench a student’s thirst for astronomy by organizing various exciting events such as Star Party (a fun-filled night of stargazing), Planetarium visits, Quiztronomy (a quiz to test people’s knowledge on everything seen beyond the night sky), Telescope building and handling sessions (telescope – every astronomer's weapon), and many more. Public outreach sessions for underprivileged children, school children to introduce them to the basics of Astronomy are also conducted. In addition to this, the club, in association with the Inter-University Centre for Astronomy and Astrophysics, Pune (IUCAA) organizes the event StareWay to Heaven during MindSpark intending to bring astronomy to the masses. Within this, a mobile planetarium is set up in the college, where the night sky is simulated and the people are introduced to various constellations and stars. Discussions and brainstorming sessions are also held every week, wherein members explore the Universe.