On the
route to the Lake District of India, the hilly road starts from Kathgodam. The last 30 kms in the
foothills of Himalayas the Pine, Oak & Sal tree filled greenery encompasses you.
The road is smooth and well maintained all year round. As you look up, near a laid back hamlet, Do-Gaon, you get a glimpse of the shiny
white dome of the 40" Sampurnanand Telescope. Mark the location in your GPS
{Latitude - 29° 21' 34.1" & Longitude - 79° 27' 32.9"} and it will show you the
correct direction towards Manora Peak. Six kms before reaching Nainital there's a board proclaiming ARIES
- 3 Kms. You reach at the observatory building, and truly feel that you
have arrived at your Mecca. The ARIES observatory campus is the whole of Manora
Peak! The atmosphere is clear and crisp. At a height of 1951 meters you have
left the dust laden air all below you in the plains. Big healthy & colourful
Chrysanthemums welcome you to the site of the
Milky Way Voyage - India's First
Ever National Star Party.
You find the telescope grounds and are really excited
now, looking at the biggest amateur telescopes in India gathered. There's a 20 inch, a few 16 inchers, 13 inchers
and many more. Amateur telescopes are not far of from the one at the
Observatory's 40 incher. Right away you
find a space for your telescope. Soon you are ready with your equipment setup
and raring to go.
Early in the evening, 16:30 or thereabouts it gets nippy. The clouds start to
descend downwards towards the valleys. Suddenly you are surrounded all over by wispy
white fog of the clouds, it looks as if the night will be a wet and cloudy. Just
wait patiently for a little while, the clouds will settle below in the
valleys, leaving the sky above in its full glory. But not before it wets it all,
all equipment, all bodies, all souls. With the clouds settled below us Manora
peak looks like an island in the middle of a large soft sea. Sunset at ARIES
is always a spectacular sight. 18:16 is the time it goes down, but it always
feels that you can always see below the horizon from this high vantage point.
Slowly the stars peek out of the textbook blue sky. But look two of those are
not stars, but Mars and Saturn. Soon you can find the Pleiades, the Andromeda
Galaxy, the Beehive, the Great Nebula in Orion and many more, Hey! its not even
dark.
Running the Messier Marathon run seems so easy here. Many telescopes have started
and well on their way in the Messier Marathon. But why not start your own Deep
Sky Voyage at this excellent sky venue, A voyage that runs through the Milky
Way! We have prepared exactly that 'A Milky Way Voyage' for you.
A list of very
interesting deep sky objects running through the milky way. It contains lots of
open clusters and nebulae which the milky way abounds in. It also contains
spectacular galaxies, planetary nebulae and globulars.
The common listing point is that each object lies in the path of (or nearby) the
River in the Sky - Milky Way.
Take a look at the Great Nebula in Orion through the 16 incher light bucket. You
could easily spend 30 minutes and feel like you have just started watching the
wispy details far from the trapezium. The details in the Eskimo nebula are
discernable through the 20 incher largest amateur scope in India. The skies at
ARIES, Manora Peak are legendary. Amateur Astronomers Association of Delhi has
always found the skies here unparalleled. In the year 2007 the Messier Marathon was
fully completed visually and photographically here. The most difficult objects
like M30, M73, M74 were a breeze because of the clear horizon. Once you have
seen the height advantageous skies at ARIES you will never forget the vista.
Astrophotographers will appreciate the 'Lights-off philosophy' that will be
strictly enforced at the Milky Way Voyage. Visual observers will find the
largest amateur telescopes in India that you can put your eye to, and will find
that they don't need to photograph to see some of the exotic deep sky objects
that will cross the meridian at Nainital. Amateur Telescope Makers will have a
perfect opportunity to showcase their telescope innovations and home brewed
stuff at the Milky Way Voyage. Beginners in astronomy will find lots of advise,
expertise and experience available at the star party, also they will find
telescope vendors where they can browse and buy their equipment. Planetarium
educators will find a perfect opportunity to equate the domed sky versus the
real sky.
Ajay Talwar & Nilesh Vayada present "Milky Way Voyage"
An experience
you'll never forget & reach for it every year.