- Created: Sunday, September 14 2008 15:07
An International Workshop on "The Earth and Sky, Astrophotography and Image Processing" (a TWAN project) is scheduled to be held next month in Delhi.
The workshop will be held on Ocotber 3 - 6 in Delhi, by Nehru Planetarium , Nehru Memorial Museum and Library, New Delhi. TWAN (The World at Night) , and Astronomers Without Borders are the main international organizing partners of this event. The workshop is the first major TWAN event in connection with International Year of Astronomy 2009 , an initiative by UNESCO and International Astronomical Union (IAU).
Astrophotography and image processing have become much more accessible to a non professional than they had been, a decade ago. Many amateur astronomers in India have developed skills through self learning - for either imaging celestial objects through their own telescopes and imaging equipment - or for developing software for astronomical observing or processing of images. The workshop plans to give a direction to these skills both to create better images and to produce science-value data. Another potential of the educational program is possibility of collaboration between participants and guests (amateur and professional astronomers, university students, and educators) who will attend from all over the sub-continent India.
As a TWAN-involved event the workshop also attempts to look at a celebration of the science of the skies, with the Heritage of the land. TWAN-India activities would be a wonderful way of showcasing India’s monumental heritage, giving it a unique backdrop of the starry skies. It is not just the monumental heritage, that would be of interest to TWAN India – geographical and natural heritage as well as the multilayered cross cultural heritage of India would be a unique backdrop for the TWAN India photographs. On the other hand India has plenty of astronomical heritage – medieval as well as modern – and many observatories and institutions working at the front ends of astronomical research.
There will be several world-known Indian astronomers in the workshop as guests of honor. The invited speakers will be a combination of Indian astronomers and astrophotographers with TWAN and AWB representatives: Mike Simmons (USA), Stefan Seip (Germany), Gernot Meiser (Germany), Anthony Ayiomamitis (Greece), and Babak Tafreshi (Iran).
Supported by Nehru planetarium in New Delhi an exhibition of The World at Night photos will accompany the Earth and the Sky astrophotography workshop. The exhibition will continue for several weeks after the workshop for public viewing.
For more information, including a complete list of invited speakers click here to visit the Workshop webpage.
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