Date:20/11/2008 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2008/11/20/stories/2008112058410300.htm

Karnataka - Bangalore

Planetarium employees over the moon

Staff Reporter

There are two new additions to the facilities
Both the additions sponsored by Infosys Foundation

— Photo: K. Gopinathan

A STAR-STUDDED STAGE: K. Kasturirangan (left), MP and director, National Institute of Advanced Studies, Bangalore; Sudha Murty, Chairperson, Infosys Foundation; and C.V. Vishveshwara, Vice-Chairman, BASE, at a function at the Jawaharlal Planetarium in Bangalore on Wednesday.

Bangalore: The Jawaharlal Nehru Planetarium had two reasons to celebrate on Wednesday morning. The first was the introduction of a new sky theatre programme, which has just been included in the planetarium’s schedule – “Acharya Jagadish Chandra Bose”, sponsored by the Infosys Foundation. The second was the donation of three new Cathode Ray Projectors (CRT) to the planetarium, by the Infosys Foundation, replacing their two 15 year-old-projectors.

Present at this double inauguration were the people who were behind the sky theatre show. D.P. Sen Gupta, director and scriptwriter of the new sky-theatre show; Sudha Murty, Chairperson, Infosys Foundation; K. Kasturirangan, Director, National Institute of Advanced Studies and C.V. Vishweshwara, Vice-Chairperson, Bangalore Association of Science Education; addressed a gathering of presspersons, members of the astronomy community in Bangalore and schoolchildren.

Mr. Vishweshwara said he was glad about the support from the Infosys Foundation and had been in the past too, when five years ago Ms. Murty signed a cheque for Rs. 4 lakh to keep the planetarium running. A special showing of “Acharya Jagadish Chandra Bose” took place at the Jawaharlal Nehru Planetarium as it was released. As the planetarium approached its 19th year, this programme would be one of its latest additions. The 35-minute sky theatre show commemorates the 150th anniversary of the scientist commonly known as J.C. Bose who made path-breaking contributions in the fields of radio communication and plant physiology.

His work, not duly noticed during his time, had kindled interest in contemporary scientists.

The show packs in a lot of information about the scientist, while explaining basic concepts related to electromagnetic waves, with an appropriate and succinct voiceover by theatreperson Jagadish Raja. However, it is designed to keep the audience’s interest.

While “Acharya Jagadish Chandra Bose” was projected using the mirror-dome projector, the rest of the shows in the planetarium from now on will be projected using the new CRT projectors.

“Since all programmes come in a digitalised format, these projectors will be very helpful as they are digitally compatible,” said Pramod Galagali, Assistant Director, Jawaharlal Nehru Planetarium adding that they previously used a DVD-player to project their shows.

As Dr. Kasturirangan, who headed the Indian Space Research Organisation for nine years, spoke about the planetarium’s constant efforts to excel also spoke about India’s progress in space research. “Chandrayaan represents the fact that India has a space in the future and signals to the rest of the world we are mature enough for a project like this”.