TANGENTSBy Ihtisham Kabir
Inquiring <i>Minds </i>
Moon during eclipse (photo by Opu.) Inset: Shanto (l) and Opu (r) Photo: Ihtisham Kabir
I first heard about Anushandhitsu Chokro (“Circle of Inquiring Minds”, henceforth abbreviated as Achokro) from Dr. Dipen Bhattacharya, who teaches physics and astronomy at California's Riverside Community College. Dipen is also a research professor at University of California Riverside, author of two science fiction novels, a climate-change activist and an avid outdoorsman. He and five others founded this science club in 1975. Achokro has over 600 members throughout Bangladesh. Their activities in astronomy, physics, chemistry and agriculture are distinguished by a hands-on approach at rural grass-roots level. Their shoe-string budget is provided by members. Among Achokro's astronomical accomplishments are collection of the largest meteorite to fall in Bangladesh (handed to museum authorities for safekeeping), construction of a refracting telescope (8”, weighs a ton, uses a rare Zeiss lens), and the 2009 solar eclipse camp in Panchagarh attended by 20,000 people. On June 15, when a lunar eclipse is scheduled to take place, I visit Achokro's eclipse observation camp at Bhashani Planetarium. Lunar eclipses happen when the earth blocks sun's rays from reaching the moon. The moon is gradually swallowed by darkness, lighting up after it emerges from the earth's shadow. For tonight's celestial show, Achokro hosts twelve camps nationwide including Sylhet, Patharghata, Bandorban, and Barisal. When I arrive at twilight, I meet Opu and Shanto, two young Achokro members. Opu, a pilot in training, organises the camp. Shanto, an engineering student, is their astronomy expert. I also meet Shahjahan Mridha Benu, a senior member who kept the club going through its dark days. The observation camp is humming. The field is dotted with colourful tents (for rain.) Two telescopes sit on tripods for observing and photographing the eclipse. An antenna is receiving radio waves from the sky and feeding them to a laptop. Although the eclipse is six hours away, about fifty people are already here waiting with anticipation. The antenna is a two-element Yagi antenna, designed by Opu and made from local materials by several members. It listens to radio signals from the centre of the Milky Way galaxy. This information is continuously fed to a laptop and eventually shared with astronomers around the world. What did they expect to observe during the lunar eclipse? “Much information can be derived from watching the eclipse. For example, the speed of the shadow over the moon tells us about the speed of the earth's revolution. Shadows also reveal information about lunar craters,” Opu tells me. I suppose one could read this up in astronomy books. But does that even come close to the real thing? After the equipment is set up, the twilight sky darkens ominously and it starts raining. The members quickly stow the equipment in the tents until it clears. Later at night, when the eclipse takes place, it drizzles lightly. That does not deter the 1500 people who observe this memorable event together, chalking up one more victory for popular science in Bangladesh. For more on Achokro, see their website at www.achokro.org.
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