- PKC will launch one million galaxies
– Shailendra Singh
Pune : The mission of Pune Knowledge Cluster (PKC) is to bring exciting science news to the citizens and make all astronomy missions a success. Moving towards this goal, a citizen science astronomy program ‘One Million Galaxies’ will be launched on the upcoming Science Day (28 February). It aims to engage citizens to overcome the difficulty of examining the vast amounts of data collected by astronomers.
Prof Ajit Kembhavi, Principal Investigator, PKC. Told Navbharat that this program enables interested people who have no training in astronomy. They can help find features in galaxies. He explained that this would require citizens to have only a basic computer, laptop, tablet or smartphone and a proper internet connection available through cell phone data packages. Necessary training will be provided through short training session over a video link. After training, individuals will be able to observe galaxies within a few hours from the comfort of their home.
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Significant contribution by India to the world
With dedicated participants, PKC hopes to build an atlas of one million galaxies in a few months. Dr. Disha Sawant of PKC, who manages the program, said that this data will be made publicly available for use by astronomers and others around the world, which will be a significant contribution by India, especially if it is shared by its citizens. made possible.
PKC set up to solve challenging problems
PKC has been established by the Office of the Principal Scientific Adviser to the Government of India. It aims to bring together academia, R&D institutions and Pune’s industry to solve challenging problems of the region through innovative means, using scientific knowledge. Citizen Science is an interactive online platform for astronomical projects, the first of which will be one million galaxies. It was launched after a pilot project developed and tested with the help of amateur astronomers, college students, housewives, senior citizens and others.
Visually impaired people will also be able to participate in astronomical programs
The team is also developing an astronomy program for the visually impaired that will use 3D models of celestial objects and visual data converted to sound (sonification) to make the wonders of the sky accessible to those who can see them with their own eyes. Can’t see Such students will also be able to participate in citizen science astronomical events using sonification. Dr. Priya Nagaraj, Chief Operating Officer, PKC said that this program will help in making the science done in laboratories more accessible to the larger community. Dr. Nagraj told that he started with astronomy, but plans to apply this program to many other types of scientific data going forward.