Every weekend, a group of enthusiasts pack their bags, carry their telescopes and binoculars and get away from the city’s bright lights to pursue their hobby — stargazing. Prithvi Dheeraj Reddy took to stargazing for fun along with a group of friends four year ago. Today, he heads the Hyderabad Astronomical and Trekking Society (HATS) which organises stargazing camps. “When we started sharing pictures of our stargazing sessions and giving out information about different constellations and galaxies, it piqued others’ interests,” he says. Today, he leads groups of 30-40 enthusiasts for these sessions.
The 24-year-old adds, “Most first-timers want to just have fun. But once the session starts they get so enamoured by the beauty of our universe that they end up becoming repeaters.” With his Celestron 135 mm refractor telescope he shows enthusiasts everything, from Saturn’s rings to Jupiter’s bands or the Jellyfish Nebula and the Milky Way. “It’s a very exhilarating experience,” he adds.
The next level is photographing stars, and Susheel Chepur, a 28-year-old architect and an astro-photographer, feels it helps explore the unknown even better. “Astro-photography helps capture that which is beyond our natural vision while trying to identify the mysteries of our universe.
Underneath the stars: The camp is held once a month
“Tracking and capturing objects, stars, constellations and galaxies helps improve our level of patience as well,” he says with a smile, adding, “If everyone got into stargazing the amount of light pollution will also decrease, helping birds and animals.”
Stunning: A photo of the Jelly Fish Nebula shot during one of the camps
Stargazing also has several health benefits. Highlighting a few such features, Dr Ravindra Vottery, an oncologist and an avid stargazer says, “Our eyes are constantly exposed to brightly lit, closely placed flashy objects, including our mobile phones and iPads. We bend our neck so often to view them. By stargazing we tilt our heads upwards and let our eyes relax.”
He feels stargazing also helps improve night vision, peripheral vision and probably even reduce astigmatism — a problem seen among the current generations of children with cylindrical glasses
