Lonar Crater

The Lonar crater, situated in Buldhana Forest Division in Maharashtra, India, is a unique ecosystem in the world. It is believed that Lonar crater has been formed approximately 50 000 years ago by the impact of a large meteorite approximately 60 m across and a million tonnes in weight. It is an isolated deep saucer like depression nearly circular in shape and surrounded on all sides by steeply rising embankment to a height of 170 m. The crater is 1.83 km (6,000 ft) in diameter and 170 metres in depth. It is the largest impact crater in basaltic rock and is partially filled by a salt water lake. The presence of brackish water lake inside the crater having pH ~10 to 11 is a distinctive feature of the ecosystem. Fresh water springs on the slopes of the crater is another remarkable feature, which supports rich biodiversity inside the crater.

Lonar crater is having many micro-ecosystems with fascinating biodiversity. However, no systematic study has been conducted on ecological aspects of this crater. Some preliminary observations in this regard indicate that there exist approximately 9 micro-ecosystems, approximately 14 types of blue green algae, 5 types of alkaliphilic bacteria, 57 birds' species, and variety of reptiles, mammals, snakes, bats and colourful butterflies. Approximately 237 plant species belonging to 153 genera and representing 70 families have been recorded in the Lonar crater. Richness of biodiversity is evident from the presence of 128 herbs, 30 shrubs, 5 under shrubs, 19 climbers and 57 trees in the crater.

Movement Save LONAR: Lonar is declared as World heritage, but as usual this declaration is on paper & government / local resident are not taking any special care or precaution for the preservation. Only few local activist including Mr. Sudhakar Bugdane sir spend his life for making awareness among villagers. Our institute along with Khagol Vishwa, Pune has taken lead for the Save Lonar Movement. We march through village every year with banners & posters for preservation of Lonar crater, collect all the plastics in & around Lonar, delivering lectures in local schools & colleges about importance of Lonar.

Now again on 31 December & 1 January, we 72 students & communicators are going to Lonar. This is the end of International Year of Biodiversity. Soon will post details of the tour report.
Clear Skies !Dinesh Nisang

Clear Skies !Dinesh Nisang

Raw Rocks !!!!

Yesterday I went to purchase sky-watcher telescopes, as I have urgent order in my hand. I decided to visit a place in Ane Ghat, about which I heard a lot. Early morning I reached there. It was a awesome place to visit. Actually I dreamed to capture milky way from this point.
ANE GHAT:Spanning about 21 metres with a nine-metre thick roof, the bridge here is unique, as it has been carved out in basaltic rock. Around the world, similar natural bridges have been considered heritage sites, like the Rainbow Bridge of Utah and Natural Bridge of Virginia, USA, and the London Bridge at Port Campbell in Australia.
Further as usual Malshej was fantastic though rain & clouds were missing, but this time saw flowering & butterflies. Unfortunately I didn't have enough time & zoom lens (also) to capture butterflies. This time I managed to capture as many images in manual mode. Processing on .CR2 raw images is a gr8 experience, and I realized the importance of manual mode. Really RAW rocks for me. Later I will write in detail about processing on raw images.
Overall this one day work trip was energizing.

Clear Skies !Dinesh Nisang

Romancing with the high altitude skies…..

Twinkle twinkle so many stars
I was perplexed which one to look for* * * * * *

This was my state of mind for a very short duration when clouds gave a way to the Stars to glitter n show their presence in the sky in Sky Photo Trip at Ranikhet. This all was an awesome experience which will dwell for long time in my mind. Actually writing this all after returning home today so some things, incidents might skip.

This all excitement started when Ajay Talwar announced this Sky Photo Trip few months back. This is the first ever astrophotography workshop organized in India. There were only 11 astro-enthusiast participated from all over India including 1 from Dubai. Let me write their names first here, Ashit & Alka Gupta, Himanshu Rastogi, Dipanshu Gupta, Vineet Tuli, Pratik Raghav, Raghu kalra, Sneh Kesari, Vikrant Narang, Amol Mane(Dubai) & me. Reaching Woodsvilla, Ranikhet was an exhilarating journey. Lot of clouds, high mountains, pines all around perfect landscape for any photographer. All participants were new to me, but all were ‘astronomers’ from the pale blue dot; that’s the only fevicol bonding for all of us to gather at 6233 feet leaving everything behind.

Day 1: I am sure that all participants will be agree with me that arrangement, management, literature, instruments at Sky Photo Trip were beyond everyone’s expectations. When we all arrived at Ranikhet; weather was not looking in favor of us. But clouds can only take away photography possibilities, not our patience & zeal from us that we all believed. Ajay told astrophotography has 2 important parts a) Photography b) Image processing & each one is important than other . Along with Ajay(Nandadevi), Vikrant-Raghu-Sneh(Trishul) were helping us to understand some very important things of astrophotography in informal discussions. After finishing some theory, we all started juggling with camera, tripod and telescopes. Alas !!!! our practical session started with mighty CLOUDS. Even then Vineet, Amol & me started taking images with intervalometer for time lapse movie. But in a hurry we all forgot to hang sturdy bag to the tripod, thanks to Ajay pointing out this. This all was trial & error efforts, so also forgot to take flat images also. Overall this first day & night sessions taught me a lot many new things regarding astrophotography.

Day 2: Woodvilla hotel, really we all were on cloud 9. Second day started with a stunning view from room window as clouds settled down & somebody shouted “look at the Trishul”. Wooow!!!!!!! Himalayan Glaciers were peeping through white clouds, firstly it was a bit hard for me to spot out them but once I recognized them, it was
awe-inspiring moment. Then after only one sound was there click-click-click.
Ajay,Vikrant & Pratik managed to keep conference room atmosphere on HOT pixels. Noise discussion is still echoing in my mind. Clouds decided to stay ON. By the evening I determined to join Vikrant on Atlas mount & not to even glance at LX200 8” & 12”. Later I understood how fruitful this decision was. At least for 3 times we aligned Atlas mount. Polar scope, 3 star alignment, drift alignment, connecting scope-camera on starrynight everything was great along with Sneh & Vikrant. This all exercise we did under clouds. Finally all is set to capture M45 & M31, we clicked first image & again clouds came. But I learned a lot on Atlas mount, thanks to Vikrant. We all enjoyed a lot under clouds, fun, dance, long exposure group photo.

Day 3: Image processing is really a soul of the astrophotography & Ajay is the MASTER of it. Ajay showed us some excellent techniques to process an image. To be honest with you all I think in the image processing session I understood a little bit & I am sure to make command on image processing practice is MUST. Ajay has experience of more than 15 years in astrophotography & he tried to pour all his practices in these 3 day workshop. Now I am very much energized, geared & waiting for dark, clear skies.
Accommodation, food was at its best. Overall this Sky Photo Trip was a grand success in spite of bad weather.

Aperture-Exposure-ISO-Histogram......& most important "RAW" say no to Jpeg..
Soon will post some images as they are waiting for processing :)

And the last but not the least vote of thanks to Neelam for encouraging Ajay.


Clear Skies !Dinesh Nisang

Indian railway at excellence.

Yesterday I had a meeting at Pune. Today morning left Pune, since morning traveling
& it's raining everywhere. Now writing this blog from Rajdhani express. Service at Rajdhani is excellent. Tomorrow will reach at delhi. Planning to visit Akshardham mandir & Red fort. Also hoping clouds & rain will be away from Ranikhet.
Clear Skies !Dinesh Nisang

Sky Photo Trip….

@ 6233 feet… Dark black skies… Backdrop of the Himalayan mountain range…
Pine trees… Cold breeze… what more an astro photographer want?

It’s really a dream come true Sky Photo Trip is coming ahead from 10-12 September at Ranikhet, Uttranchal. Great Astro-photographer Ajay Talwar is the key person to avail this first ever opportunity in India to astro-enthusiast. I am very much excited to join this astrophotography workshop. For the workshop I bought brand new Canon 1000D, capturing-processing images will be very new experience to me. Previously I used metal body Vivitar camera in 2004 for astrophotography, till then it was a dream only….. but now I have pulled up the socks…There I GO….
Many instruments like Canon 1000D, 450D, 500D, lenses, Atlas mount, LX 200 8” & 12”, 400mm Skywatcher refractor are waiting for us. There are only 9 participants from all over India joining at Ranikhet. Wait for some astonishing images from the trip.
Now everything is geared & here countdown BEGINS 10,9,8.....

Clear Skies !Dinesh Nisang

Yess !!! Finally Canon 1000:D

Huhh.. Writing after almost a month. In between was much busy & can't pull out time to write & also I think there was nothing special to write though many things happening :) Bought brand new Canon 1000D a dream came true after many years. Now very much excited to join Sky photo trip with new camera. Soon will write in detail about Sky Photo Trip. Till then good bye

Clear Skies !Dinesh Nisang

Homage to my Gurus

Today is Guru Pournima. Many students sent me messages; some called me to wish “Happy Guru Pournima”. It’s really surprises me, as time passes relation between Guru-Shishya is becoming formality(?) or is it becoming high-tech. I remember, we used to go to our teachers home to give them homage & a flower. They were very touching moments for us & them also. After some years I was on the role & I remember some years back students also used to come to me with flowers but importantly with some gifts!! It was shocking for me to know that they had competition in between them regarding gift cost, size etc. Now this year I just received SMS & phone calls. This is high-tech Guru Pournima. In the old age there was a very thin line between Guru & Shikshak. But unfortunately today this is not the case, we all will agree with this. Yes, there are some exceptions.
I am dreaming for the day when there will be no discrepancy between Guru & Shikshak.
In my life I also have blessings of Gurus. But I strongly believe that firstly you should become your Guru, trust yourself. When I think of Guru, certainly 3 persons appear in my mind. Swami Vivekanand, Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam & Anand Shah.
Swami Vivekanand is no more on this tiny blue spot but his thoughts are here always. I never got a chance to meet him, but he is the first person who influenced me when I was grown up & searching for path. He is the one who leads me to what I am today. I used to spent hours to read his literature & tried to live every moment what he described.

Secondly Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam; the living legend for me. I met him once personally but more than that I lived with him in thoughts. He guided me, showed me the path. I still remember his warm hands on my back, encourages me for the future work. “Let my Brain remove thy Pain”.

And the last but not the least Anand Shah; with whom I spent thousands of hours. He is the one who mentored me in many aspects when I was very young. Even I can’t list out what I learned from him. He treated me like a younger brother, though we have age difference of around 17 years we are very good friends & for me he is the living Guru for me. I never expressed this to him but today I am taking this opportunity to express myself here on blog. And apart from this I have to mention an organization who teaches me a lot “Eklavya Prakashan” where I worked for 2.5 years.

I pray my homage to my Gurus, without them I don't know where I would be. I wish for the healthy & long, happy life for the Dr. Kalam & Anand Shah.

Sunday Science School is an innovative concept introduced in Ahmednagar first time in Maharashtra.
It is successfully running since 2008.

» Students get out of marks in science but are you sure that your student understood the concepts of science?
» Most of the times children wants to do something; they have different ideas, but didn’t get material, guidance. Are you dealing with such dilemma?

Here is the Sunday Science School for your children.
We develop curiosity & nurture creativity…

» Opportunity for students to perform science experiments, projects
from various subjects like Physics, Electronics, Biology,
Astronomy, Robotics, Chemistry, Space Science.
» Study tours to IUCAA, GMRT, Lonar, ISRO etc.
» Basic Level- Rs.3600/- Advance Level- Rs.4000/-

City Branch: 1st Floor, C/0 Bhand Maths Classes, Behind Patel Medical,
Chitale Road, Ahmednagar.
Savedi Branch: C/O “Swaranand”, Dr. Madhusudan Bopardikar, Next to Samarth
Coaching Class, Professor Colony Chawk, Savedi, Ahmednagar.

For Admission Contact @ 9850047933

Clear Skies !Dinesh Nisang

काचेची बरणी आणि २ कप चहा

काचेची बरणी आणि २ कप चहा

The good one I read today. Read it & we will have cup of tea some day soon.

आयुष्यात जेव्हा एकाच वेळी अनेक गोष्टी कराव्याशा वाटतात आणि दिवसाचे २४ तासही अपुरे पडतात तेव्हा काचेची बरणी आणि २ कप चहा आठवुन पहा.

तत्वज्ञानाचे प्राध्यापक वर्गावर आले. त्यांनी येताना काही वस्तू बरोबर आणल्या होत्या. तास सुरु झाला आणि सरांनी काही न बोलता मोठी काचेची बरणी टेबलावर ठेवली आणि त्यात ते पिंगपाँगचे बॉल भरु लागले. ते भरुन झाल्यावर त्यांनी मुलांना बरणी पुर्ण भरली का म्हणुन विचारले. मुले हो म्हणाली. मग सरांनी दगड खड्यांचा बॉक्स घेऊन तो बरणीत रिकामा केला आणी हळुच ती बरणी हलवली. बरणीत जिथे जिथे मोकळी जागा होती तिथे ते दगड खडे जाऊन बसले. त्यांनी पुन्हा मुलांना बरणी भरली का म्हणून विचारले. मुलांनी एका आवाजात होकार भरला. सरांनी नंतर एका पिशवीतून आणलेली वाळू त्या बरणीत ओतली. बरणी भरली. त्यानी मुलांना बरणी भरली का म्हणून विचारलं. मुलांनी ताबडतोब हो म्हटलं. मग सरांनी टेबलाखालुन चहा भरलेले दोन कप घेतले आणि तेही बरणीत रिकामे केले. वाळूमध्ये जी काही जागा होती ती चहाने पुर्ण भरून निघाली. विद्यार्थ्यांमध्ये एकच हशा पिकला. तो संपताच सर म्हणाले "आता जी बरणी आहे तिला तुमचे आयुष्य समजा. पिंगपाँगचे बॉल ही महत्त्वाची गोष्ट आहे - देव, कुटुंब, मुलं, आरोग्य, मित्र आणि आवडीचे छंद - या अशा गोष्टी आहेत की तुमच्याकडचं सारं काही गेलं आणि ह्याच गोष्टी राहिल्या तरी तुमचं आयुष्य परिपूर्ण असेल. दगड खडे ह्या इतर गोष्टी म्हणजे तुमची नोकरी, घर आणि कार. उरलेलं सारं म्हणजे वाळू - म्हणजे अगदी लहान सहान गोष्टी.

"आता तुम्ही बरणीमध्ये प्रथम वाळू भरलीत तर पिंगपाँगचे बॉल किंवा दगड खडे यांच्यासाठी जागा उरणार नाही. तीच गोष्ट आपल्या आयुष्याची. तुम्ही आपला सारा वेळ आणी सारी शक्ती लहान लहान गोष्टींवर खर्च केलीत तर महत्त्वाच्या गोष्टींसाठी तुमच्यापाशी वेळच रहाणार नाही. तेव्हा..आपल्या सुखासाठी महत्त्वाचं काय आहे त्याकडे लश द्या.

"आपल्या मुलाबाळांबरोबर खेळा. मेडिकल चेकअप करून घेण्यासाठी वेळ काढा. आपल्या जोडीदाराला बाहेर जेवायला घेऊन जा. घराची साफ़-सफ़ाई करायला आणि टाकाऊ वस्तूंची विल्हेवाट लावायला तर नेहमीच वेळ मिळत जाईल."

"पिंगपाँगच्या बॉलची काळजी आधी घ्या. त्याच गोष्टींना खरे महत्त्व आहे. प्रथम काय करायचे आहे हे ठरवून ठेवा. बाकी सगळी वाळू आहे."

सरांचे बोलून होताच एका विद्यार्थिनीचा हात वर गेला. तिनं विचारलं - "यात चहा म्हणजे काय?"

सर हसले आणि म्हणाले - "बरं झालं तु विचारलंस. तुझ्या प्रश्नाचा अर्थच असा की आयुष्य कितीही परिपूर्ण वाटलं तरी मित्राबरोबर एक-दोन कप चहा घेण्याइतकी जागा नेहमीच असते.
Clear Skies !Dinesh Nisang

Black Buck Saturday @~@

Well-well-well, this friday night planned a great morning for me. We reached by 8:00 pm at Rehekuri sanctuary. This is reserved for Black Bucks. When we reached there, it was black out as there were no electricity. And what an astronomer want more ?? Twinkle Twinkle stars everywhere.. & milky way on the zenith AWESOME !!
It was a pleasant morning, cold breeze, very energizing aroma around. We took a long walk in Sanctuary, we only 4 were present in the 2.17 Sq. Kms. sanctuary. One male black buck welcomed us standing right in the middle of the road. Then it was all fun & thrilling experience for me to follow hundreds of black bucks.
Overall this was a gr8 saturday,
"Black Buck Saturday @~@"

...an Evening in Delhi !!

Well, writing after many days, came back from Delhi in last week. Went to delhi for All India Asteroid Search Campaign workshop. Very nice meeting with CB Devgun. Delhi really capital of India in every aspect. Stayed at house of MP Dilip Gandhi. Metros are really excellent for transportation. Very nice evening at India gate. It was very humid out there, took bath 3 times in a day. Journey of both side was good and enjoyed a lot with sharing experiences with people from various parts of India.
Still don't have time to write in detail but sure in future....



Hunting Asteroids..........

Let's Hunt Asteroids out there deep in the sky.........

Team BARC participating in International Asteroid Search Campaign From left above
1) Nisang D. 2) Gore P. 3) Jawale Y.
4) Darade P. 5) Sonawane S. 6) Kulkarni P.

You always wondered to see falling star in the sky, small particles entering in to the Earth's atmosphere creates the fascinating sight. Thanks to IASC & SPACE for providing this opportunity to us. We all are waiting to get first set of images.

Clear Skies !Dinesh Nisang

भूमंडळी अवतरली तारकादळे......

भूमंडळी अवतरली तारकादळे......
अप्रतिम!
अवर्णनीय!!
अविस्मरणीय अनुभूती!!!

Well, this weekend brings a lot joy for us. Veryy successful Bhandardara trip. But this all was not easy to catch, me & parag traveled to the Alephata to join Mandar. We moved from Alephata at 10:00 pm towards Bhandardara. Journey accompanied by heavy rain on the way to Sangamner. Near Rajur we all were looking for leapord & suddenly a big male Hyena crossed the road, & we all jumped in car. He gave us nice pose for photographs & went on his way, leaving us in exciting mood. It was around 1:00 a.m. when we reached Bhandardara & there was it what we went for. Fire flies in hundreds in dark, you can't imagine the scene. Actually they are thousands/lacs in numbers but due to rain their no. decreased but never the less we watched stars on the Earth Wowwwwwwww........ amazing experience n decided to go there next year.
Soon upload photos of the trip :0

Photo credit: Mandar Sable(Hyena) & Yogesh Kardile(Flying flies)

Asteroid Hunting

"The future cannot be predicted, but futures can be invented". - Dennis Gabor
Today since morning was much busy at home with plumbers. But afternoon came with pleasant news, our BARC team got selected to participate in All India Asteroid search Campaign by International Astronomical Search Collaboration & SPACE. It is indeed good news for me also. It wil give us exciting opportunity to be at the forefront of research at international level, & be involved in real time data analysis & science.
It's raining today & missed chance to find comet C/2009 R1 McNaught.

Clouds Again…. :(

Now this has become habit for us since many years, whenever there is an astronomical event or sky observation planned clouds follows us. It is easy to predict clouds for us simply plan sky observation :) That’s IT. Tonight Jitendra Joshi, Parag Gore & I planned for night out n sky is full of clouds, yesterday it was awesome. Today I met Mr. V.P. Sulakhe scientist ‘F’ from VRDE, he is interested in Aero, we had very fruitful discussion in short time. Hope to build strong relations with him in future. Now inquiries for Sunday Science School are started, need to plan everything very soon. The photo today is very old, we used to carry 6” telescope to the every part of Ahmednagar on two wheeler for public programs. That was really nice experience.
“Hamara Bajaj- Buland Astronomy ki Buland Tasavir”

Inspiration

"Years teach us more than books."

First you should be your idol I think. I saw very ups & downs in life since childhood but inner killer instinct 'to do something different' always led me to take many unorthodox decisions. In my college days I was dying for to be a part of Indian defence forces, once I was successfully qualified in written-physical-medical exam of Indian Navy but got out in all India final merit list :(
By the time I used to say "I will prefer to be a beggar instead of a teacher" so FUNNY.
I came across literature of a great Indian Swami Vivekanand. It changed my view a lot. I realized if I want to do something good for society, to be a TEACHER is the best option one ever have. Then I turned in to the educational field.
Dr. Abdul Kalam & Dr. Vikram sarabhai are two more legends along with Mahatma Gandhi & Bhagat Singh I look at.

New Horizon

Ahhh, at last all is set to write blog living on a tiny blue spot in the infinite Universe. Truly we all are Milkyway citizens. "Late is better than never" so will try my level best to write as long as possible. Now it's June & Monsoon is ready to arrive in various parts of India. Most people, individuals, social activist, organizations, municipal corporations should take lead to harvest rain.