Students warm to the stars

I Wayan Juniartha, Denpasar, Bali

Hariningsih closed her right eye and focused the left one on the eyepiece of the Meade star telescope.

Her friend watched attentively while the 17-year-old high school student tried to get a better look at the Sun. The telescope was equipped with a special filter for viewing the Sun.

A few second later she gasped in amazement.

"Wow, now I know what the Sun looks like. It is definitely more than just a disc with blinding lights," she said with a grin on her face.

Her friends took turns observing the Sun through the telescope, sharing their newly acquired knowledge and, most importantly, curiosity and wonder over the celestial object, whose existence they had taken for granted before this.

A few meters from Hariningsih's small group another group of high school students was sitting before a sundial, listening to a young instructor carefully explain how the shadows on the sundial determined compass directions, particularly north and south.

"Magnet-based direction-finding instruments such as compasses usually produce a slightly deviated result due to the influence of the earth's magnetic field. A sundial is not affected by the magnetic field and can yield better, more accurate results," the instructor said.

Nearby, another group examined a pinhole camera, a simple and easy-to-construct device that can be used to measure the width of the Sun's shadow.

The students were among 70 participants of an amateur astronomy workshop held on Thursday at SMU 1 high school in Denpasar. They came from schools across Bali. The workshop was organized in conjunction with the ninth Asia-Pacific Regional Meeting of the International Astronomical Union (IAU) from July 26 through July 29 in Nusa Dua.

The workshop involved 15 instructors from Planetarium Jakarta, the Astronomy Students Association of the Bandung Institute of Technology and the Association of Jakarta Amateur Astronomers.

"We want to introduce them to the field of astronomy, to spark an interest in the subject, which, honestly speaking, is less popular than, say, economics. Hopefully, some of them will end up pursuing a career in astronomy," instructor Widya Sawitar said.

The workshop included classroom presentations and field training.

"We are trying to present all of the topics in the most pleasing and appealing way," he said.

For example, the instructors engaged the students in a relaxed discussion on the 12 zodiac constellations, the source of the popular astrology columns in newspapers and magazines, before guiding them through the astronomical and scientific data of the zodiac.

"An interest in astronomy could lead the students into various rewarding fields, from astrophotography to research on jet propulsion and interstellar flight," Sawitar said.

For the students, it was an eye-opening event that filled them with knowledge and amazement. Some, like Hariningsih, who goes to high school in the eastern corner of the island, are even considering studying astronomy at university.

"It turns out to be a very engaging subject. Previously, I did not even know that there was an astronomy department at the university," she said.

(Note: People should never look directly at the Sun without taking special precautions, whether or not they use a telescope or binoculars. The light is so intense it can seriously damage the eyes, even causing blindness. If using an optical instrument like a telescope, the advice of an experienced user should be sought beforehand.)

Caption foto telescope: -Hariningsih peers at an image of the sun through the eyepiece of a Meade star telescope.