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Children witness transit of Venus

By Our Staff Correspondent

Schoolchildren viewing through specially made sun filters the transit of Venus in Chitradurga on Tuesday.

CHITRADURGA, JUNE 8. A large number of children and enthusiasts cheerfully witnessed the nearly six-hour celestial spectacle — transit of Venus — in Chitradurga using special sun filter goggles and telescopes on Tuesday.

A special arrangement to view the spectacle was made by various organisations, including the Chitradurga Science Centre and the Amateur Astronomers Club. The Amateur Astronomers Club had also made installed a telescope on the premises of SJM Dental College.

H.S.T. Swamy and E. Rudramuni of the club explained the various aspects of the event to the public.

The Chitradurga Science Centre had made arrangements for viewing the celestial event at the local block resource centre. Volunteers of various organisations visited schools in the district and encouraged students to view the spectacular event. Shankara Murthy of Chintana Prakashana, which publishes science books for children and conducts State-level competitive examinations on science every year for schoolchildren, distributed over 4,000 specially made sun filters to view the spectacle.

He along with his friends visited various schools in the district and explained significance of the event. Speaking to The Hindu, Mr. Shankara Murthy said, "We have distributed nearly 4,000 sun filters specially made by Nava Nirmiti, Mumbai. We have distributed them throughout the State. As this spectacle lasts more than six hours, every one in the school can share the sun filters provided to them to view the transit of Venus across the sun."

But Mr. Swamy's stood in the quadrangle of a prominent college near the main road and asked students of the college to view the celestial event first. Later, interested people also joined the queue. Then some of the volunteers invited passers-by to view the phenomena. When a large group of people assembled, Mr. Swamy explained the transit of Venus. Mr. Swamy said this was an exercise to inculcate scientific thinking about the wonders of the universe.

"It is a welcome move that there are so many organisations which are striving to reach out the people,'' Ramanna, a retired teacher, said.

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