Adventurer – A cycling group from Manipal Institute of Technology had the last leg of their bicycle expedition program to Kundadri peak. Headed by Prof. Ganesh Nayak, MIT, the group comprised of the students of MIT who would venture out and explore nature on their bicycles every week. The finale of the program was to bicycle from MIT to Kundadri peak covering many amazing places on the way up and return the next day.
What would you do if you have to spend the night at an elevation of 862m with clear skies? PAAC it up!
What if the group is a bunch of enthusiasts looking forward to know the sky and willing to stay up late night and wake up early to watch the Milky way? PAAC it up already!
PAAC it up!
Adventurers contacted PAAC to join us on their last stop and see the skies with them on the evening of 22nd February 2020 on top of the Kundadri peak. We agreed without second thought. Members of PAAC, went up there with the 4″ refractor telescope and a bunch of green laser pointers in case one runs out of battery.
The New Moon night was a treat to explore!
The group enjoyed the views of a whole lot of constellations, the greek myths related to them and various astronomical objects visible that night.
The first session began before dinner at 8:30pm where the group viewed Cassiopeia, Andromeda, Perseus, Orion, Canis Major, Aries, Taurus, Gemini, Cancer, Leo and Ursa Major constellations along with the Andromeda Galaxy, Pleiades, Orion Nebula, Venus, Polaris and a few star clusters.
Everyone was in awe of the 2.5 million light-year old light reaching us from Andromeda and wondered how it would be looking like right now. The outer edge of the Milky-way galaxy was also visible during the session.
The tired cyclists got some sleep after dinner, with the wind constantly singing them a lullaby and we woke up at 4:00am, all of us eager to view the center of the Milky-way and there it was! The dark cloudy center of our own galaxy passing between Sagittarius and Scorpio.
The group caught a glimpse of the milky-way, Scorpio constellation along with Crux and were greeted good morning by Mars, Jupiter and Saturn.
All of us enjoyed the view of Jupiter’s moons Europa, Ganymede and Callisto and the beautiful rings of Saturn in that chilly-windy hill top through the telescope.
Finally, the group was bid farewell by the Rising sun as they left back for Manipal and we the members of PAAC bid farewell to the awesome group that helped us catch a glimpse of the glorious Milky way.
Thanks Adventurers!
PS:
Although exclusively for MIT students, the travel diaries of Adventurers can be followed on Instagram
