The Great conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn was witnessed by hundreds at Poornaprajna College on Monday 21st December 2020. The two planets were in conjunction after 20 years and would not be visible for another 20 years. However to see them so close to each other, in a single telescopic view, one would have to wait for another 60 years. For this reason, Poornaprajna Amateur Astronomers Club organized a telescopic view for all those attending the program with an 8 inch telescope and a 4 inch telescope dedicated for the public to view through. The club also organized a live stream of the event on the PAAC YouTube channel through the 3 inch telescope fitted with a planetary camera.
About 200 members of the public were in attendance along with the staff and students of Poornaprajna College to view the event through the telescopes. Dr. A.P. Bhat, founder co-ordinator of PAAC and Retired principal of Poornaprajna College was the chief guest. He explained the significance of the celestial event along with various constellations and stars visible along with the Moon. Dr. Raghavendra A, Principal presided over the program. Mrs. Prathibha C. Acharya, Head of the Department of Physics along with other members of the department were in attendance. Ms. Meghana J.V. was the Master of Ceremony and addressed the gathering and guided them through the various safety procedures like sanitizing and maintenance of social distancing throughout the program. Mr. Atul Bhat, Co-ordinator of PAAC, streamed the view live on YouTube. A recorded discussion with Dr. B. S. Shylaja was played during the conjunction where they discussed conjunctions and occultations in Indian history. The Live stream was viewed by around 7500 people online during the event and a few thousand views later on. The students of PAAC actively took part in the event and made sure that social distancing was exercised as much as possible to witness the view of the planets not maintaining their usual distance. The planets were visible very close to the naked eye and could be distinguished as two points in the sky.
Mohammad Hashim of II B.Sc. developed an instrument on his own to measure the angular separation of the planets and was successful in measuring it with good accuracy.
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