INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
Hyderabad: The past few weeks saw various rare astronomical events, the Jupiter-Saturn conjunction, the triple conjunction of Mercury,
Jupiter and Saturn, the Moon passing Mars- but astronomy enthusiasts in the city say that it is no more a thrill to witness these space
events, because of the city lights.Light pollution is a menace in the city of Hyderabad which is killing the joy of looking up to the night
sky, astronomy enthusiasts and scientists have complained
Praveen Suryavanshi, an amateur astronomer and educator said that just to witness a full dark sky, one now will have to travel as far as at
from our offices and homes respectively
I was in Hi-Tech city that day, and in the shots I managed to get from the event show the kind of pollution from city lights and even the
dust that emcompasses the sky now", said Praveen
He added that the big flood lights, the neon lights on billboards and malls till the Shamshabad area have added to the mess, especially in
the last four to five years
"These unnecessary lights and the continuous construction activities have spoiled the city skies so much that even the night sky reflects
BG Sidharth, Director of the Birla Planetarium said that the first observatory near the city at Rangapur, 65 kms from the city, has also
been affected by the light pollution
post-graduate and Ph.D students, as well as for the public, has had the effects of civilisation in the nearby villages, but still has its
nights of clear skies, argued Dr
Shanti Priya, Head, Department of Astronomy, OU
have held observation classes in the past few weeks for the conjunction occurrences among other events, for our 40-50 PG and research
The LED lights around have had an effect on the observatory, but if the government takes some measures to increase the scientific temper
while keeping in view the convenience of people around, like installing LED light covers, it will solve the issue to a great extent", said
Shanti Priya.According to the world light pollution map, the location of the Rangapur Observatory falls in a rural/suburban transition sky,
where the galaxy M33 in Triangulum, a key indicator of sky conditions visible to the eye is difficult to see
protect the few dark skies left in and around the city like the Kotpally Reservoir area near Ananthagiri Hills, the Pocharam Dam in Medak,
the Pakhal lake near Warangal, the Laknavaram Lake area, among others, by making strict policies to restrict urbanisation and declare these
spots as Natural Dark Sky Sites.Amateur astronomers have also brought to light an Archeoastronomy Megalithic site, similar to the Stonehenge
200 kms from Hyderabad, which falls under the village of Mudumal in Mahabubnagar district, where dark skies can be witnessed clearly
