Khatulistiwa 2010: Solar Observation
By UKM Student English Forum
Editor UKM Student English Forum
BANDUNG, itb.ac.id - ITB's East Campus Center court was filled with senior high school students, some of them operating the Vixen Reflector Cassegrain telescope under the instructions of university students. The telescope is used to observe solar activity, including sun spots (dark spots on the Sun's surface, with temperatures lower than its surroundings, caused by magnetic activity). The solar observation was held on Saturday, Monday, and Tuesday (02,04,05/10/10) as one of the events in Khatulistiwa 2010.
"To observe solar activity, you usually need to go to the Bosscha Obervatorium," said Gerhana Puan (Astronomy '08), Coordinator of the Solar Observation. "Here, visitors can observe the Sun for free."
On these three days, the event was packed with visitors. 100 - 200 students from SMA Lorensia, 150 students from SMA Al-Falah, 30 students from SD Al-Falah, and around 100 university students and public visitors came to the solar observation. As a facilitator of the solar observation, aside from the ITB students, was an instructor from Bosscha Observatorium experienced in talking to the public.
The Vixen Reflector Cassegrain telescope belongs to the Government and was placed in the Astronomy Department, ITB, after the International Olympiad on Astronomy and Astrophysics (IOAA), held in 2008 in Bandung.
