AR_final file_2018-19

RadioAstronomyWinter School (RAWS) has been organized every year, jointly by IUCAAand NCRA. The school is largely meant for under-graduate students in science, pursuing BSc (Physics/ Electronics/ Astronomy), and Engineering (BE/ BTech). Bright and highly motivated high school/ junior college students involved in amateur Astronomy, have been also encouraged to apply. Through lectures and hands-on radio astronomy experiments, the winter school exposes the participants to astronomy in general, and radio astronomy in particular. The school has been immensely popular, and so far ten such schools have been organized since 2008. The experiments are conducted by RPL. The hands-on experiments included: (I) Observations of Sun with the 4 m telescope to determine the antenna power pattern, (ii) Observations of HI 21 cm line to neutral hydrogen from the Galaxy, and (iii) Measuring power patterns of various types of antennas using the antenna trainer kit. These experiments are designed to educate the students about techniques and instrumentation used in radio astronomy. RPL gives special attention to public outreach and is open to enthusiastic individuals for any help/advice they require regarding astronomy related activities. RPL members deliver informative lectures related to astronomy and instrumentation in astronomy in schools and colleges to make students aware of the career opportunities in the field of astronomy, and on latest developments in this field. The RPL members also have initiated the process of making videos for general public, which will describe key radio astronomy concepts in lucid manner and documenting the working of big international facilities run by India like the GMRT (which is one the world’s largest radio telescopes). All these material will be freely available on our RPL website and Youtube channel. RPL has also launched pages on the social media like Facebook, Twitter andYoutube for propagation of radio astronomy in India. PUBLIC OUTREACH RADIO ASTRONOMY WINTER SCHOOL Msc PRACTICALS Msc students have to perform experiments as a part of the curriculum, and to appear for practical exam to complete their course. Every year 3 to 4 experiments are performed by the students in RPL, and these have been a great success and will continue. Some of the experiments are antenna radiation pattern measurement, detection of 21 cmhydrogen line, Faraday rotation and noise fundamentals. On the occasion of 11th winter school, Jayant Narlikar, Founder Director, IUCAA, was invited to give his insights, and he interacted with the participantss. ( 165 )