35th Annual Report (2022-2023) - ENGLISH

80 two days. The main attraction of the National Science Day 2023 celebrations was the models of Aditya L1 and JWST's Unfolding model. There were posters regarding the same at Bhaskara 2 and Sky Dome r e s p e c t i v e l y . T h e r e w e r e d e m o n s t r a t i o n s a b o u t Gravitational Waves, Black Holes, and Laser Interferometers at Bhaskara 2. The whole campus of IUCAA including the MVS and TLC building and the area near Chandrasekhar Auditorium was covered withmodels and posters. A number of spectacular posters d e s i g n e d a n d p r e s e n t e d enthusiastically by research scholars of IUCAA were displayed, which made the people aware of the ongoing research and new developments in the subject. Themed videos were streamed on "Astronomy in Space" at Bhaskara 1. The Solar Ultraviolet Imaging T e l e s c o p e m o d e l s a n d demonstrations were ongoing in Bhaskar 3. Near the new TLC building, we had some Radio Astronomy experiment exhibits and posters. There was a set of four posters and exhibits on the 'Life c y c l e o f a S t a r ' nea r t he Chandrasekhar auditorium which was enjoyed themost by the school students. Apart from these, the Foucault pendulum, the statues of great scientists on the campus, short interactive sessions on Aditya L1, the Live Solar telescope, and the Sun & Solar Astronomy exhibit pulled a large number of people. Short talks on Reasons for Seasons, Cosmic Zoom, andMy Life as an Astronomer, were delivered by Moupiya Maji & the IUCAA OAE Team, Samir Dhurde, Megha A n a n d , a n d D i v y a R a n a respectively, which kept the a u d i e n c e r o o t e d i n t h e Chandrasekhar Auditorium during themorning session. In the afternoon, there was a live interaction with Raghunathan Srianand, Ajit Kembhavi, and Jayant Narlikar, who eloquently answered several astronomy- related questions from the public. This was coordinated by Surhud More. Most of the wonderful questions regarding our universe came forward from young school kids. Following this, there was a special panel discussion on 'Inspiring the future women of science'. Panel members included Manasadevi P T, Anupreeta More, Debarati Chatterjee, Sukanya Mallik, Sanjit Mitra, Siddharth Maharana & Vishal Upendran. Many girls schools from Pune attended this session. This was followed by an interesting talk on 'Astro MythBusters'. On the evening of February 26, a public interaction titled: Studying the Sun with Aditya-L1, was delivered by Helen Mason, Durgesh Tripathi, and Nishant Singh. The interaction was moderated by Samir Dhurde. Close to 7,000 people visited IUCAA in these two days, and approximately 2,500 odd people attended the sky-watching sessions. As per the tradition, there were events for school students prior to the open day. IUCAA Public Outreach personnel conducted a science quiz, along with essay writing, and drawing competitions for the rural students of the Ambegaon taluka on 11 February 2023. Vaidehi Paliya, Sudhir Gholap, Atharva Zend, Shivraj Kandasamy, and the Scipop Team (all from IUCAA) enthusiastically encouraged the students from 15 rural schools, who competed at the venue generously provided by the Government Polytechnic, Awasari. On February 25, 2023, about 180 students from36 schools in Pune City responded to IUCAA's invitation and participated in another set of inter-school competitions. Students from classes VIII to X took part in drawing, essay, model making, and science quiz competitions. During the first round of the quiz, Prof Surhud More gave an interesting talk to the teachers, who accompanied the students. After the finals of the quiz competition, all winning students received their prizes from R. Srianand (Director, IUCAA) and Nishant Singh, which included the students from the rural schools, who were specially invited to IUCAA for a visit that day. All the students were very happy to have a chance to interact with the IUCAA scientists during theseNational ScienceDay celebrations. Shortlisted models made by school students on the theme, 'Science from Kitchen', chosen by coordinators, Manasadevi P. T, Shivraj Kandhasamy, and Nishant Singh were exhibited on National Science Day for the visitors. The final judging was also done on the same day. All the public talks and the Ask a Scientist session were s t r e a m e d l i v e a n d a r e a v a i l a b l e a t : https://www.youtube.com/iucaascipop.