IYA 2009

Our planet – the earth - is a minuscule part of the known cosmos. In terms of space and time, we don’t hold any special place. The earth is just one of many planets in a galaxy called the Milky Way, an un-assuming presence in the hundreds of billions of galaxies that stretch far beyond our every-day imagination. On the scale of time, we are also a peck of dust. With only a short span of human presence on this planet, we carry the burden of about 14 billions years of cosmic legacy on our, but feeble shoulders. But we carry it well.

Despite a realization of our physical nothingness, modern science and the astounding gamut of remarkable technological tools have both provided us the means to probe into the hearts of this wondrous and intriguing universe.

The year 2009 is being marked as the International Year of Astronomy. With the support of international and national agencies, many countries are preparing for this mega celebration of a human understanding of the heavens! This year will commemorate the impact of astronomy and science on human life. It will help us understand the planet we tread and the forces of nature that shape our collective culture, civilization, thoughts and history.

In Pakistan, the Khwarizmi Science Society (KSS) is also gearing up to be a part of this cosmic saga. We hope that through its public outreach, the KSS can excite young minds, children and teenagers into undertaking careers in science, technology, engineering and medicine (STEM). It will help our citizens understand the role of STEM related subjects in their daily lives. The year-long activities will, hopefully, place the national consciousness into a global context, that we all share a common heritage. This over-arching canvas that holds within its folds, the clouds, the stars, the myriad constellations, the wandering planets, the suns and the vast expanse of nothingness, connects us across many ages and many different cultures, races and geographies. We realize that we are part of one whole. And we can transcend the artificial distinctions of race and color.

Pillars of Creation:

Resident Astronomer and Executive Member Umair Asim, has exercised his skills in his personal observatory. After hours long exposures of a 14" telescope he has captured and fine tuned the images of a couple of nebulae.

M1 Crab Nebula

"About one thousand years ago a giant star exploded with all its might and created those kinds of atoms which also make up our own body!"

Raw image that camera downloads to computer.

Image after basic calibration.

Image obtained using deconvolution technique.

"A couple of nights before Lahore was beautiful. I think it hits for magnitude visually and never have seen this in months from Lahore. So I decided to make something nice out of it and selected Messier 16 for imaging!" (Umair Asim-July 01, 2008)

Since it’s an emission nebula so selecting H-alpha filter to collect only 656 nm (where the filter passes 13nm). Then Waited for it to reach at its highest altitude that is about 45 degrees due south; which came after 01:00AM and then spent about 2 hours in imaging Light/Dark/Bias from MaximDL software.