The Astronomy Club organises discussions among its members on various topics, chiefly Observational Astronomy and Astrophysics. Moreover, they organize events for the general BITSian populace as well as outstation participants related to the same topics.

A new and interesting segment that has recently been included in the former is Astrophotography. The club uses a Charge Coupled Device to capture the Milky Way bands and the Andromeda galaxy, besides planets and nebulae.

During Oasis 2016, the club will arrange two sky-watching sessions. The sessions will tentatively take place post-midnight, when Mars will be easily identifiable and there is a good probability of spotting Saturn. Also, one of the telescopes will be focussed on the moon and its many craters. Quite a few Nebulae and star clusters will also be seen.

Keeping the theme “Of Gods and Men” in mind, the club is also planning to talk about how the constellations and star clusters have held very special meanings in famous myths from around the world.

‘We have only one or two sky-watching session for BITSians round the semester because the sky remains the same’, jokes Himanshu Gupta, the co-ordinator of the Astronomy club. He asserts that becoming the co-ordinator hasn’t really brought about any changes in how he contributes to the club, since most ideas are implemented only after detailed discussions with the other club memers.

This is the first time that a session will be held during Oasis, so the club heads are apprehensive about issues related to crowd control. However, at the same time, they are working hard to make the session memorable to ensure better turnouts in the coming years.

The Astronomy Club also organises several talks throughout the year on topics which usually interest the general public: such as extra-terrestrial life and quantum physics. These talks are usually delivered by the club members and occasionally by the faculty members of BITS and other reputed institutes.