The Astronomy Club at BITS Pilani is a group of people who are greatly fascinated by the outer space, black holes, paradoxes, and the number 42.  Throughout the year, the club has been organising talks and sky-watching sessions for the club members as well as the general public.

After their first sky-watching session in Oasis this year, the club members are looking forward to a greater turnout during the APOGEE sky-watch, as well as its other events. During APOGEE, the club will be conducting a workshop on Introductory Astronomy, besides quizzes like “Marooned” and “42”. While “42” gives you situations where you are stuck in a location unknown to you and you have to find your way back, the latter is an astronomical trivia for those who enjoy brain-storming.

The coordinator, Himanshu Singh, reminisces his days as a first year in the club: “In my first year, there were less than twenty people in all the years combined. Also, most of the club activities were limited to observational astronomy. In the recent semesters, the club has shifted focus to activities associated to Astrophysics, which include syzygy talks. Moreover, the public participation has increased, mainly because of the increase in the number of events throughout the year.” For those who are wondering, “syzygy” refers to the phenomenon three stars falling in a straight line.

According to Himanshu, one of the major reasons the CoSTAA is promoting cultural events during APOGEE is to make the people stay on the campus during the fest. He states that the reason so many first years believe APOGEE is not something to look forward to, is because they get to hear the same from their seniors. Hence, the threat to a good turnout is not a lesser number of outstation participants, but lesser BITSians staying on campus for the technical fest as each year passes. Despite all the fears and doubts, clubs across campus, including the Astro Club continue to work hard and hope to make this APOGEE better than its previous editions.