Thursday, September 29, 2011

Delhi schoolkids observe autumn equinox

New Delhi: Students from 10 schools in and around the national capital got together at the Jantar Mantar on Friday to observe the autumn equinox, the NGO which organized the event said.

An equinox occurs twice a year when the day and night have approximately equal length.

"Around 200 students from various city schools participated in the event," an official of the NGO, Science Popularisation Association of Communicators and Educators (SPACE), said.

"The autumn equinox is one of the best occasions to celebrate this wonderful phenomenon using the ancient instruments at Jantar Mantar," added the official.

According to SPACE, an international citizen science project - "Project Paridhi - Measure the Earth Again" was also flagged off on the occasion.

"The kids performed experiments to measure the earth using a gnomon (a stick/sundial) to measure the shadows and in turn getting readings," said an official.

"Simultaneously, the experiments were performed by students in the cities falling on the same longitude as Delhi like Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh), Bangalore (Karnataka) and Nagercoil (Tamil Nadu)," added the official.

The schools which participated in the experiment got the maximum benefit of learning science, geography, history, mathematics and astronomy simultaneously at the same platform, the official said. IANS

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