Report from SPACE club, Hillwoods Academy on winter solstice day

Report on winter solstice day activities

Hillwoods academy, preet vihar SPACE club celebrated the winter solstice in a different way! This year we decided to do eratosthenes experiment and local noon experiment in tandem with another brach of our school in Gandhinagar, Gujrat where the school happens to be very close to tropic of Cancer! We planned to do the local noon finding at both the places of winter solstice day with gnomons of different shapes and sizes to make it more interesting. Mr. C B Devgun, President SPACE was invited on 20^thDecember to give a talk on the winter solstice day and what students can do on that day. He interacted with students of SPACE club and other students and suggested them to find local noon with shadow formation of various objects.

On the day of winter solstice, around 6 teams from Hillwoods preet Vihar and 4 teams from Hillwoods Gandhinagar took the readings of the local noon. Hillwoods academy preet vihar team was under the guidance of Babita Kundalia, Coordinator, SPACE club. Various gnomons like gnomon stick provided by SPACE, basket ball pole, statue of liberty model, cricket stumps, road sighs were used to take the shadow measurements and students really enjoyed doing the shadow experiment! Hillwoods academy teams found the sunangle to be 52 degrees and Gandhinagar students found it to be 47 degrees as reported by them in evening. That turns out to be a difference of 5 degrees in latitude in both the schools (which was later verified from google earth)!! Local noon timings between both the schools were found to be around 18 minutes which converts to 4.5 degrees in longitude difference. Earth circumference was also measured taking these readings into consideration. A detailed report with readings will be soon made and sent.

We are attaching the images from the activity in the Hillwoods academy preet vihar. Pictures from the Gandhinagar branch are awaited. Students really enjoyed doing the experiment and will repeat the same again during equinox days and summer solstice day. We would like to thank SPACE for providing the technical support for the event.

RESULTS of the "scientist of the day"

STEPL (Space Technology and Education Pvt. Ltd.) conducted an experiment for school children as part of the Winter Solstice Day celebrations at Jantar Mantar on 22nd Dec by SPACE.

The competition titled 'Scientist of the Day' involved measuring the shadow of a long stick over a period of time and using the shortest shadow to find the Circumference of the Earth. This uses the concept that the sun rays shine directly overhead on the Tropic of Capricorn (the latitude line at 23.5° south, passing through Brazil, South Africa, and Australia) on the day of Winter Solstice. Younger students participated in a competition "Measuring the Sun Angle" which was a smaller part of the original one.

About 150 students from 21 schools from Delhi NCR participated in this competition, including schools such as The Airforce School, Subroto Park; DPS Sonepat; Ryan International School, Rohini; Step by Step, Noida; Apeejay School, Saket, etc. The students sat in groups amidst the green lawns surrounded by the ancient monuments and measured away for a couple of hours. It was a great experience for the teachers and students to be involved in such a project.

All the groups did a great job and attended to the measurements with attention and diligence. I am proud to announce the winners of these two competitions:

In Senior Section Ryan International School, Vasant Kunj won the first prize where as team 8 and team 7 from Ryan International School, Rohini got second and third prize respectively.

In Junior Section team 5 from The Air Force School, Subrato Park won the first prize where as team 15 and team 16 from Step By Step Greater Noida stood second and third prize respectively.

SPACE celebrated Winter Solstice at Jantar Mantar, Dec 22, 2010

SPACE celebrated Winter Solstice with public outreach and with a large group of school students at Jantar Mantar, New Delhi22nd December was the shortest day of the winter, i.e. the Winter Solstice when the Earth's axis in the Northern Hemisphere was tilted furthest away from the sun. After this day, the day lengths slowly increase again. This day is celebrated over the world in different cultures, the most famous celebrations being at Stonehenge. SPACE observed this day in Jantar Mantar in New Delhi.

SPACE conducted public outreach at Jantar Mantar. Thankfully, although Winter Solstice indicates the peak of winter unofficially, it turned out to be a glorious sunny day. A lot of tourists and general wanderers walked through and were happy to find out what the ancient 'Jantar's (Yantras- meaning Machines) or structures were actually used for and how they were used to measure locations and time using the sun's shadow or by observing celestial objects.SPACE conducted tours of the various instruments and explained their workings.

STEPL (Space Technology and Education Pvt. Ltd.), i.e. the education wing of SPACE conducted an experiment for school children. The competition titled 'Scientist of the Day' involved measuring the shadow of a long stick over a period of time and using the shortest shadow to find the Circumference of the Earth. This uses the concept that the sun rays shine directly overhead on the Tropic of Capricorn (the latitude line at 23.5° south, passing through Brazil, South Africa, and Australia) on the day of Winter Solstice. About 200 students from 15 schools from Delhi NCR participated in this competition, including schools such as The Airforce School, Subroto Park; DPS Sonepat; Ryan International School, Rohini; Step by Step, Noida; Apeejay School, Saket, etc. The students sat in groups amidst the green lawns surrounded by the ancient monuments and measured away for a couple of hours. It was a great experience for the teachers and students to be involved in such a project.

Experimental material such as Telescopes, Binoculars and Astrokits were provided by SPACE Arcade www.spacearcade.in.

SPACE will celebrate Winter Solstice at Jantar Mantar

       SPACE will celebrate Winter Solstice at Jantar Mantar

                                 22nd Dec, 11:00am - 3:00 pm 

SPACE will celebrate Winter Solstice with Public Outreach at Jantar Mantar, New Delhi.

• Learn about all the Jantar Mantar instruments and see how they are used.
• STEPL will conduct competitions on 'Measuring the Sun Angle' (Primary students) and 'Measuring the Circumference of the Earth' (Middle and Senior school students)

A solstice is an astronomical event that happens twice each year, when the tilt of the Earth's axis is most inclined toward or away from the Sun, causing the Sun's apparent position in the sky to reach its northernmost or southernmost extreme.

On the day of Winter Solstice, North Pole tilts away from the Sun and South Pole tilts towards the Sun. The Winter Solstice occurs exactly when the earth's axial tilt is farthest away from the sun at its maximum of 23° 26'. So the Sun shines at lowest heights in Northern skies and at maximum heights at Southern skies. It results in the shortest day in the Northern Hemisphere but at the same time it’s the longest day in Southern Hemisphere. So for people in Southern Hemisphere it’s a Summer Solstice.

Winter Solstice indicates winter at its peak. After this, the length of the day starts increasing and it reaches a point where day and night becomes equal in length at Vernal or Spring Equinox. The day continues to grow longer till Summer Solstice, the longest day.

The Winter Solstice will take place at 23:38 UT on 21st Dec (5:08 am IST on 22nd Dec) . In New Delhi, sunrise on winter solstice day is at 7:10 am and sunset is at 5:29 pm making it a day which is about 10 hours in duration. 

On Dec 22nd, SPACE will conduct a Public Outreach  in collaboration with Nehru Planetarium at Jantar Mantar, New Delhi. The students from various schools of Delhi will be performing activities tracking the shadow created by the sun using the Jai Prakash Yantra, and participating in competitions. 

More information can be found at our blog http://wintersolsticeindia.blogspot.com/.

For details on competitions visit www.stepl.org

For telescopes, binoculars and cameras visit  www.spacearcade.in