Karnataka will soon be the first state in the country to have two planetariums.
The governor’s speech to the joint houses of legislature on the opening day of the current session touched upon this issue kindling hopes that the state’s second planetarium will come up in Pilikula before the academic year 2013.
It will have state-of-the-art ‘hybrid optical system’ that will be imported from France, Germany or Japan.
“The Pilikula Nisarga Dhama Society (PNDS) will be the host of the planetarium at the Nisarga Dhama located in the rural settings ofMoodushedde village. This facility has also been notified as the regional science centre catering to coastal, Malnad and some Bayaluseemedistricts. It is a multi-state facility considering four northern districts ofKerala will also use it for study of science at school level,” said JR Lobo, executive director of Nisarga Dhama and secretary of the planetarium expert committee set up by the government of Karnataka.
“The planetarium committee has already started the process of shopping globally for optical systems. The hybrid system
is a combination of conventional convex mirror system and digital imagery system,” Lobo said.
“The conventional optics will help to sharpen the images of the celestial bodies while the digital part will beam the images with accuracy to the last detail,” he added.
But will the planetarium be ready for the next academic year?
“The planning for the structure has been completed; it will have a 15-metre dome. We hope to complete the basic structure by January 2013. The tendering process for optics and systems has already begun on a global platform,” he said.
“The committee consisting of former director of the Nehru Planetarium ofBangalore Prof Shukra and five others has already visited several planetariums in the country and studied the systems and need for improvisations,” the executive directore added.
The planetarium will be set up at an estimated cost of `15 crore of which `12.5 crore will be funded by the state government and rest will have to be locally collected through public and corporate donations, said Anand VAsnotikar, state science and technology minister.
The PNDS will appeal to corporate entities in Mangalore for donations. It will not be difficult to collect `3 crore since the city has many large corporate bodies and also multinational companies which have large kitties for meeting their corporate social responsibilities.
source: http://www.dnaindia.com / Daily News & Analysis / Home> Bangalore> Report / by M Raghuram/ Place: Mangalore / Agency: DNA/ Thursday, February 02nd, 2012