About Astrae

When Voyager I turned back in 1990, to look back at our Solar family one last time, it captured an image of the Earth, now known as the “Pale Blue Dot”. The small bluish speck in the vastness of space is a great reminder of humanity’s place in the universe. It is quite ironic that one of the most beautiful astrophotographs ever taken was aimed back at us, not away from us. The sheer size of the universe and how tiny our own home is can sometimes be overwhelming to comprehend. But the literal other side of the photograph, Voyager I itself, is the greatest testament to human curiosity and unyielding endeavor. It is a symbol of our fundamental desire to understand the cosmos, despite its overwhelming scale.

Humans are one of the only species to have evolved the ability to lie down on our backs, giving us a unique perspective to gaze up at the night sky. It can thus be argued that astronomy is the most fundamental of all sciences, a companion older than the dawn of humanity itself. The only thing more vast than the universe is our collective desire to understand it.

Astrae is a community of students at IISc who share this passion for astronomy and astrophysics and have come together to share it with the rest of the university. Started on the evening of December 31, 2017, Astrae has grown from a small group of friends in undergrad who wanted to share their love for the heavens to a campus-wide community of students from varied backgrounds and disciplines, who come together to learn, explore, and share the wonders of the cosmos.

From night sky observations that have become our defining activity, to talks and lectures on all aspects of astronomy and astrophysics; from workshops for people outside IISc, to projects and a course for students within; from a website made by a few members to a newsletter worked on by astro club members from colleges and universities across the country, Astrae has come a long way in its 8 years of existence.

Our club has a particular focus on capturing the beauty of the cosmos through the painstaking, yet supremely rewarding, activity of astrophotography. Some of our proudest work is in the PhotoArchive section. Starting from humble alt-az and basic Dobsonian telescopes, and thanks to generous sponsorships from our beloved Aloke Sir, we now boast a large collection of telescopes and astrophotography equipment, from our trusty 8-inch Dobsonian to an observatory-grade 10-inch Ritchey-Chretien with a beautiful CEM120 mount. We have captured photographs right from our cloud-infested campus in Bangalore, from the beautifully vast bortle 4 skies of Chellakere, to the pristine bortle 1 skies in Ladakh.

As our life progresses, a semester at a time, more and more like-minded people come together under the banner of Astrae, carrying forward the torch lit by their predecessors, with the hopes of carrying a part of that flame in their hearts long after they’ve bid each other, our club, and the campus adieu. To say this is all about Astrae would be disingenuous, but somewhere, the pen has to drop. No matter, for this story and this club are yours to learn from and live in. For interesting conversations on anything and everything in the heavens, feel free to contact us, and let’s geek out together over the beautiful photos and physics of supernovae.

As Buzz Lightyear says, “To infinity, and beyond!”

Clear Skies!!!!
On behalf of the Astrae Core Team,
Animesh Pradhan