On the radio...

The big bang happened 14 billion years ago and then 9.5 billions years later the sun was born out of some supernova remnant (a hypothesis) and then Galileo looked up at the sky with his telescope 100 years back (whose anniversary is being celebrated next year, 2009, as International Astronomical Year). I read all that in the science text approximately a decade back and it made as much impression as the everyday newspaper or less.

Some months back I joined an astronomy/astrophysics course just to satisfy my astro-instinct developed over years by pointless star-gazing on romantically lonely nights. Come September, my 24th birthday was blessed providentially with a telescope in my hands. Subsequently, the 127 mm reflector was turned up around 60 deg alt to view the planet Jupiter and its moons (4 of 'em), all in a line next to each other, trudging along in the constant revolution ruled by Kepler's laws. Was it a sight ! It was the most elegant and most emphatic proof of science for me. Like Ellie Arroway says, "I was hooked".

A trip to GauriBidanur Radio Heliograph (GRH) was made as part of the curriculum. Ramesh Sir (IIA) unfolded the electronics behind the radio telescope, an eye for the invisible data from extra-terrestrials (stars and aliens all alike), I was definitely paying attention. A subsequent trip for 3 days followed the former, to dig out more details of the array of antennas.
Here's the GRH over kilometers, with over 192 antennas ...