Night sky tourism takes-off in Jaipur

State Minister of Arts and Culture, B.D. Kalla, in the presence of Chief Secretary Niranjan Arya, launched the project on Thursday aimed at garnering more tourists into the desert state.

The Department of Science and Technology will focus on specific astronomical events that happen from time to time.

The immediate line-up is: *Tourists will be shown the Moon from Jawahar Kala Kendra on the day. *Saturn, Jupiter, Venus and Mercury will be shown from Jantar Mantar on February 11. *Albert Hall will show Jupiter and Mercury conjunctions on March 5. *Mercury will be shown from Amber Fort May 17. *On May 26, Amber Durg will show the biggest moon of the year 2021. *Venus will be shown from Albert Hall on July 3.

Kalla said the night sky tourism will create awareness among people about science and astronomy and will help students and researchers interested in celestial objects to observe them through telescopes.

The Minister further said that separate spots will be created in the city from where tourists can enjoy the night sky. Night sky tourism will give a boost to tourism as well as create scientific thinking among the general public, he added.

Watching the serene sky, Arya said that watching the moon in a new form is a new experience. It is a unique experience to see the pits on the surface of the moon so clearly, he also called it a new beginning as it is expected to create curiosity among people to think in a new direction and learn about Akash Ganga.

Secretary of Art and Culture and Science and Technology, Mugdha Sinha said: "The state government's objective is to inculcate scientific thinking among people, to make people aware about the happenings in nature in a scientific way.

"For this, night sky tourism has started. This facility will be available to the people free of cost. As per the astronomical scenario every month, this facility will be available free of cost at different places on different days.

--IANS arc/in

( 359 Words)

2021-01-22-14:20:03 (IANS)