MY STELLAR EXPERIENCE AT THE EARTH LAB EVENT: The Big Telescope Solar System Scale Challenge

The Earth Lab event was an amazing experience. It helped me understand more about astronomy and the solar system, highlighting the stories and science behind the stars. It also showed the importance of historical and cultural perspectives in understanding astronomical phenomena.

Hi guys, I'm Punnapatt, a boarder at the Dehradun Hills Academy and I want to share my good experience at the Earth Lab event. The concept of this event was all about astronomy, the story of stars, and the solar system. One day before, our teacher asked me if I wanted to go to the Earth Lab event. I said yes because I love learning about space, and it sounded very exciting. I had a lot of good experiences there, and I'm eager to share them with you.

We reached the venue at around 6 p.m. When we arrived, we noticed that the event was set up in a large open area, kind of like an ancient festival. Sandeep Sir, our guide, explained that the layout was intentional to give us a sense of historical significance tied to the stars. As the sun set in the west, we were taken to a large room where a big telescope was placed in the middle. This telescope was one of the highlights, and everyone was excited to look through it. The instructor started the session by sharing an interesting story about a group of stars called “The Big Dipper.”. According to the story, a hunter and his five brothers went on a quest to find food. During their journey, one of the brothers saw a bear in the sky. Fascinated, they followed the bear. The hunter, using his skills, created a staircase leading to the sky and let his brothers climb up. After they reached the top of the mountain, the hunter destroyed the staircase, leaving his brothers among the stars. On his way back to the village, he looked up and saw his brothers forming the Big Dipper constellation. This story was fascinating and gave us a mythical explanation of the stars. We also learned how farmers use the stars to decide the best time to harvest their crops. This ancient practice ties astronomy to farming, showing how the stars influence our daily lives even today.

The instructor also gave us a fun challenge: if the sun were the size of a ping pong ball, what would be the size of the Earth? The options were a bean, a grain of sand, a peppercorn, and a grain of salt. Most of us guessed a bean, but the correct answer was a peppercorn. This fact was surprising and showed us how big the difference in size is within our solar system.

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After the educational session, we had some refreshments. Even though I'm not a fan of samosas, I appreciated the chance to talk about what we had learned with my classmates over juice and snacks. This social time allowed us to reflect on the day's events and share our thoughts and excitement.

Overall, the Earth Lab event was an amazing experience. It helped me understand more about astronomy and the solar system, highlighting the stories and science behind the stars. It also showed the importance of historical and cultural perspectives in understanding astronomical phenomena. This event made me realize that learning often comes with fascinating stories, deepening our appreciation of the world around us.

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