Eyes on the Skies

A freshers exclusive competition, Eyes on the Skies (EOTS) is aimed at budding astronomy enthusiasts to compete with their peers. It involves two sub-competitions, namely astrophotography and astro-riddles.

Astrophotography

An exciting domain of astronomy, astrophotography is probably one of the, if not the most loved and represented domains of astronomy. And it what would inspire young astronomers as well as an astrophotography challenge?

The beauty of this competition? You don’t need a DSLR or a fancy camera to take amazing shots of the cosmos! A conventional smartphone is more than enough! You can capture jaw-dropping star trails and lunar shots using an ordinary smartphone camera. Just tweak the settings of your phone’s camera in the pro-mode, remeber them and fire away.

You can also get a chance to get your shot be published in Cygnus if you perform well!

The photographs you submit must be clicked by you. You will also be required to submit the location and settings at which you captured the shot. The penalty of disqualification is awarded to the participant if the shot is found to be plagarized.

Astro-Riddles

A fun way to interact with your seniors, the club secretaries and possibly coordinators, astro-riddles provide the participant with food for thought to solve brain-wracking riddles that concern both deep space as well as your new home to be at campus.

A few examples that you can use to train yourself can be found below:

1. Away from the chaos, where the silence hits; And a sparkling paraboloidal entity of water sits. Remove two letters from its tail, You’ll be left with a weighing scale. The scale has a dear son, Who was once stolen by another one. The thief was sent to kill a huntsman. Putting an end to his lifespan. Yet another victim was part of the slaughter, the one who the huntsman had his eye on, killed by his sister

   Solution

   1. Library: Away from the chaos, where the silence hits; And a sparkling paraboloidal entity of water sits.
   2. Libra: Remove two letters from its tail, You’ll be left with a weighing scale.
   3. Scorpio & Orion: The thief was sent to kill a huntsman. Putting an end to his lifespan.
   4. Sirius & Bellatrix: Yet another victim was part of the slaughter, the one who the huntsman had his eye on, killed by his sister.

2. Welcome to the Labyrinth, whose creator you just met who made this riddle to prevent you from committing the same mistake his son did and enraged the Greek god. But caring as he was, the god provided him with the elixir of life at a place that you’ll soon be familiar with. Near that, was the residence of his queen. Who was fascinated about the jewels in her catalogue. Unfortunately, the one that attracted her the most was caught up in a creature’s tail. Bards sang songs about the misfortune, some people even claiming the creature to be a part of the Almighty’s plan. But of the shadows, came one person who proposed a solution to deal with the problem. What was the proposed solution?

   Solution

   1. Daedalus, Icarus and Helios: Welcome to the Labyrinth, whose creator you just met who made this riddle to prevent you from committing the same mistake his son did and enraged the Greek god.
   2. Apollo (pharmacy): But caring as he was, the god provided him with the elixir of life at a place that you’ll soon be familiar with.
   3. Hall 6, Perse: Near that, was the residence of his queen.
   4. Ptolmey’s Cluster (M7) in Scorpio: Who was fascinated about the jewels in her catalogue. Unfortunately, the one that attracted her the most was caught up in a creature’s tail.
   5. Drake’s God’s Plan - Album Scorpion: Bards sang songs about the misfortune, some people even claiming the creature to be a part of the Almighty’s plan.
   6. Drake’s Equation: But of the shadows, came one person who proposed a solution to deal with the problem. What was the proposed solution?