January 10, 2025 5:43 pm

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Exploring the skies: Karachiite installs urban space observatory at his residence

Mehdi Hussain, the President and Co-Founder of Karachi Astronomers Society (KAS), has an urban space observatory installed at his residence in the metropolis’s Gulistan-e-Jauhar area.

Hussain, speaking to Times of Karachi (ToK) Hussain said that the space had been established in 2013 and is “one of the largest and most active observatories of Pakistan.”

The astronomers’ society was established in 2008, and most of its members are not astronomers, rather they are pursuing astronomy as a hobby, Hussain told ToK.

What can you see through this observatory?

The KAS co-founder said if a person is in Karachi, they cannot see everything in space except for some of the bigger bright objects, such as the moon, and major planets — Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Venus, and Uranus.

But at his observatory, Hussain said that a person can see nebulas, open clusters, and several other celestial bodies, “…and we allow people to view them from our observatory.”

Looking for better skies

The KAS co-founder said if a person wanted to explore more, they could take a look at the sky from Bela, which is near the border of Karachi and Khuzdar, Hingol National Park, some areas near the Makran Coastal Highway, Mirpur Sakhro, and mountainous areas of Sehwan.

The moon sighting issue

“I believe that science and religion go hand-in-hand,” he said when asked about the issue of moon sighting, adding that science cannot resolve this issue, as this is a religious matter.

However, science can help in advancing the sighting method through better equipment, he said.

“We have better telescopes […] maybe even better than the ones that the government uses, and we invite the government to utilise our equipment,” he said.

Appeal to the government

Hussain said his organisation had spent millions of dollars in purchasing the equipment and urged the government to follow in the footsteps of other nations and invest in astronomy.

“The government sets aside a limited budget due to their constraints, but I would urge them to do more,” he added.

Talking about the need of the research laboratories Hussain said, our students need to know more about astronomy and space science, as there is a lack of opportunities for them from the side of the government, there are not enough research laboratories and budget for the area which become the biggest hurdle in their ways who have the slightest interest in the field.

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