Khagol Mandal
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Khagol Mandal is the largest organization of amateur astronomers in Mumbai, India. Established in 1985 by handful of astronomy enthusiasts, the organization has grown into a membership of 1000+ within past 20 years.
The activities of Khagol Mandal include: - Sky observation programmes. - Basic and Advanced Astronomy Courses. - Slide Shows and Lectures on Astronomy - Study tours to sites of astronomical importance. - Production of Video / Audio cassettes on Astronomy. - Publishing monthly astronomy magazine in Marathi named the "Khagol Waarta" - Publishing Quarterly in English named "Vaishwik" (The Universal). - Telescope making workshops. - Training for International Astronomy Olympiad
Popularization of Astronomy has been the prime motto of Khagol Mandal. This is being achieved through various public programs, lectures, study tours and sky observation programs. It has a library of 500+ books on astronomy and numerous instrumentation for field observation.
Members of Khagol Mandal have designed models to simplify astronomy and have won accolades for these models as well as photographs at National level. Some of the members have completed Ph.D. in various Astronomical topics and are well settled in India and abroad in prestigious assignments. Astrophotographs taken by Khagol Mandal members have appeared in leading newspapers in India and also in International publications.
Khagol Mandal has made special efforts for mass participation at the rare celestial phenomena like Total Solar Eclipse, Astronomical Transits, Occultations, Meteor Showers, Comets etc. In February 2000, a special conference named "Care Lonar" was organized to emphasize on conserving the unique meteorite impact crater in India.
In December 2005, Khagol Mandal received an award from Marathi Vidyan Parishad, for its outstanding contribution towards popularization of Astronomy.
Khagol Mandal assisted the organizing team of TIFR and HBCSE in the observational rounds of XI International Astronomy Olympiad 2006. 15-member team of Khagol Mandal members worked as examiners of observational round.
