We are delighted to present you with the long-long awaited issue of Kshitij 5.0!
First and foremost, we know you’ve been eagerly waiting for this next volume and are immensely
grateful to both our team and you, the reader, for your patience in bearing with our extended hiatus.
“One of the main culprits for the same is my love-hate relationship with Fedora Linux, which, in
my opinion, is the worst Linux out there. Its terrible Wi-Fi adapters led to repeated upgrades, which
ultimately corrupted all the files on the disk, including our precious Kshitij files. And yes, I foolishly
believed backups were for losers. Lesson learned.”- laments Sagar. But enough about our tech troubles.
A lot has happened since our last edition. We witnessed the historic Chandrayaan 3 launch,
the JWST continues to wow us with the clearest images of distant galaxies and objects
ever seen, and astronomers have even detected the mysterious “Hum of the Universe.”
At the NISER Astronomy Club, we’ve been in overdrive! The most important asset to the NISER
Astronomy Club, the NAC Observatory, near the end of its construction is awaiting inauguration.
Between all the talks and observation sessions, we managed to launch the NAC biweekly newsletter.
The dedicated Experiments’ Team of the club is progressing and NAC’s Astrophotography abilities
are at an all-time high. Honestly, we couldn’t be prouder of NAC and of ourselves for playing a role
in its rapid growth. Now, as the Club is firing on all cylinders, it’s time to bring the Kshitij magazine
back up to speed. This magazine is a platform for members of the NISER Astronomy Club (NAC) to
express their love and passion for astronomy. The 2024 Fall edition of Kshitij continues our tradition
of including content from other science institutes. Not sure about movies, but Kshitij is pan-India now.
!"#$%&'(%)*+&#",
We want to express our heartfelt gratitude to all the authors who have contributed to the maga-
zine, as well as to our content editors for managing all the content and our digital editors for their
incredible work. The sheer number of responses we received was incredibly encouraging. We also
extend our sincere thanks to Shuvayu and Ayan bhaiya, PhD students at NISER who, despite
their busy schedules, graciously took the time to proofread the hardcore science articles. Their ef-
forts have been invaluable. Additionally, we appreciate the encouragement and contribution of
the NAC alumni. Their experience and insights have been crucial as we took on the roles of chief
and managing editors for this edition. Lastly, we express our gratitude to all the faculty mem-
bers for their excellent suggestions and unwavering support in bringing this magazine together.
As always, we’ve strived to ensure our content covers every aspect of astronomy and piques
the curiosity of a wide audience, including school students. Our feature article takes us on a jour-
ney to the Devasthal Optical Telescope nestled at ARIES, Nainital. We have a section pertain-
ing to the elusive Dark Matter and Dark Energy, and the age-old question of ‘Are we alone in
the Universe?’ also has found its own section. We also have a variety of articles spanning the
landscape of Astrophysics. We assure you, our gentle reader, that you won’t be bored in the least.
So, with renewed enthusiasm and exciting content, we proudly present the fifth issue of the NISER
Astronomy Club’s magazine, “Kshitij.”
Thank You
Sagar Prakash Barad & Upasana Das
kshitij | VI August 2024
