The Astro Club of Fergusson College (Autonomous) hosts various activities and events throughout the year with the aim of providing a space where like-minded people can come and nurture their knowledge and experience by learning and sharing new concepts and experiments in the field of Astronomy and Astrophysics.
One of such activity which club host is the Observational Astronomy Session which is a 3-day session focused on providing basic knowledge and experience in Observational Astronomy, Visual Observation of Meteor Showers and Telescope Handling. This is an annual session and takes place during the month of December before the peak of Geminids Meteor Shower.
This was the first session when I learned hands-on Astronomy ever. From the last two years, I've consistently attended these sessions. And it was an honour when the club gave me the opportunity to take the lecture in the session.
The topic of my lecture was Basics of Observational Astronomy. The topics included in this Chalk-Talk were -
Definitions and basic difference between Astronomy, Astrophysics and Cosmology
Types of Astronomy
Basic Co-ordinate Systems
Celestial Sphere and associated Terminology
Horizontal and Equitorial System
Equinox and Solstice
Apparent and Absolute Magnitude
Introduction to Stellarium
The video of that lecture is available here.
Along with the handwritten notes, https://drive.google.com/file/d/1NoLLy63KFW-J1oM9FPp3FGRx87pfhtTd/view?usp=sharing
I hope the video and the notes will help you to learn and clear your basics in observational astronomy.
For any doubts or queries, you can email me at -