ABOUT THE SOCIETY

Pakistan Amateur Astronomers Society is one of the handful of amateur astronomers societies in Pakistan. It is primarily based in Karachi. It started as a roof top leisure activity in late 1996, over the course of time we organised it in the form of an actively run society. In fact, astronomy is the core of activities of our family, and till now, it is somewhat restricted to our immediate family. Pakistan Amateur Astronomers Society is currently a rudimentary organisation.  But I expect that after the completion of our new observatory-grade telescopes, (SK-EYE-4 and SK'EYE-5), we shall be able expand the scope of our society. We seek to go a long way ahead.

BACKGROUND

Our astronomy activities date back a long time. Our father provided us with many astronomy books in our childhood.

In 1992, we made a small terrestrial telescope of power 7x-10x. It incidentally happened to be a Galilean design. (We only read about Galilean telescope one year later). We could see glimpse of craters on Moon, and always wondered if we could make an astronomical telescope.

In 1996, I designed and made my first Astronomical telescope (Visio de Luna) with my younger brother Mehdi, to see the Hale-Bopp Comet. It had a magnification of around 20x. Soon VdL-2 and 3 followed with the latter one having magnification of 38x. (These were small telescopes of 65mm aperture). Then came the more sophisticated designs dedicated to the great Muslim Astronomers, The SK'EYE series. SK'EYE-I Alberuni(1998), was a 70mm refractor with magnification modes of 17x, 85x, and 140x. It was soon followed by SK'EYE-II Alhaitham (1999). It was a low magnification device to capture the total solar eclipse of August 1999.

Our latest telescope is SK'EYE-III Alkhawarzmi (2003). It is a 150mm refractor with a magnification of 225x. I really love this device. It can resolve great details on Moon, polar ice caps and features of Mars, moons and belts of Jupiter, beautiful rings of Saturn, and some nebulas and star clusters. We happen to live near the Karachi International Airport, and there is much light pollution, so we are not getting the most out of our telescope.

Currently, designing of SK'EYE-4 and SK'EYE-5 is on going.

- Dr. Muhammad Akbar Hussain

THE TEAM

1. Dr. Muhammad Akbar Hussain

2. Muhammad Mehdi Hussain

3. Muhammad Ayaz Hussain

4. Dr. Muhammad Ashraf Hussain

5. Mrs. Sadia Ashraf

6. Mr. Muhammad Anwar-Ul-Hussain

7. Mrs. Talat Yasmeen

8. Dr. Ahmad, Dr. Salman, and Dr. Farhan