2 days ago
Five students to represent India at 2025 International Olympiad on Astronomy and Astrophysics
At the 'Astronomy Olympiad' — Orientation-cum-Selection Camp (OCSC) held at the Indian Institute of Science Education and Research (IISER), Mohali, five students were selected on Wednesday (June 11, 2025) to represent India at the 2025 International Olympiad on Astronomy and Astrophysics (IOAA), scheduled to be held in Mumbai in August this year.
The OCSC was aimed at providing intensive training to students shortlisted through national-level examinations and assessing their grasp of core concepts and practical techniques in astronomy and astrophysics.
Jasjeet Singh Bagla, Professor at the Department of Physical Sciences, IISER Mohali, said a total of 54 students were selected for the Astronomy OCSC from nearly 500 candidates who appeared for the Indian National Astronomy Olympiad and ranked among the top in their respective categories.
'Of these, 37 students from different parts of India participated in the OCSC. A team of five students was selected to represent the country in the International Olympiad on Astronomy and Astrophysics (IOAA) 2025, which is to be held in Mumbai, India, in August 2025,' he said in a statement.
The selected students are Aarush Mishra, Sumant Gupta, Banibrata Majee, Panini, and Akshat Srivastava.
Prof. Bagla said that Aarush Mishra was conferred the 'C.L. Bhat Memorial Award' for best performance at the camp, while Sumant Gupta received the award for best performance in the observational test. Akshat Srivastava secured two awards — for best performance in theory and in data analysis.
The OCSC curriculum included lectures, tutorials, telescope setup and handling, as well as sky observation sessions. 'The Astronomy OCSC is usually organised by the Homi Bhabha Centre for Science Education (HBCSE), a centre of the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR), Mumbai. However, this year, as HBCSE is hosting the IOAA, the responsibility for selection and training of the Indian team was entrusted to IISER Mohali,' Prof. Bagla noted.
A team of astronomers and faculty members from the Central University of Haryana, Mahendragarh; Thapar Institute of Engineering and Technology, Patiala; Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Kanpur; Ashoka University, Sonepat; Central University of Himachal Pradesh, Shahpur; and IISER Mohali collaborated to organise the camp.
'Sessions in the training programme were anchored by resource persons from these institutes, along with scientists from the Raman Research Institute, Bengaluru; Indian Institute of Astrophysics, Bengaluru; National Institute of Science Education and Research (NISER), Bhubaneswar; and the Inter-University Centre for Astronomy and Astrophysics (IUCAA),' he said.
The camp also featured a special lecture by Professor Dipankar Bhattacharya of Ashoka University, who delivered a talk on imaging across different wavebands in astronomy.
