40,000 Odisha students participate in Young Astronomer Talent Search

December 7, 2016 Education

Bhubaneswar: With the objective of nurturing the minds and imagination of budding talents to explore the mysteries from beyond earth, and to provide an ace platform for high school students to explore Space Science and Astronomy, the Zonal round of 10th Young Astronomer Talent Search (YATS) was conducted by Tata Steel in collaboration with Pathani Samanta Planetarium.

The Young Astronomer Talent Search has come to an end after a six-month long exercise to find twenty best young astronomers in the state.

The YATS programme for 2016 has witnessed active participation of nearly 40,000 students from over 300 schools, spread over 28 districts of Odisha, giving wings to the Tata Steel Group’s endeavors of promoting intellectual and cultural pursuits in the society. Participation from remote and tribal dominated districts like Kalahandi and Koraput has also been quite encouraging.

The 10th edition of YATS witnessed a change in format to ensure more participation and to take it to the next higher level. The competition comprised of an essay competition (open to students of class 9 and 10), which required students to secure a qualifying percentage in a written astronomy quiz section.

Students got an opportunity to choose and write an essay on any one of the four topics selected for the year.

The essays received will undergo rigorous evaluation by three expert panels selected by the Pathani Samanta Planetarium, Bhubaneswar. Only the top two winners from each participating district will be invited to participate in the Grand Finale.

The Grand Finale is slated to be held at the Pathani Samanta Planetarium, Bhubaneswar on December 13, 2016, in memory of Pathani Samanta, on his 181th birth anniversary of the legendary astronomer.

The participants at this state-level competition will take part in a final round of evaluation for selection of top 20 winners of YATS 2016-17. As a reward, the winners of the competition will also be taken by Tata Steel on an exposure visit to one of the facilities of ISRO in 2017.