The longest solar eclipse of the 21st century will take place on July 22. It is a day when hundreds of people across the country will be getting ready to see this once-in-a-lifetime phenomenon.
But watching a solar eclipse requires some amount of scientific preparation, and a father-son duo from Ahmedabad are helping people do just that.
For Abhay Kothari and his son Kathan, the solar eclipse is a mini-mission. Both, alumni of the National Institute of Design, run an NGO called Manthan that creates tools to make science popular.
This time they are distributing 25,000 kits across the country through the government agency Vigyan Prasar.
"We have designed some basic, on-hand activities for the solar eclipse and promoting them, like making a pin-hole camera, safe-viewing methods, and also small filters which should be used for viewing," Abay said.
"Never look at the Sun with binoculars or through telescope. It should be viewed at through projects. It's important to do it under supervision," Abahy's son Kathan said.
For the D-Day, they have also designed special activities for school children at Rajpipla.
"We are basically into developing activities related to solar eclipse as well as astronomy with respect to the event," said Kathan.
Their idea is to take science out of classrooms and textbooks into everyday lives. And the solar eclipse will give the Kotharis just that chance.
