Abstract
The four extant Jantar Mantar observatories at Delhi, Jaipur, Ujjain,and Varanasi have tremendous potential as teaching laboratories of positional astronomy. They could be utilised in this direction in their current state, but this possibility would be considerably enhanced when all the necessary restorations are undertaken, interpretation centers are in place at all the observatories, and there is a continuous presence of astronomy educators, amateur astronomers, and students undertaking observations with these intriguing and user-friendly instruments. Student usage and calibration of the instruments at the Delhi observatory in particular, where the markings are mostly absent from every instrument, has allowed a greater appreciation of the possible construction details of these gigantic instruments. Templates for restoration and also for continuous maintenance of the instruments, are emerging from these efforts.
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Nandivada Rathnasree has been working in the fleld of astronomy education and archeo-astronomy research in the Indian context, while working at the Nehru Planetarium, New Delhi. Prior to that, she worked in the fields of stellar evolution studies in binary systems and radio pulsars. Since March 2004, she has been working towards the usage of the Jantar Mantar observatories for teaching of positional astronomy.
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Rathnasree, N. Jantar Mantar observatories as teaching laboratories for positional astronomy. Reson 22, 201–212 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12045-017-0453-6
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12045-017-0453-6