A second planetarium in the State would be set up at Burla town soon, informed Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on the occasion of the 180th birth anniversary of renowned astronomer Pathani Samanta here on Sunday.
The Government would also establish a museum at Khandapada, Pathani Samanta’s birthplace, in Nayagarh district also, he said.
Patnaik praised the efforts of the Tata Steel and the Pathani Samanta Planetarium for jointly organising the programme at the planetarium’s premises. A mobile planetarium ‘Abhiyan’ would also be launched to make students aware about astrology, said Patnaik.
Patnaik felicitated top 20 budding astronomers of the Young Astronomer Talent Search (YATS) Programme 2015-16. The talents were chosen from 600 schools from across the State. The awards were given in the presence of MP Prasanna Patsani, Pathani Samanta Planetarium Director Sudarshan Das and Tata Steel MD TV Narendran.
The YATS winners would be taken on an exposure visit to one of the facilities of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) in 2016 for interaction with senior ISRO scientists.