Kolkata students create Guinness World Records for largest astrophysics assemble 

The Guinness World Records for the largest astrophysics lesson (45 minutes) and assembly of spectroscopes was successfully achieved by Kolkata students at Science City, Kolkata. The record was attempted on the first day of 5th India International Science Festival (IISF) 2019 in which over 1,598 students participated. The session was dedicated to Meghnad Saha and Chandrasekhara Venkata Raman.

The session was organized by Inter-University Centre for Astronomy and Astrophysics, who were conferred a memento at the end of the programme, on behalf of the Guinness Book of World Records.

Spectroscopes are used by Astronomers to know details such as temperature, chemical composition, etc. of celestial objects hundreds or millions of light years away from Earth. Moreover, a small personal model of advanced spectroscopes can be easily made by anyone using a box made of cardboard that has a very narrow window used to channel light into spectroscope. Then a piece of a Compact Disc is used to split the light by a process called diffraction.

5th India International Science Festival (IISF) 2019: IISF is the largest science festival in world. Kolkata is the host city of the 5th IISF-2019. The city is home to renowned scientific institutions that have been workplace of pioneering scientists who gave shape to science in India.