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April 10, 2026
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"Right in the heart of the Antarctic continent, in one of the coldest, most deserted and inaccessible places in the world."
"This is a unique place where prevailing conditions are of extreme cold, isolation, and where it is night several months of the year. It then becomes possible to observe the stars on a continuous basis."
"There is no soul that lives less than 1,000 miles away. The place is located at 3200 meters, but the weather is as if we were at 4000 meters. Installing an observatory in such an environment resembles a space mission in that we must check all the atmospheric parameters (turbulence, transparency, scintillation (twinkling), aurora, etc.)."
"Astronomy is one of the oldest natural sciences in the world. It is the study of all extraterrestrial objects, that is, those existing outside the Earth or its atmosphere, such as the solar system that consists of our star, the sun, and the objects that orbit it, the Moon, galaxies, planets and comets."
"Astronomy also investigates and explains the origin and evolution of the phenomena associated with such objects, like supernova explosions, gamma rays, quasars, blazars, pulsars and cosmic microwave background radiation."
"Astronomy was used to measure time, mark seasons and navigate oceans based on predictions about the positions of the sun, the Moon and the planets, while stars have helped people to navigate the Earth by lighting up the night."
"In this case, regardless of the mirror’s size—whether 39, 100, or even 200 meters—a ground-based telescope cannot solve the fundamental problem in asteroseismology: the detection of certain pulsation modes that remain unobserved. The limitation arises from the alternation of day and night. For instance, even with the largest ground-based telescopes, such as the VLT, observations can only be made at night. This daily interruption creates gaps in the data, meaning that when we record a star’s brightness over time—its light curve—we obtain an incomplete sequence, marked by interruptions caused by the Earth’s rotation."
Young though he was, his radiant energy produced such an impression of absolute reliability that Hedgewar made him the first sarkaryavah, or general secretary, of the RSS.
- Gopal Mukund Huddar
Largely because of the influence of communists in London, Huddar's conversion into an enthusiastic supporter of the fight against fascism was quick and smooth. The ease with which he crossed from one worldview to another betrays the fact that he had not properly understood the world he had grown in.
Huddar would have been 101 now had he been alive. But then centenaries are not celebrated only to register how old so and so would have been and when. They are usually celebrated to explore how much poorer our lives are without them. Maharashtrian public life is poorer without him. It is poorer for not having made the effort to recall an extraordinary life.
I regret I was not there to listen to Balaji Huddar's speech [...] No matter how many times you listen to him, his speeches are so delightful that you feel like listening to them again and again.
By the time he came out of Franco's prison, Huddar had relinquished many of his old ideas. He displayed a worldview completely different from that of the RSS, even though he continued to remain deferential to Hedgewar and maintained a personal relationship with him.