Real astronomy, every week, linked to the syllabus your students already study. At zero cost to your school.
23 August 2023
When Chandrayaan-3 touched down near the Moon’s south pole, children across India looked up.
India now celebrates National Space Day on 23 August.
Aditya-L1, India’s solar observatory, watches the Sun from about 1.5 million km away.
The curiosity is already there.
The gap
Labs and equipment need approvals and time.
No room for a new subject or new exams.
Schools are expected to show experiential, inquiry-led STEM, which needs specialist staff and equipment.
They back what shows visible results.
“Curiosity is everywhere. A way to keep it going every week is not.”
The answer
The school gives a room and a weekly slot. Astris brings the educators, telescopes, kits, enrolment and reports. Parents enrol directly with Astris, just as with the robotics, debating and F1 in Schools clubs many Delhi schools already host.
Week 7: The Moon and its phases.
The whole club explores the same theme each week. A Grade 4 child and a Grade 12 student never get the same lesson. Each band learns through the chapters it is studying in class. The club applies the syllabus a student already has. It is never an extra subject.
Grades 4–6notice and describe
Act out the phases with a lamp and a ball, then start a month-long Moon diary.
Classroom link: EVS / Science: the Moon and the sky; light and shadows.
Grades 7–9explain and measure
Model the Sun–Earth–Moon geometry and predict when the next eclipse is possible.
Classroom link: Science: light and shadows; motions of the Earth and Moon.
Grades 10–12calculate and analyse
Use Kepler’s third law to find the Moon’s distance from its orbital period, then check against real data.
T = 27.3 days → a = ∛(GMT²/4π²) ≈ 383,000 km · measured: about 384,400 km
Classroom link: Physics Class 11: Gravitation.
How a session runs
The whole club meets the week’s theme through a demo, an image or a live view of the Sun.
Each band works with its own Astris educator, worksheet and activity, built from its own textbook chapters.
Each pod presents one finding. Seniors explain to juniors; juniors ask the questions seniors hadn’t thought of.
Seasons, Moon phases, eclipses, telescopes, the Sun up close, Chandrayaan and Aditya-L1.
Signature: A year-long sunspot log.
Planets, gravity and orbits, rockets, satellites, comets and asteroids, Mangalyaan and India’s launch vehicles.
Signature: A water-rocket launch day.
Constellations, starlight and spectra, the life of stars, galaxies, exoplanets, black holes and the Big Bang.
Signature: A deep-sky night on the Orion Nebula.
Each band spans three grades and the cycle spans three years.
When Year A comes round again in Grade 7, it is taught through Grade 7 chapters. The Moon a student first sketched is now a geometry problem.
Every year stands alone.
9 years.
A member who stays from Grade 4 to Grade 12 goes through the cycle three times, each time at a deeper level.
Personal levels
Alongside their grade band, every member earns a personal level that carries over year to year. Educators check levels for skills shown under the sky each October and February.
Level 1
Finds 10 constellations, the bright planets and the Moon’s main features by eye, and reads a planisphere.
Earns a Cadet badge and certificate.
Level 2
Sets up, aligns and focuses a telescope alone, and runs safe solar viewing for others.
Earns an Operator badge and can join the sky-watch crew.
Level 3
Captures and processes their own images of the Moon and planets, and explains what they show.
Work is shown at the showcase; eligible for Astris expeditions.
Level 4
Completes an independent observation project and mentors younger members through a full year.
Earns a letter of recommendation from Astris Space.
Sky-watch crew
Pod mentors for the Explorers
Research track
Real asteroid-search campaigns with the International Astronomical Search Collaboration.
Olympiad track
Preparation for the National Standard Examination in Astronomy (NSEA).
The club year
Showing Year A · Earth, Moon and Sun
The session mix · About 37 contact hours
It meets their own textbook
Club theme
| Theme | Explorers (4–6) | Navigators (7–9) | Astronomers (10–12) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Scale and measurement (B) | Maths: large numbers; Science: measuring length and distance | Maths: exponents and powers; Science: motion, speed and time | Physics XI: Units and Measurement (parallax, the light-year) |
| Day, night and seasons (A) | EVS: the Sun, shadows, day and night; Geography: the Earth’s rotation | Geography: motions of the Earth, latitudes and longitudes | Geography XI: solar radiation, heat balance and temperature |
| The Moon and eclipses (A) | EVS: phases of the Moon; Science: light and shadows | Science: light and shadows; eclipses and the Earth–Moon–Sun system | Physics XI: Gravitation (orbits, Kepler’s laws) |
| Constellations and star maps (C) | EVS: our sky, the Pole Star and directions | Geography: the globe; Maths IX: Coordinate Geometry | Maths X: Some Applications of Trigonometry; Maths XI: angles and coordinates |
| Telescopes and light (A) | Science: light, shadows and reflection | Science: light, mirrors and lenses | Science X: Light – Reflection and Refraction; Physics XII: Ray Optics and Optical Instruments |
| Rockets and India in space (B) | Science: force, push and pull | Science VIII: force and pressure; Science IX: Force and Laws of Motion | Physics XI: Laws of Motion (momentum); Work, Energy and Power |
| The Solar System and gravity (B) | Geography: the Earth in the Solar System | Science IX: Gravitation | Physics XI: Gravitation (satellites, escape velocity) |
| The Sun and its energy (A) | EVS / Science: sunlight, heat and energy | Science: heat and its transfer; sources of energy | Physics XI: Thermal Properties of Matter; Physics XII: Nuclei |
| The life of a star (C) | Science: materials and states of matter (gases) | Science IX: Matter in Our Surroundings; Atoms and Molecules | Physics XII: Nuclei (fusion); Atoms |
| Starlight, galaxies and exoplanets (C) | Science: light and colours (the rainbow) | Science IX: Structure of the Atom; light and colour | Science X: The Human Eye and the Colourful World; Physics XII: Electromagnetic Waves, Atoms |
Titles for Classes 9–12 are exact NCERT chapter names. Classes 4–8 use topics because the new NCERT books renamed many chapters; we match them to the school’s editions at onboarding.
The club adds no subject, no syllabus and no exam. It gives students a reason to understand the ones they already have.
Textbook, logbook and builds
One picture-led page per session, never more, with a separate edition for each band and each cycle year. This is the real Navigators page for Session 7.
Astris Astronomy ClubWhy does the Moon change shape?
The Moon makes no light of its own. Sunlight always lights the half of the Moon that faces the Sun. As the Moon travels round Earth, we see more of that sunlit half, then less. At position 1 the Moon sits between us and the Sun, so its dark side faces us: a New Moon. At position 5 it is opposite the Sun, and we see the whole lit face: a Full Moon. One full cycle of phases takes about 29.5 days. Because the Moon keeps moving along its orbit, it rises on average about 50 minutes later each day.
Members record what they see, build and discover. A Sky-watch 1 sheet from the Navigators logbook, labelled as a sample.
Astris Astronomy ClubMoon craters and mountains
Every logbook, every year:
Most builds go home; each is designed to use household materials, and Astris supplies only the hard-to-find parts.
Download the kit guide (PDF)Under the real sky
Astris builds its own telescopes under the Nakshatra Scopes brand.
Results
Annual targets and our measurement design, not past results.
April
Baseline
Every week
Attendance, logbooks, parent notes
October
Midpoint and progress card 1
February
Endline and progress card 2
March
Annual impact report to the principal
Parents get a WhatsApp note every week and a progress card twice a year. The school gets a termly impact view and an annual report.
Outcomes
Find their way around the night sky, use a telescope with confidence, keep a real observation log for a full year. Board-exam physics comes alive for seniors, with projects that can feed IB Internal Assessments, Extended Essays, olympiads and university applications.
See their child’s curiosity first-hand at three family sky-watches and the end-of-year showcase.
A visible, NEP-aligned STEM activity at no cost, with events that bring families onto campus.
How to start
Week 1
The school says yes; slot, room and coordinator fixed.
Week 2
A 20-minute assembly demo with a live telescope view or a safe solar projection; the parent note goes home.
Week 3
Enrolment opens online, with direct payment to Astris.
Week 4
The club is confirmed at 25+ students; first session and April-style baseline.
Tell us your school, city and the grades you would like to start with, and we will send a quote and the full proposal.
Who runs it
ISRO-registered
Space Tutor
50,000+
students taught astronomy
500+
astronomy camps conducted
Nakshatra Scopes
our own telescopes
Founder
Founded Astris Space to make astronomy something students do, not just read about. He has taught astronomy to more than 50,000 students and has led astronomy tours and camps for years, from dark-sky nights near Delhi to astrophotography expeditions in Ladakh.
Co-founder (IIT Roorkee alumnus)
Leads marketing and growth at Astris Space, and brought IIT Roorkee into the programme’s development, including its quality checks.
Quality-checked with IIT Roorkee.
IIT Roorkee was involved in creating the programme and carried out quality checks on its curriculum and activities.
What comes next
1 · Year 1
One batch of 25–40 students proves the interest.
2 · Years 2–3
Years B and C; members level up and mentor juniors.
3 · When ready
A permanent lab and curriculum for the whole school.
Explore AstroEd Space Lab →Offer: Schools that move to an AstroEd Space Lab within two years of starting the club receive Rs 1,00,000 off the lab package, and club members become the lab’s first student ambassadors.
FAQ
No. One weekly slot that the school chooses, no exams, and no homework beyond a short logbook.
The club only starts at 25 students. If it doesn’t reach 25, every family gets a full refund.
Astris educators run every session. The school’s coordinator teacher is the point of contact.
Weekly WhatsApp notes, progress cards in October and February, three family sky-watches and the end-of-year showcase.
Yes. Only certified solar filters or projection, always supervised by an educator. The Sun is never viewed directly.
Families arrange it; the school decides the timings.
Yes, teachers are welcome to join sessions. It’s optional.
Yes. There is an IB mapping (PYP, MYP, DP), and ICSE mapping is available on request.
Nothing. Parents enrol and pay Astris directly.
A live telescope view or a safe solar projection, in your school assembly. Free.
