Cosmic delight

Qatar resident Rizwan Ahmad’s passion for astrophotography has won him laurels, but it’s a hobby that requires patience and perseverance, which he pursues in the darkness of the desert in Al Kharrara, situated 100km from Doha in southcentral Qatar.

Published: 21 July 2024

By Hussain Ahmad

It’s not easy. Being an astrophotographer. At least thrice, every month, Rizwan Ahmad would lug his paraphernalia to Al Kharrara, which is situated around 100 km from Doha, and spend the whole night in the solitude and darkness of the desert, gazing at the stars through his telescope, which is now his favourite hobby.

In those several hours, Rizwan is transported, through his telescope, to the sublime, surreal world of stars and would immerse himself in their splendour and wonder, with the thrill and satisfaction of the entire experience permeating his being.

Recently, Rizwan’s work as an astrophotographer won him some much-deserved recognition. An image of The Eagle Nebula which he captured was selected by space media outlet Orbital Today as one of the 10 best astrophotographs from all over the world in the month of May. An achievement every astrophotographer would yarn for.

Rizwan is a Qatar-based Indian astrophotographer who hails from Allahabad in Uttar Pradesh and works as a senior technician with Qatar Steel. He is passionate about talking about his passion, too. “This hobby started seven years ago,” he says, “when his daughter asked for a telescope as a birthday gift.”

Little did he realise then that the telescope would transform his life, by triggering an intense curiosity in him about the astral sphere and he launched himself into an exploration of celestial bodies. The Covid-19 pandemic, unwittingly, came as a catalyst and created the much-needed opportunities for his explorations.

During the long lockdown forced by the pandemic, when people ensconced themselves in the safety of their houses, Rizwan would take his telescope and drive to Al Kharrara, and spend the night staring at the sky. “This is the reason I thank my family for their support. My hobby requires a lot of time and that too in the desert, away from them, but they have been very supportive,” he adds.

The picture that won him an entry into Orbital Today was the result of hard work. Rizwan said he had to spend two nights to capture that Eagle Nebula image, and he spent six hours processing the image. The Eagle Nebula is a young open cluster of stars in the constellation Serpens that is 7,000 light years away from Earth, discovered by Swiss astronomer Jean-Philippe de Cheseaux in 1745. 7,000 light years away? Rizwan says stars as dizzyingly distant as 10 billion light years away were captured by his camera – a prospect that would lift any starwatcher’s spirits sky-high.

Among his proudest achievements was his capture of the Simeis 147, popularly known as the Spaghetti Nebula, a supernova located in the Milky Way galaxy. He said he had to drive 300km just for that image.
Patience is required in copious quantities to pursue this passion. Rizwan says he would take anywhere from 21 hours to three full days to capture these images, and failure to capture anything spectacular even after spending so much time is quite possible in this hobby.

For example, he had captured an image of the Eagle Nebula sometime in 2023, but it was not up to standard and he had to wait for months for another opportunity to materialize.

As the word proclaims, astrophotography is a mixture of astronomy and photography, and astronomy comes first, which means you must have abundant knowledge of the galaxies, planets and stars to understand what you are looking at. “I have done a lot of reading and it’s a lot of physics what I am dealing with. You have to understand what you are looking at,” Rizwan says. There are only around 15 astrophotograhers in Qatar, he says, which testifies to the complexity and rarity of this passion.

How does his forays into the cosmic complexities affect him as a person? Subhanallah (Glory be to Allah) is the word that springs to his lips whenever he looks at the stars, and the immensity and splendor what he looks at never cease to amaze him, making him wonder at the greatness of God’s creation. “It increases my faith and makes me a better person and it’s a continuous process,” he sums it up.

He wants to plunge deeper into his hobby. One thing that amazed him is the keen interest shown by people, especially children, in learning about stars. Many people have watched the stars through his telescope, and children have been particularly elated. “They jump in joy and excitement at seeing the stars and the moon,” Rizwan says, a sense of joy gripping him, too.

“When I retire, I want to spend more time to educate people about stars. I want to conduct workshops and eventually set up an observatory,” he beams.

In his scheme of things, sky isn’t the limit