Photo provided by Planetary Society.

As Education City’s many universities strive for excellence in all aspects of academics, some of its students are, quite literally, reaching for the stars.

The Planetary Society, a club started by Umair Qazi, a sophomore at Carnegie Mellon University in Qatar, was founded in the fall of 2015. It began with only 3 members but now has expanded to 15‐16 members total, including students from CMU‐Q, the Georgetown University School of Foreign Service in Qatar, Texas A&M University at Qatar and Northwestern University in Qatar.

Qazi’s interest in astronomy was sparked by the TV series, “Cosmos,” which was hosted by astronomer Carl Sagan back in the 1980’s. Qazi used to watch re-runs of the show and he describes Sagan as his “childhood idol.”

In the series, Sagan demonstrated the history and position of humans on planet Earth in the form of a calendar from January to December. On this calendar, all of humanity is encapsulated in December 31, 11 hours, 59 minutes and 54 seconds. Or, as Qazi puts it, in “the last few seconds” of the universe’s existence.

This revelation led Qazi to create The Planetary Society—Pakistan Chapter in his home country, an offshoot of the non-profit organization in the United States. When Qazi started his chapter in  2009, it was the only one in the Eastern Hemisphere.

When he joined CMU‐Q as a full‐time student, Qazi wanted to extend the work that he’d been doing in Pakistan. However, since he knew little about Qatar, he decided to focus first on creating a chapter at CMU-Q.

The purpose of forming the club is to generate discussion about stars and other heavenly objects and to inculcate awareness about the universe that we live in, said Qazi.

They bring this aim to fruition with a series of different activities, ranging from using a telescope to gaze at the full moon and organizing trivia nights to wearing solar glasses to observe the sun directly.

The club is preparing for its first trip to the Dubai Planetarium on the 18th and 19th of March. This is also the first club in CMU‐Q that has received sponsorship by CMU‐Q Student Affairs to go on a trip.

Dubai Astronomy, a group of amateur astronomers that arranges sessions similar to the ones organized by The Planetary Society‐ CMUQ, will give them a guided tour of the planetarium.

“This trip would broaden my knowledge and enhance my social skills. It’s certainly an awesome idea and I’m very excited about it,” said Syeda Sakina Amir, a biological sciences freshman at CMU‐Q. She is one of six students who will be traveling with the group.

Sakina added that the club has given her  a lot of knowledge about outer space and educated her about the significance of space exploration.

“It has instilled in me a sense of curiosity of what it is that lies beyond our planet Earth. I am looking forward to be taken into a wormhole of intergalactic enlightenment and cosmic wonder,” she said.

With the intention of empowering members to learn more about space exploration, space science and astronomy, Qazi said that they also want to help members “find their place in space,” which is the tagline of the U.S. organization.

“Just like how I found that my place in space is insignificant as compared to its vast beauty. It teaches you that being humble and aware of your insignificance is actually being powerful,” he said.