R Subramanian, director of the M P Birla Planetarium in Calcutta and convenor of BIAPS, says this is the first institute in the eastern region to offer such a course. ``We also have plans to start a Ph D programme in astronomy and planetarium sciences after the first batch of M Phil is completed,'' he says.

The course will be held over a period of one-and-a-half years with three semesters. The course will cost Rs 40,000 and scholarships will be arranged for a few meritorious students. Only six to eight students will be given admission tothe first batch, says a BIAPS notification.

The topics to be covered in the first semester are astronomic instrumentation and techniques, structure of the universe, stellar astronomy and celestial mechanics. In the second semester, the topics are the Milky Way and other galaxies, radio astronomy, relativity and cosmology, and planetarium operation and management.

Practical training in operating a telescope and an instant observatory will be covered in the third semester, says Subramanian.

Once the course is completed, Subramanian says, students can find employment with organisations such as the U P State Observatory at Nainital, the Indian Institute of Astro-Physics and Indian Space Research Organisation at Bangalore, the Udaipur Solar Observatory and the Physical Research Laboratory at Ahmedabad.

Piyush Pandey, assistant director of the planetarium, says: ``We have been running a free evening course in basic astronomy for the last 30 years in Calcutta, which helps amateur star gazers and people witha knack for the subject. This will be the first degree academic course in the subject that we are offering.''

The evening course has 150 seats and offers admission on a first-come-first-served basis. It is a six-month course, which generally starts in the month of April every year. Classes are held once a week between 6.30 pm and 8.30 pm.

BIAPS has also been conducting a six-month, post-graduate diploma course in astronomy and planetarium sciences since 1993. This course begins in March every year and has a nine-month duration. An entrance test and interview is held for the selection of candidates.

For this course, the admission qualifications are graduation with honours or a Master's degree with at least two subjects from among the following: physics, chemistry, mathematics, statistics or geology. The course fee is Rs 2,000.

Scholarships can be arranged for the meritorious, says Pandey. The subjects covered are history of astronomy, the sun and the solar system, stars, galaxies, radio and otherastronomy, cosmology, planetarium sciences and two papers of project work, which have 100 marks each.

BIAPS also helps in the placement of all successful candidates of the diploma course, says Pandey.

The students can be employed at any of the 26 planetariums situated in various parts of the country, says Subramanian.

``Some of our students have become directors and scientific officers at the National Council of Science Museums, Assam Science & Technology & Environment and at the Science City, Calcutta,'' he says.