As a child, the mind is curious, exploring the subtle functions of the world, questioning the working of objects and challenging theories that are handed down in textbooks. That is where genius begins. Noble Prize winner Albert Einstein had once said “I have no particular talent. I am merely inquisitive.”

“The best I like about gazing at the universe are the billions of twinkling stars shining like diamonds in the sky..... smiling at us...” These are the words of 14-year-old Jathin Premjith, son of engineer, astronomer and photographer Premjith Narayanan. This kickboxing, violinist teenager was first introduced to astronomy by his father. Remembering his first experience he says, “When I saw my father taking photos of the moon and the other celestial objects, I thought it would be a challenging task. I started taking photos of the starry night objects initially with the smaller 4” telescope. From then onwards I started getting more into astrophotography and now I can take photos through the 8” reflective telescope. Taking photos of nebulae, galaxies and star clusters are now more challenging for me.” Jathin’s interest in the field of astronomy and his constant thirst of the stars, moon and planets has got him the ‘Highly Commended Young Astronomy Photographer’ of the year 2010. The photograph that bagged him this achievement is titled the ‘Half Moon Terminator’ taken with the Canon EOS 7D camera attached to the Celestron CPC800 telescope’.

Though Jathin wants to grow up to be a Mechanical Engineer, he says he will never stop pursuing astronomy as a hobby. In Bahrain, where he lives with his family; sandstorms, dust and light pollution is quite common and getting opportunities are quite rare. So the father-son duo never waste any opportunity when the sky is clear. Jathin, who is a member of Bahrain Astronomical society, Bahrain and the Royal Photographic Society, London dreams of going to space one day.