Exploring the Invisible Sky
Many of us have an experience with astronomy that involves looking up at the night sky with our own eyes or putting an eye to a telescope. Whether it is seeing the Milky Way for the first time from a dark site, gazing at Magellanic Clouds, or seeing Saturns rings, we all want to share that experience with as many people as possible so that they can have it, too. I like to go one step further and share the invisible universe with anyone who cares to see it. Drawing of William Herschel’s experiment. image courtesy: Wikipedia One can say...
The Other Side of Astronomy?
Meteorite explosion over the city of Chelyabinsk, Russia on February 15, 2013. Such a peaceful thing is the starry sky and doing astronomy. Isn’t it? Well, on first sight it probably deserves a sounding yes. There is no relevant statistical evidence that looking at the sky or diving into the depths of knowledge of what fills the cosmos does any harm. Even the crime rate between most rivaling teams of astronomers or astrophysicist is still far below that of unpaid diplomatic parking fines. The sky, the light from stars, planets, sun and moon are all inspiring in thousand and one...
Astronomy For A Better World: What Are We Doing About It?
Last year I blogged for GAM on “Astronomy for a Better World” where I spoke about the very big picture of how we can use astronomy to make the world a better place to live in. This year I thought I should be less visionary and more practical in terms of what we are doing and how you can be a part of it. After all, what’s the point of being motivated if you don’t have the means to fulfill your motivated ambitions? Enter the International Astronomical Union’s Office of Astronomy for Development (OAD). The core of what the OAD...
Raising Awareness About Light Pollution Issues in Morocco
Every year, during the Global Astronomy Month, we organise our national contest in the framework of Aldebaran project (project for creation of astronomy school clubs with the National commission of UNESCO in Morocco). The Global Astronomy month is our project’s anniversary. The project was launched during GAM 2011 and every year we celebrate it in conjunction with the GAM activities under the motto One people, One Sky. This year, the theme for the competition is light pollution and good lighting. We are participating in the Adopt a Street program of Globe at Night program headed by Connie Walker. Globe at...
It Takes a Village of One People to Make One Starry Sky
From the dark night site of the 4m telescope at CTIO in Chile, jewels of the Night bedazzled Connie Walker (blog author) and Rob Sparks (photographer and NOAO EPO education specialist) Over the past eight years GLOBE at Night (GaN) has become the most popular campaign in the world for fighting light pollution. What started as a grassroots light pollution study is now a worldwide campaign in its eighth year. It also was a centerpiece of the International Year of Astronomy Dark Skies Awareness cornerstone project. I just spent two weeks in Chile at the headquarters of our sister observatory—NOAO-South—and...
