Annual Astronomy Workshop 2009 at Southlands College, Galle, Sri Lanka

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It was the last day of the October in fact. The 31st to be precise. The day dawned with promising sun light from the East. However we were supposed to travel to South , to Galle for the annual Astronomy Workshop of Southlands College. I think doing many outreach programs like this will help the students/ children in farther areas, to develop their knowledge on science and astronomy in general. They have limited resources and it's an obligation of ours to help them enjoy the life with the beauty of astronomy in this IYA2009.

Well let's go ahead with the story !! We left from Colombo at about 7:00 am in the morning. Here is the outreach crew.

  • Professor Kavan U Ratnatunga
  • Mr. Thilina Heenatigala
  • Mr. Pulasthi Kanattage
  • Ms. Monika Madhavi
  • Mr. Buddhika Priyasad
  • Mr. Lasitha Senaratne
  • Mr. Prasanna Deshapriya (me)
  • Mr. Thishan Pavithra
  • Mr. Thanura Hashantha
It was great to visit Galle town after sometime and the weather was supporting us for the workshop, which was coming ahead. One can find the historical Galle Fort when getting into the Southlands College. You have to go through a small tunnel-like structure when getting into the college. We had a warm welcome, which was featured with an escort of band parade.

After the opening ceremony the workshop commenced with a lecture by Professor Kavan. The lecture delivered a scope on occultations and especially focused on upcoming Eclipse in January 2010. (You can read Prof Kavan's article here @ lakdiva site http://lakdiva.org/eclipse2010/ : This was featured on Sundaytimes as well)

Then everyone had lunch and we got ourselves prepared for the workshop. Basically there were few activities which were led by us. Following were the activities conducted.

1. Space Shuttle Model
2. Moon Colony
3. Discovery Shuttle Model
4. Model of International Space Station

model of the moon colony


The activities were interesting and students were able to learn something new and it was adorable to notice them enthusiastically taking part in activities. I have included some photos taken whcih highlights the activity session.

model of the moon colony


Annually Southlands College organizes such events like this which also include occasional nigh camps. If you are a frequent visitor to my blog, you might be aware of the previous events, which were organized by the Southlands College Galle. Especially I blogged about night camps they organized for the IYA2009

http://iya2009sl.blogspot.com/2009/03/iya-2009-celebrated-by-southlands-galle.html

Special thanks should go out to Ms Nandanee & Kushani Imalsha for the co-coordinating purposes.
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My Tribute to IYA 2009 : A Poem on Pluto

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Here is my tribute to IYA 2009: A Poem


I composed this in early 2007, when I was the president of Anandian Astronomical Association for the years 2006/2007. However now it's the almost the end of 2009. Therefore, while IYA 2009 is still due, I hit on the idea of paying tribute to the Galileo's efforts with my poem which has not yet been published online. however it was printed on this years Star Party 2009 souvenir for the first time and I had good feedback on it. It was the era when Pluto was subject to many colloquial talks on astronomy. They were debating whether Pluto was a planet. I felt sad for Plut and I though of composing a poem, from the perspective of Pluto.
My Tribute to IYA 2009 : A Poem on Pluto
Here is my poem..

Enjoy it !!!

_______________________________________________________

Who am I?

Once was the quest of the Earthmen
Being so nicely shaped and probed
Who wanted me most were astrologers
Instead astronomers made me unclassified


Although far and smallest may I be
I feel I deserve a place you see
To be precise and to be a planet née
Hey all the summit members, vote for me


There will be a day, where you pay nemesis
Just for not letting me in the premises
Along with Nix and Hydra paying off my genesis
You could have seen me ill-treated Einstein the physicist


Artifacts will ever fly by
Even New Horizons may sometimes lie
Having this in mind I shall cry
I don’t know who am I ?

Composition :- J D Prasanna Deshapriya
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IYA 2009 Astronomy Sri Lanka just received Google PageRank 5

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It's not a short while ago that I came to know Google PageRank has just updated. I usually tend to look at the Google tool bar's PR button when a page loads. For my surprise I had got PageRank 5. I was earlier with Google PageRank 4 for this IYA2009 astronomy blog and now I'm glad to have done that. That's why I made this quick post.

Improving PageRank is not very easy. You have to focus on building quality backlinks and updating the site with quality content regularly. In addition you should be patient as well, Last time I jumped into PR 4 from PR 0 during the last week of May 2009. That's when the last update of Google PageRank had been,

IYA 2009 Astronomy Sri Lanka just receive Google PageRank 5

I also hope you guys have also received PR updates and if so, please share the news.

You may also see the proof here with this image.
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A random Idea I have: Do Atoms & Solar System (Planetary System) share a similarity?

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This is one of those freaky matters that I have been thinking of, over the course of time. Now I though of posting it here and getting ready for a better discussion, argument or whatever.

So let's straightly get into the topic. I have also supplied pictures to illustrate the idea. Basically, an atom is of course made up of electrons, neutrons & protons. The electrons orbit the the nucleus, which houses the protons and neutrons. Hence the nucleus is positively charged and since the negatively charged electrons orbit the nucleus, in a nutshell, we can say the atom is neutral.A random Idea I have: Do Atoms & Solar System (Planetary System) share a similarity

Now let's focus on solar system. There is the mighty sun in the center, and there are other planets orbiting the sun. Therefore this is the basic anatomy of the planetary system. Now what I'm gonna do is compare the features of both systems and try to arrive at a compromise if possible.A random Idea I have: Do Atoms & Solar System (Planetary System) share a similarity

Let's take the nucleus. Now we can take the sun on the other hand, corresponding to the nucleus.

  • Both nucleus & sun are located in the center of the system.
  • Planets orbit the sun, whereas the electrons orbit the nucleus.
  • Planets go in orbits and electrons follow orbitals.

Planets move at slower speeds, compared to electrons, whose speeds are near C, which is the speed of the light, being 3x10^8 meters per second. Although there are many similarities shared by both systems, this seems , to me, as a contradiction. However there could also be a relationship, which is not derived yet and which is able to explain by taking, the sizes of the systems into account. May be the speed can be inversely proportional to the size of the system.

To add to the above facts, one can also claim that the clusters, and even super clusters have the same movement, which relates of a system, whose elements are orbiting a centered object.

This is the main focus of the today's post and I'm open for any argument or debate,

Your feedback is welcome !!
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