93rd Birth Anniversary of Sir Arthur Clarke

Let's cherish the 93rd birth anniversary of Sir Arthur Clarke, who rendered an immense service to the world, by means of his innovative concepts on telecommunication + thrilling scientific books, We should do something to remind the world about his being in a day like this, as what his imagination has rendered, continues to grow day by day.... Here is some information from his bio, for those who wish to know, [Source: Wikipedia] Clarke was born in Minehead, Somerset, England. As a boy he enjoyed stargazing and reading old American science fiction pulp magazines. After secondary school and studying at Huish's Grammar School, Taunton, he...

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Cassini Scientist for a Day Essay Contest 2010 – Sri Lanka

The 9th Edition of Cassini Scientist for a Day Essay Contest, Fall 2010 is now in progress around the world. Cassini Scientist for a Day Essay Contest is an international essay contest, carried out by NASA. This is aimed at raising awareness about Saturn, its moons and current updates among students in general. At the same time this contest focuses on improving students know-how on essay-writing and scientific thinking and merging them for a better output. Sri Lankan students now have the chance of taking part by submitting their entries. If you’re in grades 5-13, this is the change to show the world the talent you got. The contest is held...

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6-photo-slider

Well, If you have read one of the latest blog posts you can be familiar with this '6-photo-slider' that I'm gonna talk about now. Otherwise you can check that out at Starry Night in Kandy | Another Outreach Event with MAS, which will make more sense. Now I'm gonna present you the 6 photos of the final slideshow we had. Indeed it was a tough challenge for the contestants to correctly recognize the 6 photos, each of which was made visible only for 10 seconds from the projector. Now try it for yourself too and check how many of them are familiar to you. Of course you can have as much time as you prefer, but try to do it quick. Random...

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A lecture on Exoplanets by Michael Snowden

A lecture on Exoplanets will be delivered by professional astronomer Michael Snowden tomorrow at University of Moratuwa. Michael is a professional astronomer from New Zealand and he has been contributing towards the development of astronomy in Sri Lanka since last few decades. Following are specific details about this lecture.  Michael Snowden Topic : Exoplanets Time : 11:00 AM Date : 04th of November 2010 Venue : Auditorium of Department of Electronic & Telecommunication Engineering, University of Morat...

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Starry Night in Kandy | Another Outreach Event with MAS

Last Friday gave me the hope of the beginning of a fresh weekend, getting started with an astronomy event. It was the members of the Mathematical & Astronomical Society of University of Colombo (MAS), back in outreach action. We had been invited to contribute to the 'Starry Night 2010' organized by St. Anthony's College, Kandy. Basically this 'Starry Night' focused on 2 segments being Astronomy Quiz & Workshop, first of which is an evaluation of observation based astronomy knowledge in general and the latter was aimed for providing more insight into astronomy and observation, particularly aimed at newbies of astronomy. Our outreach task was to conduct the astronomy workshop and the quiz related observation sessions. As a matter of fact I'd like to note that this is the normal procedure...

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2 Sri Lankans Visit Europe

In recent times there were a lot of conferences, exhibitions and awareness programs taking place around the globe just focusing on astronomy and related issues. You might remember CAP2010 which was held in South Africa sometime ago in this year. I think this kind of programs help boost the world of astronomy and they help people to gain more insight into this wonderful science. Well, today I'm gonna focus this post on a couple of events, being JENAM 2010 & Space Generation Congress 2010 (astronomy and space issues related respectively) and their Sri Lankan participation. They were held in Europe within last 8 weeks. In fact 2...

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Star Party 2010

       Just as its name states STAR PARTY is not merely a function of night sky observation, but an aesthetic introduction to the field of Astronomy, an enigmatic experience for an apprentice, unforgotten night for everybody participating in. In Sri Lanka Star Party is the dream of every stargazer, not only to witness but to get involved. When we embarked upon Star Party in 2004, with the Astronomical Society of Mahamaya Girls’ College, Kandy, being the pioneers of Observation Competitions in South Asia region, it was visible that a gleaming future of Sri Lankan astronomy was lying ahead. Consequently this turned...

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A Post of Revival

I thought of publishing this post just to revive the blogging, that I've been continuing over the last 2 years. In fact I'd been way busy during last couple of month, with various stuff, like Uni exams, numerous functions, AIESEC projects, of of course SLUG - which is the latest focus, being the Sri Lanka University Games, held triennially - I got qualified to the Chess team of our University :), Of course this made me stuck in an environment, with less astronomy, when it came to practical aspects in deed. However I'm fortunate not to have missed that much of news and updates thanks to the internet and Facebook community where there're friends like...

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Received the IYA2009 Commemorative Coin of Ukraine

I'm writing this post to update about the Ukrainian IYA2009 coin that I received yesterday. In fact this is the first IYA2009 commemorative coin that came under my possession although it's already been more than 7 months since the closing ceremony of IYA2009. Here is the coin and some of the details about it. Denomination: 5 hryvnia (currency of Ukraine) Metal: Copper-Nickel Weight: 16.54 g Diameter : 35 mm Quality: special uncirculated Edge: grooved Mintage: 45 000 Designers: Volodymyr Taran, Oleksandr Kharuk, Sergei Kharuk. Authors of models: Anatoly Demyanenko, Sviatoslav Ivanenko I ordered the coin through Ebay, which is of course the...

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Eclipse 11th July 2010 : Photos + Videos + Experience

The only total solar eclipse of the year 2010 took place few hours ago over the South Pacific Ocean and some Latin American countries. Many astronomers + eclipse-chasers, who had already made it to the possible eclipse sites were lucky enough to witness the total solar eclipse with fairly good weather condition. Traversing over the South Pacific the silhouette of the moon crossed over Polynesian Islands, Easter Island, Cook Island and ended its path from Southern Argentina after going through Chilean territories. Moreover it was more interesting to see Easter Island / Isla de Pasqua being crowded with...

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Watch Total Solar Eclipse 11th July 2010 Live Streaming from EclipseBlog

The most awaited total solar eclipse of the year 2010 is about to take place in less than next 20 hours from now. There have been a lot of groups/ individuals flocked at South Pacific islands and Chilean territories right now waiting for the eclipse to take place. The EclipseBlog will be featuring live feeds from different sources as an attempt to bring the eclipse live to many those whoa re unable to make it to the exact locations. During last Annular solar eclipse, back on 15th January EclipseBlog together with SkyLK brought out a live streaming of the eclipse from Jaffna, Sri Lanka. Here is the webpage where...

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Eclipse solar total el 11 de julio de 2010

Información sobre el eclipse: Como el segundo eclipse del 2010, habrá un eclipse solar total el 11 de julio de 2010. Este será el único eclipse solar total que se verá este año. Este eclipse durará en total 5 minutos y 20 segundos como máximo, exactamente en el punto señalado en el mapa inferior. (Coordinadas: 19.7S y 121.9O). El eclipse total comenzará a las 18:15:15 GMT (TU) y terminará a las 20:51:42 GMT (TU) a medida que la sombra se aleje de la Tierra. La ruta del eclipse solar total: La ruta del eclipse, cuyo ancho máximo sería de alrededor de 259km, cae sobre el hemisferio sur del planeta, atravesando principalmente el Océano Pacífico....

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GAM-Global Astronomy Month (GAM2010) - Trailer Launched

Guys, here is the long waited official trailer of GAM2010 : If you have a close friend you'd love to take to a star party,a family member you'd like to show the sky,a colleague you've always wanted to understand the exciting things in the sky,a distant friend who shares your passion for astronomy,a stranger on the street you want to encourage to look up at the wonders that lie just above,this is your invitation to share the sky with them all.Take your family. Invite your friends. Share your sky.Be part of Global Astronomy Month.~One People, One Sky~ And here is the Spanish version of the trailer : El trailer oficial del Mes Global de la Astronomia, 2010, en Español. Un mismo Pueblo, un mismo Cie...

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GAM- Is There Anybody Out There ? : Spying the Exoplanet TrES-3b

Back to back nights with astronomy, which is such an irresistible sequence of events, were taking place right from 06th of April, This GAM 2010 featured remote observation sessions continued even on 07th of April, supporting the fact that quench for the true astronomy is hardly appeased. I hope this is the 2nd night that Gianluca broke rest. His dedication to the GAM & Astronomy is so remarkable... After running a long marathon collecting more than 100 Messier objects all over the heavens, our next goal was an espionage, Yes literally we set out to spy the Exoplanet TrES-3b, which was transiting over it's own star. We were led by Gianluca...

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GAM-Messier Marathon with 6,500 Runners ! 10 + Hours

I was lucky enough to be a part of the largest Messier Marathon, which could be claimed as the largest event of such a kind with the participation of more than 6,500 runners (participants) for throughout a period of 10+ hours. This was the 1st virtual remote observation session that we had in GAM, The observations were based on Virtual Telescope located at the backyard observatory of Dr. Gianluca Masi, Ceccano, Italy together with the guided narration from Gianluca. In fact the Origins of the Online Messier Marathon are connected with 100HA, which was a great project that we had during IYA2009. Now this endeavor is progressing with the initiative...

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