Less than 1 Hour left for Global Astronomy Month (GAM)

It's 11:10 pm right now local time in Sri Lanka, Yep it's the last day of this March. Just less than 1 hour left for the dawn of April 2010, which will also mark the GAM's start. However for the countries that are well ahead our time zone, GAM must have already arrived. Especially China, New Zealand & Australia must already have welcome GAM. I do believe the GAM will be more than a Deja Vu of IYA2009, It will of course feature innovative projects, aimed at making people more aware of Astronomy and its significance. Remember the general theme " One People One Sky", which is indirectly speaking of unification of all the communities without...

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Meeting a Participant of CAP2010 : Nepalese Delegate Riwaj Pokhrel

Communicating Astronomy With The Public - CAP2010, was successfully held from 15–19 March, 2010 in Cape Town, South Africa. This was a platform where different countries got together and discussed how each of them contributed towards the general theme of communicating astronomy with public, There were sessions where delegates from many places of the world demonstrated how they interacted with law and order generally covering the message of beauty and importance of astronomy especially in IYA2009, which was the international year of astronomy. I had earlier planned to visit CAP2010, but financial problems in finding the necessary funds failed...

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Ask An Astronomer : Featured with Professional Astronomer Prof. Michael Snowden

Ask An Astronomer, well but what would you ask? Yes you can almost ask any question pertaining to science and astronomy in general, this is one of the best advantages you get when you talk to an astronomer, Not a lot of people get to Ask  An Astronomer, But a small group of Sri Lankan students inclusive of me, got the valuable chance of talking to an astronomer, in fact being close to an astronomer and spending a whole evening session with him. If you're a frequent visitor to this blog, you would definitely have read about professional New Zealand astronomer Prof. Michael Snowden, Actually we are friends, In this particular case, Prof. Michael...

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Naming X - (Rejuvenating Venetia Burney Phair)

2010 celebrates the 80th anniversary of the discovery of Pluto and marks the 1st year death anniversary of Venetia Burney Phair, the most influential 11year old in the history of astronomy who came up with the name 'Pluto' for the newly discovered Planetary body in 1930.    As a tribute to Venetia's extraordinary contribution and Pluto's discovery by the young American, Clyde Tombaugh, Space Renaissance Education Chapter, in collaboration with Father Films, announcing 'Naming X', to find the next influential student or school group, with the creative and scientific talent, to suggest a winning name for a planetary body, if it were...

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Paying Tribute to late Sir Arthur Clarke on his 2nd Death Anniversary

The 19th of March 2010 marks the 2nd death anniversary of late Sir Arthur C Clarke. We have already made two orbits around the Sun without his presence. Of course his contributions still lives on and will continue to do so in the times to come. As a tribute to him, Sri Lanka Astronomical Association in partnership with Arthur C Clarke Estate and the British Council has organized an event scheduled on 17th March which will be a retrospection of Sir Arthur Clarke and his remarkable contributions.  Event details are as follows. Date: Wednesday, 17 March 2010Time: From 4.00 pm onwardsVenue: British Council Auditorium (49, Alfred House Gardens,...

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A lecture with Prof. Chandra Wickramasinghe : Our Search for Cosmic Origins

Today I got up with the idea of meeting the most senior Sri Lankan astronomer who is Prof. Chandra Wickramasinghe. As I have posted in the previous post about him and his lecture on Our Search for Cosmic Origins, you might also be familiar with this context. In fact that lecture session at the University of Moratuwa, turned out to really exciting one, where there was a wide colloquy about just how the life originated on Earth. Not only that I was able to meet many astro friends after a long time afterward the lecture. The lecture session started sharp at 11:00 am with an introduction to the lecturer Prof. Chandra Wickramasinghe, who is presently...

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Our Search for Cosmic Origins- A lecture by prominent Sri Lankan Astronomer Prof. Chandra Wickramasinghe

The monthly lecture series of Sri Lanka Astronomical Association will be launched with the lecture: Our Search for Cosmic Origins by Prof. Chandra Wickramasinghe – astronomer and director of Cardiff Center for Astrobiology. The lecture will argue that there is compelling evidence for the theory that life emerged in a cosmic context and was distributed throughout the Universe from a single event of origination. Astronomical and biological evidence will be presented to support the thesis that "we are aliens". Prof. Chandra Wickramasinghe was a student and collaborator of Sir Fred Hoyle. Their joint work on the infrared spectra of interstellar...

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