Astronomy Camp at AIS 2011

Well, this is the first blog post that I'm publishing after 2 months. I'm really sorry about the absence of updates and news as i was really busy with University academics and AIESEC work. This post is about the Astronomy camp that we conducted for the Asian International School (AIS) last 18th of March

Astronomy Camp - March 2011 at University of Colombo

I'm now gonna blog about an event that we had in our University almost 2 months back. I'm really sorry guys for dragging this such longer due to the busy schedule I've been undergoing last few months due to various reasons. Hope you don't mind me sharing in so late. Anyway here it is...

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.

IYA2009 Commemorative Coins Issued by Many Countries Worldwide

As the title of this post hints, there were lot of countries involved in this worldwide celebration during 2009, which was the 400th anniversary of both the discovery of telescope for astronomical observation by Galileo Galilei and the publication of “Astronomia Nova” by Johannes Kepler. These were the reasons which were prominent in specifying 2009 as the IYA.

A Tribute to Fiami the author of The Lives of Galileo

I have already made a post about Fiami, and his great gift that I received during the Christmas season. I got many great feedback on that and even my friends wanted to read it, as none of them had the comic book with them, So I thought of doing a youtube video featuring Fiami

The Blog Has Moved !

Wednesday, November 2, 2011

"How do we Study the Atmospheres of Planets"-Dr Tilak Hewagama


There will be a visiting astronomer lecture on the topic of "How do we Study the Atmospheres of Planets" by Dr Tilak Hewagama - NASA/GSFC University of Maryland. The lecture will be delivered tomorrow (Thursday the 03rd November 2011) at 11.00 am University of Moratuwa, and it will be hosted by IEEE Student branch of University of Moratuwa.


 Abstract

 Humans have relied on their keen sense of sight in exploring their environment. The basic properties of light, color and intensity, convey a wealth of information about the source and intervening media, and remains at the core of modern astronomy. We will discuss how visible and infrared radiation, most relevant in the exploration of planets, are used in understanding their diverse atmospheres. Each atmosphere has a plethora of molecules that impart distinct signatures in their glow, and the interpretation of such observations can be complex. Nevertheless, it is an interesting enterprise spanning a range of science disciplines. What processes give rise to these signatures and how are they measured? How is the information disentangled? These questions form an interesting detective story! Recent examples of exciting science results from ground- and spacecraft-based observations of planets will be discussed in this context.

 Further Reading:

 http://sundaytimes.lk/110213/Plus/plus_16.html 

 If you're attending please your name and NIC # to chamika @ ieee [dot] org to be included in Visitor list at security gate.

About Lecturer : http://epoxi.umd.edu/1mission/bios/hewagama_t.shtml