Sri Lanka to Get Space Academy with Chinese Support

Seeing the stars from earth is one thing but it is the dream of every young astronomer to one day be able to travel into space and gaze at them from beyond the sky. There is now a possibility that this dream will become a reality for some lucky Sri Lankans, as the country’s first space academy is planned for launch next year. It will be aided by the Chinese as part of a joint venture between the Great Wall Industry Corporation of China and Supreme Satellite Private Ltd Colombo and aims to inspire young people and increase their interest in space. The academy is planned for construction in Kandy and promises to make the city synonymous with space-related knowledge and technology. ‘It will use Chinese world-class expertise in space science to further boost the size and quality of Sri Lanka’s...

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Live Streaming/ Webcast of Total Solar Eclipse from Cairns, November 2012

Yet one more solar eclipse! Well, this time it's gonna be a total solar eclipse. Maybe you're already in Cairns or almost there, or somewhere in the South Pacific, which are the places to be, to be able to witness this amazing celestial phenomena. As I blog this post from Sri Lanka, there are few more hours left until the start of this total solar eclipse. So we're just about there. As for me, and those who couldn't manage to be in the right places, there is this wonderful tool, Internet facilitating us to watch the eclipse online, as numerous groups bring out their own live streams of the eclipse, and updates. Believe it or not there's...

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Revival Event of ASSC ends a Success !

The evening of the Saturday 03rd November saw a great success for the revival event of ASSC held at Subodhi premises. There was an encouraging attendance of both school students, teachers as well as members themselves of ASSC outnumbering the expected. Founder-Director of Subodhi institute Rev. Father Mervyn Fernando, Rev. Father Anthony, Dr. G T F De Silva from University of Moratuwa, astrophysicist Professor Kavan Ratnatunga, Mr Nishantha Dilruk, one of the senior members of ASSC and Mr. Tharaka Gamage from Rivira Newspaper were among the guests. The event comprised of few informative talks and an out-door astronomy activity...

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Internship opportunity at IAU Office of Astronomy for Development

I've come across this internsting internship offered by IAU Office of Astronomy for Development and here is information regarding that in case you're interested. You can aslo find the same in PDF at ftp://ftp.saao.ac.za/outgoing/kg/astro4dev/OAD-InternshipOpportunity-13-03-2012.pdf IAU Office of Astronomy for Development: Internship OpportunityThe International Astronomical Union (IAU), in partnership with the South African National Research Foundation (NRF), has established the global Office of Astronomy for Development (OAD) at the South African Astronomical Observatory (SAAO) in Cape Town, South Africa. The OAD began its work on 1st...

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Total Solar Eclipse 13/14 November 2012

Briefing The next total solar eclipse is not that far away, We're about 2 weeks away from it. On 13th and 14th of November 2012 (UT) those who are located in Cairns, Australia and southern Pacific Ocean will have the chance of observing this. This time the greatest totality will last around 4 minutes of time with a magnitude of 1.05 Generally a solar eclipse will take place when the Moon passes in between Sun and the Earth, shading the solar view partially or fully relative to an observer based on Earth. The solar eclipse is said to be a total solar eclipse when the Moon's apparent diameter is larger than that of Sun, completely obscuring...

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Revival of Astronomy & Space Study Center - ASSC | Subodhi

We're not far from achieving a much anticipated goal, the revival of Astronomy & Space Study Center or ASSC or even more colloquially known Subodhi. During last couple of months and especially the last few weeks the preparatory activities of the ASSC had kept us busy and despite the sacrifices we've all made, I'm sure this would be a rendezvous for many astronomy enthusiasts, students and many more like-minded people. Equally it would be reunion of many of us, who'd found ourselves scattered apart, after the long pause we've been having since 2006. Thus I really feel excited to be a apart of this revival effort as we get closer to the...

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An unknown static blinking red dot close to zenith tonight

I'm publishing this post to know if there are more people who have seen the same as I did, just a while ago. I was going to my rooftop just to catch some fresh air and suddenly something brighter in sky took my attention. It was located about 20 degrees northeast wards from my zenith (I was located in Piliyandal, Sri Lanka), Local time read 20:00h. (09th Spetember 2012). Please note that Sri Lanka is GMT+5:30h My co-ordinates in Piliyandala Latitude: +6.801778 Longitude: +79.940354 There was a bright red dot noticeably visible to where I was and I was observing it for almost an hour before it disappeared. However I noticed that the background stars were moving relative to this strange red dot and the dot was frequently varying its color. During this course I assume...

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We're back on Mars - Curiosity Touchdown Story

Yes, we've just made it to the Mars once again, a few minutes ago Curiosity Rover safe-landed on Mars and started to send back the signals. I was just glued to my chair during the last 2 hours of flight of the Curiosity capsule, listening to various media news and NASA TV and finally as it was successful, I was sunken in a lot of feelings. What an effort made by the crew to have this sophisticated robot landed on our neighboring planet, the dedication and sacrifices they've put forward in bringing this up to a reality. So hats off to all those who are behind this great project, well done guys !!! Plus what kind of discoveries...

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Pictures from Venus Transit 5/6 June 2012

Well, it didn't turn out to be so good in turn of the weather, and we had an irritating blockage of clouds over the Easter horizon from Trincomalee, Sri Lanka. We arrived in the observation site around 4.45 am in the morning and were eagerly waiting for the sun rise, Alas !! What we had for our welcome !!!! It was nothing more than a white layer of clouds... And the clouds had the sun imprisoned for almost 2 hours after the dawn and finally it came out of the layer of the clouds but still with a less brightness, However the Venus transit is still in progress for us in Trincomalee, Sri Lanka and it will last for almost 1 hour...

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Trânsito de Vênus, 5/6 de Junho de 2012, ao vivo de Trincomalee 2012''

Olá Pessoal,  Pena que eu não tive tempo antes para trazer esta notícia antes, sobre o fenômeno histórico, onde pela última vez neste século, assim como em quase todo o nosso tempo de vida. Vênus passará diante do Sol, visto da Terra, ocultando uma pequena parte do disco solar. Eu viajei para Trincomalee na costa leste da ilha (Sri Lnka) só para observar isso alguns segundos mais cedo do que os meus vizinhos em Colombo (Capital do Sri Lanka). Nós (membros do MAS ) estamos trazendo um webcast ao vivo, via streaming de Trincomalee. Vamos, naturalmente, perder os 2 primeiros pontos de contato devido à nossa localização geográfica, porém,...

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Venus Transit 6th June 2012 Live Webcast/ Streaming from Trincomalee, Sri Lanka

Hello Folks, Too bad I didn't have time earlier to bring you some early news about this historical phenomenon, where for the last time in this century, as well as in almost all of our life time, Venus makes a transit across solar disk, as seen from the Earth. I've traveled to Trincomalee in the East coast of the island just to observe this a few seconds earlier than my neighbors in Colombo. We (members of MAS) are bringing a live webcast/ streaming from Trincomalee as the event takes place. We will of course miss the first 2 contacts due to our geographical location this time, however we will take it from the sun rise from the eastern horizon...

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Venus Transit 05/06 June 2012, Historical Event of this Century - Don't miss out

What is a transit of Venus? When Venus passes directly between earth and the sun, we see the distant planet as a small dot gliding slowly across the face of the sun. Historically, this rare alignment is how we measured the size of our solar system. When is it? The next transit of Venus occurs June 5 or 6, 2012, depending on your location. Observers in North America see it the evening of June 5. This will be the last transit of Venus to occur in your lifetime. Where to Be Whether and when you can see the 2012 transit of Venus depends on your location. Key highlights include the four "contacts" near the beginning and end of the...

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Golden Moments -5th International Meeting on Astronomy and Astronautics

It's always been a pleasant experience cherishing past memories with great happenings. Even now, just a month and a week later, I can be happy going though my own flashback of 5th International Meeting on Astronomy and Astronautics held in Brazil. Blogging requires to be specific sometimes and in this post I will recall about some interesting happenings took place during the 3 days from 19th to 22nd of April 2012. You can always check about the pre-events that preceded the 5th International Meeting on Astronomy and Astronautics and also the event schedule/ program. I had the pleasure of participating in the 5th International Meeting on...

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