Blogging from Brazil !!

Finally, I made it to Campos, RJ, Brazil last Monday and now we're the beginning of the 5th Meeting on Astronomy and Astronautics. Actually it;s supposed to get started in a few hours time and I will remind you the schedule for today.

Day 1 - April 19th - Dia 19 de abril

Shopping Boulevard - Campos

9:00h – Opening Ceremony - Abertura

10:00h  - My astrophotography work in "The World At Night" – Meu trabalho de Astrofotografia no “The World at Night” - Tamas Ladanyi (TWAN project)

11:00h  - “Astrophotography in Brazil, the victory of passion” -  “Astrofotografia no Brasil, a vitória da paixão” - José Carlos Diniz (NGC 51 and CANF)

12:00h - Lunch - Almoço

14:00h - “Living the Idea“ – “Vivendo a ideia” - Johannes Stübler (AWB – Austria)

15:0h - “Living in the desert and the E-ELT, ESO's newest challenge” – “Vivendo no deserto e o E-ELT, o mais novo desafio do ESO” -  Dimitri Gadotti (ESO)

16:00h – Coffee Break - Intervalo

16:15h – “Jorge Marcgrave in Dutch Brazil: his founder role in Astronomy of Brazil and of the New World” -   "Jorge Marcgrave no Brasil holandês: seu papel fundador na astronomia do Brasil e do Novo Mundo" - Oscar Matsuura (IAG/USP retired researcher, associate researcher of MAST/MCT and HCTE/UFRJ)

19:00h – Sky Observation and Cultural Activities

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The location of the first day "Shopping Boulevard" is the largest shopping mall in the Campos and it looks really modern and an interesting place, Last 2 days we've had astronomy exhibition there and many youth from around the schools in Capmos took part in it. The set if events comprised of the mobile planetarium session and the movie "Space Station" aired in Portuguese in the cinema of the Shopping Boulevard.

So far I've tried to learn some Portuguese with the help of Marcelo, the members  of the astronomical society - Louis Cruls Astronomy Club and other locals. Hope there will be some improvement kudos to them !

Stay tuned for more news.

Abraços!!!!

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Program Launched - 5th Meeting on Astronomy and Astronautics

Olá !!!

More news from Brazil !! The program of the 5th meeting on astronomy and astronautics has just been launched.

Here it goes !!!

Day 1 - April 19th - Dia 19 de abril

Shopping Boulevard - Campos

9:00h – Opening Ceremony - Abertura

10:00h  - My astrophotography work in "The World At Night" – Meu trabalho de Astrofotografia no “The World at Night” - Tamas Ladanyi (TWAN project)

11:00h  - “Astrophotography in Brazil, the victory of passion” -  “Astrofotografia no Brasil, a vitória da paixão” - José Carlos Diniz (NGC 51 and CANF)

12:00h - Lunch - Almoço

14:00h - “Living the Idea“ – “Vivendo a ideia” - Johannes Stübler (AWB – Austria)

15:0h - “Living in the desert and the E-ELT, ESO's newest challenge” – “Vivendo no deserto e o E-ELT, o mais novo desafio do ESO” -  Dimitri Gadotti (ESO)

16:00h – Coffee Break - Intervalo

16:15h – “Jorge Marcgrave in Dutch Brazil: his founder role in Astronomy of Brazil and of the New World” -   "Jorge Marcgrave no Brasil holandês: seu papel fundador na astronomia do Brasil e do Novo Mundo" - Oscar Matsuura (IAG/USP retired researcher, associate researcher of MAST/MCT and HCTE/UFRJ)

19:00h – Sky Observation and Cultural Activities

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Day 2 - April 20th -  20 de abril

Campus Guarus do Instituto Federal Fluminense

9:30h – “Mars Direct: Humans to the Red Planet within a Decade” – “Direto para Marte: Seres Humanos em Marte dentro de uma década” -   Robert Zubrin (Mars Society)

10:30h – Report of the First Brazilian Crew in Mars Desert Research Station – Relato da Primeira Tripulação Brasileira na Estação de Pesquisa no Deserto sobre Marte

10:45h – “Meteor/Meteorite Soup” – “Sopa de Meteoro/Meteorito” - Dirk Ross (Yamaguchi University and AWB)

 12:00h – Lunch - Almoço

 14:00h – “Sun – Past, Present and Future” – “Sol – Passado, Presente e Futuro” - Eugênio Reis Neto (MAST/MCTI)

 15:00h – “Variable Stars Project during CUREA programa at Mount Wilson Observatory” - Projeto Estrelas Variáveis durante o programa CUREA do Observatório Monte Wilson – Jônatas Chagas Ramos (CALC/IFF)

 15:15h – “Teacher’s MEC Portal exemplified by the site “Astronomy, Astronautics and Space Science at the School” - Portal do Professor do MEC exemplificado pelo site temático “Astronomia, Astronáutica e Ciências Espaciais na Escola” - Norma Teresinha Oliveira Reis (MEC)

 16:00h – Coffee Break – Intervalo - Posters Presentation – Apresentação de Painéis

 16:15h – Workshops

 - Meteors, Meteorites and Fireballs – Meteoros, Meteoritos e Fireballs – Dirk Ross (Yamaguchi University and AWB)

 - Practical advices for astronomical landscape imaging - Conselhos práticos para imagens astronômicas (de paisagem) – Tamas Ladanyi (TWAN project)

- Is it possible to inhabit other planets outside our solar system? - Es posible habitar otros planetas fuera del Sistema Solar? - Andrea Sanchez-Saldias (Departamento de Astronomia-Facultad de Ciencias – Universidad de La Republica – Uruguay)

 - “Workshop about the Sun” - “Oficina sobre o Sol”  - Eugênio Reis (MAST/MCTI)

- Projeto para Construção e Lançamento de Foguete a Água – Oswaldo Barbosa Loureda (ACRUX Aerospace Technologies)

19:00h – Sky Observation and Cultural Activities

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Day 3- April 21th - Dia 21 de Abril

Campus Guarus do Instituto Federal Fluminense

9:00h – Short Communications - Trabalhos Orais

-  “Radioweb Creative Science: New Technological resources for teaching and popularization of Physics and Astronomy for the visually impaired” - “Radioweb Ciência Criativa: Novos recursos tecnológicos para o ensino e divulgação de fisica e astronomia para deficientes visuais” - Luís Fernando Sodré Gomes (UENF and CALC/IFF), David Willian da Silva Batista (UENF and CALC/IFF),, Hélio Dutra (IFF), Carlos Cruz (CALC/IFF) and Marcelo de Oliveira Souza (UENF and CALC/IFF).

– “Parallel between Cosmogony and Cosmology trying to explain the Origin of the Universe” – “Um paralelo entre Cosmogonia e Cosmologia buscando explicar a Origem do Universo” - Bruno Leonardo do Nascimento Dias (UFRJ), Mário Novello (CBPF) e Érico Goulart (CBPF)

 – “Parallel between Cosmogony and Cosmology trying to explain the Origin of the Universe” – “Um paralelo entre Cosmogonia e Cosmologia buscando explicar a Origem do Universo” - Bruno Leonardo do Nascimento Dias (UFRJ), Mário Novello (CBPF) e Érico Goulart (CBPF)

 - “Project "Looking to the sky in the southern Rio" a contribution to initial and continuing teacher training”  - “Projeto “Olhando para o céu no sul fluminense" uma contribuição a formação inicial e continuada de professores” - Marco Aurélio do Espírito Santo (IFRJ) e Fernanda Cópio Esteves (IFRJ)

- “School in the Stars – Experiences and Reports of three years teaching astronomy” – “Escola nas Estrelas - Experiências e Relatos de 3 anos Ensinando Astronomia” - Adriano da Silva Leonês(UnB), Paulo Eduardo de Brito (FUP/UnB) and Eliane Mendes Guimarães (FUP/UnB)

-“Mutual phenomena between the

Galilean Moons of Jupiter” - Fenômenos Mútuos entre os Satélites Galileanos de Júpiter – Alex Dias (Observatório Nacional)

- “Light Pollution in Campos dos Goytacazes” - “Poluição Luminosa em Campos dos Goytacazes” – Nicolle Cabral Coutinho (UENF) and Marcelo de Oliveira Souza (UENF and CALC/IFF)

 10:20h – Coffee Break - Intervalo
                                                       
10:30h – “Russia in Space - Vision and Challenges” –  “A Rússia no espaço – Visão e Desafios” - Gennady Saenko (ROSCOSMOS)

 11:15h – “The Popularization of AStronomy in non-formal Education Spaces” - A divulgação da Astronomia em Espaços não Formais de Educação – Douglas Falcão (MAST/MCTI)

12:00h – Lunch - Almoço

14:00h – “Educational experiences in Uruguay (formal and non-formal)” -  Experiencias educativas en Uruguay (formal y de divulgacion) - Andrea Sanchez-Saldias (Departamento de Astronomia-Facultad de Ciencias – Universidad de La Republica – Uruguay)

 15:00h – “New trends in Rocket Technologies” -  “As Novas Tendências em Tecnologias de Foguetes” – Oswaldo Barbosa Loureda (ACRUX Aerospace Technologies)

 15:45h – “Let us look to the Sky” -  “Venha, vamos olhar para o Céu” - Valdir Boesel (Clube de Astronomia Nós e os Astros – Hamburgo – Rio Grande do Sul)

 16:00h – Coffee Break – Intervalo -  Posters Presentation – Apresentação de Painéis

16:15h – “Outreach of astronomy in Sri Lanka” – “Atividades de popularização da Astronomia no Sri Lanka” - Prasanna Deshapriya (Mathematical & Astronomical Society of University of Colombo, Sri Lanka)

16:45h – “End of World in 2012” – “O fim do Mundo em 2012” – Marcelo de Oliveira Souza (UENF and CALC/IFF)

 17:15h – Closure - Encerramento

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Well, this looks really interesting and covers a broad range of topics in astronomy. There are speakers/ presenters from many countries and I'm sure the event will be educational as well as very effective and productive to anyone. It looks like the whole event will be held in 2 venues, and this time there is gonna be someone from Sri Lanka taking part as an invited speaker :)

See you soon in Brazil !! - Tchau !!!

Before finishing the post I will also mention the 2 committees behind the  5th Meeting on Astronomy and Astronautics with many thanks.

Scientific Committee

• Mike Simmons (USA)
• Babak Tafreshi (Iran)
• Andrea Sanchez (Uruguay)
• Manoj Pai (India)
• Azhy Hasan (Iraq)
• Marcelo de Oliveira Souza (Brasil)
• Ronaldo Rogerio de Freitas Mourao (Brasil)
• Martin Makler (Brasil)
• Rosa Doran (Portugal)
• Julio Vanini (Nicarágua)

Local Committee

• Marcelo de Oliveira Souza (CALC))
• Eponine Wagner B. B. Souza ( CALC)
• Joao Batista Lannes (CALC)
• Otávio Jardim (CALC)
• Luís Fernado Sodré Gomes (CALC)
• Carlos Augusto Cruz (CALC)

Information source : http://meeting.passeiopeloceu.org/programa-encontro5.html

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5th International Meeting of Astronomy and Astronautics

This is great news for astronomy enthusiasts, the 5th International Meeting of Astronomy and Astronautics is just around the corner. It will take place in the city of Campos dos Goytacazes, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil from 19th to 21st of this month.


Louis Cruls Astronomy Club of Brazil has yet again taken the initiative of organizing the 5th International Meeting of Astronomy and Astronautics and this time it's gonna be an amazing set of interesting events, packed with this rendezvous. According to the latest news from Brazil, a special opening event will take place on April 19, at 9:00h, at the the Trianon Theater located in Campos dos Goytacazes. Further the meeting will include exhibitions, Digital Mobile Planetarium sessions, astronomy clubs exhibits, International Competitions, Star Party and many more.This sounds really interesting and I guess anyone wouldn't mind gathering such a variety of experiences in one of the most beautiful cities in the world together with both local and international astronomy folk.

All the presentations, workshops and exhibits will be held in IFF (Instituto Federal Fluminense - http://www.iff.edu.br) on April 20 and 21 in the same city. It is reported that the program "Um Passeio pelo Céu"(http://www.tvlitoral.com.br) will make a complete coverage of the event, which sounds great because you can have access to the happenings of event, even if you do end up missing the chance of taking part, in the worst case scenario.

 There have been free registrations until the 07th of April 2012 and am not sure about the availability of that any longer. But you can obtain more information at http://meeting.passeiopeloceu.org/index-meeting5.html

Additionally you can visit Louis Cruls Astronomy Club blog: http://calc.zip.net The event is being organized by Louis Cruls Astronomy Club and have the support of Instituto Fedreal Fluminense , Astronomers Without Borders, UNAWE, UNESCO office in Brazil, Diário da Rússia http://www.diariodarussia.com.br ,the program StarPeace and Global Teacher Training Program .
 The UNAWE program in Brazil from December 2010 has the support ofthe UNESCO office in Brazil.

Finally not forgetting the great guy behind all this, the president of  the organizing committee of the 5th International Meeting of Astronomy and Astronautics, Mr. Marcelo de Oliveira Souza !

A warm round of applause for him.

 Abraços do Sri Lanka !

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