Celebrating 400 Years of Invention of Telescope
Galileo Astronomical Society
of Pokhara (GASPO-Nepal)
What is GASPO ?
Galileo Astronomical Society of Pokhara (GASPO) is a social initiative of Amateur Astronomers of Nepal to help increase astronomical knowledge and awareness of School Students and community people
Vision
Knowledge of the Universe can change life on Earth
Mission
1- Making a difference towards social development in Nepal through increased astronomical knowledge and research
2- Take Astronomical Science to the door steps of the poor
Guiding Principles:
1. Providing access to scientific information and knowledge can empower the poor and disadvantaged community
2. Development and Science should go together.
Objectives
· Increase awareness and knowledge of school students and community people in Nepal on Stars, planets, galaxies and other heavenly objects
· Documentation and publication of impact of increased astronomical knowledge to influence government policies on Education and social development
· Explore possibilities towards establishing Planetariums and Observatories with support from national and international agencies and stakeholders.
· Collaborate with other stakeholders engaged in exploring the outer space locally and internationally through sharing of information
Strategy:
1. Implement activities in close collaboration with Ministry of Science and Technology, RONAST, District Education office, School teachers, parents, and the Media
2. Develop Science Teachers as Resource Persons on Astronomy
3. Advocate with Government to include astronomy in school and college curriculum, and to provide amateur telescopes to secondary schools
4. Increase the interest of young people towards star watching
5. Identify people interested in Astronomy and help them to organize and observe stars and planets.
Activities of GASPO
1- Organize Star Watching Activities for School Students and Community people with the help of telescope
2- Help school students and community people to compare Eastern traditional knowledge on Astronomy (the so called Jyotish-Shastra) with Modern Scientific Astronomical knowledge, and find the truth
3- Documentation of learning and impact of star observation activities and their wide dissemination to general public through Media
4- Identify other star watcher Groups in Nepal, South Asia or elsewhere and develop collaborative relationships
5- Identify potential donors who can assist establishing Observatories or planetariums in Nepal
6- Fund raising to conduct activities (from GASPO members, community people, local businessmen or donors)
7- Train potential star observers on astronomy.
8- Organise workshops/ training on relevant issues as needed
9- Establish Astronomical Resource Centre in Pokhara
Contact Address:
Kedar P Badu, President
Prem Marg 8/53, Simalchaur
Kaski District,
POKHARA - 8
NEPAL
Tel: 00 977 1 4 359583 (Kedar)
Tel: 00 977 61 5 24235 (Dharma)
E-mail:
kedarbadu@yahoo.com
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GASPO Observation Reports:
1- MARS:
On Sep 28, we became able to see Mars. It looked like a ball of orange. But we could not see its 2 moons. May be they were behind the planet or may be our telescope is not powerful enough to see them. We could not figure out. the planet looked more beautiful through 25 mm eye piece than 9 mm. There were clouds and it was on and off kind of watching!
2- A falling Star: on Sep 28, around 7 pm local time (+5:45 GMT), we saw a falling star, (meteor shower?) between Harcules and Cygnus. It looked like an average star in the beginning and later rose to brighter than Sirius for 2 seconds and died out.
3- in the morning of Sep 29 (4:30 local time) we were able to see Jupiter. But we saw only three of its Moons. 2 moons above the planet (Io and Ganymede?) and one just below in the same vertical line (Ebropa?). But looks callisto was missing. We saw a star on the south eastern corner of the image, was it Callisto? But it was not on the same vertical plane with other galilean moons.
4- The Images of Jupiter were not as impressive as we used to see on the screen of computer. But we had a strage feeling and proudness that we were on the footsteps of Galileo, towards Real Astronomy, 400 years back in time !! This gave us lot of confidence.
Galileo Astronomical Society of Pokhara
(GASPO Nepal)
My Favorite Links:
www.oocities.org/kedarbadu/CDEP.html
GASPO email: kedarbadu@yahoo.com
1- Nawa Prabhat Secondary School, Nayabazaar
2- Barahi Higher Secondary School, Parsyang
Taking Astronomy to the Kids of Nepal.....
Public interest on Astronomy in Nepal reached unprecedented heights in 2003-4 due to important space events, namely oppositions of planets Mars (August 27, 2003) and Saturn (Dec 31, 2003) and Transit of Venus (June 8, 2004). Over the past year, Saturn came closer to Earth in 29 years and Mars in 60,000 years. These events were widely covered by Media in this country. On these occasions, amateur astronomy groups of the country organized public observation of these events with the help of telescopes. However, these initiatives were not able to satisfy the demand from the public to observe these planets, which was indicated by the difficulty in managing the crowds that gathered to see these planets through telescopes. Therefore time has come for Nepali Scientists, Astronomers, donors and government policy makers to think ways of mobilizing public interest in astronomy for the development of science and technology. This article elaborates the importance of astronomy for Nepal and ways to further develop the exploration of outer space to improve the quality of life of people in this country.
Modern Astronomy dates back to 1610 AD, when Italian Astronomer, Galileo, invented Telescope. Galileo directed his newly constructed instrument towards planet Jupiter and as a result, four prominent satellites or moons of the planet were discovered. This discovery led to the breakthrough in scientific thinking by establishing that Earth was not the center of Universe, but a mere planet, revolving around the Sun. This was a turning point in European Scientific thinking, which revolutionized science and technology (the so-called Renaissance). From this very date, the European civilization left all the rest of the civilizations behind in terms of progress and development. The story of Galileo suggests that knowledge of Astronomy can be a crucial factor to change social consciousness and accelerate development. Astronomy is the science, which allows the practical application of other branches of sciences. Our children study science in schools and colleges but this has mostly become a ritual of learning by heart, without any link to practicing the discipline.
Astronomers worldwide believe that Nepal is one of the best places in the World for astronomical Observations. We have no problem of light pollution and the sky remains clear for most of the year. We have thousands of mountains that are above 3000-m altitude, perfectly suitable to set up Observatories. In spite of all these natural gifts, we have not been able to use it for development of astronomical science. Even 400 years after the invention of the telescope, amateur telescopes are not available in our shops, not to speak of Magazines and journals on astronomy. This has seriously hindered the development of astronomy in this country. Therefore, Astronomers in Nepal need to focus their efforts not only on Star Observation, but also on advocating the importance of astronomy with Government, and also raise public awareness on the importance of space exploration.
There seems to be very little awareness on the importance of space exploration in Nepal. In today's world of globalization, it is an undisputed fact that those countries that dominate the outer space will also dominate the earth. The world is becoming smaller and smaller due to the use of outer space. In today's world, Telephones, Television, Internet, weather forecasting and geological/natural resource explorations etc depend on satellites that orbit the earth in outer space. Hence taking into account the importance of space exploration, the government recently established "BP Koirala Planetarium, Observatory and Science Museum Development Board" under the Ministry of Science and Technology. The Ministry is engaged in organizing a few orientations training each year in Kathmandu and has repeatedly turned down requests to conduct these training outside the Kathmandu valley. More importantly, the Ministry has so far not become able to give a Vision towards exploration of outer space and promote collaboration between government and civil society initiatives in the country.
It is a rather embarrassing fact that even after 4 centuries of invention of telescope, these instruments for space exploration are not available in Nepal. So the first task of the government should be to ensure that telescopes are available in Nepali Markets. For this, the government should waive customs tariff for importing telescopes. Astronomy should be included in School and College curricula as a separate subject and science teachers should be provided with necessary training and resource materials and publications. The government should also encourage international space agencies who wish to establish Observatories in Nepal that will help develop our human resources in this field. And most importantly, our policy makers need to provide a vision and action plan for development of astronomy and seek collaboration from civil society initiatives engaged in this field. We should not forget that on some future date, humans from Earth might walk the sands of Mars and the ices of Europa (moon of Jupiter, believed to have simple life forms). In fact, one of these future explorers might be a child living in Nepal right now, and dreaming of things to come. The efforts of scientists, Astronomers and Policy Makers should be directed to foster, nourish, and cherish those dreams, so that our children can explore the Universe and change life on Earth.
Students of Nawa Prabhat Secondary School, Pokhara observing Mars.
October 2003
Social Workers of Pokhara enjoying night sky.
Science teacher of Nava Prabhat School, Pokhara.
Children observing the Nepal night sky