100 Hours of Astronomy Concludes in Nepal

Nepal celebrated 100 hours of Astronomy with different activities like Star parties,Lectures and screening of the movie The Eyes on The Skies during 2-5 April,2009 as International Astronomical Union(IAU) and UNESCO have announced the year 2009 as International Year of Astronomy(IYA2009) to mark the 400th years of exploration or the universe by telescope with different activities through out the world to enhance the public understanding of our place in the universe as "The Universe,Yours to Discover"



On 2nd April,the first day of 100HA, there was screening program of "The Eyes on The Skies" movie at St. Xavier's College,Maitighar,Kathmandu between 11:55-13:00 Hrs.More than 100 students from I.Sc. and B.Sc. along with teachers attended the screening.Before the screening of the movie I gave brief introduction of IYA2009 and Rijendra Thapa,one of my friend,gave brief information regarding International Year of Science.This was the only program on 2nd April in Nepal.



on 3rd April,2nd day of 100HA,we had planned for the star party to observe The Ringed Planet Saturn and The Moon,but we could not do due to adverse weather conditions.There was another star party organized by Galileo Astronomical Society of Pokhara,Nepal(GASPO-Nepal) which was also postponed due to the weather condition.


On 4th April,We had a program at Celebration Co-Ed School,which was about 8 km away from the main city 12:30 Hrs onwards.During the program we screened "The Eyes on The Skies".lectures on Astronomy and Solar Observation with the three solar glasses that I have brought with me from Paris,France during my participation on IYA2009 Opening ceremony and IAU Symposium 260 "The Role of Astronomy in Our Society".There were more than 65 participants from the class 8-10 along with some parents and some small children.After the event one of the boy of 12 years wrote in our attendance book I like the Sun.During the event I have shown some video clips of The Sun taken by Hinode Satellite.



There was also another Star party at Takshashila Academy during 11:30-13:00 Hrs to Observe The Sun with 4 inch Telescope(Newtonian reflector.More than 500 people enjoyed the Sun during the star party and following the request of the public we have scheduled another star party on 6th April to observe The Sun', said Jayanta Acharya,SpoC for Nepal and a mathematics teacher of the School.