IDHSF2018Nepal: A Tribute To The First Human in Space!

To mark the historical day of the first human in space on April 12, 1961, Nepal Astronomical Society (NASO) had a week long celebration as ' A Tribute To The First Human In Space' during April 6-13, 2018. On April 12, 1961, Russian Cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin went to Space and spent 108 minutes around the earth opening a new era of human space exploration.

On 6th of April, an event 'Role of Astronomy and Space Science in Our Society' was conducted at Janaki Secondary Boarding School, Janakpur (Province 2). This event was attended by around 80 students who came to know about the role of astronomy and space science in our society.

Photo: Participants of 'Role of Astronomy and Space Science in Our Society' held at Janaki Secondary School, Janakpur during a group photo.

On 7th of April,  an event 'The Role of AI in Space Exploration' was conducted at Itahari International College,Itahari (Province 1). Mr. Santosh Ghimire presented his talk on AI and its role in exploration. In order to provide an overview of NASO and WIAN by NASO officials.

Photo: Participants during a group photo session after the event 'The Role of AI in Space Exploration' held at Itahari Interrnational College, Itahari.

On 8th of April,  an event 'Space Weather Science and Application' was conducted at Gandaki Boarding School, Pokhara (Province 4). This event was attended by around 10 students who came to know about space weather science and it's application.

Photo: Participants and school authority during the group photo after the event 'Space Weather Science and Application' at Gandaki Boarding School, Pokhara.

On 9th of April, an event 'Satellite Navigation for Socio-Economic Development of Nepal' was conducted at Southwestern State College, Kathmandu (Province 3). Er. Narayan Dhital, our 'GNSS Working Group' lead and AirMeetsSpace Engineer at DLR, Germany presented his talk to the audience. Click here to access the talk.

Photo: Participants during a Q/A session of an event 'Satellite Navigation for Socio-Economic Development of Nepal' at Southwestern State College, Basundhara, Kathmandu.

On 10th of April, a webinar on the topic Connecting the planet from the Space Coast to the Himalayas was held between Ryan L. Kobrick, Ph.D., Assistant Professor of Spaceflight Operations at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, Daytona, FL, USA and chairman of Yuri's Night (www.yurisnight.net) and Mr. Suresh Bhattarai, chairman at Nepal Astronomical Society (NASO) to inform the students about the possibilities of space science in Nepal. Click here to watch the webinar.

On 11th of April, an event 'A new Era of Exoplanetary Science: Is there an Earth 2.0?' was held in the premise of Southwestern State College,Kathmandu. During this event a webinar was held with Dr Suman Satyal and students to inform about the exoplanetary science. Click here to watch the talk.

Photo: Participants discussing their questions to Dr. Suman Satyal during an event 'A new Era of Exoplanetary Science: Is there an Earth 2.0?' held at Southwestern State College, Basundhara, Kathmandu.

On 12th of April, a wenibar on 'Terrnaut Nepal: An Opportunity to train like a Yuri Gagarin'  was held in order to give more insights on Terranaut Nepal. Bishal Manandhar, CEO/Founder at Srothe Code and Suresh Bhattarai, Chairman at NASO discussed on how 'Cosmo Run Space Dash' mobile game (online) can be promoted among Nepali so that they can be a apart of this historic program in Nepal. Click here to watch the webinar.

On 13th of April,  an event 'Importance of Autonomous System in Our Daily Life' was held in Shubh Sanskar English Boarding School, Bhairahawa (Province 5). This event helped student to know the importance of autonomous system in our daily life and space too.

Photo: Participants during an event 'Importance of Autonomous System in Our Daily Life' held at Shubh Sanskar English Boarding School, Bhairahawa.

Besides these events, we also had an interaction as a radio talk show via Bishaya Prabesh in Image Channel News FM 103.6 MHz. RJ Kamal Rana  and NASO chairman Suresh Bhattarai talked about different aspects of space science and status of activities in Nepal. Chick here to listen the full interview. 

We would like to express our sincere thanks to Sano Sansar Youth Hostel Pvt. Ltd.-Kathmandu, Janaki Secondary School-Janakpur, Ithari International College-Itahari, Southwestern State College-Basundhara, Gandaki Boarding School-Pokhara, Shubh Sanskar English Boarding School-Bhairahawa, Yuri's Night and IAU Office of Astronomy for Development for their supports to our celebration. We would also like to thank Natraj Tours and Travels Pvt. Ltd. for joining us as our travel partner. 

Moreover, those of you who showed their active participations in all these events are our motivation for better event/celebration in 2019 AD! 

World Space Week Concludes in Nepal!

World Space Week 2017 celebration in Nepal has been concluded with a program at Khwopa Secondary School, Bhaktapur today!

Photo 1: Panel session: from left to right [Suresh Kumar Dhungel (NAST),  Sudarshan Karki (LIGO), Manisha Dwa (NASO/WIAN), Khim Panthee (NYC-Nepal) and Suresh Bhattarai (NASO)]

Photo 2: Participants and school faculties paying attention during the panel discussion on 'How Nepal can contribute to the global scientific community?'

 During the event, Sudarshan Karki, PHD candidate at Department of Physics, University of Oregon, USA and also working at LIGO (Laser Interferometer Gravitational Wave Observatory) gave the information about the scenario of the detection of gravitational waves to the students. His presentations gave insight to the working and importance of such observatory. 

Photo 3: Sudarshan Karki, PhD candidate, Department of Physics, University of Oregon, USA sharing about LIGO and gravitational waves detection.

During the panel discussion, Khim Panthee, science expert at National youth Council, Ministry of Youth and Sports, Government of Nepal provided the information on the importance of youth involvement in science sectors of Nepal. Also, Dr. Suresh Kumar Dhungel, Chief at Faculty of Technology, Nepal Academy of Science and Technology (NAST) provided the first hand information on the initiatives that NAST to the audience. He also shared the proposed initiatives to encourage innovative minds for the scientific achievements. Manisha Dwa, coordinator at Women in Astronomy in Nepal (WIAN) and Director/Project Coordinator at shared her experience doing science and how Nepali girls can take leadership in global scientific community. Sudarshan Karki shared experience following passion versus societal trends and how we can go along with our passion to achieve a goal in life. Suresh Bhattarai, Chairman at NASO highlighted the importance of collaborations engaging more Nepali into scientific activities. He also shared some of the initiatives of NASO where open data has been used for research activities and how students of every level can participate based on their skills/knowledge/experience being a part of global scientific community.

Photo 4: Panelists with organizers and school officials during a group photo. From left to right [ Suresh Bhattarai (NASO), Khim Panthee (NYC-Nepal), Suresh Kumar Dhungel (NAST), Prakash Kumar Shrestha (KSS), Niru Shrestha (KSS)]

Prakash Kumar Shrestha, Principal at Khwopa Secondary School highlighted the importance of such program in coming days to provide students latest developments in scientific community. He also provided token of love to all the panelists.

Photo 5: Prakash Kumar Shrestha, Principal at Khwopa Secondary School providing Token of Love to Suresh Bhattarai, Chairman at Nepal Astronomical Society (NASO) during the event.

During the program two documentaries 'The known Universe' and 'From Sputnik to Today to Tomorrow' were screened.

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Updates on WSW2017 Competitions

This year, as a part of our World Space Week celebration we started two competitions in September with a deadline today! With several requests from the participants and schools, we extended the deadline till Wednesday, November 15, 2017!

NASO 5th National Astronomy Olympiad Logo Competition
We are pleased to announce the NASO 5th National Astronomy Olympiad Logo Competition as a part of our world space week celebration in Nepal. Interested designers must submit their design by October 10, 2017 November 15, 2017!

Important Details:
Submission Open: September 25, 2017
Submission Close: October 10, 2017 November 15, 2017
Registration Fee: NRs 200/-

Top three logos will be awarded with cash prizes and certificates in Kathmandu. Also, the first prize winner logo will be used as the logo of 5th National Astronomy Olympiad to be held in 2018.

This competition has been designed to provide an opportunity to more people to get involved with our astronomy Olympiad program. It will also provide them platform to share their creativity with national, regional and global exposure!

Rules and regulations:

• The logo must include the following themes: Astronomy, Education & Nepal and should reflect the 5th National Astronomy Olympiad 2018
• Submitted designs must contain the original idea/creation of the designer. 
• The design must be submitted at olympiad[at]nepalastronomicalsociety.org
• The logo should be 600 x 600 pixels in size. 
• Designer must submit the his/her logo in no more than 200 words. Design without description will not be accepted for competition.

Anyone who wants to share their creativity with us wish to get national and international exposure can submit their work.

Space Art Competition 2017: Win A Telescope
Space Art Competition 2017 is an opportunity to students studying till class 8 to share their passion for space and arts and win a telescope!

Rules:

• Must be your own creation
• Size of the poster should be A3 (29.7cm x 42cm)
• Scan copy of the work should be send with a subject line: NASO Space Art Competition 2017 to info.naso [at] gmail.com
• Only short-listed works will be requested to be sent to Nepal Astronomical Society (NASO), P.O. Box 21229, Kathmandu, Nepal
• Name, class, gender and name of the school should be mentioned in the top of poster
• One submission per registration
• Submission without registration payment will not be considered for the evaluation

Important Details:
Submission Open: September 17, 2017
Submission Deadline: October 10, 2017 November 15, 2017
Registration fee: NRs 200/–

The competition is open to all the students currently studying at basic school level (upto class 8) in Nepal.