Call for Astrophoto 2020!

We are pleased to announce that we will be hosting joint 'Astrophotography Exhibition' with India and China In June 2020.

For this, we open a call for Astrophotos where anyone who has taken Astrophotos from Nepal can submit for the evaluation. Selected photos will be showcased during the exhibition.

Due to COVID-19 pandemic, the exhibition will be online. For more details, please read the information in the poster or contact us. 

Looking forward to welcoming some exciting works of you for the exhibition. 

Solar Eclipse Observed from Nagarkot, Nepal!

Weather remained perfect for eclipse photography and public observation session though there were less number of people due to the warning of bad effect of watching solar eclipse by the astrologers in the country!!!

Photo 1: Event Banner for the Free Solar Eclipse Observation Program at Nagarkot Hill, Kahmandu, Nepal on March 9, 2016

Our team were working hard to make sure we observe the eclipse and create evidence for our observation: We had excellent public session with observers from different parts of  Nepal as well as abroad! Solar Eclipse glasses were provided for the visitors for safe observation and Personal Solar Telescope (PST) for telescopic observation.

Photo 2: Partial Phase of the Total Solar Eclipse as seen from Nagarkot Hill, Bhaktapur, Nepal on March 9, 2016

We used Canon 600 D for the photography session of the eclipse and several compact and mobile cameras to capture the moment of this wonderful time at the Hill of Nagarkot during 6:00 AM-8:00 AM.

Photo 3:Public Observation Session during the partial phase of Total Solar Eclipse at Nagarkot Hill, Bhaktapur, Nepal on March 9, 2016

For more updates and photographs of the event, please feel free to visit our facebook page: www.fb.com/NepalAstronomicalSociety

6 Days of Darkness during December 16-22, 2014 is another Internet Hoax!

As people are frightened by the hoax on six days of blackout during December 16-22, 2014, we are writing this blog to assure all the people that there will be no such dark week as claimed by the site www.huzlers.com.Huzlers.com which posted the news before which went viral via twitter and facebook! PLEASE NOTE THAT  this site claims to be a combination of real shocking news and satirical entertainment to keep its visitors in a state of disbelief. And the news about the blackout is surely became successful to keep people in the state of disbelief!!!

PLEASE BE SURE THAT THERE WILL BE NO WORLDWIDE BLACKOUT AS CLAIMED BY THE SITE!!! IT'S JUST AN ANOTHER INTERNET HOAX!!! ALWAYS LOOK FOR THE AUTHENTICITY OF THE INFORMATION YOU GET FROM THE INTERNET IN ORDER TO GET REAL INFORMATION TO AVOID HOAX IN FUTURE!

Here's is the post that we stared our official facebook page this evening:

"केही दिनदेखि चर्चामा आइरहेको डिसेम्बर १६ देखि २२ सम्म पुरै विश्व अन्दकार हुने समाचार भ्रामक रहेको जानकारी गराउन चाहन्छौ ! नेपाली online मिडियाहरुले यस्तो संबेदनशील समाचारको सुष्म अध्ययन नगरी हचुवाको भरमा आम नेपाली जनतामा समाचार प्रसारण गरेकोमा हामी केहि दुखी भएका छौं ! खगोल, खगोल भौतिक बिज्ञान तथा अन्तरिक्ष बिज्ञान सम्बन्धि जानकारी को लागि हाम्रो ब्लग: http://astronomy-nepal.blogspot.com/ हेर्न नभुल्नु होला ! साथै यस सम्बन्धि कुनै पनि किसिमको जानकारी चाहिएमा हामीलाई सम्पर्क गर्नु होला!धन्यवाद !"

How did this hoax emerge?

The Sun of active these says and we have been observing greater sunspot at the sun's surface these days. Here's what we captured from Pokhara were you can see the spot which is of the size of Planet Jupiter! Normally the solar cycle is of 11 years and sun and generally becomes active around the edge of the ends. 

Photo 1: Sunspot which is of the size of Jupiter as captured from the beautiful city, Pokhara by Nepal Astronomical Society (NASO) to give an idea of how such is these days to the public. [Credit: Manisha Dwa ]

During the high activities in the sun, if some mass is ejected, it is called Coronal Mass Ejection (CME) which is of variation and may cause some damage to the spacecrafts and satellite that are orbiting our planet earth. If CME is so dense/hard, then it can be reach to our atmosphere and may inter in our power grid which may damage your electronics.

If you are interested in solar physics, please watch this video produced by NASA Goddard Space Flight Center:

THERE IS NO SPACE DEBRIS REPORTED THAT WILL BLOCK THE SUN FROM US WHICH WILL CREATE THE BLACKOUT AS WE ARE HEARING after the hoax getting viral!

As many of the nepali online media just copied and share this hoax without looking at the panic that it may produced in the society, hundreds of people have contacted us with the fear of darkness, we decided to release this blog post and the facebook post about it!

Here's the video news from the Cosmos News about the hoax released on October 25, 2014 on www.youtube.com :

If you want to explore the fact in other websites, please feel free to visit these links below:
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/home/science/Nasas-six-days-of-total-darkness-in-December-2014-is-a-hoax/articleshow/44963012.cms
http://www.ibtimes.co.in/hoax-busted-nasa-confirms-earth-will-experience-6-days-total-darkness-december-fake-612353
http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2014/10/27/days-of-darkness-hoax-nasa_n_6052614.html
http://www.theepochtimes.com/n3/1050964-6-days-of-darkness-on-earth-3-days-in-december-2014-confirmed-by-nasa-are-viral-hoaxes/

Spread this information to people around you so that they can be sure that nothing will happen :)

World Space Week 2014 at Sarangkot, Pokhara!

This year, we celebrated World Space Week 2014 (WSW2014) with the kids,locals as well as visitors at Sarangkot,Pokhara,Kaski,Nepal during 8-9, 2014. Our team visited had two events as a part of WSW2014: Lunar Eclipse Observation Program on October 8, 2014 and Solar Observation Program on October 9,2014 at Sarangkot, one of the most popular hill near Pokhara Valley.

Photo 1: Children enjoying the sun and the sun spots on October 9, 2014 at Bhanjyang Village Lodge, Sarangkot, Kaski, Nepal 

'We are very lucky to have an opportunity to observe the sun with such telescope at this village',said one of the participant of the event. ' We would like to thank Nepal Astronomical Society (NASO)for choosing this village for the activities and hope to have more events in future for our children', he added.

Nainshi Dwa, who looks after NASO program in Pokhara explained,'The active participation of these children is encouraging us for more program at this place in future. I had a short talk with the locals here and they want us to address their children at school very soon.'

Photo 2: Eclipsed Moon as seen from the Sarangkot (~1,600 m), Pokhara on October 8, 2014 by Manisha Dwa, Project Coordinator at Nepal Astronomical Society (NASO)

'We were almost deprived of watching this great event from this hill as clouds started to hover in the sky and started to rain. Though we planned to photograph Draconids that night, we could only see some of them but could not capture due to shower that took place late night', said Manisha Dwa, Project Coordinator.

We are thrilled with the interest of the kinds there and wish to visit the place again with our another observation program in future.

Quadrantid Meteors Captured from Kathmandu, Nepal!

Nepal Astronomical Society (NASO) organized Quadrantid Meteor Shower Observation Campaign at Pharping, an ancient city of Kathmandu Valley, nearby Dakshinkali Temple on January 3-4, 2014. A five members team from NASO performed photography session, night sky observation session and solar observation session during the campaign. 

Photo 1: Quadrantid Meteor Captured By Mr. Kishor Acharya during the Landscape Astrophotography Session on January 4, 2014 during peak hours of the shower.

We are very thankful to www.nepanews.com and www.nagariknews.com  for publishing the work of Manisha Dwa as front page pictures on January 4, 2014.

Photo 3: Screenshot of the website www.nepalnews.com with our work.

Photo 4: Screenshot of the website www.nagariknews.com with our work.

We are also thankful to Nagarik National Nepali Daily for publsihing a news on January 5, 2014 about work work and picture of Quadrantid Meteor taken by Ms. Manisha Dwa which might be the first of its type published in Nepali National Daily till date!

We would like to thank all the team memebers for their effort to make this campaign a great success and  congratulate Ms. Manisha Dwa and Mr. Kishor Acharya for their success to capture Quadrantids in their frames!

We're continuously working hard to produce great astrophotos and will sharing with you all soon!

Wish You All Happy New Year 2014 !

We would like to thank all our readers and supporters in Nepal and abroad for their support, comments and feedback during last year.We wish to have more support, comment and constructive feedback during 2014 enabling us to implement some of our flagship programs on Astronomy & Space Science in Nepal!

Lets work for the another progressing year for astronomy and space science outreach, education and research in Nepal! HAPPY NEW YEAR 2014!