We are back!

It's been a while since we were not active in this blog due to several reasons! One of the reasons was that we could not access our blog hence unable to post updates of our activities almost a year!

If you have missed some of the important developments over a year then this blog may give you a quick access to all of them!

Over the year, we have introduced new programs such as space robotics in schools, national online space speech competition, junior category of the national astronomy Olympiad respectively. In the meantime, we have also worked on our existing programs such as Women in Science Award (WiSA), senior category of national astronomy Olympiad, community/school/corporate outreach packages, membership schemes, etc.

We also develop our guideline for partnership and collaborations in 2020 and beyond in order to  make sure it will become stable and sustainable. As our activities has been growing, this is one of the major challenges we are facing and want to reduce in coming days. In order to sustain the growth of our activities, our team at Kathmandu office has been working hard to identify the potential partners and draft clear partnership module. Not only we want  to increase our activities but also want to make sure the quality of our activities in coming days. 

With a support of Dr. Suman Satyal, member of our Scientific Advisory Committee, we have managed to set up our Paypal Account (our global window) to help our members outside Nepal to pay their membership dues, etc. We believe, it will also allow us to accept generous support from community outside Nepal to support our initiatives and activities. If you have seen us creating positive impact in our society and would like to be a part of it through your generous support, please contact us. Together we can bring big difference in our society.

Our team has grown in time and we have started hiring paid position from 2020. Thank you very much for staying with us and supporting us by all means! Ms. Janaki Chhantyal has been appointed as our program officer and the first paid position within our community! She has more than a decade long experience of science teaching in school/s in Pokhara and has completed Masters in Science with majors: Astrophysics and Plasma Physics. Lets welcome her in our community!

To know more about our team, please visit www.nepalastronomicalsociety.org/about-us/

We would like to thank all our well-wishers, supporters, partners, volunteers, interns, members and office staffs to make our dream possible!

We look forward to welcoming you in our efforts to create astronomy and space science accessible to all in Nepal!

3rd NASO Women in Science Award 2019 calls for Applications!

We are pleased to announce a call for application for the '3rd NASO Women in Science Award 2019'. The award will be distributed in two categories: student and professional respectively. The winners will receive cash prizes, certificates and trophies during a function in Kathmandu later this year. 

Interested students or professional can submit their application until February 27, 2019! Click Here to submit your application. 

If you are a student or professional working on science and woman, we strongly encourage you to apply for this award.

The basic idea behind the creation of this award is to identify and acknowledge the contribution that women are doing in the field of science and technology in Nepal. We started Women in Astronomy Nepal (WIAN) in 2015 within NASO in order to create a unique platform for all the women working in science. We believe this award will add more enthusiasm and encouragement among the women who are working in science.

The awards were given to Dibya Ghimire (student) & Praynita Karki (professional) and Shreeti Shrestha (student) & Promosha Mishra (professional) in 2017 and 2018 respectively.

Feel free to share this opportunity among the women around you!

IAU appointed a new National Outreach Coordinator (NOC) for Nepal for next three years!

International Astronomical Union (IAU) general secretary Prof. Maria Teresa Lago has appointed Mr. Suresh Bhattarai, Chairman at Nepal Astronomical Society (NASO), as a National Outreach Coordinator for Nepal (NOC-Nepal). The term of the NOC will be for a maximum of 3 years and end at the next IAU General Assembly (GA) unless special notification made by the National Committee of Astronomy (NCA). Since Nepal has no NAC currently, he received his appointment from the IAU Secretariat. 

Photo: Newly appointed IAU National  Outreach Coordinator for Nepal (IAU NOC-Nepal). Credit: Manisha Dwa/NASO 

NOC is the principal national representative appointed under the IAU structure. The primary aims of NOCs are to implement the proposed IAU outreach initiatives at the national level, disseminate information and bridge the IAU with local communities.

The International Astronomical Union (IAU) is an international astronomical organization that brings together more than 12000 professional astronomers from around the world. Its mission is to promote and safeguard all aspects of the science of astronomy through international cooperation. The IAU also works to promote astronomical education, research, and public outreach activities. To learn more about IAU, please visit https://iau.org. 

These activities culminated with the organization of the UNESCO International Year of Astronomy 2009 (IYA2009), which reached out to over 800 million people from 148 countries. The Office for Astronomy Outreach (OAO) was set up in 2012 to implement the Beyond IYA2009 plan, to build networks to support and disseminate information to the amateur astronomy and public outreach communities, and to ultimately make it easier for the public to access information about our universe. The IAU Office for Astronomy Outreach (OAO) is based in Mitaka, Tokyo, Japan. It is a joint venture between the IAU and the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan (NAOJ). To learn more about IAU OAO, please visit https://iau.org/public/.

IAU is celebrating its 100th anniversary this year with many events around the globe and he will be coordinating IAU100 activities in Nepal. To learn more about IAU100, please visit www.iau-100.org.

Photo: IAU100 Banner for the celebration in Nepal. Astronomy enthusiasts are encouraged to use this banner at all their astronomy-related events in 2019 and use hashtag #IAU100Nepal and #IAU100. Credit: IAU

Mr. Bhattarai will be the working with the outgoing IAU NOC for Nepal Mr. Janayanta Acharya, Associate Prof. at Department of Astronomy, Valmiki Vidhyapeeth (Nepal Sanskrit University), Kathmandu as well amateur and professional communities in Nepal.