Cosmic Diary Logo

Meet the astronomers. See where they work. Know what they know.


The Project:

The Cosmic Diary is not just about astronomy. It's more about what it is like to be an astronomer.

The Cosmic Diary aims to put a human face on astronomy: professional scientists will blog in text and images about their lives, families, friends, hobbies and interests, as well as their work, their latest research findings and the challenges that face them. The bloggers represent a vibrant cross-section of female and male working astronomers from around the world, coming from five different continents. Outside the observatories, labs and offices they are musicians, mothers, photographers, athletes, amateur astronomers. At work, they are managers, observers, graduate students, grant proposers, instrument builders and data analysts.

Throughout this project, all the bloggers will be asked to explain one particular aspect of their work to the public. In a true exercise of science communication, these scientists will use easy-to-understand language to translate the nuts and bolts of their scientific research into a popular science article. This will be their challenge.

Task Group:

Mariana Barrosa (Portugal, ESO ePOD)
Nuno Marques (Portugal, Web Developer)
Lee Pullen (UK, Freelance Science Communicator)
André Roquette (Portugal, ESO ePOD)

Jack Oughton (UK, Freelance Science Communicator)
Alice Enevoldsen (USA, Pacific Science Center)
Alberto Krone Martins (Brazil, Uni. S. Paulo / Uni. Bordeaux)
Kevin Govender (South Africa, S. A. A. O.)
Avivah Yamani (Indonesia, Rigel Kentaurus)
Henri Boffin (Belgium, ESO ePOD)

STAR PARTY 2009 in Sri Lanka

I am posting to let you all know of an astronomy event on the 25th of September in Kandy, Sri Lanka. The official site is at http://starparty2009.com/.

Commenced in 2004, as the primordial observation competition is South Asia, STAR PARTY is a competition where students from different parts of Sri Lanka compete to win the competition that is focused on the fields of Astronomy, Astrophysics, Cosmology and Rocketry. Since then it has been held annually and has seen reputation as an Observation Competition and Astronomy Workshop over the years.

STAR PARTY 2009 will be the largest IYA 2009 project of Sri Lanka, taking place at the premises of University of Peradeniya, Kandy, Sri Lanka from 6.00 pm (local time) (12:30 UTC/GMT or 08:30 EDT) onwards on 25th September 2009. The project will last for more than 12 hours and already 500+ participants confirmed for Star Party. The event is organized by the Anandian Astronomical Association, of Ananda College and Astronomical Society of Mahamaya Girls’ College, Kandy as an affiliated project.

This year they will provide a live feed of the event via http://starparty2009.com/sp-09-live/. You may also find custom information and archives of past events at the official site at http://starparty2009.com/. The live feed is especially aimed at educating the global community about the event and enabling everyone to better understand the universe, following the IYA general theme “Universe is Yours to Discover”.

Well done to all who made this possible!

Share/Save/Bookmark

This entry was posted on Monday, September 21st, 2009 at 3:57 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

5
  1. Star Party 2009
    September 21st, 2009 at 4:10 pm

    Thanks for the support Gayandhi

  2. rajitha
    September 22nd, 2009 at 6:49 am

    star party….. !!!!!!!!!!!!!!

  3. J D Prasanna Deshapriya
    September 25th, 2009 at 3:49 pm

    starparty2009.blogspot.com
    Free live streaming by Ustream

  4. chris
    October 30th, 2009 at 11:19 am

    we were the champs, we were the 2nd runers up It was a great pleasure to participate in that event. Thnk you a lot for organising the event. Wish you all the best (CSS)DMC

  5. Melesha
    November 5th, 2009 at 1:21 am

    I loved the live feed.