KSS and The International Year of Astronomy 2009 and Beyond

Our so-called falakyati melas were hailed a tremendous success. These melas took place in Lahore, Okara, Phoolnagar, Swabi, Shadara and the historic fort of Rohtas. We led the World Space Week with the biggest observatory stationed in Lahore’s local parks. The KSS organized live telescopic viewing of the solar eclipse in January 2010 that was covered live by the national TV media channels. Recently, we have started an online streaming view of galaxies from a rooftop observatory that is accessible to anyone who logs on to the Khwarizmi Science Society channel on http://www.nightskiesnetwork.com/. We also organized public lectures on astronomy and space science. A video and pictorial coverage of all our activities in connection with the IYA is accessible on the website http://khwarizmi.shutterfly.com.

If you would like to organize this mela in your school, see the invitation letter below. Also post or email us the filled form expressing your interest.

Letter of invitation and background

Form for organizing the falakyati mela on your school’s premises

As acknowledgment of our activities, which are appended with this application, several stories have been published by leading journals and periodicals such as Physics World Online, APS News, the website of the International Astronomical Union, Daily Nawa-e-Waqt and Jang. We have won international competitions from the Developing Astronomy Globally as well as a receipt of 30 Galileoscopes from an IYA cornerstone project.

These activities extend KSS’s established traditions of seminars, workshops and public lectures in Lahore to outreach science exhibitions and interactive activities in schools outside Lahore.

We now plan to extend the content of our melas including the viewing of the microbial and cellular world using optical microscopes connected to the multimedia projector, a seismograph for detecting seismic vibrations describing the subterranean movements to schoolchildren. We are also planning to prepare new scientific toys, materials and projects that can make science exciting and entertaining.

The KSS has recently acquired a microscope, seismograph, multimedia projector, a high resolution colour astrocamera – all of which are in use in our outreach activities. We also received donation of a telescope from Dr. Faisal Sultan, Chief Executive Shaukat Khanum Memorial Hospital and Cancer Research Centre.

A detailed listing of activities centred around the International Year of Astronomy 2009 and Beyond are highlighted below.