Being Global: The World at Your Front

In celebration of International Year of Astronomy 2009, a nine-day school on Astronomy and Astrophysics was organized by in Kathmandu, Nepal by B.P.K. Planeterium, Observatory and Science Museum Development Board, Ministry of Science and Technology, Government of Nepal from May 18th – 26th , 2009. There were 75 participants from all over Nepal comprising of teachers and students of Masters, Graduate and Undergraduate levels. The school was inaugurated by the Science and Technology Minister. In addition to lectures and exercises in Astronomy and Astrophysics, during the school, the participants also observed the different heavenly bodies through the Meade Cassegerian Telescope at Nagarkot Observatory near Kathmandu.

The King of Pop has died. This is official and no publicity stunt. Before somebody complians that this grossly off topic, despite having put up the prefix in OT the subject line of this thread, it may be recalled that Jackson had special interest in Astronomy and Space Sciences. In addition to his patented moon walker dance, he also starred in a 3D movie Captain EO which was directed by Francis Ford Cappola and produced by George Lucas. Mike once told a reporter "Why not just tell people I'm an alien from Mars. Tell them I eat live chickens and do a voodoo dance at midnight. They'll believe anything you say, because you are a reporter. But if I, Michael Jackson, were to say, 'I'm an alien from Mars and I eat live chickens and do a voodoo dance at midnight,' people would say, 'Oh, man, that Michael Jackson is nuts. He's cracked up. You can't believe a damn word that comes out of his mouth." In one of his songs "Smooth Criminal" Jack...

This is the message of Azhy Hasan, StarPeace Iraqi ambassador for StarPeace event on June 5: "Away from terror, away from violence, from breaking hearts, there was no differences between Iraq and Iran, between India and Uruguay, there was no distances between New Zeeland and Brazil, here we are united again against all old minds and narrow thinkers, We are here to proving that all of us has his own right to live and dream with a peaceful Earth, that we are humans under the same sky and breathing the same air, Muslims, Christians, Indus, Jewish, Buda, even unbelievers are gathered at that night to send to all the globe a massage which was: We are the World, we are the mixed color of peace, friendship and love, we are the symbol of long time missed brotherhood, we are black and white, red and yellow, We are North and South, East and West, we are the symbol of free peoples without borders, without thinking of language or religion, we are peace makers, tears erasers, smile painters...

Nepalis will have once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to arrest the rare sight of a total solar eclipse on July 22. The total solar eclipse would not be sighted for another 78 years. Astronomers claim that the solar eclipse would be the longest total eclipse in the 21st century, which would not be surpassed in duration till June 13, 2132. The eclipse would last for six minutes and 39 seconds — the longest eclipse for another 123 years. Jayanta Acharya, a lecturer at Balmiki Campus, said the eclipse would occur between 5: 45: 34 am and 7: 45: 45 am in Jhapa and Ilam and pass all the way through Biratnagar and Lahan. The total solar eclipse would last for only three minutes and eight seconds in Jhapa and Ilam and three minutes in Biratnagar. “In Kathmandu, the eclipse would occur between 5: 46:13 am and 7: 45:32 am and 96 per cent of the area of the sun would remain dark. In Pokhara, 93 per cent of the sun’s area would remain dark between 5: 46: 44 am to 7: 44: 32 am,” Acharya said. The eclip...

Nepal’s first astronomical documentary entitled Hubble and The Universe was officially released by Rishi Shah, Jayanta Acharya and Reverend Father Antonysamy jointly during the grant releasing ceremony today at St. Xavier’s College, Maitighar ,Kathmandu,Nepal.The Documentry is a production of FAR SCIENCE Production initiated by two young students G.D. Pudasaini and Utshav Kandel of B.Sc. first year of St. Xavier’s College, Matighar Kathmandu. During the ceremony, chief guest Er. Rishi Shah, Academician of Nepal Academy of Science and Technology (NAST) and President of Nepal Astronomical Society (NASO) explained the importance of astronomy for the development of our Nepalese Society. He shared his school and college days with the participants and also highlighted that the whole scenario has changed a lot since then 1960 when he used to be a student. It was then when there were no facilities like today’s time. He also urged the young minds to use their time in a productive matter so t...

A 16-year-old has developed a new theory to counter Albert Einstein's most famous theory of relativity. Biratnagar's Rijan Karkee's theory is built around the idea that two repulsive forces, instead of the traditionally thought gravitationally attractive forces, explains the continuous expansion of the universe. Karkee had attended the 28th International Space Development Conference in Florida, U.S. His theory is formulaically represented by Fg=Mc2/d, a slightly different theory than Einstein's E=Mc2. He explained his theory and his experience in the conference to physicists, teachers and media present at a press conference organised at the Nobel Academy on Thursday. To one from a non-science background, his theory states that like our life cycle, the universe also has its own life cycle that continues forever. According to him, natural energy converts into a repulsive force. He has combined the theories of Einstein and Newton to create his own theory which is being stu...

As all of us know that this year 2009 is being celebrated as ‘INTERNATIONAL YEAR OF ASTRONOMY 2009’ throughout the world conducting various programmes by the astronomer and public. As International Astronomical Union (IAU) requested UNESCO to celebrate international year of astronomy, the world is celebrating it. Even in Nepal various programme are being conducted on this occasion. So we the physics students of St. Xavier’s College also planned to celebrate it in our own way and we decided to make a documentary titled ‘HUBBLE AND THE UNIVERSE’ due to the fact that visual representation of universe can be easily captured by general public. One need not have complex ideas of physics and astronomy to get feeling about the universe. Beside this the documentary will help people to understand the basic ideas of astronomy. Probably this is the first astronomical documentary ever released in Nepal. So the above mentioned documentary is going to be released at the below mentioned details. We wo...

Japan's Kaguya lunar orbiter will end its nearly two-year mission when it collides with the moon at 1830 GMT,Wednesday,June 10,2009 i. e. at 0015 NST,Thursday,June 11,2009. Kaguya is set to crash into the moon at a lunar latitude of 63° south and longitude of 80° east. Its projected impact site is circled in red in this mosaic of images taken by Europe's SMART-1 spacecraft, which itself smashed into the moon at the end of its mission in 2006 (Image: B Foing/B Grieger/ESA) Observers in Asia and Australia may be able to spot a bright flash or plume of dust from the crash, and researchers will study its impact site to watch how radiation and micrometeoroids weather the newly exposed lunar soil over time. Launched in September 2007, Kaguya, formerly known at SELENE, sought to shed light on the formation and evolution of the moon by studying its composition, gravitational field and surface characteristics. Kaguya deployed two smaller satellites after reaching lunar orbit that allowe...

The current SGAC co-chair, Agnieszka Lukaszczyk presented on June 3rd to the United Nations Committee on the Peacefull Uses of Outer Space. Her presentation highlighted not only the basis, history, and values of SGAC but also brought to the Committee's attention SGAC's very special 10-year milestone that was celebrated June 5-7 with the 10 Year Anniversary Conference. The full text can be found below. Well done, Agnieszka, on representing SGAC! Thank you, Mr. Chairman. As you and the distinguished delegates may know this year is very special for us, as we are celebrating our 10 Year Anniversary. First, allow me to give a bit of historical overview on SAGC. In December 1997, the UNOOSA Secretariat invited key young space enthusiasts to organize a youth forum as part of the UN Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space (COPUOS). Those young people then solicited alumni volunteers to plan, organize and conduct the Space Generation Forum, in parallel with other UNISPACE III acti...

-By Rishi Shah & Sudeep Neupane The Hubble Space Telescope (HST) is one of the largest and marvelously versatile iconic space telescopes, which has been designed for observing and probing the wonders and mysteries of the universe. It was put into near-circular low earth orbit by Space Shuttle Discovery in April 1990. It weighs fairly eleven thousand kilograms and revolves around the earth in merely ninety seven minutes from safe orbital height of modest six hundred kilometers. Its mirror measures barely 2.4 meters in diameter. HST is a collaborative project between NASA and European Space Agency (ESA). It is named after the famed American astronomer Edwin Hubble (1889-1953) who introduced the confounding concept of expanding universe. HST is one of NASA's series of four Great Observatories satellites that include Compton Gamma Ray (already decommissioned) and Chandra X-Ray Observatories and Spitzer Space Telescope that with almost similar size and outset outlay are responsible ...

The annual Arietid meteor shower peaks on Sunday, June 7th. The Arietids are unusual because they are daytime meteors; they stream out of a point in the sky not far from the sun. The best time to look is just before dawn on Sunday morning when it may be possible to spot a small number of Arietids skimming the top of Earth's atmosphere. Such "Earthgrazing" meteors tend to be long, colorful, and very pretty. After daybreak, when the meteors are no longer visible to the human eye.If you wish to listen to radar echoes from the Arietids then tune in to the online meteor radar: http://spaceweatherradio.com Above: This image shows the area of sky around the Arietid radiant (indicated by a red dot) as seen from mid-northern latitudes at 4 a.m. on June 7th or 8th. Arietid meteoroids hit Earth's atmosphere with a velocity of 39 km/s (87,000 mph). No one is sure where these meteoroids come from. Possibilities include sungrazing asteroid 1566 Icarus, Comet 96P/Machholz, and the K...

German Nobel laureate Prof Dr Klaus von Klitzing on Wednesday said that the Nepal government should help local scientists and provide research facilities, which, in turn, could hasten the pace of development in the country. He also urged the state to initiate a move to bring back all Nepali researchers, who are pursuing their work abroad. Dr Klitzing, who won the Nobel Prize for Physics for his path-breaking work on Integer Quantum Hall Effect in 1985, is in the capital to participate in the four-day International Conference on Frontier of Physics. He is not new to the Himalayan nation, having been here on two earlier occasions — in 1980 and 1999. He felt that it was the responsibility of the nation to make funds available for the researchers. He cited the example of the German government, which extended him all financial help to conduct research in the High Magnetic Field Laboratory, which is located at Grenoble in France. “I discovered the theory of new measurement units during my ex...

IEEE/ED Nepal chapter organised the 17th WIMNACT,Minicolloquim on Nanodevices(1-MONAD 2009)in conjuction with International Conrefence on Frontiers of Physics(ICFP 2009)in Kathamndu on June 3,2009. The major themes of the Lectures were IC circuit and CMOS TEchnology,Device Circuit Simulation,Quantum Well and Dot Devices and MOSFET structures. During the Program distinguished Lectures from different countries present their work to encourage the young scientists and researchers more in their research works. Prof.Cahndan k Sarkar,India;Prof. Hiroshi Iwai,Japan,Prof. Ramgopal Rao,India;Prof. marcel D. Profiresu,Rumania,Prof. Shunri Oda,Japan;Prof.CHang Edwardy,Taiwan and Prof. M.K. Radhakrishan,India presented their research works along with other participanst during the event. The aim of the colloquim was to provide an International Forum to the engineers,scientists and academicians,especially to young researchers from developing countries,to exchange their new ideas,explore emerging dire...

German Nobel Prize winner Klaus Bohn Klitzing said physics has been able to solve many problems the world has faced and is facing today and expressed hope that international conference of physics in Nepal would ‘contribute to good international connection’ on scientific researches. German Nobel Prize winner Klaus Bohn Klitzing addressing the Inaguration Ceremony on June 2,2009,Kathmandu. Addressing the international conference on physics organized by Nepal Physics Society in Kathmandu Tuesday, Klitzing said moral science and education play an important role in the development of a country, and which, in turn, is integrated with the international community. President Dr Ram Baran Yadav, who inaugurated the 4-day conference, said in his opening address that application of the methods of physics is essential for eradication of poverty, adding that studies of science, being interwoven with human society, cannot be isolated. Vice chancellor of the Tribhuvan University Madhav Sharma flayed t...

-By Rishi Shah The clear night skies of this month display the awesome gathering of the planets and present many mysterious marvels of the heavens to sky-gazers. After sunset numerous constellations of peculiar sizes and shapes that are sketched by twinkling stars cover the entire sky. If one would view them carefully, the puzzling patterns would seem to become alive and express the nature of those characters that they have been conventionally dubbed after. Zodiacal constellations of Leo (lion), Virgo (maiden), Libra (scales), Scorpius (scorpion), Sagittarius (archer), Capricornus (sea goat) and Aquarius (water bearer) are stretching gorgeously across the sky from western to eastern horizon. Constellation Bootes (herdsman) and Hercules (legendary strong man) are dominating the central sky at dusk. Petit Corona Borealis (Northern Crown) is squeezed in between them. Beautiful Bootes-star Arcturus (Swati) is sparkling splendidly next to tiny constellation Coma Berenices (Bernice’s Hair). ...