Webinar with CERN physicists

PAS organized a webinar program with the physicists from CERN on 19 November 2016. Dr. Ajeeta Khatiwada, research associate at Purdue University and working in CMS experiment at CERN, delivered talk on the title ‘Probing tiny particles with the world’s largest accelerator’  followed by the question/ answer session with the participants. She described Standard Model of particle physics and explained how these tiny particles are studied with the help of different detectors installed at CERN, European Organization for Nuclear Research. 

Dr. Suyog Shrestha, a postdoc at Ohio State University and researcher at ATLAS experiment at CERN, had given talk on ‘What Good is Physics Degree?’ He discussed about the opportunities with the physics degree in numerous fields.

45 participants from different high schools and universities attended the webinar in SOS Hermann Gmeiner School, Rambazar, Pokhara. This program was followed by Solar Observation session. 

Solar Observation

Pokhara Yuri’s Night Celebration and Space Party-2016

To celebrate the first human exploration in the Space, Pokhara Astronomical Society (PAS) organized 'Pokhara Yuri's Night Celebration and Space Party-2016' at Prithvi Narayan Campus, Pokhara on 12 April 2016. The program was conducted in association with Creative Science Association among more than thirty B.Sc. students to encourage them in space science education.
The program is divided into two sessions. Talk session and workshop session. The first session was started with documentary show  1st man ever in Space 'Vostok1' along with the presentation about history and importance of celebrating this day. Mr. Kamal Poudel presented a talk about scientific research methodology and Mr. Jeevan Lamsal delivered talk on the detection of gravitational wave.
Second session was run by Mr. Sabin Gautam. He instructed the participants to use Stellarium software along with the sky observation technique . Workshop session was followed by the preparation of Astrokits( Star wheel, Solar motion) to identify the position of stars in night sky and to understand the motion of Sun from different latitude of Earth at different time.

Mr. Kamal Poudel giving talk

Participants learning Stellarium

Astrokits making workshop

Mr. Sabin Gautam talking about sky observation techniques

Group photo

Webinar on Particle Physics

Pokhara Astronomical Society (PAS) is  organizing a Webinar on Particle Pysics with physicists from CERN. Webinar will be followed by Solar Observation session after 2 pm.

Speskers:

Dr. Ajeeta Khatiwada

Research Associate, Purdue University

CMS/CERN

Dr. Suyog Shrestha

Postdoc, Ohio State University

ATLAS/CERN

Date: Saturday 19 November 2016

Time: 11:00 - 14:00

Venue: SOS Hermann Gmeiner School, Rambazar, Pokhara

Registration is free. Fill up the form to secure your participation.

Online form available here

‘Pokhara Yuri’s Night Celebration and Space Party’

Pokhara Astronomical Society is organizing ‘Pokhara Yuri’s Night Celebration and Space Party’ in Celebration of Yuri's Night-2016 and Global Astronomy Month (GAM-2016)

Yuri's Night is an annual worldwide effort to engage a new generation in the passion and excitement of Space. On April 12, 1961, Yuri Gagarin completed a 108 minutes flight around the Earth piloting "Vostok 1", a mission that marked the beginning of the human exploration of space. This pioneering effort is honored with an event that bridges continents and countries, and challenges new generation to create a positive vision for the future of humanity. Yuri's Night 2016 commemorates the past and celebrates modern space landmarks.

Exactly 20 years later (April 12th, 1981), the United States embarked on a new era in spaceflight with the inaugural launch of a new type of spaceship — the Space Shuttle. Designed to carry a larger crew and large volumes of cargo to orbit, the Space Shuttles became synonymous with human spaceflight for an entirely new generation of young people.

Space enthusiasts are requested to book their seat to participate in this global celebration. We hope to see you dream, explore and celebrate with us.

Programs: Astronomy Workshop, Talks, Documentary Show and Night Sky Observation through Telescope

Venue                             : Prithvi Narayan                                            Campus, Bagar, Pokhara, Nepal

Date                                 :  12 April, 2016

Registration fee              : NRs. 250 (Limited seats only, Certificate of       participation will be distributed)

For More Information    : 9846304052, 9846603702
Main Organizer               : Pokhara Astronomical Society (PAS)
Local Organizer            : Creative Science Association (CSA)

Click here  for the event schedule!!!!!

“Circling the Earth in my orbital spaceship I marveled at the beauty of our Planet. People of the world, let us safeguard and enhance this beauty - not destroy it!”-

 Yuri Gagarin, 1st person in Space

Galileo Teacher Training Program (GTTP) 2016

A two days GTTP workshop was organized by Pokhara Astronomical Society (PAS) at Gyanodaya Boarding School, Rangkhola, Syangja on 19^th and 20^th February 2016. The program was conducted in association with Global Hands on Universe (GHoU) and National Academy of Geo and Space science (NAGGS). PABSON Syangja assisted as a local organizer of the event. Altogether twenty secondary level science teachers from different schools of Syangja actively participated in this workshop.

Mr. Narayan Acharya, Secretary of PABSON Syangja, had conducted the formal program before starting the workshop by lighting the candle. Mr. Mukta Rana, principal of Gyanodaya Boarding school, welcomed the all participates. He appreciated this type of workshop to make teacher as well as student more creative and practicable.

First day workshop of the event was on ‘Stellarium’ by Mr. Ashish Sharma and Mr. Sushil Bhattarai. The main objective of this workshop was to train teachers to use night sky observation techniques and make familiar with the Stellarium, astronomical software. Teachers were assigned to simulate the sky with Planets‚ Pleiades‚ Orion Nebula‚ Andromeda Galaxy, solar eclipse, lunar eclipse inside the classroom. They talked about Sky Maps which can be install on smart phones and show to their student inside the classroom. They trained teachers to find out the position of sun hour by hour and to make graph of position of Sun with the help of Stellarium.

Next day workshop of the event was on "Salsa J'' which was conducted by Mr. Niraj Raj Karna, president of NAGGS. The main objective of this program was to give an idea to measure the diameter of moon, crater etc. This was the advance astronomical software which fascinated   the teacher most.  At a mean time, Mr. Sabin Gautam conducted outdoor program with Star Wheel. This helps them to find and locate the stars with respect to time and also to identify the shape of constellation. Mr. Jeevan Lamsal, Secretary of PAS, gave a talk on Black Hole. Teachers got concept to make hand make telescope. Night sky observation through telescope was organized for teacher and students.

At last session of program Mr. Buddhi Sagar Tripathi, Chairman of PABSON Syangja gave his speech on the importance of such workshop and thanked to all trainers and speakers. Dr. Bonnie Thurber, GHoU, handed over Galileo t-shirt to the principal of the school. She facilitated the workshop on Salsa J and guided the trainer in their talks and workshop. 

Webinar with Dr. Henry Throop

Pokhara Astronomical Society (PAS) successfully conducted a talk program followed by a webinar session on 30 January 2016. Mr. Jeevan Lamsal, secretary of PAS, moderated the webinar. Before the session he also gave a talk in a topic 'Into a Black Hole'.

Dr. Henry Throop, Senior Scientist at Planetary Science Institute  and Member of the science team for NASA’s New Horizons Mission, presented a much anticipated talk on ‘NASA’s New Horizons Mission to Pluto and Beyond’ via skype.Dr. Throop shared his experience working in this mission from the beginning of this project to the Pluto flyby last year. Participants discussed various topics and the aspects of the mission with Dr. Throop. 

40 participants from different high schools and the universities attended the event at Pokhara Public Library (American Corner), Mahendrapul, Pokhara. 

Some glimpses of program

More photos in our Facebook Album Webinar

Webinar

A Webinar announcement on 

‘NASA’s New Horizons Mission to Pluto and Beyond’ 

with 

Dr. Henry Throop 

Senior Scientist at Planetary Science Institute 

Member of the science team for NASA’s New Horizons Mission

Abstract: NASA’s New Horizons Mission to Pluto and Beyond

 After a nine-year journey through space, astronomers visited Pluto for the first time in July 2015, using a robotic NASA spacecraft called New Horizons. Despite being a cold and small icy body, New Horizons found Pluto’s surface to be young, dynamic, and varied. Planetary Scientist Dr. Henry Throop  will tell the story of this NASA spacecraft mission, from its development and  construction, through launch in 2006, to its successful encounter with Pluto,  and plans for onward encounters with bodies in the distant Kuiper Belt.

Date : 30 January, 2016

Time : 10 am Onwards 

Venue : Pokhara Public Library (American Corner), Mahendrapul, Pokhara

Please contact to 9846304052, 9846256957 for registration and more information.

(Seats are limited. We only take first few registrations)

For online registration click here. (Deadline 25, January, 2016)


The list of the participants can be found here.