Iraq - April 8
By Azhy Hasan
Star Peace ambassador in Iraq
MESSAGE OF PEACE THROUGH CLOUD AND DUST!
"Wind blowing as captain doesn’t want it!", that’s what happened after preparation for 30 Nights for Star peace in Iraq.
There was a cloud and dust covered the sky, it they passed away at late, after time was passed away and there was no chance to bring people back to made the event!
ERBIL TEAM STATUS
About us, in Erbil and AAAK, many members and guests are gathered inside the office of Amateur Astronomers Association of Kurdistan and we made Skype live and cell phone contacts with some of our beloved participants, Khalid Marwat from Pakistan, Hassan Al-Hareri from UAE, Ahmed Shnoyee and Neda Mobara, from Iran, and online guests Mponda Malozo form Tanzanya, and with our bright stars Joan Chambelin, Donna Smith and Marcelo Souza from USA and Brazil.
BAGHDAD TEAM STATUS
"The weather terribly bad and dusty since two days ago!" said Dr.Nihad the head of Dept. of physics, college of science/ Univ. of Baghdad. And also same words from Mr.Jawad Kadhim, our coordinator from Baghdad, who traveled to Al-Dewanya in south just to find a clear weather, but he did not make it.
AL-NASEREYAH TEAM STATUS
The situation was worst than Erbil in Kurdistan AND Baghdad, a report from Hassan Al-Sabbar, our southern coordinator from Al-Nasereyah and the founder of (Alsabbar Personal Observatory) said "It was terrible day! there was a strong dust storm and the wind speed reached 100 Km/Hours!
Tanzania - April 9
By Mponda Malozo
StarPeace ambassador in Tanzania
On the 9th April Tanzania joined the rest of the world to celebrate Global Astronomical Month (GAM) like no other star party activity, GAM in Tanzania was one of the kind by bringing civilians and students of Azania Secondary School together.
The event started at 6:30 pm by taking all the participants to the hall and a talk about the meaning of GAM and Star Peace was given for creating a unification atmosphere among each participant followed by a video of trailer for GAM and 30 Nights of Star Peace.
Soon after going through the Meaning of GAM and movie trailer a software of sterallium was introduced to participants and we altogether went through it’s various features followed by a session of question and answers from the participants.
Look up event took place from the Soccer Pitch of Azania Sec School and we were lucky to have clear sky, zero cloud and sparkling sky due to few rains which washed away atmospheric dust. In this night we could go through the famous constellation of Orion, Virgo, Scorpion as well as Southern Cross was clearly seen.
Dr. Noorali Jiwaji shared his fantastic experience of the night sky by answering questions, talking about star distance from us, giving out star names and energy by pointing toward these stars with laser pointer which made the whole event much more fascinating.
The whole scene was overwhelmed by seeing the magnificent planet Saturn with it’s ring through the telescope. Everyone was very surprised and could not believe that they were actually looking at Saturn for the first time in their life through the telescope.
This event brought more enthusiasm to Azania Students, young kids, teachers as well as parents who came a long way to witness this spectacular event.
We do believe that the spirit of looking up at the stars has just opened its way in Tanzania.
Pakistan - April 4 to 9
By Khalid Marwat
StarPeace ambassedor in Pakistan
We in Pakistan started our participation from Karachi and Lahore. Using both sides of longitude 72E, plan was to participate in phase 2 (4-6 April) and also in phase 3 (7-9 April) of the 30 NSP.
On 4th we kicked off in PIA Planetarium, Karachi. Imran, Mehdi, Abbas Jafri and others introduced the sky to public. There were about 50 children in addition to the families. The real event was the introduction of Mehdi's Orions StarMax 127 telescope. Mehdi has recently purchased it and he was excited about sharing it with the public.
On 5th and 6th Lahore held star shows.
On 7th, 8th and 9th Falcon Complex, Malir, Karachi held the 30 NSP for the public. On 8th we searached and found Venus before sunset. Later when the sky was a little darker public was shown the 'shy planet', Mercury. Our location gave us ideal veiws of Karchi Airport's landing aeroplanes. We then connected with Azhy from Erbil, Iraq on Skype. While it was dark in Karachi and we were fully into our post sunset session, Azhy was waiting for sun to set and for clouds to clear. We enjoyed clear sky throughout the 30 NSP.
Our public observation on 9th was the culminating event. Meade 2080, and Vixen ASBIT were the instruments. Announcement in the local mosque was made as a reminder. Main session was after the Isha prayer. Sky was introduced to the public by Zain. It was a fulfilling and true finale to the 30 NSP.
We also were to celebrate 'first light' for Ten inch Meade of Naveed Merchant. But it arrived late and that celebration was then delayed by a day. It was done on 10 April instead.
Clear skies to the remaining participants of 30 NSP. We wish you well and are eagerly following your activities.
Iraq
Pakistan
Tanzania
Azhy, Khalid and Mponda Skype with each other!