Cosmic Light: Bring Galileo’s starry messenger to Vietnam
With the help of OAD-IAU, we are targeting at becoming the main hub to coordinate amateur astronomy activities as well as to circulate information on astronomical events, and science
development in the country.
1.Translation of the book Galileo’s “Starry Messenger”:
We finished the first draft of the translation and publish it in one of the website of amateur community.
http://vatlythienvan.com/kham-pha/danh-nhan-thien-van-hoc/nha-tvh-the-gioi/3911-galileo-galileisu-
gia-anh-sao-phan-1-gioi-thieu.html
We identified the publisher to publish to †translated book but for now we have not yet decided to finalize it because we are not completely satisfied yet.
2. Buiding the small radio telescopes:
Take advantage of my trip to Vietnam , I (Nguyen Luong Quang) and two other engineers helped Quang Nam highschool and Tay Nguyen university to build radio telescopes from TV antenna, TV receiver. The telescope in Quang Nam highschool is not controlled automatically but Tay Nguyen university’s telescope s completely controlled by computer. The cost of the first one is around 200 USD while the second one is 500 USD.
Quang Nam highschool: This is a gifted highschool in Quang Nam province, the middle part of Vietnam, one of the lowesteconomical region in Vietnam.
Tay Nguyen university: Tay Nguyen university is located in the mountain side of Vietnam, Buon Ma Thuot city. The city has a few mountain peaks therefore sparking astronomy passion in this province is important for future development.
4. First tropical school in undergraduate astronomy: astronomical observations
http://cita.utoronto.ca/~qnguyen/TSUA/TSUA2016.html
The tropical school in undergraduate astronomy series (TSUA) aims at giving undergraduate students basic lectures on astronomical topics that are suitable for bachelor students of the faculty of Science, Tay Nguyen University. The lectures will be given by international researchers in English.
Lectures were given in two parts: the first part in Tay Nguyen university, Buon Ma Thuot and the second part in ICISE, Quy Nhon. Students from Tay Nguyen university had chance to take this school for credits.
This year’s topic was astronomical observations, mainly in optical, infrared and radio wavelength. Students were guided through the basic of electromagnetic spectrum; the basic of astronomical observations; the principle of radio, optical and infrared telescopes; and basic of astronomy research with observations in radio and infrared wavelength. The language is ENGLISH.
The result is surprising in the sense that students were very poor in English before coming to the school, but the lecturers were able to convey their passion to the students so the interaction was very high.
5 Outreach activities
From June 2015 to now, we organized some events, as described below:
1. An overview of the astronomical exchange program in Minh Duc secondary school, Ho Chi Minh
City.
2. On Summer Solstice and Winter Solstice, repeating Eratosthenes’ Calculation of Earth’s circumference in Phu Nhuan High School and Tran Khai Nguyen High School, Ho Chi Minh City.
3. Astronomy Trip in Binh Chau- Phuoc Buu Natural Reserve in Vung Tau province and the open Stargazing to public in Can Don lake, Binh Phuoc province. This trip included sky and solar observation, optical devices introduction, astrophotography section and the basic night sky watching for newcomers.
4. Some basic lectures and games about astronomy in Cu Chi district (Ho Chi Minh City), training courses for high/secondary school students about telescopes in Ngoi Sao High School, HCMC.
5. Close collaboration with Toa Tau to celebrate the Mid-Autumn Holiday for children.
6. On October, the club acted as Organizer to the Ho Chi Minh City Open contest, named “Water Rocket contest”. This event attracted more than 100 teams from over 40 high schools throughout the city to participate.
7. The club joined the Scientific Festival about Creativeness for Youths, held by HCMC Youth Union, Center of Science and Technology Development for Youth.
8. The club participated the scientific exchanges about Model- Educational playing-field to student in HCMC
9. The club representatives participated the 2nd Nationwide Astronomy Exchange, held by Hue Astronomy Club, Quang Nam Astronomy Club and Danang Astronomy Society in Quang Nam Province. This exchange was the best way for all amateur astronomers/sky enthusiasts to connect,
to share and to build a united astronomy community in Vietnam.