Image Credit: NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI, Adam Ginsburg (University of Florida), Nazar Budaiev (University of Florida), Taehwa Yoo (University of Florida); Image Processing: Alyssa Pagan (STScI)
AstroLab is a specialized training workshop and research opportunity designed to build practical skills in astronomy and space science within the region. These workshops typically involve hands-on learning experiences, such as using celestial navigation software (Stellarium and Celestia), telescope assembly, and night-sky observations.
SAROAD’s involvement includes:
• Implementation: SAROAD is directly responsible for conducting AstroLab workshops as part of its key performance indicators, with a session scheduled for August 2025 in South Africa.
• Funding: The office actively budgets and secures financial resources for these workshops to cover travel, equipment, and logistical costs.
• Strategic Capacity Building: SAROAD promotes AstroLab as a key initiative to develop human capital, ensuring Southern Africa has the skilled personnel required to lead world-class research projects like the Square Kilometre Array (SKA).
Students use software like Stellarium and Celestia to learn real-time celestial navigation and identify planets, constellations, and deep-sky objects.
Participants assemble Galileoscopes, which helps them understand optics and the mechanics of observational astronomy.
This includes night-sky stargazing to identify nebulae and stars through telescopes, as well as solar viewing using eclipse shades to observe the Sun’s photosphere.
Sessions cover diverse topics such as planetary exploration, stellar life cycles, cosmology, and potential careers in space science.
Vision:
To achieve a well-established astronomy community in the region, contributing significantly to
the betterment of the region and the world at large.
Mission:
To help further the use of astronomy as a tool for development by mobilizing human and financial
resources necessary to realise its scientific, technological and cultural benefits to society.
Launching a New Frontier: The Pan-African Network for Planetary Science & Technology (PAP2SN)
From the five-day construction workshop to the official commissioning by the Vice Chancellor, discover how this initiative is preparing Zambian Astronomers to lead in the global Square Kilometre Array (SKA) era.
Prof James Lecture on “Astronomy and Astrophysics as key drivers of institutional and National development in Zambia”
