Young stars in Kuwait’s sky
KUWAIT CITY, Sept 4, (KUNA): Astronomy has always been one of the most vital sciences because of its great importance to human life, where the person looks at the sky in an attempt to understand this universe by studying its movements, meanwhile Kuwait established scientific centers based on this notion, in addition to facts.
The Astrolab initiative, launched by Advancement of Sciences Publishing and Distribution (ASPD), is one of the centers under the umbrella of Kuwait Foundation for the Advancement of Sciences (KFAS), and aims to spread scientific awareness and knowledge by enriching Arabic content through paper and digital publications, also by organizing activities that encourage the public to participate in various astronomical hobbies and endeavors.
In an interview with KUNA Saturday, CEO of ASPD Dr Layla Al-Mousawi said that this initiative began in 2021 by collecting several ASPD activities prior to scientific progress for publication and including them in Astrolab.
The Astrolab initiative team is a group of young people interested in photography, astronomical observation and citizen science, she pointed out.
The scientific progress of ASPD contributes to providing support to the team along with its various activities and reviewing scientific content for them, AlMousawi mentioned.
She explained that Astrolab is divided into several teams: one for monitoring Kuwait’s sky.
Another team to display monitoring activities on social media through universe live, as the other teams are asteroid hunters, which is a citizen science program where people analyze data and astronomical images.
Astrolab has different activities from the other to include all segments of the community from platforms, as well as events locally and from Arab countries, she noted.
The activities of the teams from Kuwait sky, city sky and universe live contain three amateur astronomers named Mohammad Al-Obaidi, Abdullah AlHarbi and Abdulwahab Al-Khater, going on trips to Al-Salmi desert to observe the universe through telescopes.
The teammates also introduce the public to the stars and the shape of the sky from outside the city, astrophotography workshops from inside the city, and putting astronomical events on social media platforms.