On my latest
astronomy trip to the Sahara in Southern Morocco, I met with many
enthusiast people in astronomy. I had a blast doing many activities
related to astronomy as Meteorite hunting, astrophotographying the
night sky and learning much of astronomy in general at this fabulous
hotel/observatory called Sahara Sky. 10 days of meteorite hunting,
astronomy learning and stargazing in the Sahara was incredible and
just unforgettable. Please join me in a series of posts on my journey
through the Sahara in Southern Morocco and one of the most dark skies
places I have ever seen.
 |
| Ali Hafili @ the Cultural Center Atlas Golf of Marrakesh Behind him is the mighty 600mm Richtey Chrétien telescope (The Valmeca T600) Credit: S. Lamoureux/ KTY Toutatis. |
On my way to the
Sahara desert, I stopped in the beautiful city of Marrakesh for a few
days. I booked my self in a hostel and got settled in. I had made an
appointment with my contact Ali from the 3 AM Astronomy club
(Association d'Astronomie de Marrakesh). We spent the day together
visiting the city and spoke about their astronomy projects over there
and my astronomy projects over in Finland.
 |
| City of Marrakesh Credit: S. Lamoureux |
Mohamed Ali Hafili
is working at the Cultural Center Atlas Golf of Marrakesh. A place to
see art galleries, exhibitions on fossils and rocks found in Morocco
(Meteorites too). With the big telescope installed on the roof top,
people can join Ali for observing the planets, the Sun or the Moon
(See older post on Ali and 3AM astronomy club HERE).
Ali was telling me
that he had manage many activities with 3AM astronomy club; A trip to the
Sahara desert with a group of astronomers, a trip to Oukaimeden
Observatory in the Atlas mountains and many observation sessions with
young students. A busy year I would say.
The best thing about
Ali and his astronomy club is that we have been in contact for 3
years now and we have managed to consult each other on what do we
teach and how is the people participating responding. Keeping in
touch with other astronomy club's are crucial to the global astronomy
outreach. It has been good to have a partner like Ali to show me what
is the astronomy globally around the world, especially in Morocco. I
have a better understanding of how people today view present
astronomy, globally. This is cool.
 |
| Koutoubia Mosque @ the heart of Marrakesh. Credit: S. Lamoureux |
The Association of
Astronomy of Marrakesh is doing good, Ali says. Always things to do,
places to be for another session of astronomy with the kids, he
continues. So I guess the astronomy scene in Marrakesh is booming and
the people are involved, which is a good sign for astronomy in
general.
Ali mentioned that
the recent increase in international Astronomy event in Morocco
(Tanger, Fes, Oukaimeden, Casablanca, Rabat) helped a lot.
The visit of the
astronaut Dr. Mary Ellen Weber in many cities around Morocco and the
the 77th Annual Meeting of the Meteoritical Society, that was held in
Casablanca, Morocco are a few mentioned that was organized in 2014.
If you are an
intrepid traveller and a passionate of Astronomy, you have the
pleasure to head for Marrakesh one day, I strongly recommend that you
stop by Ali's 3AM astronomy club and observatory and say hello. It
has been an unforgettable experience for me, so i guess it could be so
for you to.
Please continue
reading the next post of my Astronomy trip in the Sahara, Southern
Morocco HERE. Follow the complete travel post series and enjoy the
astronomy behind it. This is all part of
the public outreach of Astronomy Club Toutatis, Kustavi, Finland.
Links:
Read more about Astronomy Club Toutatis, Kustavi, Finland.
No comments:
Post a Comment