Introduction to Young Astronomers' Association - Sri Lanka

In the past few years, there have been various projects undergoing in Sri Lanka to promote astronomy among the general society. There have been many attempts to bring it up to the society and there are many organizations and individuals who are keenly involved in this. But apart from few organizations like Astronomy and Space Study Center (ASSC) and great individuals like Prof. Kavan Ratnatunga, there has been no evidence of success.

In our point of view annual night camps, overwhelming astronomy quizzes or even weekly lecture series seem not to be enough to lift the interest for astronomy in Sri Lanka. We saw that it is generally born when a student is in grade 6-10, when he/she is a teenager with a young mind full of curiosity. It is most likely to wear off during or after their ALs due to lack of opportunities for them to step ahead in the field.

We, as a group of young astronomers wanted to make a difference. We saw that what we needed was not knowledge but passion. Thus since there were already great organizations like ASSC out there providing the knowledge, we set out with the intention of making people passionate. We wanted to give them something different. We wanted to take part in this process, not with words but rather with deeds.

So we started Young Astronomers’ Association. We never knew that it was a name of a club that has

done so much in the past. We were surprised to hear that likes of Prof. Ray Jayawardena, Mr. Nalaka Gunawardena had been past presidents of it! When we contacted them, they were thrilled to hear about what we have started and we were given their full consent and utmost support!

At the beginning we mentioned that we are here to make a difference. Sometimes though people say so we hardly find anything that differ their work from what has already been there. We hardly see any uniqueness. So we don’t want to become like others with repeating it over and over again. In our case it is up to you to decide whether it really is a difference!

Future Plans of Young Astronomers’ Association (YAA)

In YAA we mainly focus on promoting practical side of Astronomy. For most Sri Lankans ‘practical

astronomy’ is looking at sky (through naked eye or telescope), but not for us. We have two parallel

projects. One regarding Rocketry and other regarding Observational Astronomy.

Rocketry

In regard of rocketry we have divided our scope into three stages as follows where we are going to cover the basics and go deeper into the subject.

1st stage- Water Rockets:

Since it’s the most basic and fun part of rocketry we decided to start with “water rockets”. Our targets are so big, as we are hoping to end up making a world record! This project is again split to two phases.

· Phase I – Making a multi stage water rocket that reach minimum 1000ft.

*Estimated time duration – 6 to 8 months

· Phase II – Making multi stage / single stage water rocket to reach minimum 2000ft. (World record being 2044ft)

*Estimated time duration – 6 to 8 months

After Phase I, we have planned to hold a workshop about water rockets. After Phase II, parallel to the launch of our final water rocket, we have planned to hold a water rocket competition as well!

2nd stage- Rockets:

After reaching our targets with water, air and plastic bottles we will move into other propellants and materials to achieve greater heights. This also runs in two phases.

· Phase I – Reaching minimum 2000ft.

*Estimated time duration – 6 to 8 months

· Phase II – Reaching minimum 4000ft.

*Estimated time duration – 6 to 8 months

3rd stage- Pet in a Rocket:

 If our previous projects end successfully, we’ll be taking a step ahead and take a big risk! We’ll be sending an animal inside rocket to a minimum of 1000ft and will bring him back safely. Our focus in this project will be recovery system. Estimated duration for this project is 12 to 14 months.

Through promoting above events we believe we can develop huge enthusiasm about astronomy in Sri Lanka. After reaching our targets we are planning to have a model rocket factory. But at the moment we are only focusing on making 3 stages of our rocketry project a success.

Observation Astronomy

In this we will be prioritizing mainly the analyzing phase. Our target is to make analyzing (images taken from space crafts, Hubble Space Telescope, etc. and radio graphs and other things ) rather a hobby for at least some students.

Apart from telescopes there are much more equipments that can be used during an astronomical event (Ex: Meteor Counter, Spectrometer etc.). We are planning to make these stuff on our own and promote them during these events.

We are also planning to cover every astronomical event in a public place not only with a Telescope but other important equipment as well as described above. We believe we can increase the level of astronomy through these efforts.