Showing the night sky to Afghan kids...

[Greg Bock (Greg Bock)]

See the BBC link below.

Hi guys,
This is a fantastic idea. During the mid 1990's, Peter Marples and I provided thousands of Japanese tourist children views of our southern night skies through our 12" and 14" telescopes at Kooralbyn Valley resort, and also busked in Surfer's Paradise mall with our scopes just for fun to show tourists from all over the world the moon and planets. Not one person ever said that they were disappointed by what they saw. Every single one was fascinated by the experience. I hope this campaign fascinates these people as well. I also hope it's safe enough for the guys to do the work there, I know it will be very satisfying for them.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-17898331

greg

[jjjnettie (Jeanette)]

I hope so too Greg.
Astronomers Without Borders - One People, One Sky.
You can join their Facebook group here. https://www.facebook.com/groups/10150090408950263/

[AstralTraveller (David)]

Great stuff. It's great to hear a good news story from such a troubled place.

[Omaroo (Chris Malikoff)]

Like

[cathalferris]

I hope that there's no confusion about tubular objects pointed skywards at night, with leds on the mounts and people milling about..

[Suzy]

Originally Posted by cathalferris

I hope that there's no confusion about tubular objects pointed skywards at night, with leds on the mounts and people milling about..

Eeeeek she has a point

It's terrific to see the lengths that their going to in the name of astronomical education.
That's a nice feel good story for my morning, thanks Greg.

[Shark Bait (Stu)]

Originally Posted by cathalferris

I hope that there's no confusion about tubular objects pointed skywards at night, with leds on the mounts and people milling about..

I applaud the goals of this project. Unfortunately the risk could also come from their own, as there is aggressive resistance in some areas regarding education for girls / women.

Some risks are worth taking. We all live under the same sky. As we already know, if we look up we are forced to consider the bigger picture.

[inline_online (Dan)]

That is a heart warming story from a part of the world that is doing it very tough. I'd love to be involved in something like that.

[cathalferris]

Agreed that this endeavour is a good one. Also very true about the education of the ladies, but that's a discussion for another time and place.

I think it's brilliant that this crew doing this in such a place may spark a curiosity that gives a desire to learn and progress - without dreamers the country won't get a whole lot better..

(@suzy I'm no girl - cathal is a good old-fashioned Gaelic guy's name, maybe I should have put an underscore in it when registering! )