Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Speaker A: Welcome to Big Impact Astronomy, where we explore stories of how the stars are changing lives and connecting communities around the world. From stargazing under war torn skies to bringing science education to isolated communities, we uncover the incredible impact of astronomy beyond the observatory.
This episode of Big Impact Astronomy is brought to you by Primalucha Labs. Prima Lucha Labs makes space exploration accessible for all and empowers communities worldwide through innovative educational astronomy solutions.
Hello, everyone. I'm Mike Simmons, the founder of Astronomy for Equity. Welcome to another episode of Big Impact Astronomy.
[00:00:47] Speaker B: Today.
[00:00:48] Speaker A: I have a good friend from Algeria, Jamal Mamouni. He's very active around the whole continent of Africa and I see him at meetings and so on, so ignoring each other for quite a while. So, Jamal, welcome to the podcast. Hello, Mike and everybody, thank you for joining us here. I first visited Algeria in 2007 for your festival, Astronomy Festival. I think I'd met you before that at a meeting in Tunisia and I was really impressed by you and the group there. And so I was delighted to be able to visit in 2007. And you have just continued to grow and do more and more and more. You are also a past president of the African Astronomical Society.
You're one of the busiest people I know and getting things done.
So we've got a lot to talk about here. I want to start first of all, your group in Constantine, Algeria, in the east of the country, if I remember correctly.
[00:01:52] Speaker B: Right.
[00:01:53] Speaker A: And so you have a. A video made on the occasion of the hundredth anniversary of the iau, which I think is a great introduction to what you're doing in Algeria. And I'm going to play that first so that I think it'll give everybody a good idea of what's happening in Algeria.
[00:02:11] Speaker C: Once upon a time, in a blessed land called Algeria, a beautiful story of astronomy began, written by Algerian researchers and astronomers who since the 10th century led this field of science in North Africa, enriching it with serious research, effective contributions and fruitful activities.
Jaya, a picturesque Algerian city, has long been a beacon of science and knowledge, which has attracted the most talented researchers only from Algeria, but from all over the world. It is enough to mention that Fibonacci, this mathematics genius studied in J During the colonial era. An observatory was established in Buzeria in 1856.
However, the light of this flame began to fade after the Aldrian independence, only returned to shine by the return of Aldrian astronomers, culminating their efforts by launching the first graduate program in astrophysics in Blida in 1992 and Constantine by 2009.
In addition to the launch of the National Observatory in Auras Montane Range, coming to Algerian cities like Constantine, where many associations and clubs carried out the responsibility to frame young people and amateur astronomers and develop their skills through. Through tons of conferences and workshops, offering them a golden chance to explore the night sky and reveal its secrets.
And here are the celebrations of the Centennial Organonational Astronomy Union, opening the doors to each program of events aimed at bringing astronomy to the general public in all its categories. From middle and high schools, universities, cultural centers, to even kindergartens, astronomy has been spread everywhere. Look at the smile of this little astronomer.
These events and activities were well received and covered by the Aldrine media of all kinds.
Happy birthday. IAU Dikra Saeeda iau.
[00:05:07] Speaker A: Terrific. It's a wonderful video and it shows how much has been going on there in Algeria over the last, what, 20 years, 25 years or more?
[00:05:16] Speaker B: Yes, I mean, for our association, it has been 30 years. But of course, the legacy of astronomy, as you saw the, the. I mean, this video has shown, go back to the, to the middle age. What was the middle Asian Europe in the, in the, in the 12th and 13th century, basically.
[00:05:34] Speaker A: In Nigeria, the Sirius Astronomy Club. This was your creation in the first place, Jamal, is that correct?
[00:05:43] Speaker B: Yes, yes, that's right. With colleagues. We founded this association in eastern Algeria. Of course, there are other associations, but I think the most well known, especially in Algeria and North Africa and the Middle east, is certainly our association because.
[00:06:00] Speaker A: It is extremely active. And, you know, I want to go straight to some pictures that we can talk about too. In addition to that wonderful video, this will show some of the activities there, and you can give us some details on what's, what's happening, what's happened before.
Let's take a look here.
So this is from last year, a festival of astronomy in its 19th version. And there's another one this year that we'll talk about. So what is this about? Who, who joins in with this festival?
[00:06:37] Speaker B: Okay, this festival, which has been going on for the past 20 years or so, is a quite interesting one. It's a. It's a special one, which you will not see in other places in the world. First of all, of course, it's quite. It has grown up, grown up much since the time you visited us in 2007. But in particular, the concept, conceptually speaking, we are bringing together astronomers, amateur astronomers, with the clubs, in clubs and the general public. So this kind of alliance is what makes it special. Astronomers are there, they give some legacy and they give some lectures of course to the general public. Amateur astronomers are also in contact with the public and they explain astronomy to the public, especially in those kind of exhibitions that we have at the time of the. Of the. Of the. Of. Of the festival. And the public is also. Is thus benefiting from both the astronomers which are there, who are there and the. And, and the astronomer and, and, and the public and, and the, and the clubs. Astronomy clubs with the. The amateurs which are there. So it's a mixture of the three components that make it so special.
[00:07:52] Speaker A: This is an overview of one of the earlier festivals. I think this is more like what I attended in one of the first ones in two 2007.
This will prove I was there. Here we are.
We got a little less gray there, Jamal.
Yes, I was very impressed with Constantine. I loved Algeria. The, the mosque that is behind there. We were right in front of the venue at the time and I love this mosque. So I just had to take a picture of it. But this is a huge, very beautiful mosque that I enjoyed seeing.
You said this is one of the biggest in Africa too.
[00:08:31] Speaker B: It's at that time it was the second largest in Africa. Now it is the third largest in Africa. Called the. The Emir Abdelkader Mosque. Emir Abdul Qadar Mosque. It's is a well known freedom fighter who fought the French invasion in the 19th century. So it has been named after him.
[00:08:51] Speaker A: I see. And for those who aren't aware, as in much of North Africa, the official languages in Algeria are French and Arabic.
[00:09:03] Speaker B: Yeah, it's other way around. It's Arabic. And the second language which is used by. Which is understandable, understood by many people, but although the young people are less and less prone to understand it is the French. Yes.
[00:09:20] Speaker A: Oh, I see. Okay. Because you speak English with a French accent.
[00:09:24] Speaker B: Oh, okay. That's a special. My special story. That's another, that's another. That's another layer.
[00:09:30] Speaker A: So here's one of the activities and there are quite a few and I, I can't show everything that you guys do, but what is happening here?
[00:09:37] Speaker B: So here it's a competition we were organizing for many years among the high schools in the region. Like 60 high schools with people were competing for being the laureate of that prize. And that was called the Sierra Science Competition. And the prize was a very special one. The people were winning. Three out of those hundreds who are participating in the, in the vetting go to a place which has some astronomical significance all over the world that was at some place at some time. It was like the eclipse, the total eclipse. In Shanghai.
Another time it was the Poland with the. Going to the. To the Kepler's to Copernicus House and the Planetarium there and Marie Curie's place. And every time we have a special destination and those people are benefiting for it. In fact, in 2017 with the laureates have gone to Chicago in, in the Chicago area to observe the. To the total eclipse there. So that's the price. It's a very special price. Not in Monet, not in. But in. In a wonderful destinations all over the world. We went to the Canaries island, to the Sal Observatory, the Soul Telescope in South. In South Africa. And every time we have a very specific special destination.
[00:11:04] Speaker A: And here are some of the laureates. One year.
[00:11:06] Speaker B: Yeah, the laureates of one. One of the years of where we organize the competition.
[00:11:13] Speaker A: Another event going on.
[00:11:14] Speaker B: Well that's actually the. Just before the start in the competitions, people are getting ready for the questions their sheets. They will in this moment, some moment will take out their sheets, answer sheets and they will be competing for that things. Yeah, that's members of our associations in our weekly meeting in Constantine. So you see the diversity of the people who are part of our association. And that day we have a special visit by a class by a. I mean a science class from one high school in outer Constantine. So we welcome them and we give them some, some lecture there. So that's why we are so numerous. We're not as numerous as that. I mean in our weekly meeting but.
[00:12:02] Speaker A: Well, how, how many members are there?
[00:12:05] Speaker B: Well, we have some 40 or 50 ones. But the one who attend the Saturday weekly meeting are no more than 20, perhaps 20, 25.
[00:12:16] Speaker A: That's almost some half of the members that are attending regularly. That's very high attendance. Actually.
[00:12:24] Speaker B: Actually we have more people in our association, but they have loser. We link with us so we can at some, some of the events like the big events or the festivals, they could have some 60 or 70 showing up, but they're not regular in the sense of having membership cards or the old members who have not renewed. But they still are faithful to our events and they come to our events.
[00:12:49] Speaker A: What's this club activity here then?
[00:12:53] Speaker B: Yeah, in some places we organize activities for the public. So that's one of the activities. I don't know where it was that, that one what was in Algiers. That was in Algiers. Yes, in one of the activities we did at the, at the capital Algiers.
[00:13:11] Speaker A: And this is a sort of thing too with booths and so on. At the astronomy festival that you hold every year.
[00:13:18] Speaker B: No, that's not at the festival. That's a specific activity, part of a larger activity which took place at Alers and they invited us to be. To have a. A booth there.
[00:13:28] Speaker A: But you at the festival you do have booths and, and other things?
[00:13:31] Speaker B: Of course.
[00:13:32] Speaker A: Yeah, certainly this one's a little different.
[00:13:35] Speaker B: Yeah. Sometime we have Don winter retreats for our members. We go in the south. It's a warmer climate and we do some astronomy activities. I mean watching the. I mean sky watching in at night and some training that we don't have time to do in the regular, I mean time. So we go there and that was a halt. We stopped at one specific place on our way to the south to the Sahara where we had our retreat.
[00:14:08] Speaker A: And this, this shows really where you were.
[00:14:11] Speaker B: Yeah. We have also sometime we stop at places, funny places where these camels here in our way to the, to the places we.
We do the activities, I mean of the. Of the retreat.
[00:14:24] Speaker A: Okay, well, back to other activities. Here you have a regular radio program. Tell us about that.
[00:14:33] Speaker B: That's right. It's a program quite unique in the. In our place, in our region. It's a weekly program on science and it is. It tackle various subjects, mostly astronomy, but some. But in general sciences. So we have some of our young members who are part of the team and it is broadcasted throughout the western Algeria. Sometimes it is picked up by the national radio program and we go national. But that has been going on for something like 20 years. This program, although we stopped it few years ago after the COVID and we didn't go. Go back to it by actually it's unfortunate, but we had. It has been going on for I think 15 or 20 years. But we are, we are going to restart it possibly in some. In some near future.
[00:15:24] Speaker A: Great, great, great.
So now we're getting a little farther afield. It's not just Algeria. I've been part of FS African Astronomical Society for a while and I saw you recently at the annual conference in Morocco of the African Astronomical Society. And this is relatively new, connecting the astronomy organizations and astronomers from around the continent. But you're going above and beyond. You are actually an evangelist for astronomy and take to other places to get them involved. So here's one of your visits. Where, where is this one?
[00:16:07] Speaker B: Okay. Indeed. Before just come. Well, first of all, it is in Bamako in Mali. That was last year. It is a high school. In fact, students just after the lecture I gave in French because they are French speaking. So it's a. It's nice to do that, so we took a collective picture with the, with the students as you see. And, and in fact these missions that have been carried out and roaming around Africa for the past three, four years. First as a president when I, during the first mandate it is to get to the enriched people because there's many countries in Africa which have no astronomy at all. And I thought that it was one of the missions of efas, the African Astronomical Society should be to. To go to this enriched country in Africa in particular in the French speaking zone. Because the French speaking Africa is law is. Is nowhere to be counted upon in, in astronomy. The AFAS has no inroad in French speaking Africa because French speaking Africa is mostly isolated from its linguistic choice. They don't interact with other people. They don't know English, they are just French French French and the French are, are, are, are not making them feel that having using French is enough to go into the world. But they learn then afterward that it's not true. They, they got isolated. Half of Africa has no astronomy or has astronomy just linked the weak link with France or Belgium, but they are not participating. Have you seen French speaking astronomers at the IFAS meeting or even the General assembly meeting, Mike?
[00:17:49] Speaker A: No, no, not so much. No. No.
[00:17:52] Speaker B: Central tragedy that is, is the leftover of the French domination which has made people feel that the French is enough to go into the world of science. And that's not true and that's the, the proof of it. So I'm trying to more or less compensate for that. I've been going to Chad, the Niger, Mali, Guinea Republic, the Congo, Democratic Republic of Congo, all the strength speaking countries, trying to get them into the bandwagon of astronomy because they have been left out and FAS has no specific programs for them. So I thought that should be, I should be reaching the enriched. So you were mentioning that being a tele. Evangelist or whatever. I will say missionary for astronomy in the French speaking world. That's a part of my, my mission. I'm a missionary for astronomy in a sense.
[00:18:42] Speaker A: That sense and that's fabulous too. How well is it received there? Have there been any, you know, of your trips led to increases in astronomy being taught or practiced there?
[00:18:53] Speaker B: Yes, of course. So I'm. It's not an outreach the usual way that we think of it. I call it a global outreach because I go to the, to the. It's an academic outreach first. I'm going to my colleagues in the various universities and I talk about to them. I encourage them to open some to, to. To set up Courses in astronomy, at least at the introductory level, even if not at a full, a full, I mean, option, I mean. And I, I had some mitigated success in Guinea. In guinea that I have been. Last year they decided to open a course in astronomy and I have also some success in that aspect. And in addition to that, of course, I, I go to a civil society and I speak to, to people, the stakeholders there in that country. And being the representative of afas, you know, they give me some special consideration, you know, so when I go with my colleagues from that country, I go to the, at the Ministry of Higher Education, I talk to them and so on. So I have this ability to cross the bureaucratic, I mean, morass that somehow the people there cannot go through. So they're using me in that sense to bring the, to carry the, the message of astronomy to the deciders, the stakeholders at the ministries and so on. So that's my role to play as a AFAS representative in those countries.
[00:20:20] Speaker A: Why haven't they developed astronomy on their own anyway? Even if they are isolated, there's astronomy every place or there can be astronomy every place.
[00:20:28] Speaker B: No, no, astronomy is quite young. I mean, even if you talk in the, in Europe, I mean, the astronomy, unlike the US is not taught at any level until the graduate studies. In France, for example, there is no astronomy studies in, in, in, in, in undergraduate, it's just start at the graduate level in some universities and then there's a PhD program in astronomy even in it. In Italy, it's another thing. Astronomy has been introduced very strongly at universities, but it's quite a new development. But most of the physics department in our countries anyway has no astronomy at all. In our countries, let's say, which have some degree of academic achievement, like in Algeria, Morocco, Tunisia, Egypt, Ethiopia and so on, there's no astronomy at all. It is a new development in our countries already. So it's not. Is understandable that astronomy has not gotten, I mean, its way yet.
[00:21:35] Speaker A: Well, let's, let's look again. What else that you have been doing there? This is also, I think in, in Mali?
[00:21:44] Speaker B: No, that's in guinea, in Conakry. That's at the Academy of Science. I was invited by the president of the Academy of Science there, who is sitting next to me at the right. And the vice president is that lady that you see between me and the person who is raising his hand. So I was there. I gave a talk on science in general and astronomy in particular. That was in Conakry, guinea. Back with my colleagues there from at the Department of Physics at Bamako University. And you see that always displaying the AFAs to give the idea that we are all Africans and this is an African adventure. The astronomy should be an, an African adventure and the new science which has to be developed throughout Africa. So that's my colleagues physicist at Bamako University.
[00:22:36] Speaker A: So let me broach this subject. And you and I know this very well. But why, why are you missionary for astronomy for these countries that have no astronomy, they, they have physics, they have other subjects. Why are you so big on bringing astronomy to these countries as well?
[00:22:56] Speaker B: Because my job as president of EFAS was to first of all to think about the way of having astronomy to be part of an interest in the continent. And so I think that it's a reasonable and worthy mission to bring that idea that astronomy is the new an a actually it's a fundamental science really and it's part of physics, but it could be considered as the generalization of physics. You're using physics in all the corners of the cosmos and it's, it's even wider than physics. So in fact if always I bring this, this, this example. If you look at Nobel Prizes given to physicists in the past five, six, seven years, you see that many of them has been given for, for discoveries in astronomy and astrophysics and cosmology. So you look at where the Nobel Prizes are given and it gives you an idea what are the important things in the world of physics and astrophysics. So that's why we have to get into astrophysics. If you want to be serious about this, studying the material world. The material world, most of it is out is outside the Earth. It's in the neutron stars and, and, and, and, and enter interstellar medium. And all those things, all which have a very extreme physical conditions are that's where physics, I mean, should be studied and where we can learn new things that we cannot learn in our terrestrial laboratories.
[00:24:32] Speaker A: But here you are talking to some youngsters, so you're talking about astronomy to them. How is this going to benefit these, these kids here? Why would we want to have it astronomy in the schools here?
[00:24:45] Speaker B: Yes, so indeed in my missions to do parts of the, the French speaking world, basically I also do some outreach to the public and to the skids. Those are kids in a, in a private school and I tell them about the wonders of astronomy, what you learn when you are studying astronomy and that's, that, that's bring motivation and excitement to them and hopefully get them into doing some career or going into science in the high school and and, and necessary propagandist for. For astronomy, but at least for science and astronomy is part of it. And I'm showing them what is there in the cosmos and how the laws of physics and chemistry and can be applied to those things to understand that. And that's my message to them, basically. And that's the world of wonder and the world of discovery and, and how it is ordered and well explained by our. By. By science.
[00:25:40] Speaker A: In which, which country are we in here?
[00:25:42] Speaker B: Oh, that's also in. No, that's in Republic Democratic de Congo. That's DRC Diplomatic Democratic Republic of Congo. That's in Kinshasa.
[00:25:55] Speaker A: So astronomy is an inspiration for science. How many of these students would have considered going into science? They probably don't have the same sort of facilities in science that other countries do, certainly not in Europe and certainly many in Africa. So they don't necessarily see science there, but astronomy is, is everywhere and, and they're fascinated by it. So that's a, that's a reason for bringing astronomy to them.
[00:26:25] Speaker B: Yeah, the, the way that, of course I see it, that's another picture in an. In another. It's in high school also. That's where in. In Bamako. That's, that's in. In. In Mali. The way I see it is that first of all, as I said again, it's not for them to go into astronomy necessarily. They are too young for that to go for science. The, the battle is between how many people are going in. In science branches versus how many are going into literary studies and these things. So if I can increase the percentage of people going to science, I think I am. I have one. The day I have been successful. The not.
Dis. Disregarding the. The not. I mean, not talking about whether they will be going in astronomy or not. That's a far away, I mean, horizon for them.
[00:27:17] Speaker A: And of course, more scientists, technologists, all the different STEM fields are required in these countries to develop their infrastructure, develop their ability to do things for themselves. So it's, it's very, it's very important for that reason, you know. And this. Now what about in this case, lots of girls there? And is it. It's. I don't think it's all girls, but no, it's not all girls. But what is the situation in these countries too for the girls who may be interested in science?
Are they discouraged, encouraged to go into science? Do they have role models in science?
[00:27:58] Speaker B: Well, that's the whole point of trying to create role models for girls because obviously the girls are not going to Be are not well represented in the sciences, although there is a great progress in that, in that respect. In many countries in my country, that's the other way around. I mean, we sometimes have in science classes more girls than boys, but in other parts, like Indus countries like the Sahel country, and people who, who are in a lesser, not. Not as advanced in the teaching and the academics, obviously the girls are not. Are the minority in sciences and. But there's progress taking place now in change of the. Of the mentality of the people, of the parents in general.
[00:28:44] Speaker A: Another one with FS in the background and another banner for African Science Stars, which is a magazine.
Where are you here?
[00:28:54] Speaker B: Here I am in. Well, in Dodoma in Tanzania. That was two weeks ago, by the way. That's a lecture I gave to physics students at the Doma University, which is the capital of Tanzania. And I was in. Extended the AFAS mission to Tanzania. And during one of the visits they organized for me a talk about astronomy and science and physics in general in, in that department, the physics department. And there's also all the teachers out there. The professors are there, by the way, so they were. It's great because often professors feel that they have no time to waste with the, with this kind of lectures. But they were all there. All the professor of that department were there at that time.
[00:29:39] Speaker A: Ah, and. But here you are with some professors and some other officials also in Tanzania.
[00:29:45] Speaker B: Yeah, that's in Dodoma. That's at the Ministry of Communication and I think on innovation or something is my colleague that I think, you know, Mike at the right and some of his colleagues. So we are meeting with the people, the vice director of that ministry and talking about astronomy and some, the project that they have. In particular, they have a project of a radio telescope at Kilimanjaro and did not, didn't get the full support and financial support for that project. So I came there at. As a lobbying for. Trying to do some lobbying and trying to say, well, it's an interesting project, it has a higher, I mean, expectation at the African level. There's a big SKA going on the Square Kilometer Array, which will make Africa, I mean, a hotbed of radio astronomy in the future. They can integrate their project into that network and all these things. So I did the, the job of lobbying, lobbying for them and trying to encourage the, the, the, the, the, the, the people there to give attention and bring the African dimension to that project.
[00:31:02] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah, absolutely. It's very important. And there's also another observatory, a teaching observatory that you visited. I Was I gave a lecture to the workshop there at Mount Meru Astronomical Observatory in Tanzania. I've been involved with, had a hand in, in getting started and still take part and I did that remotely. But you were there on hand doing a lot of the teaching. I think that's right.
[00:31:29] Speaker B: So that's my, with the naic, the National Coordinator for Education of Tanzania. That's Elinima Nasari. So he was my, my guide and my. Who organized that. That was a teacher. Ttp, the teacher training Teach.
Teaching training.
[00:31:50] Speaker A: Teacher training. Yes.
[00:31:52] Speaker B: So I was with them. In fact, you might have some pictures of that. No. So that's a small observatory. It's in, in fact on the mount opposite to the Kilimanjaro Mount. It's just 20km afar and it's not at too high altitude unlike Kilimanjaro Mount. But it is a small facility. The, almost the only one that there is in Tanzania. They have a, I think a 350 millimeter telescope there and it's working perfectly to do some pedagogical work with the, with the school kids and so on which are visiting the observatory, but not really any science work at this point.
[00:32:32] Speaker A: Yeah, the purpose for it is not really science, but education.
And this was started under Chuck really some years ago, started under a program I ran. And the, the purpose is to train the teachers in astronomy because there, there is very little science in many of the schools around in that area. It's a very rural area outside of Arusha, right next to a game park. And they don't have any facilities, they don't have any hands on experience with things. So it's, that's what that's, that's all about. It's been to bring some science training to the teachers through astronomy because they have great skies there. They're, you know, excuse me. Ironic thing, Jamal, that in the cities and especially over here, we go into the big cities of a wealthy country and you've got no astronomy because you can hardly see anything. But in the rural areas of Africa you got the best astronomy lab in the world. So you've got everything there. So let's try to take advantage of that. Yeah, exactly.
[00:33:40] Speaker B: Precisely.
[00:33:40] Speaker A: This, well, here is now African science stars. This is another, I don't know, I don't remember if this is related to FS or, or not or it's an independent thing, but it's certainly another, another attempt with the magazine to highlight the people around Africa who are doing important things in astronomy and building the nation's STEM education Facilities.
[00:34:12] Speaker B: So that's part of aas. Indeed, it's an independent body which used to be this magazine used to be published in South Africa for South Africans. But with the founding of EFAs, it has got gotten a new mission to be the African journal. So they have expanded their scope and they are speaking now to the whole of Africa. And it's a quite a good, I mean magazine, general science and general magazine, especially in. In Astronomy. And in fact they have in some partly founded my visit there to the Tanzania. By the way, that's not EFAS who found it there. They didn't have money for that, but the African sign stars. That's why I'm pushing and publicizing their magazines here and there, because they were supporting my visit there. That visit was at costec, the Commission for Science and Technology in Dar es Salaam, where also I did some lobbying if I may say. So we talked with my colleagues there.
In particular, we talk to the, the heads of those departments and the department of Technology and Science and also telling them the importance of astronomy, the strategic importance astronomy in the teaching of science and also in socioeconomic development, in some aspect of socioeconomic development, ecotourism and, and also the. Some projects astronomy project like radio telescope and these kind of facilities.
[00:35:46] Speaker A: Well, and, and then bringing us back to Algeria for a moment. This is the poster for the 20th National Festival in popular astronomy. This is coming up in May and this come quite a way since I, I attended the one quite a long time ago. I hope I can get a chance to make it back there this year. Jamal. We'll see. We'll see.
[00:36:15] Speaker B: And welcome. You're most welcome, Mike. It's.
[00:36:20] Speaker A: Yeah, I would love to. And in particular Astronomy for Equity has as you know, because you're taking part in a program having to do with the sun and using the sun and sunlight in order to study physics to learn about the. The sun, sunlight, the spectrum and all the different things. So maybe we'll get a chance to go there and show that off. Or you will. Now this festival is open to everyone.
Tell us a little bit more about the festival itself.
[00:36:51] Speaker B: Okay, so this festival that I go back to the early part of the century of the, of the millennium that was restarted in 2002 really. And now it is at its 20th edition. Each one, each time has a specific theme. This theme this year is the sun, which is that now reaching the maximum of its cycle of its 11 year cycle. And we thought it is worthy to let the people know about the sun, our star. And also to speak about something which is much spoken today is the climate change. Although there's no obvious relationship between both of them. We know that astronomically speaking climate change is mostly due to how we mess up the the Earth really. But anyway it's a change to make to bring the two subjects astronomy and the big. I mean sphere of people of the. That we see around the world of climate.
I mean. I mean various climate. I mean things which happening. So we thought that the public is. Should. Should know about those aspects. Sun first of all and the climate change at the same time. So we, we have lectures, we have workshops for all categories of people for kids, for high school students and lectures for the general public. And we have various activities.
Sky viewing at night, sun observing in the day, a big exhibition. So that's at the menu of that meeting. If you can make it for that you Mike obviously. But also all the people we are happy to welcome you. In fact what we do, that's as much as we can do. We. We take care of the accommodation. The accommodation is fully taken care by association. You just have to. To fly it in and then we at the airport in incoming and outgoing. You will be taken care in between. So that's my. My invitation to anybody from wherever he is in the world to come to our. To this meeting. That's in the early May. It's the first and the second and third of May.
So that's, that's the period of that happening and the 20th anniversary. So it's a. The longest running program of astronomy popular astronomy in the continent obviously even in the Middle east and, and Africa as I say. So it is quite an anniversary. I mean we are uh, really uh. You see, we are. We are. We are holding the. The line and we are proud of having almost except the two years of the COVID We have had this festival going on long since early 2000.
[00:39:40] Speaker A: Well it's something to be proud of for sure. It is unique on the continent. As far as I know there are very few things like it and I highly recommend it for anybody that wants to attend. And we've put the link to the information about people who want to participate on the screen here. So I would recommend it. Algeria is a lovely place to visit and you know, beyond that, as far as visiting Algeria, in a couple of years you're going to have a total solar eclipse going across your country.
And I may be there for that. I haven't quite decided we're going to talk about plans for that. But I'm sure you guys are Going to have plans, plans maybe to head down into the Sahara Desert where the conditions will be very good.
[00:40:30] Speaker B: No, no, no, not really because Sahara Desert will not be in the path of totality. So don't go for the Sahara Desert will be. That's the northern part of Africa, Algeria. That's the, the totality path will be going through. So don't after that. Yes, go to the Sahara Desert if you can, but during the eclipse time, stay in the eclipse zone. I mean the eclipse path.
[00:40:53] Speaker A: Do you have any plans in any sort of public programs for the eclipse in 2027?
[00:41:00] Speaker B: We are getting to that because it is going to be close to our place, basically 50 or 100 kilometers from Constantine. And that's where the path of totality will go before going to Tunisia and other countries. And we certainly will have a big program opening. I mean organizing people who are going to come not only from Algeria, but in fact very few. I don't expect many people to come from Algeria. People are more like sedentary people, but from all the, all the play all over the world, they'll be coming there. So are trying to think about how we could organize something at a large scale along with the, with of course with the local authorities and, and agencies, touristic agencies, possibly. So we certainly will open it to the public and try to, to welcome the people in the best possible way if they are coming from out overseas.
[00:41:50] Speaker A: Well, you've been to a few eclipses and you know, I chase them around the world when I can. So we'll have to talk about that.
[00:41:56] Speaker B: Yes, I am in fact at the Arabic level. I think I'm the, the record breaking, I mean eclipse observer, I mean so not too many. It's not like the big, I mean hunters like you personal others. I have five or six in my, in my pocket total. One. That's great. I mean that's a, it's Arabic record breaking, I think.
[00:42:19] Speaker A: Yes.
[00:42:20] Speaker B: North Africa at least.
[00:42:22] Speaker A: Good. Well, I hope to see you a little bit later this year, if not certainly in 2027. And thank you for all you do, Jamal. Both in Algeria, which is tremendous, but around the whole continent. I'm doing a lot of work there too. Astronomy for equity. For equity is, is doing work in a number of the countries including Algeria, working with you on one program. And, and it's I think really, really important. The infrastructure, infrastructure has built up with African astronomical society and others.
So the abilities are there to get things done. So we'll continue to do it. So thank you for everything and thank you for joining me today.
[00:43:09] Speaker B: Jamal, thank you for welcoming me on your program and your podcast, and I'm happy to have been sorting out things with you. And certainly there'll be other opportunities to talk more and work more together in hand in hands in hands in hands in trying to develop astronomy and help people appreciate the wonder of the world and in particular, the what is beyond our. I mean, above our. Above our heads.
[00:43:41] Speaker A: Yes. Well, we'll be talking for sure, as we always have. So see you soon. Thank you.
[00:43:47] Speaker B: Thank you.
[00:43:49] Speaker A: This has been another episode of Big Impact Astronomy. I'm your host, Mike Simmons. Jacob Sager is our technical producer. Our audio engineer is Ali Pelfrey. Big Impact Astronomy is produced by Astronomy for Equity, bringing astronomy to unserved communities worldwide. This episode of Big Impact Astronomy was brought to you by Primalucha Labs. Primalucha Labs make space exploration accessible for all and empowers communities worldwide through innovative educational astronomy solutions. Learn more about Astronomy for Equity, including how you can Support us at astro, the number4equity.org.
