Episode Transcript
[00:00:01] Speaker A: Hello everyone. I'm Mike Simmons, the founder of Astronomy for Equity and welcome to our podcast. Today we have Manisha Dwarf from Kathmandu in Nepal. Manisha is a scholar and PhD student at Tribhavan University.
She is involved in just about everything there. She's the IAU CO National Outreach Coordinator, a member of the National Astronomy Education Coordinator Team for Nepal. She is co founder of the National Astronomy Olympiad Organizing Committee for Nepal and a member of the board of the International Olympiad of Astronomy and Astrophysics, which is the biggest one in the world I believe. She's the national representative for the Universal Awareness Program in Nepal and coordinator of Women in Astronomy in Nepal, co founder of Women in Science in Nepal and she is a project coordinator and a member of the board of the Nepal Astronomical Society. She joins us from Kathmandu and also with a couple of other people in NASA Nepal Astronomical Society.
So welcome Anisha, it's good to see you again.
[00:01:17] Speaker B: Thank you Mike. Same here.
[00:01:19] Speaker A: You are doing so many different things in Nepal and of course you have a team of various people to work with. I'll let you introduce the other two people that you brought along for the podcast. Here we have Ocean and Deep Tea. So tell us what they do and.
[00:01:40] Speaker B: Okay, okay. So we have with us Ocean Sharma, Katel and Dipti Gautam who are very active in taking astronomy to their respective provinces. So Nepal is small but like it is geographically very diverse. So talking about Deepti and Dipti joined NASO a few years back as one of the participants at Nepal this all Nepal Asteroid Shores campaign and she has backed some asteroids in her name as well. Currently electrical and electronics engineering like student at Kathmandu University and she's also an ambassador at Explore Scientific USA and a presenter at Explore alliance and also sees the Lumbini Province Coordinator for the World Specific Nepal. And coming to Osun, Sharma Catal. Osun is undergraduate student member. So is Dipti at Nepal Astronomical Society and He's currently studying BSc Physics at Amrit Science Campus and recently like he has been awarded with the IAF emerging space leader for the year 2023 and he's the NPC for space generation Advisory Council for Nepal and he is leading Napal Society's astronomy and office activities in the Kusi province and he's also the Province Coordinator for the World Specific for the Province one in Nepal.
[00:03:18] Speaker A: Wow, you guys are so busy. So welcome DP and Ocean. Dp, I think we met on another program before and Ocean, it's good to meet you. And you know this is interesting not all of you are in in Kathmandu. That's what we usually think of when we think of Nepal. It's a big city, a lot of people. But Nepal is actually though a small country, as you said, very diverse. And so there are so many things that all of you are doing. For a country like Nepal to be this active in astronomy is really quite remarkable. I mean the size of the country doesn't matter, but I've known people in Nepal doing astronomy for a very long time. Is there something about Nepal that makes astronomy more appealing? I mean we think of it as being a very high country because big mountains of course, but it isn't all you very high like that. So what. Why is astronomy so active and so popular around Nepal?
Any ideas?
[00:04:24] Speaker B: As I started my career in astronomy in Nepal, I was actually not so much aware about astronomy or space science in particular. So when I started, like I was passion driven. And I think that is the same thing that is driving our youth, our students towards astronomy in Nepal at the moment. Because despite the fact that like they are not getting, they do not have a very good resource, slowly they are learning to be resourceful. And like also like we have a very good curriculum with nice inclusion of astronomy from the school level. And that has at some point been not been like carefully handled. But now like we have students like Osin and Dipti and like there are just to name few. But like there are a lot of students who through various of our programs are like taking astronomy to their respective villages and the place where place of their birth and like primary education. That is how like we are trying. We are reaching out to the various places and we are understanding that the geography or not anything is the cause of anyone not understanding or not having interest in any of the subject, not just astronomy. But since like we are doing a lot of outreach activities and all of our students who are involved in Nepal Astronomical Society and in our programs are taking astronomy outreach in their area. And students are getting aware about this particular subject and they seem to be more interested as like this.
This just doesn't like answer their query about education, but like they take them to a whole new level. Ocean, do you have to add something to this?
[00:06:15] Speaker A: Yeah. Ocean, tell us yourself too how you got involved in astronomy and why, why it's so important.
[00:06:23] Speaker C: Yeah. So my story begins back in 2018. So it was definitely because of the Nepal Astronomical Society. So back in 2018 there was an asteroid search training in one of the nearby cities where I'm from. It was in Italy. So over there. Sure. Who is also the chairman of The Nepal Astronomical Society. He was there to train us on like how to search asteroid. So that was my first, I must say one of the inspiring and and one of the professional encounters in the field of astronomy. So from that point I actually got into the field of astronomy. I started back in 2018 and with the Astrosh training and campaign, I joined the campaign later on and so far I have four provisional discoveries of asteroid in my name. So yeah, that's how I got started. So that's how we got started. Also back in Nepal where I'm from, it's actually away from Kathmandu. So Kathmandu is the capital city of Nepal and mostly the things related to astronomy and space science, they are actually happening in the capital city, Kathmandu. So as I was getting these discoveries and also I did send one of my experiments, it was a team experiment which was. I was one of the participants at NASA Cubes in Space workshop which was back in 2021. So I sent one, my expert experiment to space. So after that I really wanted to bring astronomy down to my community. So I was also involved as one of the child right activists in the country and also was familiar with the policy making thing. So as part of it I went to the mayor of the city sharing the experiences, sharing the achievements and he was quite pleased. So I was also involved in one of the club, it's called municipal Child Club networks. So it was the part of the childhood activism in city. So that's how I got to share my experiences with the mayor of my city. And he was quite impressed. So as a consequence he actually brought about an 8 inch Dobsonian telescope for us. So now it's being currently used by us and also for the public access. I think it's because of NASA that how I got into the astronomy and also I think it's because of the NASA which the astronomical scenario in Nepal is flourishing and it's so vibrant for now. So the main phrase goes to NASA actually and also, actually also the results who is also the chairperson because he has been doing this since 2007 and he is bringing astronomy down to community for students like us and inspiring and getting us along. So that's how my story has been.
[00:09:16] Speaker A: I've known Suresh for a very long time, since near the beginning. I think I first met him in 2009 and he's somebody who is really driven. I mean all of us were advising him. You know, you have to pay attention to your own studies and everything. But he just wanted to get this done and but look at the results. You said the mayor's impressed with you. Well, I'm pretty impressed too. My goodness. So the asteroids, the space experiment, that's a great program as well. Patrick Miller from Hardin Simmons University in Texas here in the US the International Asteroid Search Campaign and those asteroids you discovered are on plates that were taken photographic plates, digital taken at various different survey telescopes. So that's great. Deepti, I want to hear your story as well. How did you get involved? What do you think? It's important to have the astronomy programs in Nepal.
[00:10:21] Speaker D: Okay. Talking about my sorni being here. I was interested in astronomy since age of 9. Is Ms. Mansa Dua already mentioned here about this course involved in our syllabus and of course in our skills.
So talking like we're studying about the astronomy and space science and there was like over the planets about the galaxies and this is what hindered my interest to our okay toward the astronomy. But despite the astronaut interest there was no any opportunity around my community.
I was also far from the Kafando like capital city of Nepal. And however like what is fit. In April of 2020 I stumbled upon a beacon of hope that is on Nepal All Nepal Astro Resource campaign organized by Nepal Astronomical Society which results as I have three provisional discovery up to now. And like this program mark the transformative journey for me. From being a participant I involved into a mentor guiding and inspiring hundred of students and involving them in the astronomy. And I remember I had 80mm telescope with I used to like observe the moon and different planets and I tried like taking that telescope to the community to the road and thankfully thankful to Nepal Astronomical Society which have given me the platform to take the telescope in the community and share the community about this different planet and like make them involved in different programs like in engaging in various campaign outreach program and seminar. I found myself assuming leadership role particularly in my province during World Space Week. None of this would have been possible without the honorary support and guidance of my mentors in the my mentors roles in recognizing and nurturing the lead leaders.
They were always pushing me up when I was trying to last too from different kind of problems in my life. So like they were there to encourage me and support me sharing their problem and like giving me the pathway to not only for the astronomy but how to deal with this number of problems in my life. So in recent highlight of my journey I was honored to receive the Indra Kalai Scholarship for Women in Elspeth from John Paklav of Kathmandu. This recognition serves not only as a personal achievement but also to the power of Preservance, mentorship and the belief of one potential.
[00:13:21] Speaker A: Yeah, this is really is quite extraordinary. And all of you epitomize something that we see around the world that amateur astronomers, those of us who from an early age got very interested in astronomy and finally had a chance to have telescopes and things like that. And then we just need to share it with everybody else. I mean you get a telescope and you take it somewhere else and say hey, you got to look through this telescope. It's not like anything else that I know of really. It's just this urge to share this with others. And you know, your story as well. Deep t in how astronomy.
You get into astronomy because of the love of it, but it really becomes sort of a foundation for life in general, the people that it brings. So this is really an inspirational story about how astronomy has spread throughout Nepal. I want to share a few pictures that you have shared with us and to see the different ways in which you're using astronomy now throughout the country. I don't remember who somebody jumped in here. I don't remember whose photo this is.
[00:14:37] Speaker B: So this was during the Last World Specific 2023 where one of our student mentor went to his area. It is in province one. But even in the province one like it is kind of intersectional as like this is one of the most remote area part in Nepal itself, isn't it ocean. So at the time like he was having some session and during the solar observation session the students seems quite happy and I guess he's the teacher what Sadev has said and she was helping her students to locate the sun through the glass.
[00:15:14] Speaker A: Okay, so this one is really special. Deep. Do you get to tell us about this because you're featured here.
[00:15:21] Speaker D: So this was the picture capturing like this was the program organized in the Lumini province of Nepal which is the like birthplace of Lord Buddha too. And this was the program organized in the like occasion of like in the occasion of early space week. But in plus there was a big festival of Nepal. But this is the festival which we celebrate with the family. But we decided to celebrate with the orphanage family too. We take our telescopes, solar telescope planisphere back to them and make them observe out of celestial bodies and make them like tease them about the planisphere and different opportunities in Nepal.
[00:16:05] Speaker A: And they're in the traditional clothing as well. Yes, this is, this is great then so solar observations once more, different location.
[00:16:19] Speaker B: Yeah. So these days the thing that is getting easier for us is I don't have to look for this outreach activities because now Osan, Deepthi, Sadev and other students who are involved in the office, they do several programs. And this is the outcome of one of the programs in which, like, the students get mentored by these mentors, USAN and Sade and Dipti. And these students, in turn, they went to one of the community schools and they did the session themselves, helping other students to learn. So, like, we are having this kind of, like, network, this chain reaction in which, like, students are getting more empowered themselves and they're taking it back to the community.
[00:17:01] Speaker A: Fabulous. And then once more with solar observations, but with a little twist here. This is a beautiful picture.
[00:17:09] Speaker C: This picture is part of world Space Week 2022, I guess. So this picture, if you show it to any Nepali person, he can easily explain it is the picture of the Dasai festival. So Dasai is one of the largest Hindu festival in Nepal. So one of the great thing is you can see the swing at the background of the image. So the swing is made of bamboo, and it's a cultural thing over here. So during the.
We build those kind of swings in our community and play. So we are doing those festivals. There are gathering. There will be gatherings around the swing. So we took the telescope over there and did solar observation. So we were bringing astronomy and culture together over here.
[00:17:59] Speaker B: Okay, I want to add one more thing, Mike. So in the picture, the telescope that you see, that is the ATMM pressure. I won this SS VI as one of the very early winners of this Telescope for All project. And how we use this telescope is like, those who want to come up with some proposal to take astronomy to their community, they can borrow this telescope and take it back to their places. So at the time when Sade was not too much, like, into the part of the office as a student, he borrowed this telescope, he took it to his place, and like, they had the sessions there.
[00:18:38] Speaker A: Of course, astronomy is part of traditional cultures around the world too. Are there aspects of that that are celebrated in Nepal? Educate me about how astronomy is part of traditional culture in Nepal.
[00:18:53] Speaker B: Okay. So Nepal has very diverse ethnicity, Mike. So I am one of the indigenous cultural group in which, like, before our first period menstruation cycle starts, we have this culture in which the young girls have to stay inside a dark room, like a 10, you know, and we stay there for 12 days. And then. And then, like on the. On the 12th day, we come out of the room and then we get married to the sun God. The reason that we get married to the sun God is in Indian and Nepali culture, the Wife has to burn with. With the funeral during the funeral of her husband if the husband dies early. Right. So in order to save their daughters from being widowed, we are actually married to sun God as sun is taken as the source of energy and like it has a long life. So like in my culture, Dipti is from different cultural background. So in our culture, in my culture, like I never get widow if I get married to a human husband and he dies too. So like I have freedom to do like choose my own path and have my own life and live my life happily. That's why like sun has a very big role in helping us like being like less fearful and like more powerful. So directly or indirectly, like the astronomy. Astronomy has a very big impact on our life. And I don't know much about a lot of things, but like we have some cultural jewelries that are the shape of the moon and the stars that we the. The woman generally they used to put in our hat heads.
[00:20:39] Speaker A: Wow, that. That's really interesting. Deep tea and ocean. Do you have something to add to that?
[00:20:45] Speaker C: Yeah, yeah, yeah. So. So right after the Saiya, we observe other two festivals that are TR and Chaat. So Chaat was mostly earlier, it was mostly popular in the lower lands in the southern region of Nepal. So Chaat is basically the festival where sun itself is worshiped. So in the recent chat festival we went with the telescope to the banks of river. So it is usually celebrated at the banks of the river. So we went there and we conducted a solar observation. So the festival itself is the celebration of the sun and we went with the solar observation.
[00:21:23] Speaker A: That's great. That's perfect. To bring the sun closer to everybody during that time.
That's good. Deepti, I see you nodding. Do you have anything you want to add to this?
[00:21:37] Speaker D: So talking about the festivals, I think I want to add that our festivals here in Nepal is celebrated according to the lunar calendar.
[00:21:46] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:21:46] Speaker D: So like mainly there is like if full moon day is called Purnima and if there's no one day that's Aussie and they are celebrated.
They both are celebrated and festival are mainly celebrated as according to the lunar calendar.
[00:22:03] Speaker A: Yes.
[00:22:05] Speaker B: I would like you to add on the Guru Purnima thing because you have more idea on that particular thing.
[00:22:11] Speaker C: Okay.
It correlates more with mythologies. So Guru Purnima is the festival which is observed when we have a full moon, when the sun is appeared before the Gemini constellation and the full moon is happening in the Sagittarius constellation. So. So it's. It's Basically happening. I think it's. It's in the August. I think August or September.
[00:22:40] Speaker B: July.
[00:22:40] Speaker C: July or August. July, I think so. So as per. As per our Nepalese calendar, it's usually in the Vaadra month.
I don't know. It's in the Assar month. It's usually in the Assar month at that time. So our culture, our calendar is usually formed on the basis of the apparent position of the sun and the moon. So we have festivals like the Guru Purnima, which itself correlates to guru with somebody of teacher. And Purnima is celebrated on the occasion of pulmonary and same like Dasai Desai is also celebrated on the basis of the lunar calendar. It usually falls on in either October or November. So most of the festivals that are observed I can tell about in the festivals, it is celebrated on the basis of solar and lunar calendar.
[00:23:38] Speaker A: Well, you know, it's interesting because in a lot of cultures, astronomy is important, but we've lost connection with the night sky because of the light pollution. I know Kathmandu is a big city and there's plenty of light there. The other cities smaller, so maybe there's more connection. But this is.
These traditions are ways that we keep in contact with the night sky and the daytime sky with the sun as well. So they're important. So now there are other ways, other things that you do here too. This is something that's very common throughout South Asia, not as common in other places. Water rockets.
Who wants to tell us about this?
[00:24:19] Speaker B: Okay, so we are actually using astronomy and specialize as tool to promote STEM education, particularly science education in the country. Mike, to be honest, and like one of the activities during the World Space Week and you can see Sadeb at the background.
And the thing, the main thing about this water rocket walks up is not just the water rocket the students made, but each and everything except for the hand pump. Sadeb and his team, they made it themselves using the trashes and scraps. So I'm quite proud saying it here that like our students, our team has learned how to make their environment at their community resourceful. So, like up to some extent, I think like they have stopped the blaming culture and learned to grow themselves and helping others to grow as well, along.
[00:25:20] Speaker A: The lines of promoting stem. Manisha, you're very involved in many ways, as was clear from your introduction, in promoting women in STEM through astronomy, other means as well. And this was part here of an international celebration of women.
[00:25:43] Speaker B: Yeah, so it was. It was the group photo taken during the Women in Golden Astronomy Month that we Just celebrated on like within that time frame, February 11th to March 9th. I. I actually forgot the exact date. So like March, March 12th, third master. Yeah. So actually like this was meant to thank all the girls and women who are involved in promoting astronomy and doing astronomy and who were in Kathmandu itself as a Thanksgiving program to celebrate their presence and their contribution in promoting astronomy. So we named this program Women in Astronomy Nepal Meet and Greet Program. But Sures, Ocean and Shahadep and few other people, they were also the part of the program. So like this, during this event, all the participants that we had here had a very wonderful diversity in term of ace starting from 9 to 55 plus. And they were from diverse background, students, mentors and the youth activists. And someone is also, some of them are also from like pr. And you can also see Srishti sees the ledger of the Blind Rock, an organization for villi impaired group of people.
[00:27:12] Speaker A: And let's point out Suresh in the back second from the left.
Yeah. Next to Ocean, I believe. Is that right? Is that.
What are the little circles?
[00:27:26] Speaker B: Okay. Ocean.
[00:27:29] Speaker C: Yeah. So they were a small kind of play cast. So it was written like, I support women and girls in astronomy. So the girls are holding like, I'm a girl in astronomy. And the women are holding I'm a woman in astronomy. And we boys and over there we're telling we support women and girls in astronomy.
[00:27:48] Speaker B: So they were short of very small badass.
[00:27:53] Speaker A: Yes, yes. Interesting. And we have another picture here of Srishti, I think you said, who is carrying a cane there. She is blind, but she's.
Tell us, tell us about her.
[00:28:08] Speaker B: I think Lexi is the chairperson, but like, or president, whatever. But for this Blind Rock society, you know, organization that is the organization for visually impaired people. She's one of the very wonderful motivational speaker and the motivational person in Nepali youth frame. She's quite celebrated. And like every year we used to do at least one program that is dedicated to visually impaired students. And this year like we will be doing, we are planning to do one session that like I talked to Tim Spock last time and last year we have this inclusive universe in which like we have it, it was one to one interaction because like we were trying to be the part of this inclusive. Not like most of the time it is something like if, if I invite Srishti and people in her communities, like we are, we are including. But we try to, we try to change the, change that type of norm. And like what we started is like whatever we will be doing, we'll be Doing one to one. Because even in your universe, like I. I do not understand how you do your work or do things. So like it was inclusive in from both the sides and we have this textile and like we also have out no observation. The moon observation session for the partial blind. And after seeing the telescope, what we did was like we had the step of the moon that we cut out of the old yoga mats and like led the participants, the visually impair participants touch it like how. What. What kind of stuff they had been doing. So like these are some of the examples of the programs that we have been doing with them. And yeah, before that, like we did this session, I think you remember Mike, the paper, the paper model, Lena, Lena Canis. You know, like she, she said that idea to me and she had sent that kid to me in 2014 after I met her in the GTTP GSOU at Grish. And like we have been using that model to help the blind people understand how astronomy works. And like slowly, like we are just changing the pattern and doing it a little in a little more advanced way with the supplies that we actually have.
[00:30:32] Speaker A: Yeah, well, there's quite a bit of astronomy for the blind happening here and there. Lena and others have been involved in that. I've been involved with that for some time with the iu. Astronomy for Equity has started a group of sharing these resources. We'll have to get you into that too to explain so that we can have more of this happening around the world. Because there are so many resources and ways of doing this that people don't think about. So it's another topic for another podcast with the leaders in that. But I'm really struck by all the diversity in everything in Nepal and everything that you are doing there. And the.
Here's an example. I think this is. Yeah, this is another one that's. I think Suresh there with deaf students now is this.
[00:31:26] Speaker C: So this image is from deaf school. So it's a school for students with hearing impairment and it's located in Ratnagar, where I'm from. Over here. Over here we are. At that time we were forming an astronomical as a part of Asian project. So it's Asian project. It's Astronomy for Community Empowerment. I think Mohnisha ma'am will explain more about it later. So over here, over here. And the woman in pink dress is the translator. So Sirishar is over here explaining to how to use. I think that's planisphere she's holding. That's the planet sphere. So he's trying to explain the strength to use the planisphere and the translator is translating his words and his actions. So we reach out to the students with hearing empowerment back in 2021 as a part of World Space Week program. So we continuous after that we are in a contact continuously and we are at least trying to do at least minimum one program each year in that community. And in 23 we went there with a big program actually and we fund an astronomical club and also we gave telescope manspace and other astronomical equipments. So the great thing is that after we introduced the club and after some orientation, those students were capable enough to go to the community, to go to these schools, the normal schools and, and do outreach programs over there. So they were conducting astronomical solar observation and other and also getting the uses of sundial and planisphere to other normal students after. So it's kind of very inspiring and impactful to see these students growth.
[00:33:14] Speaker A: So the students that you are bringing astronomy to who are not usually included in these programs then take the astronomy to the others who don't have the same disabilities.
[00:33:28] Speaker C: Right?
[00:33:28] Speaker A: Which.
[00:33:29] Speaker B: Exactly.
[00:33:30] Speaker A: That's a. That's I think the first time I've heard of that. That's really.
[00:33:35] Speaker B: So these days they are quite independent, Mike. They're actually like being requested from lot of the community schools around them and they are taking it without anyone's support. And the community is growing and I think like within this five month time frame they have reached more than 1500 students in the community mind here.
[00:33:55] Speaker A: Now here we see the banner for Astronomy for Community Empowerment in Nepal which another fantastic program using Astronomy for Impact.
[00:34:09] Speaker B: So Astronomy for Community Empowerment is the project that is supported by IAUAD and the last photo that we were talking about Diffuse School, they were also the part of this Astronomy for Community Empowerment project. And this particular picture that we are seeing right now, we have one woman on the left side, right. So she is the principal of this school where we, we formed this club. And that was the first club to have this astronomy club form under this project. And they were given the astronomy in a box kit along with a telescope and they were trained during a walk up and like they were also given extra assistance after completion of their program. So these students as a part of the project they have to reach out to at least five community schools and they have to do one community session in the local community. And through this project this particular school has reached out to more than 1,000 students in. In the locality. And the best thing about this school is of this particular club is like Even though, like, this is a community school and students, they went to, like, some of the. No, they got requests from some of the elite schools in Kathmandu in which they did not just had this sessions, but, like, they collaborate and they did the sessions different season.
[00:35:44] Speaker A: Here's one where I just. Like the locale Ocean. I think this was yours.
[00:35:50] Speaker C: Yeah. So this photo is one of the outreach program that we conducted back in 2022. 2023. 23. So it was 2023. Yeah. So there was a program organized on the. On the occasion of a woman's day. So we were requested for a solar outreach program. But due to the cloud.
And due to the cloud, it became cloudy and it started to drizzle a little. So we had to go under the. Under the temple for Silda. But despite that, we had a group of women cyclists to. They joined us and they wanted to take a view to observe through the telescope. So this picture was captured during that moment. And over there we have Sahadibrai. So he's also our teammate. So he's guiding the woman. The woman over here to observe through the telescope. So I think we were observing one of the roof of a temple which was kind of located at the distance. So he was trying. He was. He was trying to show them through telescope.
[00:36:54] Speaker B: Yeah. And it is what it is. This session was taking place at one of the UN World Heritage Sites.
[00:37:02] Speaker C: Yeah, it's called Patan Darbar Square.
[00:37:05] Speaker A: This is what we have to deal with in astronomy. We can't control the weather, but still, if you have a telescope, it's a great demonstration. Most people have never even looked through a telescope, even on the ground, let alone into space. So that's good as well. Another one that I think is just beautiful down in the southern part of Nepal.
[00:37:27] Speaker B: I was also one of the emerging space leader, awadi, back in 2016, and I was the first female from Nepal to get that award. And during one of the. During the program in the ESA booth, I found these papers and I bought it back here. And actually, like my astronomy journey as one of the, like, strong outreach, like outreach manager, let's say, started from this ESA Phili model. And now, like, I still have the original one, which we copied here photocopy. We do the Xerox. And as a basic space science introductory classes, we take this model to the students in which they also get engaged. They enjoy the session, and it does get their interest toward astronomy. So, like, this is at the. Sri Lanka Tapu. Sri Lanka. Sri Lanka Tapu and Sahadep rai last year 2000 in 2023. I think he took the lead and he helped the student make the file model. Or am I. Am I correct? Ocean or. It was during another walks up. I'm confused.
[00:38:46] Speaker C: I think it was during the world specific in Sri Lanka.
[00:38:49] Speaker A: During the world specific, another one with the kids.
Did you.
[00:38:54] Speaker B: Would you like to explain?
[00:38:56] Speaker D: This is a picture from like Astronomy for Community Empowerment, one of the program of Astronomy for Community Empowerment in Nepal. And as Ms. Manchata already mentioned that she's the head teacher of the school and she was teaching how to her student, like how to use the planish sphere and what is the right way to use planishware throughout this program and in this program we would like take planisphere, sundial and telescope and VR and we teaches them how to use them.
[00:39:30] Speaker B: So Mike, like the, the map. The lady you see, she's one of the very strong female principal. Principal and one of a very strong leaders I have seen that I have worked with, like who is doing her best to take astronomy to her students and trying to give them the opportunity like they deserve.
[00:39:54] Speaker A: Strong women seems to be a theme here.
[00:39:57] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:39:58] Speaker A: In Nepal, which is, which is terrific. So this, this next one shows that it's not all basic here. Maybe not as much as this, but virtual reality with the sticker there showing the logo of NASA and oad and oed. Yes, and oad. Do you do very much of this virtual reality?
[00:40:22] Speaker B: Now this is getting into some sort of trend, but you know, like when students are using these VR classes, the thing is it has some extra expenses because the students like they do not have enough money like to get their tiffin or things like that. But in order to have this VR sessions, you know, like we need to have a mobile. Let it be the most basic one. And we also need to get data, like, and not always they are available in the form of like, you know, WI Fi, Internet available in the schools and so on.
[00:41:01] Speaker A: You know, it's one of the things about astronomy. Of course, you've shown very dramatically that you don't need to have things like this. You don't need to spend a lot of money. The laboratory is above there. Some of the communities that you show are really isolated, have no other facilities.
But you can always do astronomy. You know, these isolated areas are going to have a better astronomy laboratory overhead than those of us in the cities do because it's going to be dark. So that's really good. Well, what is ahead? Let's see. Deep T. You start. I'm going to Ask you what, what the future is? What do you think you're going to be doing in the future in Nepal?
[00:41:44] Speaker D: So I'm currently pursuing electrical and electronic engineering at Kathmandu University.
And as my passion is in astronomy, so I'm planning, talking on the future, I'm thinking of mixing the astronomy with engineering.
And second thing is I'm interested in navigation and satellites. So I'm thinking to work in satellite navigation.
[00:42:10] Speaker A: Of course, engineering and astronomy go together. It's one of the things about astronomy that I always mentioned. It's science, technology, engineering and math and it's all in there. So I've seen engineers become astronomers and astronomers become engineers because it's all involved. So, Ocean, what about you? What, what does the future hold and what do you think as far as astronomy in Nepal?
[00:42:35] Speaker C: Well, yeah, astronomy in Nepal beholds like a great potential. We do have really great dark sky in Nepal. So currently where I'm located, I'm in the Kosi Province. It's also known as the province number one. And it's the province where Mount Everest is located. So already it's, it's green in the industry, in the industry of tourism. So currently I'm also now delegating, advocating for the introduction of astrotourism within the policy of the province government of the Kosi. So we recently, back in 2023, the government, the provincial government endorsed the potential of astrotourism. And we are now studying a feasibility study in two districts of Kosi province. It's in Ilam and Solukumbu. So Soleimbu is the district where Mount Everest is located. So we might not be going to the great heights, but we will be at the lowlands of the, of the mountains. So for now I'm, I'm also, I'm advocating for those things. And also ASTRUSM beholds a great potential over here. And I'm also involved in one of the committee. It's called Astromenic Space Science.
So the committee itself was formed after me and others who were formerly part of Astro Stars program of NASA. So we together shared provisional discovery and we went with the mayor, we got a telescope, we started doing outreach and then we realized that as a student we are limited. So the government itself should take the initiation and should take the ownership of promoting and fostering astronomy in the, in the, in the city. So we lobbied for, for that actually. And after months of lobbying, the mayor was convinced and he, and we got the local government introduced a framework to form a committee to foster astronomy and space science in the city. So I'M also one of the members of the committee right now. So we are with the help of the government and we are now bringing Astro Memo down to the community through the, to the school, to the teachers. So the future for me actually, it's really great over here. So we are going down to the community, we are working with the politicians, we are working with leaders, we are inspiring students, we are digging out the potentials and we are doing great deeds.
I'm very, I'm highly hopeful for the potential of astronomy in Nepal.
[00:45:08] Speaker A: That's extraordinary. And I know others who are, came to the United States or other countries to study astronomy and are no longer in Nepal.
But you don't have to do that. I mean there's, there is so much happening there in other ways. It's really quite extraordinary. Astrotourism is a really big growing concern. It's a natural. There's a fair amount of it starting up in Africa, where there's a lot of tourism anyway, but they don't have it at night, so they're starting to include that. And it's a natural for Nepal as well. You can't go too high. You get oxygen deprived enough. I used to go mountains and above about 15,000ft, I couldn't see the night sky very well at all. So 16,000, what is that?
Well, just under 5,000 meters, but that's. You don't have to go that high. So that, that's really remarkable. So, Manisha, you're going to get the last word because I want to know not only for you, but for Nepal. I think deep tea and ocean have said quite a lot about what the future holds as well. But what are your views?
[00:46:24] Speaker B: Okay, let me go to a bit back to the time I joined Nepal astronomical Society in 2013. Mike. So like when I, I joined Nepal Astronomical Society, the people, the, the old team who were there, they actually didn't wanted me to come to be the part of Nassau and get some position.
And they. It was not legally registered at the time. So like it was a small group of people who were not trying to, you know, like make it bigger at the time. Like it was. Sure. So like, he's kind of my mentor who took the initiative to like bring me and two other new, new faces to the, to Naso. And then even though like they are not here and none of the people like, who actually like demanded not to take me into the team are not in Nepal and not actually contributing to astronomy in Nepal at the moment, it was him. So like, I'm forever grateful to this particular person because of him. Now you can see someone like Suresh and Dipti, they're just an example of the newer, newer generation who are, who has, who got into the nazo and like they're taking astronomy to the grassroots level and like they are seeing the future themselves. Now I don't think, like I'm not sure what I will be doing next but you know, like I won't be stopping what I'm doing currently and I will like my dream, like what the future that I see is. Like I will be generating more ocean and more deep and more sadiq, you know, like who will be, who will understand their responsibility as a like responsible citizen and who can build a future of astronomy in Nepal itself. Furthermore, like I'm doing my PhD in high energy astrophysics and few years back like Suresh and I, we both were not allowed to do like PhD in Nepal, but like luckily I got one supervisor who took me in and like, even though like Suresh is not able to do the hard core astronomy, he's into like atmospheric physics, but we are intact together. So I'm doing my PhD in high energy astrophysics at the moment. So I see my future in astronomy in astrophysics as one of the academics so that like I can let other girls and other students understand like it can be done in the country itself. The only thing that you need to remember is to be resourceful. Thank you, Mike.
[00:48:59] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah, that's absolutely fabulous. It's an amazing story of astronomy being used to improve the whole country as well as the individual lives. All of you are really remarkable, an example, I think, for the rest of the world. So I want to thank you all very much for taking part in, in this and sharing what you're doing Nepal with the rest of the world and setting an example for everyone else. So thank you very much.
[00:49:30] Speaker B: Thank you so much, Mike. Thank you so much for having.
[00:49:33] Speaker C: Thank you Mike for this platform.
[00:49:35] Speaker A: Thank you.
