Celebrating IAU100 in Egypt | Kick-off Events

At the end of October 2018, the Astronomy Department at the National Institute for Astronomical Research and the Scientific Society of Astronomy and Space held an activity within the scope of the IAU100 celebrations in Egypt and the observation of the orthogonality phenomenon of the Sun at the Abu Simbel temple.

On 20-22 October 2018, the event began with a team of young researchers and scientists of the Astronomy Department who held a public lecture at the Nile Cultural Center in Aswan. The lectures were followed by an astronomical evening to observe planets, stars and constellations. The set of talks were part of an introduction to Astronomy and the science behind the Sun’s orthogonality phenomena. The team then proceeded to the Abu Simple temple to observe the orthogonality of the Sun on Ramses II, where the Sun penetrates the structure and illuminates the sculptures on the back wall of the cavity.

The Abu Simbel complex is part of a UNESCO World Heritage Site, composed of impressive rock temples carved from the mountainside during the 19th dynasty reign of the Pharaoh Ramesses II, in the 13th century BC. They are located at Abu Simbel, a village in Nubia, in southern Egypt near Aswan.

On October 28 2018, the Scientific Society of Astronomy & Space in Egypt – SSAS Egypt, hosted its second activity, with Prof. Hadia Seleem, the president of the society, honouring two astronomy pioneers in Egypt, Prof. Roshdy Azar Ghabres and Prof. Mohamed El Nawwy, as well as honouring two other researchers for their outstanding research during 2018, Drs Ahmed Shokry and Gamal El Din. The celebration also hosted two lectures on Astrochemistry and Modern Cosmology.