Global Hands-On Universe First Africa Regional Conference
Al Akhawayn University in Ifrane
Sep. 25 – 29, 2019
Wednesday, September 25
th
15:30 – 17:00 Registration (Event Room, Building 2)
19:00 – 20:00 Visit to Al Akhawayn Observatory (AUI Annexe)
20:00 Gala Dinner, Faculty Club (AUI Annexe)
21:30 - 23:30 Star Night Astronomy Event, Al Akhawayn School of Ifrane (open to all)
09:00 – 09:30 Late Registration (Building 8B, Hall)
09:30 - 09:50 Opening Ceremony (Building 8B, Auditorium)
09:50 - 10:30 Session I – Global Hands-On Universe
- GHOU overview, Bonnie Thurber
- GHOU-Morocco, the Al Akhawayn Observatory (AAO), Hassane Darhmaoui
10:30 - 11:00 Coffee break
11:00 – 12:20 Session II – Remote Telescopes in Education
- Remote telescopes to bring space sciences to the classroom, Bonnie Thurber & Patrick Miller
- A fully remote and robotic observatory: the Oukaimeden case, Zouhair Benkhaldoun
- Instrumentations de spectroscopie en remote: process d’acquisition des spectres, Abdelmajid Benhida
12:30 - 14:30 Lunch
14:30 - 16:00 Session III: Astronomy Education Initiatives (Building 2, Event Room)
- The Portable Planetarium: A Traveling K-12 Scientific Event, Mehri Fadavi, and Nisaa Kirtman
- Astronomy for Indigenous People, Ismail Moumen
- Fun Astronomy, Abdelhafid Bani
- Popularization of astronomy and astrophotography using MAO Remote Telescope, Zakaria Belhaj
- Ateliers Instruments Anciens, Nasser Sqalli
16:00 – 17:40 Session IV: Asteroids and Meteorites
- Primitive Asteroids and Meteorites: Insights into the Formation and Evolution of the Solar System, Driss Takir
- ATTARIK Foundation, an initiative to promote meteoritics and planetary science in Morocco and beyond, Hasnaa Chennaoui Aoudjehane and ATTARIK Foundation board of directors
- Workshop: Metorites from Morocco exhibition , Maria Aboulahris, Larbi Zennouri, Soukaina Arif, ATTARIK Foundation
17:40 - 18:00 Coffee break
18:00 - 19:00 Side event - Presidential lecture (AUI, Event Room, Building 2) “The New Cosmos: The XXIst Century Version” by Jamal Mimouni
Friday, September 27th: (Building 8B, Auditorium)
09:00 – 10:30 Session VI: Asteroids and Outreach programs
- The Hayabusa2 Sample Return Mission at the Primitive Asteroid (162173) Ryugu, Driss Takir
- COSMO - The Center for Online Science and Mathematics Outreach, Patrick Miller
- Nanosatellites, new space stars! Mourad Faraj (Astrolabe)
- My Arabic Universe in a Box, Sara Jafghali & Hassane Darhmaoui
10:30 – 11:00 Coffee break
11:00 – 12:00 Round table: Bringing astronomy to Arab and African secondary schools
- Zouhair Benkhaldoun, President of the Arab Astronomical Society (ArAS)
- Hasnaa Chennaoui Aoudjehane, ATTARIK Foundation president
- Patrick Miller, Director of the International Asteroid Search Campaign (IASC)
- Jamal Mimouni, President of the African Astronomical Society (AfAS)
- Bonnie Thurber, GHOU-US president
12:00 – 12:30 Closing Ceremony
12:30 - 14:30 Lunch
17:00 - 23:00 Astronomy Festival of Ifrane – Downtown Ifrane (see festival’s program)
Post conference tour: Fez, Meknes, and region