Global Hands-On Universe First Africa Regional Conference

Al Akhawayn University in Ifrane

Sep. 25 – 29, 2019

Program

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)

Thursday, September 26^th

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)

September 28 - 29th:

Post conference tour: Fez, Meknes, and region