Events

“From the Quarks to Cosmos” talk series is back with another weekly lecture series commencing the 12th of March 2022.

The Annual FASE Night was held on the 4th of June 2022 at Udawatta Kele Forest Lodge, Kandy, in parallel with the Annual General Meeting.

The recruitment of new members took place at the Peradeniya botanical gardens on the 24th of April 2022.

A lecture on ‘Introduction to Astronomy’ was conducted to students in Waradiwela Sumanajothi Primary School on the 30th of April 2022, by the Foundation of Astronomical Studies and Exploration (FASE) along with “Prathibhana ’21”, the program organized by the Rotaract Club of University of Peradeniya.

A day out was held at Eagles Regency Hotel, Udaperadeniya, with the participation of about 27 senior and new members.

The Foundation of Astronomical Studies and Exploration proudly celebrated our 12th anniversary on 9th October 2021 via Zoom with the participation of nearly 50 former and current members. With all uncountable memories and knowledge, we have continued to expand the horizons of Sri Lankan Astronomy since its inception in 2009.

Due to the Covid-19 outbreak in the country, the annual FASE night was conducted via the Zoom platform on 2/6/2021 from 11.30 p.m. to 4.00 a.m. next day. About 32 FASE members participated in the event. The former members of FASE shared their experiences with new members. The event was successfully concluded with many fun activities.

The All-Island Art Competition Organized by the Foundation of Astronomical Studies and Exploration was held from 30th of July to 11th of August 2021.

The artworks done by the participants were published on the Facebook page of FASE, and the community has been given the opportunity to select the best art by voting. Prizes and valuable certificates were awarded to the winners.

FASE has successfully concluded the 2nd installment of the first-ever Virtual Astronomical Scavenger Hunt on 11th September 2021 with 12 finalist teams. The selection round was held on 28th August with 68 schools all around the country and in India and Nepal. The competition was conducted via a newly designed website by one of our members. The opening ceremony of the Scavenger hunt was held on 11th September from 7.30 p.m. to 8.00 p.m. via the zoom platform. About 50 former and new members of FASE have joined us to conclude Neo Kosmo’21 successfully. The scavenger hunt was held from 11th September to 12th September.

Championship   – Dharmaraja College Kandy

Runners up        – Nalanda College, Colombo

2nd Runners up – Isipathana College, Colombo

We were proud to be the collaboration partner in the Astronomical workshop organized by the Rotaract Club of University of Peradeniya under the project Prathibhana ’20. The workshop was conducted for grade 8 & 9 students of Wattappola Central College on 3^rd of April 2021, from 9.00 AM to 1.00 PM About 70 students participated in the event.

“From the Quarks to Cosmos” talk series began hosting on 11th of November 2020 and it was successfully concluded on 27th February 2021. The event was held on every Wednesday and Saturday via Google meet. Since Covid-19 pandemic situation makes it impossible to hold Astronomy nights in schools, our talk series covered all the astronomical fields like General Astronomy, Astrophysics, Cosmology, Rocketry and Observation. Each lecture will be uploaded to the FASE web page along with the presentation.

Click here to watch “From Quarks to the Cosmos” lectures.

The Life’s Journey with Astronomy – Live webinar

“The Life’s Journey with Astronomy” has been conducted in a very successful manner on the 16^th of May 2021 from 6 PM to 7.30 PM Over 100 participants were joined the event and we believe that all the participants who joined our Online session have benefited a lot and gained a lot of knowledge regarding astronomy and future careers. We have received very satisfactory feedback from those who joined us. The recording of the live webinar has been uploaded to Facebook page of FASE.

A day out was held at Eagles Regency Hotel, Udaperadeniya, with the participation of about 27 senior and new members.

The Foundation of Astronomical Studies and Exploration proudly celebrated our 12th anniversary on 9th October 2021 via Zoom with the participation of nearly 50 former and current members. With all uncountable memories and knowledge, we have continued to expand the horizons of Sri Lankan Astronomy since its inception in 2009.

Due to the Covid-19 outbreak in the country, the annual FASE night was conducted via the Zoom platform on 2/6/2021 from 11.30 p.m. to 4.00 a.m. next day. About 32 FASE members participated in the event. The former members of FASE shared their experiences with new members. The event was successfully concluded with many fun activities.

The All-Island Art Competition Organized by the Foundation of Astronomical Studies and Exploration was held from 30th of July to 11th of August 2021.

The artworks done by the participants were published on the Facebook page of FASE, and the community has been given the opportunity to select the best art by voting. Prizes and valuable certificates were awarded to the winners.

FASE has successfully concluded the 2nd installment of the first-ever Virtual Astronomical Scavenger Hunt on 11th September 2021 with 12 finalist teams. The selection round was held on 28th August with 68 schools all around the country and in India and Nepal. The competition was conducted via a newly designed website by one of our members. The opening ceremony of the Scavenger hunt was held on 11th September from 7.30 p.m. to 8.00 p.m. via the zoom platform. About 50 former and new members of FASE have joined us to conclude Neo Kosmo’21 successfully. The scavenger hunt was held from 11th September to 12th September.

Championship   – Dharmaraja College Kandy

Runners up        – Nalanda College, Colombo

2nd Runners up – Isipathana College, Colombo

We were proud to be the collaboration partner in the Astronomical workshop organized by the Rotaract Club of University of Peradeniya under the project Prathibhana ’20. The workshop was conducted for grade 8 & 9 students of Wattappola Central College on 3^rd of April 2021, from 9.00 AM to 1.00 PM About 70 students participated in the event.

“From the Quarks to Cosmos” talk series began hosting on 11th of November 2020 and it was successfully concluded on 27th February 2021. The event was held on every Wednesday and Saturday via Google meet. Since Covid-19 pandemic situation makes it impossible to hold Astronomy nights in schools, our talk series covered all the astronomical fields like General Astronomy, Astrophysics, Cosmology, Rocketry and Observation. Each lecture will be uploaded to the FASE web page along with the presentation.

Click here to watch “From Quarks to the Cosmos” lectures.

The Life’s Journey with Astronomy – Live webinar

“The Life’s Journey with Astronomy” has been conducted in a very successful manner on the 16^th of May 2021 from 6 PM to 7.30 PM Over 100 participants were joined the event and we believe that all the participants who joined our Online session have benefited a lot and gained a lot of knowledge regarding astronomy and future careers. We have received very satisfactory feedback from those who joined us. The recording of the live webinar has been uploaded to Facebook page of FASE.

NOX CAELO was a public event organized by FASE in collaboration with the Rotaract Club of the University of Peradeniya which was held on the 27th of May 2020 from 5.00 p.m to 6.30 p.m via the zoom app.

The main objective of the event was to conduct a live discussion on “Wonders of the night sky” and to strengthen the enthusiasm on the night sky observation of the participants. Apart from the main objective, it was a great opportunity to reach out to the public as well.

Mr. Tharindu Rajasooriya, B.Sc. Hons. Physics special (UOP) ,Ph.D. reading(Emory University ,USA) delivered the guest speech & conducted the session-based on the questions that arose from the audience. The discussion was held successfully with around 100 participants including high school students, undergraduate students, and graduates.

NEO KOSMO is the first ever virtual Astronomical Scavenger hunt organized in Sri Lanka. It was held on 1^st and 4^th July,2020 using online platform.The event was organize in order to enhance school children’s knowledge in astronomy while popularizing optics and photonics among them.

The quiz competition was conducted in two rounds, selection round and the Scavenger hunt round(final round).

The selection round was held with 200 participants of 40 different teams, all over the South Asia. The top 10 teams were selected to the scavenger hunt round based on marks of the selection round.

The scavenger hunt round was very competitive. Girls’ High School, Kandy won the competition. Ananda college, Colombo and Bandaranayake college, Gampaha won second and third places respectively.

All the participants gave a positive feedback about the event.

11^th Anniversary Celebration of FASE – 9th October 2020

FASE has celebrated its 11^th anniversary on 9^th October 2020. This time we had to celebrate FASE birthday online because of the Covid-19 pandemic situation. The celebration was conducted as an online gathering via google meets on 18^th of October 2020 with the participation of about 45 past and present members. The event was companing by Athulya Rathnayake.

The event was commenced by sharing a small video clip about how FASE celebrated its anniversaries in past few years. The participants were welcomed by president Tharindra Koralegedara.

Ms. Lasni Buddhibhashika a founder member of FASE shared her memories on how the club started and her experiences as a founder member of FASE.

Thereafter, the members shared their ideas for the continuation of the FASE society. The future plans of the association were presented by the Vice President Sanjula Senadheera as currently discussed. Past members also suggested for events that could be held to expand the association and increase the interest in astronomy among the people in our country.

There was a friendly and fun conversation between past members and present members. The members commented on the event and said that the event succeeded. The old members said that they are very happy with the current situation of the association and added their best wishes for the future works.

Finally, the vote of thanks given by FASE secretary Sandeepani Dissanayake. Then the event was successfully over.

The first night of the night series was held at Am/ Nawamedagama Central College , Dehiaththakandiye on 20^th September, 2019 from 7 pm onwards.The main objective of this event was to promote and popularize astronomy among school children.

The event was conducted with nearly 150 participants. It was mainly focused on students between 11yrs and 16yrs.

There were a lecture series with nine lectures, a sky observation session using telescopes and a workshop on optics and Photonics. Students got a chance to make their own simple telescope models during the workshop.

After a 11 hours of session, the audience left with excitement, leaving great feedback.

A solar observation campaign for the general public was conducted on the 26^th of December 2019. It was organized to allow witnessing the annular solar eclipse 2019 using proper methods. The participants have got the chance to observe the eclipse with our new telescope Celestron Nxtstar 8se and using solar eclipse shades. The event was conducted for five hours with the participation of over 400 local and foreign public. Furthermore, it was a great opportunity to reach out to the public as well.       

 38 FASE members have given their contribution as event organizers. The event was succeeded and the feedback of observers was excellent.