The Largest Astronomical project in Sri Lanka for High-School students.
20th Consecutive Year - 2026
Star Party, Sri Lanka is the Largest High-School level Astronomical event in Sri Lanka and it is organized annually by Anandian Astronomical Association and Astronomical Society of Mahamaya Girls' College, Kandy which are the pioneering schools of Sri Lankan high-school based Astronomy. Every year, the event is held on a specific day at Peradeniya University premises for 15 hours overnight. Star party, Sri Lanka the event has a legendary history of 19 years which has been associated with its quality and the objectives. The event consists of the first-ever Astronomical Observation Competition in the South Asian region, A workshop and An Astrophotography competition. Each year more than 500 high-school students, more than 60 high-school teachers and more than 200 observers participate in the programme. Teams for the observation competition were selected through a selection criteria by the Academic committee. Furthermore, In 2009 It was reported as the main International Year of Astronomy (IYA) event from Sri Lanka. In 2019 It was endorsed as a Global Astronomy Month event by AWB, From 2012 to 2019 it was endorsed by Space Generation Advisory Council and this year it has been endorsed by International Astronomical Search Collaboration. In 2025, it has got endorsement of British Astronomical Association (BAA).
In this year (2026), It celebrates its 19th year of excellence and will be held on 13th and 14th of March, 2026 at the aforementioned location with the participation of more than 500 participants. All the academic activities are done by the Academic Committee of Star party 2026. The competition is held in a highly standard manner according to the international standards of reporting observations. We have been following BAA and AAVSO general standards for marking the reports and a marking scheme is also prepared. All the past marking schemes, question papers and results are uploaded into the Star Party, Sri Lanka official web page (www.starparty.lk). The winners are awarded with Star Party Trophy and crowned as "The Best Observational Astronomy Team in Sri Lanka" while certificates are presented to all participants.
The organizers and the academic committee voluntarily spend hard-working time for months to organize a FREE and high-quality event for the development of Astronomy in Sri Lanka. We would like to offer an international level experience to all the participants. Being a developing country it's quite difficult to organize such a huge event. But we hope to continue this for future generations as well. Our utmost effort is to make a better future for the students and develop the level of Astronomy in Sri Lanka.
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