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GAM2022 - Philippines

By Reuel Norman Marigza posted 05-01-2022 07:47

  
Global Astronomy Month 2022 has just ended and here are the event highlights from the Philippines:

With some COVID restrictions still in effect in the Philippines, most participation this year remained online. Various organizations, institutions, and individuals utilized their social media pages for posting about GAM. On the Global Astronomy Month - Philippines Facebook group we made a series of posts for the duration of the month that featured the different aspects of the field of astronomy, from its many branches, to its multi- and inter-disciplinary studies. Journal articles on the given features were also presented at their respective comment sections.

The University of the Philippines Los Baños Astronomical Society also had month long postings on their Facebook page which featured Astronomy in Arts. Their series of posts were entitled AstroExhibit which focused on Astronomy in Pop Culture. These included movies, literary works, visual arts, and games. The posts were also conducted in partnership with different organizations.
GAM2022 feature from UPLB Astronomical Society


The University of the Philippines Baguio Astronomy Society conducted the second edition of their ALPAS (Ang Layag Para Abutin ang Sansinukob) Lecture Series. The first edition was conducted last February during the National Astronomy Week celebration, and the second edition was on April 2-3 for GAM. There were four lectures conducted via Zoom by society members: Stars on Stone: An Introduction to Archeoastronomy (Aldous Rubio) ; Cepheids: Intro to Pulsating Yardsticks (Christal De Vera); Which Planet is Earth's Closest Neighbor? (James Elian); and The Binary Nature of Habitability in a Dynamic Universe: An Astrobiological Application of Ecology (Mark Villarubia).

The Bedan Society of Young Astronomers also conducted a series of activities for the month. The club adviser conducted online telescope viewing of the Moon and the Sun on the BSYA Facebook page. BSYA also started a podcast series called Cosmoquest. Their guests included Engr. Camillo Dacanay, Ma. Angela Lequiron, Anthony Urbano, and Dr. Armando Lee. A webinar on Going Back to the Moon was conducted on April 27 with Rodion Herrera as guest speaker.



The Astronomical League of the Philippines conducted a new webinar series this GAM2022 called ALP Astronomy Experts Speaker Series 2022. Their first webinar was held on April 23 with Dr. Jay Pasachoff who discussed on An Antartic Eclipse: Observations of the December 4, 2021 Total Solar Eclipse from Antartica. On April 30 was a webinar with Zolt Levay where he discussed about Visualizing Hubble's Colorful Universe. Other webinars in the series will extend beyond GAM with Joe Rao and Fred Espenak as speakers for May [Read more here https://www.space.com/saturday-eclipse-talk-apl-webinar-series].




The National Museum of the Philippines also shared a post for GAM on their Facebook page, wherein they showcased two of their meteorites displayed.

Khristian Dimacali gave an overview of GAM and the GAM calendar of events during a Stellar Sunday session of his Facebook page Cosmic Memory Kid last April 10. Here he spent the first half of his livestream discussing about GAM and the ongoing and upcoming events.

The Philippine Space Agency and the Rizal Technological University Astronomy Society both shared informational posts about GAM on their respective Facebook pages.




On April 11 Norman Marigza, the AWB-National Coordinator for the Philippines and creator of the Working Group on Philippine Cultural Astronomy, conducted a lecture on ethnoastronomy entitled Stellar Connections: Understanding the Human Connection to the Cosmos. This was part of the FB Live presentations on the Astronomers Without Borders page. All the other FB Live presentations were also shared to the Global Astronomy Month - Philippines Facebook group.

During the GAM SunDay event the Guild for Astronomy Innovation and Advancement - Open Research And Collaborative Learning Experience (GAIA-ORACLE) conducted a series of posts describing features of white light observation.

The Department of Science and Technology - Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical, and Astronomical Services Administration (DOST-PAGASA) shared their video coverage of the Moon-Venus-Jupiter Conjunction of April 27 using their 45cm GOTO Telescope. They also held a Virtual Planetarium Show on April 29 via Zoom and Facebook.

On behalf of AWB we thank everyone who participated from the Philippines for this year's GAM and we look forward to your continued involvement as One People, One Sky!

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