A TRIP WORTH THE EFFORT!
By Mezemir (English Dep’t)
The trip to the Entoto Observatory meant for the Debre Berhan University (DBU) community was a golden opportunity for science lovers. The Ethiopian Space Science Society’s (ESSS) DBU Branch was preparing for this trip for months. Even the Ministry of Education in Addis Ababa sent additional buses for this purpose. On Saturday, April 26, 2014, 70 teachers, and 255 students headed to the area from Debre Berhan at 7:00 a.m. and reached the observatory at 10:30 a.m.
ENTOTO’S STRATEGIC IMPORTANCE
Till the telescope operators came to the area, we had been visiting Entoto, and the capital under a reconstruction seemed to have fallen under our control. An instructor told me that a student asked him what the town lying ahead of us was called. Really! For a new comer and for one who doesn’t know the capital well, this town may be confused for another. Neway Belachew said that the place was windy, the topography pleasant, and it would be nice if they had wind power generating plant in addition. Someone asked me, “Why do your relatives like such high places?” “Which ones are they?” I asked back. “Taitu et al!” “My God! Taitu is nearer to you than she is to me!” I thought. “Why Entoto?” You may ask, too. Experts’ answers await you below. Past the Entoto church and in the middle of the dense Eucalyptus forest, this scientific oasis is properly sited.
WHAT REALLY IS IN THE BREATHTAKINGLY EXPENSIVE OBSERVATORY?
Before the visit, the place would be taken for just an ordinary one for laymen as it had only a few buildings without a fence. The planners built two special hut-like structures, a guest house, and a server room. The roof of the hut-like structures, the dome, is a half circle whose purpose is to protect the telescope from sunlight, frost and rain. On the dome, there is a window which closes and opens for the telescope to access the outer space. The dome revolves 360 degrees; however, at this time, the testing stage, where there is no observation yet, we haven’t seen it revolving. Did we regret then? No, we shared the hope the scientists there have.
The automated telescope which is provided and set up by a German company, Astelco, occupies the second floor one of the hut-like structure. No light is permitted at the telescope room. They say even Addis Ababa city’s light disturbs a little bit at night, the convenient and only time for observation. The one-meter-diameter mirror is at the bottom part of the telescope accompanied by two side mirrors and another top mirror that reflects what comes from up the sky. Our guide told us that in Chili, Atacama Desert, and elsewhere in the civilized world there are big telescopes with mirrors long in diameter – up to 16 meters. A 32- meter-diameter telescope is said to be under construction in the developed world. Our Optical telescope cost 3.4 million Euro including installation. There are radio telescopes elsewhere in the world. The telescope is manually operated using buttons. Reflected rays will come to the down mirror, and then, they go to the side ones. After this, they go to the control room in the ground floor where the data is changed to image form and people see it. If big diameter telescopes were there, one would see much area, but precision would go down. Hey! Please don’t just expect a telescope that you see through with your naked eyes without machine processing.
Downstairs is the place for the control cabinet which contains a spectrograph with a CCD camera, two terabyte highly concentrated computer and a six-hour-serving battery. The spectrograph is used to process the data captured and supply to the computer, which changes it to images decipherable by people. When the observatory goes operational, using a pc anyone who is permitted to use can access the services from anywhere in the country. “In what interval do you record?” asked one of the 25 professors visiting in my group. “We record the data needed; if someone says I need a certain star, he can access,” responded the operator who must be the mechanical engineer.
Asked outside the visit, Bulti Kumera, a Micro Biologist, commented, “To acquaint ourselves with the environment and to have geographical information this observatory is useful.” We visited till 12 a.m. and started our back journey. The mathematician, Mengisu Calchisa, is also interested in the research and development that this observatory enhances.
WHY OBSERVATORY? WHY SPACE SCIENCE?
Our physicists, who are busy compensating the time we lost without a good acquaintance with the space, won’t hesitate to teach people about the field of space science. They answer questions you may ask just out of curiosity: Why Observatory? Why Space Science? Gezahegn sufa, auditor of DBU ESSS and an atmospheric physicist, has a lot to say about the discipline: “Field trips should be integrated with the curriculum since students get motivated when they practice. When they go to work also they won’t get confused. For Ethiopia to grow, a scientific society should be built. At this time space science is a matter of survival, not luxury. We can relate it to securing our developmental sites. We should also work to have internationally competent experts and contribute to the development of science. We shall not be neutral in this regard. This is connected with food security, security and our day-to-day lives. In the developed world you shall not tell your location in a relative sense, but you just tell the latitude and longitude which is detected by GPS. Space Science should be included under the curriculum at least at degree level. If there is a shortage of doctors, you can be treated using tele-medicine. The ESSS should not last long as an association and the government should set up something more than this. Space science and observatory are separate organizations. Space science helps the Entoto observatory through the fund it gets from donors. ESSS should have its own television and radio programs since its main wish is to inculcate its ideas to the public; it cannot just make all the people its members. Above all, a planetary museum should be set up for the public to know about our activities.”
Gizaw Berhanu, a physics instructor and a PhD candidate at the University of South Africa, who was unable to give me an interview because of the telephone network problem, said the trip gave a good lesson particularly to the students. I believe that this network problem shall be resolved when our observatory and the ESSS achieve their missions.
Kibru Teka, a mathematics instructor said, “I feel happy to see the observatory; I will come for a visit when the observation begins; everything made me happy. When it goes operational, it will be useful for research, and we will launch rocket from here. We can also sell the data.”
Asked what he and his students benefited from the trip Asratemedhin Bekele, a physics instructor and a PhD candidate at the University of South Africa, said “it has an immense contribution to the country’s development; it tells you which season or month is conducive for agriculture, and its importance for the students is that it will be helpful to learn in practice the courses they are given at the university. For example, introduction to space physics, astrophysics, astronomy, space physics, metrology, and plasma physics are the courses in this area given in our department. Students who take those courses benefit from the observatory when they need to conduct a research. It is a nice opportunity to collect data.”
Asked what stakeholders should contribute for the observatory and the field, Asrate responded:
Our university is the sixth involving itself in the activity of the ESSS where the number of universities in the country is more than 31. As a member of the ESSS, DBU donated ESSS 200,000 Birr. Universities like ours should feel ownership and the society’s importance to our country will be high. After five years, we will launch an information satellite. Likewise, Ali Gebeyehu, an instructor of GIS and remote sensing here at DBU, wrote to me that, “The observatory is a breakthrough to develop the infrastructure of space science. One of the branches of space science, the satellite technology, which is important for communication (mobile, television, and internet…) has a tremendous importance for development. As we know, satellites are also significant for weather and climatic data collection, for the detection of resources which are found on the surface of the earth, and for the planning of urban and rural land.”
Gezahegn asks a question that he answers himself, “Is space science a luxury? No, it is a matter of survival!” Let me take this opportunity to thank all the active professors at all of our colleges for helping DBU move one kneel ahead in such endeavors as the physicist did! Finally, I think you wondered where the white, big metal birds of Mesqel Square built to illuminate the Ethiopian Millennium are left. I had a glance of them in the Entoto forest. In the Social Science magazine, I will discuss an issue related to this: Solid waste. I also saw women fuel wood carriers who undergo a debilitating task and felt sad. You know? The one I saw unloaded her bundle by a bridge and gave water to the baby she was carrying in the front.
By Mezemir (English Dep’t)
The trip to the Entoto Observatory meant for the Debre Berhan University (DBU) community was a golden opportunity for science lovers. The Ethiopian Space Science Society’s (ESSS) DBU Branch was preparing for this trip for months. Even the Ministry of Education in Addis Ababa sent additional buses for this purpose. On Saturday, April 26, 2014, 70 teachers, and 255 students headed to the area from Debre Berhan at 7:00 a.m. and reached the observatory at 10:30 a.m.
ENTOTO’S STRATEGIC IMPORTANCE
Till the telescope operators came to the area, we had been visiting Entoto, and the capital under a reconstruction seemed to have fallen under our control. An instructor told me that a student asked him what the town lying ahead of us was called. Really! For a new comer and for one who doesn’t know the capital well, this town may be confused for another. Neway Belachew said that the place was windy, the topography pleasant, and it would be nice if they had wind power generating plant in addition. Someone asked me, “Why do your relatives like such high places?” “Which ones are they?” I asked back. “Taitu et al!” “My God! Taitu is nearer to you than she is to me!” I thought. “Why Entoto?” You may ask, too. Experts’ answers await you below. Past the Entoto church and in the middle of the dense Eucalyptus forest, this scientific oasis is properly sited.
WHAT REALLY IS IN THE BREATHTAKINGLY EXPENSIVE OBSERVATORY?
Before the visit, the place would be taken for just an ordinary one for laymen as it had only a few buildings without a fence. The planners built two special hut-like structures, a guest house, and a server room. The roof of the hut-like structures, the dome, is a half circle whose purpose is to protect the telescope from sunlight, frost and rain. On the dome, there is a window which closes and opens for the telescope to access the outer space. The dome revolves 360 degrees; however, at this time, the testing stage, where there is no observation yet, we haven’t seen it revolving. Did we regret then? No, we shared the hope the scientists there have.
The automated telescope which is provided and set up by a German company, Astelco, occupies the second floor one of the hut-like structure. No light is permitted at the telescope room. They say even Addis Ababa city’s light disturbs a little bit at night, the convenient and only time for observation. The one-meter-diameter mirror is at the bottom part of the telescope accompanied by two side mirrors and another top mirror that reflects what comes from up the sky. Our guide told us that in Chili, Atacama Desert, and elsewhere in the civilized world there are big telescopes with mirrors long in diameter – up to 16 meters. A 32- meter-diameter telescope is said to be under construction in the developed world. Our Optical telescope cost 3.4 million Euro including installation. There are radio telescopes elsewhere in the world. The telescope is manually operated using buttons. Reflected rays will come to the down mirror, and then, they go to the side ones. After this, they go to the control room in the ground floor where the data is changed to image form and people see it. If big diameter telescopes were there, one would see much area, but precision would go down. Hey! Please don’t just expect a telescope that you see through with your naked eyes without machine processing.
Downstairs is the place for the control cabinet which contains a spectrograph with a CCD camera, two terabyte highly concentrated computer and a six-hour-serving battery. The spectrograph is used to process the data captured and supply to the computer, which changes it to images decipherable by people. When the observatory goes operational, using a pc anyone who is permitted to use can access the services from anywhere in the country. “In what interval do you record?” asked one of the 25 professors visiting in my group. “We record the data needed; if someone says I need a certain star, he can access,” responded the operator who must be the mechanical engineer.
Asked outside the visit, Bulti Kumera, a Micro Biologist, commented, “To acquaint ourselves with the environment and to have geographical information this observatory is useful.” We visited till 12 a.m. and started our back journey. The mathematician, Mengisu Calchisa, is also interested in the research and development that this observatory enhances.
WHY OBSERVATORY? WHY SPACE SCIENCE?
Our physicists, who are busy compensating the time we lost without a good acquaintance with the space, won’t hesitate to teach people about the field of space science. They answer questions you may ask just out of curiosity: Why Observatory? Why Space Science? Gezahegn sufa, auditor of DBU ESSS and an atmospheric physicist, has a lot to say about the discipline: “Field trips should be integrated with the curriculum since students get motivated when they practice. When they go to work also they won’t get confused. For Ethiopia to grow, a scientific society should be built. At this time space science is a matter of survival, not luxury. We can relate it to securing our developmental sites. We should also work to have internationally competent experts and contribute to the development of science. We shall not be neutral in this regard. This is connected with food security, security and our day-to-day lives. In the developed world you shall not tell your location in a relative sense, but you just tell the latitude and longitude which is detected by GPS. Space Science should be included under the curriculum at least at degree level. If there is a shortage of doctors, you can be treated using tele-medicine. The ESSS should not last long as an association and the government should set up something more than this. Space science and observatory are separate organizations. Space science helps the Entoto observatory through the fund it gets from donors. ESSS should have its own television and radio programs since its main wish is to inculcate its ideas to the public; it cannot just make all the people its members. Above all, a planetary museum should be set up for the public to know about our activities.”
Gizaw Berhanu, a physics instructor and a PhD candidate at the University of South Africa, who was unable to give me an interview because of the telephone network problem, said the trip gave a good lesson particularly to the students. I believe that this network problem shall be resolved when our observatory and the ESSS achieve their missions.
Kibru Teka, a mathematics instructor said, “I feel happy to see the observatory; I will come for a visit when the observation begins; everything made me happy. When it goes operational, it will be useful for research, and we will launch rocket from here. We can also sell the data.”
Asked what he and his students benefited from the trip Asratemedhin Bekele, a physics instructor and a PhD candidate at the University of South Africa, said “it has an immense contribution to the country’s development; it tells you which season or month is conducive for agriculture, and its importance for the students is that it will be helpful to learn in practice the courses they are given at the university. For example, introduction to space physics, astrophysics, astronomy, space physics, metrology, and plasma physics are the courses in this area given in our department. Students who take those courses benefit from the observatory when they need to conduct a research. It is a nice opportunity to collect data.”
Asked what stakeholders should contribute for the observatory and the field, Asrate responded:
Our university is the sixth involving itself in the activity of the ESSS where the number of universities in the country is more than 31. As a member of the ESSS, DBU donated ESSS 200,000 Birr. Universities like ours should feel ownership and the society’s importance to our country will be high. After five years, we will launch an information satellite. Likewise, Ali Gebeyehu, an instructor of GIS and remote sensing here at DBU, wrote to me that, “The observatory is a breakthrough to develop the infrastructure of space science. One of the branches of space science, the satellite technology, which is important for communication (mobile, television, and internet…) has a tremendous importance for development. As we know, satellites are also significant for weather and climatic data collection, for the detection of resources which are found on the surface of the earth, and for the planning of urban and rural land.”
Gezahegn asks a question that he answers himself, “Is space science a luxury? No, it is a matter of survival!” Let me take this opportunity to thank all the active professors at all of our colleges for helping DBU move one kneel ahead in such endeavors as the physicist did! Finally, I think you wondered where the white, big metal birds of Mesqel Square built to illuminate the Ethiopian Millennium are left. I had a glance of them in the Entoto forest. In the Social Science magazine, I will discuss an issue related to this: Solid waste. I also saw women fuel wood carriers who undergo a debilitating task and felt sad. You know? The one I saw unloaded her bundle by a bridge and gave water to the baby she was carrying in the front.
ምንም አስተያየቶች የሉም:
አስተያየት ይለጥፉ