Kenya has amazing skies. Your help will bring a planetarium to Kenya to inspire the children to be the scientists who explore those skies.
(note the light pollution in Europe. Kenya has amazing starry skies- for now).
“In the end, we will conserve only what we love. We will
love only what we understand. We will understand only what we are taught.” - Baba Dioum
EDUCATION AND ECOLOGY
Kenya is a land of diversity. It is known for breath-taking wild lands of giraffe, zebra and lion but also its squalid inner-city slums. Inspiring the next generation of scientists is a way to empower Kenyans to preserve their own biodiversity and solve
the plague of poverty. Science education is also a way to prevent the conflicts which arise from fundamentalism and superstition. It starts with education.
CULTURE
Many cultures here have star stories which date back thousands of years, but these stories have not been taught to the current children. These ancient stories die with their elders. A planetarium is a way to preserve culture and to appreciate the diversity
of other cultures.
ECONOMY
Elephants, lions, zebra and all of the other animals of Kenya were preserved because they and their habitats have an economic value. Kenya has some of the most amazing unpolluted night skies left on the planet and could also be a draw for tourism if the
population learns how to guide visitors through the cosmos.
FUTURE
From a planetary perspective, Kenya is located at one of the best places on the planet for deep space telescopes and rocket launching facilities. NASA puts their launch facilities as far south toward the equator as possible along an eastern
ocean (TX, FLA) to take advantage of the free speed boost from the Earth. Kenya sits on the equator with an Eastern ocean.
Because of its location, Kenya will become part of the Square Kilometer Array- the largest radio telescope project ever built.
The seeds of possibility that we plant in the minds of the next generation will inspire them to become the scientists of tomorrow who make their contributions back to our tiny planet.
YOU CAN HELP
Your gift to bring the planetarium to Kenya will pay large dividend to the future generations of this planet. Even a small contribution goes a long way in a developing nation.
(Kyle volunteering at Ghana Planetarium, West Africa 2012)
A ASK Amateur Astronomy Society of Kenya
The planetarium will be run by a group of Kenyan astronomy educators and business people who will operate it in a sustainable way.
Here are links to two of the AASK educators:
Susan's work with Global Hands On Universe
Chuhi work with his planetarium
Partners
The projection system was donated by the
Perot Museum of Nature and Science in Dallas.
The system will be referbished and upgraded by Digitalis Education Solutions. See this video for an example of what can be shown in a planetarium. Digitalis
Planetarium Product demo.
