Zacharia shares the following, “This week, the Ailanga Form 3 and 4 physics teacher asked me [to] help him find a video about Astronomical telescopes and how they work in comparison to microscopes, to show his students in our observatory. Yesterday night we [brought] students to the observatory to show them the video which led us into a very good discussion. [T]heir teacher was there together with me to lead the discussion. It was awesome because students were so excited and more engaged in asking questions!”
Tonight they watched the 5th episode of COSMOS. They learned about light, and Isaac Newton’s experiments with a thermometer and prism. Now, the students want to duplicate the experiment. There are many prisms and a few thermometers, but we may look for a higher quality, digital unit to get high quality results.
Last night MMAO Astronomy Ambassadors Zacharia Mjungu and Pendael Nassary were successful in conducting a third drift test, this time noting all parameters to make certain we can effectively interpret the results and align the telescope more accurately.
In short summary, they selected a star almost directly overhead, which at MMAO is close to the celestial equator. They rotate the reticle eyepiece such that when slewing the telescope East and West the star tracked parallel to one of the two cross hairs. They then centered the star and with the RA motor engaged, allowed the star to drift from center to edge.
With a 25mm eyepiece, it took 23 minutes for the star to move past the edge. This is very good for a hand-aligned telescope and perfect for public star parties, but for astro-photography we want to do better.
Now, they will interpret the results using the guidance provided on this website for the Southern Hemisphere, and suggest how we can make very small adjustments to the polar and/or equatorial axis.
Today the MMAO hosted the assembly of NASA spectrographs. These simple, effective tools enable us to “see” the composition of our Sun in a safe and effective manner, combining chemistry, physics, and astronomy in a cohesive understanding.
Zacharia writes, “… students come over to our library and they were looking for different kinds of materials including reading books. Later they wanted to know about [the] spectroscope. We didn’t even plan to do it. Then we started to discuss together and started building them under Eliatosha’s guidance because he did it before. Students were able to make four spectroscope and connect them with prism glass–it was awesome! I am so impressed with the way students are eager to learn and engaged.”
A small group of Americans visited the Ailanga school and were pleasantly surprised to discover a fully operational, astronomical observatory on campus! They didn’t have much time, but Eliona, Zacharia, and Pandaeli gave the a quick tour. We look forward to the day when we open to schools, safari tourists, and the general public on a regular basis.
This just in from Eliatosha Maleko, instructor at Ilboru Primary School and Astronomy Ambassador for MMAO, his summary of the month working on the completion of the observatory and installation of the telescope.
“I am very happy to express my sincere gratitude and happiness to you since I started my participation in the Astronomy about 10 years since … It is amazing and Astronomy [has] changed everything in my life and the people surrounding me, especially my students.
Through my learning all those years I have learned how to work with people of different areas and especially to show passion [for] Astronomy [and this] makes my students to love to learn as their curious to know more and more.
In my three weeks astronomical participation with Mr Kai, I have learned many things and especially, culture of different people all round the world, learning especially on how to take very small and minor measurements … I have learned to take things seriously and never to ignore [the details].
Moreover [we worked in] time management so that every thing should be done in time, and [to share] passion and humbleness to to people of different ages and to listening to them as through them we learned many things.
I have learned to say “I don’t know” as a way to learn more … it doesn’t matter you’re title, the only thing to say [is] “I don’t know”.
Finally I thanks everyone especially Astronomers Without Borders, UNAWE, and their facilitators and donors for their support … especially to Telescopes to Tanzania Pastor Chuck, Sue, Dan, Mike, Kai, and Mponda for their great, great support, encouraging and participation to make sure that students enjoy learning and to explore more our sky.
Together we can enhance learning and improve Astronomy in Tanzania.” –Eliatosha
Elineema Nassary describes the thirty days of our working together as follows. “I experienced many things during the mounting of [the 12”] telescope at MMAO. I learned that we are all learning, and no one knows everything. I learned that a good scientist knows three words ‘I DON’T KNOW’. Let us learn together. [W]e all shared knowledge during mounting the telescope and sometimes we engaged students to work with us.
“I also experienced that I have to work for the future generation and not for my benefit. Therefore we volunteered our time and even our liquidity in order to fulfill the mission of our beloved, late Pastor Chuck and mama Sue to come true. Yes it has happen. What is following is living in the Chuck’s idea of inspiring our students to love science.
“[F]rom my fellow who we were together during mounting the telescope, especially from Kai, [I learned] to be very careful on everything I am doing, not to answer direct question if you are not 100% sure on it, [and] also reading and do[ing] more research on what you are learning. Moreover, be clean and keep everything on its position and be slow in fixing things.” –Elineema
On Wednesday, September 4, Zacharia and Pendaeli opened the observatory for a survey of four stars. The goal was to establish how far off the RA axis of rotation is due to the remaining, incomplete alignment of the telescope. If we had just one night with more than an hour of clear skies after sunset, we’d have this done and move on. But such is astronomy. For all the understanding of the workings of the world, we do not (yet) control the weather (which is probably a good thing).
I have included the observation notes (top), as an example of how important it is to record data points for every experiment, no matter how seemingly simple or irrelevant to the long-term goal, as that history helps us prepare for the future endeavors.
The starting position (not noted) was the star Antares. As such, the RA and Dec coordinates were a perfect match. They then moved the telescope through 3 other stars before returning to the Antares again, all remaining on the Home side of the pedestal.
Clearly, we have a misalignment for the RA values do not match. This is not a drift test, rather a pointing test, but it does give us clues. The smaller errors are within the expected tolerance of a hand-placed telescope before advanced alignment techniques. The substantial error on the final measurement is likely a misreading of the RA setting circle or the circle was not set tight and slipped.
When next we have a clear night for at least one hour, we’ll conduct our final drift test and then determine how to adjust the mount alignment accordingly.
I want to emphasize on behalf of my colleagues at MMAO that this represents their first scientific experiment of any kind outside of the classroom, perhaps at all. With my being half the African continent away, I am little more than a guide through email and instant messaging.
Therefore, I extend my pride in the instructors and students of Ailanga Secondary School who in just one month went from having used a relatively simple telescope (if at all) to operating a sophisticated instrument while working toward professional alignment in order to be more equipped to see deep sky objects such as distant nebulae and galaxies.
Last night Zacharia and Pendaeli attended the observatory in order to establish four stars in the “home” position of the 12″ telescope for both RA setting circle and drift alignment tests.The following is Zacharia’s summary of the observation session:
“Tonight Pendaeli and I found stars to locate at our home position in order to test properly our RA setting circle and compare the time difference between [the computer software] Stellarium and that of the RA setting circle, which we will do tomorrow. We learned that [the rotation of the] RA setting circle matches exactly to our clocks when we were tracking stars. That’s awesome for us because we didn’t know [this] before! And [as previously] noted … objects drift off the center … another test to be done soon.
We selected four stars: Antares, Acrab (a double star), Dschubba, and ‘pi Sco’. These will make the tasks of our RA setting circle tests and drift alignment much easier.
Most exciting for us, we viewed our first double star! Stellarium noted that Acrab should have two stars orbiting each other. While they were not clear through the 40mm eyepiece, when we inserted the higher power 32mm we were able to see a clear separation between the two stars. Amazing!
From the airport in Nairobi, I reached out to the ambassadors asking for their experience in the thirty days working to bring our observatory to life.
This just in from Zacharia Mjungu, a teacher at Ailanga, one of the astronomy ambassadors. Edits are in [brackets], per his request.
“Here is my story I can tell, for the past one month working in the observatory. It has been a great opportunity to me that everyone was involved … given [a] chance no matter the background or whatever the case may be. I came to realize that learning is a process that need[s] to be practiced day by day as we have been doing under [Kai’s] guidance.
Through [his] perspective “we are all learning together, no one knows everything” especially [concerning the] universe, and the perspective of allowing anyone to ask questions. “No such a thing is a stupid question, only stupid people who don’t ask questions,” Kai would say.
At first it was hard for me (maybe for everyone else) to catch up with the process but as [the] days [went] by, I came to realize that it was a right thing to be involved fully, [for] no one else was to do it for us. Instead we were part of the process (we are still doing it) not just for Kai, but l felt it was our responsibility and everyone who is willing to learn, teachers and students all together.
This really opened up my mind to see things in different angles and realized that through astronomy we can build the best educational system in our country and make great critical thinkers and achieve more in everything. I have a lot to tell but this is what came to mind and I think the most important part of all we have accomplished in one month is “TEAMWORK SPIRIT”. We worked together as a team. (Pardon for my English) you can edit it. [Much] more to learn.”–Zacharia
Yesterday, Saturday, August 24 found us engaged from mid morning ’till 3 am when the taxi took me to the Kilimanjaro airport.
At 11 am Elineema, Thomas and I went to town to trade a like-new inkjet printer for a simpler, more robust laser. We have come to rely on the hilarious and incredibly engaging stationary shop owner Miqdad. During our prior visit (Thursday) we enjoyed fresh bananas and juice while his employee located a large plastic tarp, tool box, and RAM for Zacharia’s laptop. He saved us hours of time, which is greatly appreciated.
I had asked for a discount to support the project. He hesitated, wanting to but knowing it would cut into his margins. I challenged him to an arm wrestling match. I win–10%. He wins, full sticker price. He reluctantly agreed, both of us bragging a bit before we clasped hands. With employees and customers looking on, I got the discount!
I enjoyed a late lunch with the OSEO board of directors and then a return to the observatory yesterday evening after packing my bags at the lodge. Eineema remained with me until 3 am when he escorted me to the airport before returning to his home near Usa River.
Elineema and I worked with limited conversation, engaged in cleaning up one of the OSEO laptops, copying my full music library, collimating the AWB 5″ reflector telescope (again), fabricating the telescope cover, and a few odds and ends.
I have introduced my associates to Bach, Mozart, Dead Can Dance, Enya, Annie Lennox, Toto, Styx, and more. In turn they introduced me to the Observatory Shuffle, a dance one can enjoy while working on a telescope, tools in hand.
I have come to appreciate and thoroughly enjoy the kind of friendship the people of this region of the world provide. It is sincere, deep, and long-lasting. No social network can replace what we share in person, hand-in-hand working for a common goal.
I admit to feeling tremendously alone today, despite being surrounded by people at the Nairobi airport as I await my flight to Cape Town. I already look forward to my return to Tanzania, the observatory we have built, and the students who crave the knowledge and experience this project affords.
Tonight they watched the 5th episode of COSMOS. They learned about light, and Isaac Newton’s experiments with a thermometer and prism. Now, the students want to duplicate the experiment. There are many prisms and a few thermometers, but we may look for a higher quality, digital unit to get high quality results.
