Briefing
The first Brazil – Sri Lanka Astronomy Hangout took place on the morning of 30th May 2013 (Sri Lankan local time) by means of Google Hangout as a Video Conference for members of the Astronomy & Space Study Center of Sri Lanka and members of the Louis Cruls Astronomy Club of Brazil.
The hangout was basically a session where the members of the both astronomy societies got the chance to interact with each other and share each other’s experiences. The areas of astronomy outreach and educational projects/ initiatives were mainly in the content of discussion.
Participants
The following members were present for the hangout.
Any Gomes – Louis Cruls Astronomy Club
Fernando Becasse – friend of the Louis Cruls Astronomy Club
Madushka Dias – Astronomy & Space Study Center
Marcelo Souza – Louis Cruls Astronomy Club
Prasan Bogahwatte – Astronomy & Space Study Center
Prasanna Deshapriya – Astronomy & Space Study Center
Content
Marcelo Souza spoke about the initiatives that Louis Cruls Astronomy Club has already taken towards the outreach of astronomy in Brazil and he also mentioned about the International Meeting of Astronomy & Astronautics that they’ve been hosting annually in Brazil as a conference where many personalities in the world of astronomy & astronautics take part and contribute with informative sessions and workshops., Prasanna Deshapriya & Madushka Dias talked about the outreach projects (observation camps, workshops, etc) introduced by Astronomy & Space Study Center to boost the knowledge of astronomy of students in rural schools in Sri Lanka. Prasan Bogahwatte and Marcelo Souza shared a dialog about IT and its potential influence on the learning curve of astronomy and how it can be adopted for distant learning. The hangout lasted almost an hour with a friendly and interesting ambiance as both Sri Lankan and Brazilian astronomy enthusiasts shared their common passion.
Output
It was decided to start a series of online educational sessions on astronomy where members of both societies could benefit with the knowledge towards the August 2013. Both Astronomy & Space Study Center and Louis Cruls Astronomy Club would strive to bring this into a reality thus making astronomy outreach more and more possible.