Training boosts outreach for Africa Millimetre Telescope Project
The Africa Millimetre Telescope (AMT) UNAM Mobile Planetarium, in partnership with Nedbank and the Netherlands Research School for Astronomy, is an educational, student-led outreach programme. Its primary mandate is to enlighten Namibians across the country about astronomy by offering an interactive simulation experience of the cosmos in an inflatable dome. The initiative to build the Africa Millimetre Telescope fuels the outreach programme. This telescope will join the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT), a global network of synchronized observatories dedicated to studying radio emissions associated with black holes.
The initiative took a momentous stride by expanding its presenter team, not so long ago, with 8 students and 1 staff member. Thus, bringing the total team count of presenters to 18. Facilitating their training were Dutch experts, Prof. Joanna Holt from the Netherlands Research School for Astronomy and Maaike Pierik from Radboud University. The 2-week training session aimed to enhance the team’s capabilities by focusing on theoretical astronomy content and technical dome operation skills.
This intensive training was held across six different schools in Windhoek and others situated on the outskirts of Stampriet.
“As the demand for the presence of the mobile planetarium in schools has increased drastically, so has the need for more student presenters. This has made it essential to have newly trained presenters, and the most recent training session has been tremendously beneficial in this regard”, stated Hiiko Katjaita, one of the first-trained presenters, who is currently pursuing his PhD in Astrophysics at the University of Namibia.
The training was deemed a success, increasing the number of capable presenters and making the mobile planetarium more self-sufficient, allowing the outreach programme’s mandate to be fulfilled effectively.
Also, this alleviates the demands from each presenter, allowing them to be exceptional students in their studies while maintaining the constant operations of the mobile planetarium.
Story by Ms. Delight Namene
Delight is a Science Communication intern currently pursuing her 2nd year in a Bachelor of Science in Physics (Mathematics) (Honours).
