The Sharjah Academy for Astronomy, Space Sciences, and Technology has organized an informal farewell ceremony on Jul. 29, 2021, to Ms. Asmaa Abdulsalam Alhameed, a SAASST research assistant at the Radio Astronomy Laboratory. Ms. Asmaa is leaving us for a teaching position in one of the UAE schools. She joined SAASST in 2017.

Ms. Raiyah Al-Serkal, a physics student from the American University of Sharjah, just finished her 2021 summer internship at the Sharjah Academy for Astronomy, Space Sciences, and Technology (SAASST). Ms. Raiyah started her internship on June 06 and gave her final presentation about her work on July 11. She worked at the High Energy Astrophysics Laboratory and was under the supervision of Dr. Antonios Manousakis, Ms. Noora Al-Ameri, and Ms. Maryam Al-Qasemi. Her main work was to do some computational and data analysis on X-ray binaries. Ms. Raiyah said she got tremendous experience working with real astronomical data obtained from the XMM X-ray space telescope.

The United Arab Emirates has joined the European Organization for Nuclear and Particle Physics Research (CERN) in Geneva (Switzerland) as a Cluster Institution (University of Sharjah, New York University Abu Dhabi, and the United Arab Emirates University). A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on the cooperation among the three universities has been signed with CERN.

The Sharjah Academy for Astronomy, Space Sciences, and Technology (SAASST) celebrated on Wednesday, June 30, 2021, the International Asteroid Day. The main objectives of the asteroid day are to raise public awareness about the asteroid impact hazard, save the Earth from asteroids, and increase the asteroid discovery rate to 100,000 per year compared to a couple of hundreds per year. These goals can be achieved by using new technologies to detect and track Near-Earth-Asteroids (NEA) that threaten human populations. SAASST is within these objectives with its “Meteorite Center” and its different units, i.e., the “Analysis Unit,” “Machine Learning,” “Drone Unit,” and the “UAEMMN Unit.” In addition, seven various lectures on different topics related to asteroids were given by SAASST staff.

Sunday, 27 June 2021 01:58

Asteroid Day June 30, 2021 Celebration

The Sharjah Academy for Astronomy, Space Sciences, and Technology (SAASST) will celebrate the International Asteroid Day on June 30, 2021. The main objectives of the asteroid day are to raise public awareness about the asteroid impact hazard, save the Earth from asteroids, and increase the asteroid discovery rate to 100,000 per year compared to a couple of hundreds per year. These goals can be achieved by using new technologies to detect and track

The Sharjah Academy for Astronomy, Space Sciences, and Technology (SAASST) has organized a special STK workshop for the summer internship students on Jun. 14, 2021. Mrs. Tarifa Al-Kaabi, our research assistant at the CubeSat Laboratory, organized the workshop. Mr. Diogo Rodriguez, the AGI MENA Director, gave the workshop onsite. Due to the pandemic situation, some students participated online.  Systems Tool Kit, often referred to by its initials STK, is a multi-physics software application from Analytical Graphics, Inc. that enables engineers and scientists to perform complex

As part of its program to educate university students and introduce them to space sciences research, the Sharjah Academy for Astronomy, Space Sciences, and Technology (SAASST) has approved the application of 21 students to take part in the different SAASST research laboratories. These students will have the chance to have their summer internship program at SAASST starting from June 06, 2021. The period may go up to 8 weeks ending in July 2021. Students come from the University of Sharjah, Khalifa University, the American University of Sharjah, and the Higher College of technology.

As part of its program to enhance astronomy education, the Sharjah Academy for Astronomy, Space Sciences, and Technology (SAASST) organized a lecture on “Introduction to Stellar Characteristics” on May 19, 2021. The lecture was given by Mr. Marwan Shwaiki, the Deputy General Director for Plantarium and Outreach Program at SAASST. Mr. Marwan presented the properties of the different stars: brightness, color, surface temperature, size, and mass. The H-R diagram was introduced to explain stellar evolution that depends on one physical property of a star: its mass. A star can live billions or maybe trillions of years if its mass is low (less than 8 solar mass), or just a couple of millions of years if its mass is large (more than 8 solar mass).

As part of its program to enhance astronomy education, the Sharjah Academy for Astronomy, Space Sciences, and Technology (SAASST) organized a lecture on “X-ray Astronomy” on May 26, 2021. The lecture was given by Ms. Noora AL-Ameri, a research assistant at the SAASST High Energy Astrophysics Laboratory. Ms. Noora talked about the different types of objects that emit this X-ray radiation and the different physical processes responsible for this radiation. To observe X-ray radiation, space telescopes are used since X-ray radiation is absorbed by the Earth’s atmosphere, so instruments to detect X-rays must be taken to high altitude by balloons, sounding rockets, and satellites.

Saturday, 15 May 2021 15:51

Workshop on Galaxies

As part of its program to enhance astronomy education, the Sharjah Academy for Astronomy, Space Sciences, and Technology (SAASST) has organized a special workshop dedicated to galaxies on May 09, 2021.  The program of the online workshop was as follows: