The Qatar School Olympiad for Astronomy 2022 kicks off

MOEHE Building

As part of the preparations for the National Week of Scientific Research and Innovation 2022, which is organized by the Ministry of Education and Higher Education in cooperation with the Qatar Scientific Research Fund, the first activities of the annual national competition "Qatar School Olympiad for Astronomy 2022" in its seventh consecutive edition under the slogan "The Sun is our Closest Star", was launched.

School students, on the occasion of the vernal equinox, measured the angle of inclination of the sun from the Doha sky at noon to determine the latitude on which the city of Doha is located.

The number of participating schools reached about 60 from public and international schools, where each school team is consisted of 6 students and a supervisor.

This competition is considered the second largest national competition in the State of Qatar after the annual scientific research competition.

The competition aims to have students participate in astronomical activities and practice observing various celestial events, introducing them to the astronomical heritage of Arabs and Muslims, and including them in teamwork activities.

This competition is supervised by Professor Samia Ibrahim, the physics coordinator at Rawda Bint Jassim Secondary School for Girls, and a team of astronomers led by astronomer Hani Al-Dhalea, member of the Arab Union for Astronomy and Space Sciences (AUASS), and coordinator of the “Awareness Office" in the State of Qatar which is a suborganization of the International Astronomical Union (AU), with the participation of Dr. Al Dana Al Yafei, President of the Astronomy Club at Qatar University.

This year's Astronomy Olympiad consists of three competitions; A competition to measure the latitude of Doha by the sun, a competition to determine the period of the sun's rotation around its axis by observing sunspots, and a competition to disassemble and install a telescope, where Qatar will be the first Arab country to provide a large number of large astronomical telescopes for participating schools, which will be used to monitor spots Solar and observation of the moon and the planets of the solar system.

Source: MOEHE