Gaza’s astronomy fans gaze longingly at heavens
Gaza's astronomy enthusiasts lament that the siege on the Gaza Strip prevents them from establishing quality laboratories and traveling abroad for educational events.
“What gets to me is that I was unable to take part in the 2021 astronomy camp in Hebron as the Israeli occupation refused to grant us permits,” Jumana Koueider, an amateur astronomer from the Gaza Strip, lamented in her statement to Al-Monitor.
Koueider explained that the camp, which was held on Aug. 5, included an observational astronomy training course held at the observatory of Birzeit University and at the planetarium of the Korea Palestine Center in Hebron, as the month of August offers the most beautiful astronomical events in the Palestinian sky of Palestine: a major meteor shower.
She added that the camp includes classes about the sky of Palestine and its star clusters and constellations. “We were going to observe Saturn and Jupiter with telescopes,” she said.
“At dawn, we were also going to observe the moon. My team and I were planning to watch the International Space Station crossing in the Palestinian sky, a wonderful scene that can be seen with the naked eye,” Koueider added. “We were going to photograph an arm of the Milky Way.”
