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First segment: Constantine -Tunis by road. Then
leaving Tunis towards Libya. Here the North - South coastal
stretch: a string of touristic complexes, for the better and
for the worse. See Monastir from
the air.
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Reaching Tripoli in mid day. The center city
area is visible with its high rising buildings and the harbor
at right . |
During most of the trip, we were in good company
with fans of the Algerian soccer team flocking to Sudan to boost
the team moral after the Cairo incidents which mostly deprived
it from a clear victory in the World Cup qualification. |
Leaving Tripoli airport, a greening countryside...
Here some olive tree fields spread wide across. |
Reaching Khartoum at night: The 2 Niles and al-Jazirah.
Our Hotel, Burj Al-Fateh, was on the white Nile next to an imposing
bridge.
Zooming on Burj Al-Fateh location.
Zooming more
Yet more. And finally. |
Here the Burj Al-Fateh at night, a sleek
architectural masterpiece of steel and glass looking like an
giant illuminated egg. It happened to be the hotel where the
Algerian soccer team with its official delegation and the players
were staying there too. |
The conference room at the ground floor of the
Burj Al-Fateh Hotel. |
The official opening in presence of their excellencies,
the Ministers of Education, the Minister of the Universities
and Technology, as well as Dr.Sharafeddin Ali Tahar president
of the Conference at the extreme left, Dr.Hamid Naimiy, president
of the AUASS (in the middle), and the representative of the
Isesco (between the
last two). |
Many people were in attendance beside the various Arab delegations.
In the back, one can see the Sirius astronomy exhibition. |
We noticed in particular a strong participation of the students
of the astronomy department from the Omdurman Islamic University,
many of them being female. |
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Four evening meetings of the AUASS executive
board as well as of the General Assembly were held during the
Conference. Strategic planning for the AUASS was discussed,
bylaws were amended, and elections of the various positions
of the executive board took place. It was also decided to restart
Al-Kawn, the review of AUASS, and to revamp its Internet site. |
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Dr. Barghouti during his keynote lecture. . |
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An astronomical expo was set up by our Association in the back
of the main lecture hall. |
Standing with students from Omdurman Islamic University in front
of the Sirius exhibition. |
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and next to Khasawna, the new General Secretary of the AUASS.
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The Astronomical Club at the astronomy Department
also had a large display of realisations and optical scopes. |
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 The
two laureates who were honored during the Conference: Dr Imad
el Barghouti from Al-Quds University in the occupied West Bank,
and Dr.Muawia Shaddad from Khartoum
University (Right). The first for his internationally recognized
work on upper atmospheric plasma physics, and the second for
his study of the 2008TC3 asteroid and the collecting campaign
of its fragments in the Nubian desert over which it disintegrated.
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Hani Dalee (with a tie) and Sana'a Abdo from
the JAS were honored for their training session on Meteor observation
during the Conference, and the night sighting of the Orionids
meteor shower they animated on the 17th from Sudan. |
Sirius got honored by the AUASS with a special
trophy for its international prize during the "100 Hours
of Astronomy", handed to them by the representative of
the Sudanese Minister of Universities. Were also honored Dr.Sharafeddin
Ali the Conference Director, Fareed Lafta from Irak holding
a world record for having jumped on the Everest and hopefully
the next Arab astronaut, Khalil Konsul the former General Secretary
of the AUASS.... |
Here Mohamed Ousseiri, the president of the very
active SAAA giving a special prize to Dr.Sharafeddin Ali: an
authentic Damascene hand carved astrolabe. |
Here J.M. from Sirius standing next to Dr.Shaddad
and some meteoritic samples they collected from the Almahata
Sitta 15 (The sixth station in Arabic) mother fragment in Ouadi
Halfa, Nuba. See a close up of
a fragment and notice the blackened side due to atmospheric
burning.
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2008TC3, the first asteroid detected in space
before it strike the Earth and become meteorites Here the long-lasting
persistent
train from the impact. It is estimated that the explosion
was some 1kt in strength and only a small fraction reached the
ground. Later analysis determined that the achondrite meteorite
is made of urelite, a rare kind of rock. |
Combing the desert for the meteoritic fragments. |
Lining up before the start. All in all some 280
fragments were collected amounting to some 4kg. |
 Some
finding... Here Shaddad with Peter
Jenniskens of the SETI Institute, at Mountain View,
California. |
Group picture of the participants |
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Fabulous sunset on the Nile.
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Striking ray patterns along with cloud shadows projecting itself
on another cloud layer. |
| . Collective
picture of the AUASS executive Bureau. In the second row, Dr
Naimiy, the AUASS president and the four vice presidents. |
Seen on this picture is the junction between the Blue and the
White Niles. Its a dark line stretching across the river. Click
to zoom. |
The bridge from the Burj El-Fateh Hostel
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The almost completed Almogran Towers towards the West. |
Dr Azzeddine Youcef from Khartoum University
with Dr.Shidhani from Oman Universityand Marwan Shwaiki from
the JAS working as a planetarium headmaster in Oman,
enjoying the cruise. |
A special dinner on the honnor of the AUASS conference
was offered by the president of Khartoum University. Yet, it
was the night of the Algeria-Egypt soccer game, and the whole
of Khartoum was tuned to the game. At times during dinner were
fusing the hurrahs of the supporters ... which mostly were in
the Algerian camp. |
A visit was organized to the Omdurman souk, a vast dusty, noisy
market, yet so colorful and so plainly human. |
Hani Dhali from the JAS negotiating with dates merchants. |
Strolling through the Omdurman markets. |
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Here Dr.Mashhoor Al-Wardat from the Jordanian
Astronomical Society in the old Souq.
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Here, Omar Fikry from the Alexandria Library
in company with Abda Areishi from Jezzan in Saudi Arabia. |
The return was on an Antonov military flight
since due to an unfortunate "concours de circonstances",
the Afriqiya Airways flight to Tripoli left without us. The
confort was not garanteed as you can see from the so called
"seats". |
Like for the inbound flight, the return took
place in a festive atmosphere from the euphory of the supporters
after the Algerian soccer team's victory. |
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