Together with one of our PhD students, Josef Borg, yesterday I held an astronomy night for a local school. For this event, we headed to Dwejra, a dark sky heritage area in Gozo. It turned out to be a memorable evening – like all astronomy nights! The educational potential of the site is one of the reasons why this place should be protected and its dark night sky preserved. We observed…
The Gozo College Primary School have been celebrating Space Week. It was great fun visiting these inquisitive minds – amongst whom there are future scientists – to talk to them about all things space. A few pictures of the event, courtesy of the school, are found below.
Yesterday evening, a number of us held an astronomy night at Dwejra for the general public, with the aim of observing the Perseid meteor shower. It is a much-loved semi-annual fixture (depending on the moon phase), and this year we were rewarded with a number of bright ones. By ensuring places like Dwejra stay dark, we can all continue to enjoy such breathtaking views of our night sky – a…
This week, the radio science programme ‘Radio Mocha‘ focussed the physics of diving and underwater exploration. In the interview with Danielle Farrugia, I spoke about the various physics concepts that come into play underwater.
Yesterday I had the pleasure to give a talk for the Malta Humanist Association (MHA) with the title “Astronomy and the Search for Meaning“. Below you may find a description of the topic of the talk, followed by some pictures (courtesy of the MHA). Description The Malta Humanist Association is proud to present its next public event titled “Astronomy and the search for meaning.” Presented by Dr. Joseph Caruana, Astrophysicist…
The ‘I Choose’ initiative is a programme of the Ministry for Education and Employment aimed for secondary school Form 4 & 5 students. It strives to provide them with an opportunity to explore career options. I had the opportunity to meet some aspiring scientists and talk to them about careers in science, and was joined by two of our past students, Deandra Cutajar and Byron Magri, who spoke about why…
Citadels are associated with cannons. And for the ‘Science in the Citadel’ festival, we did set up cannons of a certain kind atop the Gozo Citadel: telescopes to show the general public some of the wonders of the night sky. I would like to thank three of our students, Josef Borg, Karl Fiteni and Andrew Finch, who were as keen as ever to give a helping hand with this event, which was…
On the 27th of January I was invited to give the annual lecture of the Sir M.A. Refalo Sixth form. The talk carried the title: ‘Tracing our Origins: The Story of looking up at the Night Sky’. It was a very nice occasion on which I had the opportunity to engage with the general public and catch up with members of the school. I thank the council alumni society of the…
Last night we held an astronomy night at Dwejra tower. Dwejra is a Dark Sky Heritage Area (DSHA) in Gozo. Over 200 people had the opportunity to look through a variety of telescopes to observe various objects, including the three planets Mars, Jupiter and Saturn. Many had their first ever look at these planets, and were left in awe at the austere beauty of the night sky. A more in-depth…
Cafe Scientifique organise some fantastic events for the general public. This Christmas (well, close enough to it anyway), I was invited to tell a cosmic story, which I very glady accepted. Thanks to Cafe Sci and Spazju Kreattiv for organising, and for their fantastic work throughout the year.