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General Overview (5)
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Academic institutions offering training in astronomy are not numerous in Africa.
But with the creation of the African Astronomical Society, we hope the establishment of many development programs in astronomy education.
The map below outlines the various institutions offering training in areas related to astronomy in Africa.
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A planetarium (plural planetariums or planetaria) is a theatre built primarily for presenting educational and entertaining shows about astronomy and the night sky, or for training in celestial navigation. A dominant feature of most planetariums is the large dome-shaped projection screen onto which scenes of stars, planets and other celestial objects can be made to appear and move realistically to simulate the complex 'motions of the heavens'. The celestial scenes can be created using a wide variety of technologies, for example precision-engineered 'star balls' that combine optical and electro-mechanical technology, slide projector, video and fulldome projector systems, and lasers. Whatever technologies are used, the objective is normally to link them together to provide an accurate relative motion of the sky. Typical systems can be set to display the sky at any point in time, past or present, and often to show the night sky as it would appear from any point of latitude on Earth.
Planetariums in Africa are not numerous.
The map below shows planetariums in Africa
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It would be difficult to give a complete list of African professionals in fields related to astronomy.
Our list below is mainly based on African individual members of the International Astronomical Union.
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n observatory is a location used for observing terrestrial or celestial events. Astronomy, climatology/meteorology, geology, oceanography and volcanology are examples of disciplines for which observatories have been constructed. Historically, observatories were as simple as containing an astronomical sextant (for measuring the distance between stars) or Stonehenge (which has some alignments on astronomical phenomena).
Most observatories in Africa are located in South Africa. In other parts of Africa observatories are rare.
Below the observatories by country.
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Amateur astronomy, also called backyard astronomy and stargazing, is a hobby whose participants enjoy watching the night sky (and the day sky too, for sunspots, eclipses, etc.), and the plethora of objects found in it, mainly with portable telescopes and binoculars. Even though scientific research is not their main goal, many amateur astronomers make a contribution to astronomy by monitoring variable stars, tracking asteroids and discovering transient objects, such as comets.
In Africa, the practice of amateur astronomy is not developed enough.
We can note the presence of astronomy clubs in some countries of North Africa (Morocco, Tunisia, Algeria ....) and especially in South Africa where the practice of amateur astronomy is highly developed.
Besides these geographical areas, over most of Africa the practice of amateur astronomy is almost inexistant.
However, since the AMA2009 (International Year of Astronomy 2009), we see the emergence of astronomy clubs in Sub-Saharan Africa, including Mozambique, Ivory Coast, Senegal, Nigeria ...
The map below gives you an overview of amateur astronomy clubs by country.
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