KUWAIT: An image featured by NASA and taken by Astrolab initiative team member Abdullah Al-Harbi of Kuwait. - KUNA photos

KUWAIT: Astronomy has always been one of the most vital sciences because of its great importance to human life. Since the dawn of time, humans looked at the sky in an attempt to understand this universe by studying its movements. Meanwhile, Kuwait has established scientific centers based on this notion.

The Astrolab initiative, launched by Advancement of Sciences Publishing and Distribution (ASPD), is one of the centers under the umbrella of Kuwait Foundation for the Advancement of Sciences (KFAS), and aims to spread scientific awareness and knowledge by enriching Arabic content through paper and digital publications, and also by organizing activities that encourage the public to participate in various astronomical hobbies and endeavors.

In an interview yesterday, CEO of ASPD Dr Layla Al-Mousawi said that this initiative began in 2021 by collecting several ASPD activities prior to scientific progress for publication and including them in Astrolab. The Astrolab initiative team is a group of young people interested in photography, astronomical observation and citizen science, she pointed out.

Amateur astronomers at Al-Salmi desert.

The scientific progress of ASPD contributes to providing support to the team along with its various activities and reviewing scientific content for them, Mousawi mentioned. She explained that Astrolab is divided into several teams, one of which is for monitoring Kuwait's sky. Another team is tasked with documenting the initiative's activities on social media, while one team consists of asteroid hunters whose job is to analyze data and astronomical images.

Astrolab has different activities to include all segments of the community, including locally and in Arab countries, she noted. Amateur astronomers Mohammad Al-Obaidi, Abdullah Al-Harbi and Abdulwahab Al-Khater, who represent several teams in the initiative, go on trips to Al-Salmi desert to observe the universe through telescopes, she said. The teammates also introduce the public to the stars and the shape of the sky from outside the city, astrophotography workshops from inside the city, and put astronomical events on social media platforms, she explained. - KUNA