About

Nalanda College Astronomical Society (NCAS) is a high school based amateur astronomy club located in Sri Lanka’s capital city - Colombo. NCAS and its alumni group (Nalanda College Alumni Astronomical Society) have been promoting astronomy, space science, and science in general among the students in Sri Lanka since 1995. NCAS has done more than 400 outreach events in the towns and also in suburban and very rural areas in 8 out of 9 provinces in Sri Lanka, motivating thousands of students, and enforcing the general public with scientific knowledge. Those events include star parties, solar observation events, exhibitions, and astronomy talks. It also has done a solar eclipse observation outreach program in the city of Jaffna in 2010, which is a city affected by the 30-year civil war, bringing Sinhala and Tamil student communities together. NCAS has always been a volunteer organization and all the events have been done free of charge.

Past Activities

Successfully concluded "Dumbara Sky" IAU special project aimed to make the public aware of the darkest and quietest skies in Dumbara mountain range in Sri Lanka [2019/02/19].

Successfully concluded a star party at Sirimavo Bandaranaike Girls College-Colombo, which was aimed to bring awareness of the detrimental effects of light pollution [2019/02/15]. (We have done more than 345 such star parties from 1995 to promote astronomy among school students and the general public. In every event, we dedicate a presentation and a demonstration of light pollution and how it affects not only astronomers but also nature. Events can be viewed at www.facebook.com/pg/ncastronomy/photos/?tab=albums)