HR MacMillan Space Centre - Just for Teachers

Resources to help you teach about astronomy, space science and sustainability

Kasun Somaratne
  • Male
  • Surrey, BC
  • Canada
Share 
 

Kasun Somaratne's Page

Latest Activity

The 26m Telescope at DRAO. Built in 1960 this telescope is the second largest single dish telescope in Canada. The largest is in Algonquian Park in Ontario (46m). I work with this telescope on a survey called GMIMS (Global Magneto-ionic Medium Sur...
July 13
One of the 7 antennas that make up the synthesis telescope.
July 13
The synthesis telescope of DRAO. Together these 7 antennas function as an equivalent telescope with a 600m diameter.
July 13
The 22MHz T shaped array at DRAO was operational near the end of 1960's. Now it is a tourist attraction. There are 1698 wooden poles altogether. it is 1.3Km long in E-W and 400m long in N-S.
July 13
One of the two solar flux monitors at DRAO. These telescopes measures the flux of the sun daily.
July 13
Moon an Jupiter beside the 26m Telescope at DRAO
July 13
The Morning Star! Venus at center of image
July 13
Kasun Somaratne added 15 photos
July 13

Profile Information

About Me:
I am a first year science student at UBC. I am very interested in Space and Astronomy- A total Astronut!!! I used to volunteer at the space centre. I am also a member of the UBC Astro club and RASC. Currently I am working at DRAO in penticton as a coop student

Kasun Somaratne's Photos

Loading…

Kasun Somaratne's Blog

Kasun Somaratne

How I saw Neptune

I have been wanting to see Neptune for a very long time. On many occasions I have tried to observe this distant world but I have failed for various reasons. Mostly due to the not so dark skies around my house in Surrey. Sometimes it is confusing to find the 7.8 magnitude faint Neptune among a bunch of 5 or 6 magnitude stars near by. But my lucky moment arrived in the early morning of July 10th (2009).

I read on SkyNews magazine that Jupiter was passing by Neptune for the next few days. So I dec… Continue

Posted on July 13, 2009 at 8:00pm —

Kasun Somaratne

2 ways to impress the crowd at a Starparty!

If you are into stargazing this site is a must know. heavens-above.com gives you pretty much everything you need to know about those mysterious slow moving stars that you might come across if you stare at the sky for just as little as 5 minutes. After you have created an account with your location on Earth it will tell you when you could see ISS, Hubble, Iridium flares, other major satellites, and occasionally the space shuttle when it is in orbit. What… Continue

Posted on June 9, 2009 at 8:30pm —

Kasun Somaratne

Comet Lulin (The green comet)

So I heared about this comet from one of my friends and decided to check it out myself. This comet actually looks green. That is due to C2 and CN gases that gets released due to sunlight as the comet gets closer to the sun. This comet is in a highly eccentric orbit which means that it will not come around the sun for another long long time.

So I went outside at around 8.30pm despite the bitter cold wind with my 20X50 binoculars to find the comet. Before I went outside I looked online where the… Continue

Posted on February 26, 2009 at 10:42pm —

Kasun Somaratne

International Astronomy Year Begins!

It's been 400 years since Galileo first had a look at the stars through his telecope. This Galileo moment was the first step in our current scientific understanding of the universe.

Wonder how Galileo felt when he saw phases in Venus, moons of Jupiter and rings of Saturn for the first time? Well if you haven't seen these already you will have a very good chance of seeing them yourself this year as the whole world turn towards the night sky. The United Nations has declared the year 2009 as the I… Continue

Posted on January 1, 2009 at 12:00am —

Kasun Somaratne

Perseid Peaks on August 12th


Meteors are one of the many facinating things about the night sky. But for city dwellers like us spoting a meteor can be a challenge. What better chance is there to see a meteor than in a meteor shower! The annual Perseid meteor shower peaks on August 12th.

According to Bill Cooke at NA… Continue

Posted on August 7, 2008 at 4:15pm —

Comment Wall

You need to be a member of HR MacMillan Space Centre - Just for Teachers to add comments!

Join this social network

  • No comments yet!
 
 

About

Lisa McIntosh Lisa McIntosh created this social network on Ning.
 

© 2009   Created by Lisa McIntosh on Ning.   Create Your Own Social Network

Badges  |  Report an Issue  |  Privacy  |  Terms of Service