Qatar: The Qatar Calendar House concludes its astronomical season and celebrates the graduation of the first batch of the Astronomical License Program

The Qatar Calendar House celebrated the end of its astronomical season 2022-2023 this evening, with the graduation of a new batch of astronomical observers, and the graduation of the first batch of affiliates of the astronomical degree program, in the main hall of the Sheikh Abdullah Al-Ansari Complex for the Holy Qur’an and its Sciences, as part of the house’s efforts to serve the community by spreading culture. astrological. Dr. Ibrahim Al-Ansari, Vice Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Sheikh Abdullah Al-Ansari Complex, explained in his speech that the interest of the Qatari Calendar House in spreading the culture of astronomy stems from the interest of the early Muslims in this science, as they gave it great importance and made it one of the auxiliary sciences of Sharia sciences, by which they controlled the directions of the qiblah and the calculation of prayer times. And the dates of the entry and exit of the Hijri months, indicating that the early Muslims developed this science to become one of the most important sciences in human life, and the contributions of Muslims to it become the main ones, whether in the volume of astronomical information discovered or in the machines, tools and computational theories invented by Muslim minds over the centuries. He said that the Qatari Calendar House, since its inception in 1951, has been concerned with serving astronomy with this legal, civilized perspective that links life with religion, noting that the astronomical season for this year was busy, and contributed to enriching the culture of astronomy through various activities, including the establishment of the astronomical camp, which he visited, benefited from and enjoyed. With its shows, it attracted nearly 1,000 visitors over 30 astronomical evenings, in addition to external observing activities, as the house held 10 external observing events in different places in the State of Qatar, as well as astronomical activities in a number of schools in the country, which included the astronomical exhibition, lectures and competitions for school students, in addition to continuing The Astronomical Observer Program in its third batch and the graduation of 21 astronomical observers, bringing the total of those who graduated from this program to eighty-six, in addition to celebrating the graduation of the first batch of the Astronomical License Program, which is a specialized program for those who passed the Astronomical Observer course. Ten participants who hold a license graduated from this program astrological. At the end of his speech, Dr. Ibrahim Al-Ansari thanked the wise leadership for the care and material and moral support the home received. After showing a documentary film about the courses that the participants took, graduates of the Astronomy Observatory Program in its third session were honored, along with graduates of the Astronomy Bachelor Program, by receiving certificates of participation and shields, to join the Astronomical Observation Team at the Qatar Calendar House. For his part, Eng. Faisal Muhammad Al-Ansari, Executive Director of the Qatar Calendar House and Sheikh Abdullah Al-Ansari Complex for the Holy Quran, said in a statement to Qatar News Agency (QNA) on the sidelines of the ceremony. "The trainees in the astronomical observatory program have completed 30 hours of theoretical and practical training, as well as field training in observing at night from outside the city."While the number of hours of training, information and skills acquired by graduates of the Astronomy License Program increased to 50 hours of theoretical and practical training. He explained that the astronomical observation courses included three main axes: monitoring astronomical bodies within the solar system, monitoring stars, galaxies, nebulae and constellations, and the skills of an astronomical observer, as well as introducing students to how to use tools for astronomy, how to use astronomical applications, and to know and determine the moon’s phases in a way. Practical, calculating the beginnings and ends of the Hijri months, and how to determine the direction of the qiblah by means of the shadow of the sun. He said that the Qatar Calendar House has developed a strategy to spread the culture of astronomy in society by developing a strategy to intensify centers supporting astronomy in general, and we will then offer these graduates a more specialized course to reach the professional level and specialize in simple numbers to produce bright spots, so that the culture of astronomy will be spread in society systematically, praising in this regard the cooperation between the Qatar Calendar House and the Qatar Center for Astronomy and Space Sciences. Regarding the strategy of the Qatari Calendar House in the next stage, he indicated that the house continues to support astronomy and the house’s own publications, as it is the accredited body in the country to issue the calendar for all institutions, in addition to its efforts through social media, publishing its news in the media, and offering these specialized courses every day. This helps spread astronomical culture in society. In turn, the graduates expressed, in statements to Qatar News Agency (QNA), their happiness with these courses, which added a lot to them about astronomy, stressing that the courses enlightened them on many aspects of astronomy in general, and also changed their view of the moon, planets and stars, and gave them the ability to distinguish between Planets and stars and their locations, knowing directions and more. Eng. Muhammad Abu Jabara, Director of Public Relations at Shell and one of the graduates of the astronomical degree, said: I set out to astronomical observation through the hobby and simply contemplating the sky and enjoying the view of the stars without knowing the locations and shapes of the stars, and with joining the courses of the Qatar Calendar House, the hobby turned into a passion that turned To specialization and a desire to study and reflect on the kingdom of God so that this contemplation is based on understanding and based on knowledge that helps in establishing the belief that this universe has a great Creator and Ruler of all its affairs, Glory be to Him.