Bangladesh is a country which perhaps, has the highest
density of Astronomy enthusiasts in the world. During a Total Solar
Eclipse Observation Programme in Dhaka on October 24, 1995, about 30,000
people converged into the Observation site at Sher-E-Bangla Nagar and
police had to use force to disperse them and to save the lives of its
organisers. On the late night of November 18, 1999, about 20,000 people
assembled at the city centre and millions stood on the streets and on
the top of their houses to witness the spectacles of Leonids Meteor
Shower. The reason for their extraordinary love and fascination to observe
the sky objects attributes much to their struggle for survival. From
the time immemorial, the people of Bangladesh have been facing recurrent
onslaughts of storms, cyclones and floods which have forced them
to develop an inherent habit to look at the sky regularly to observe
the movements of the clouds and to calculate when a storm, cyclone or
flood would come and when to arrange safe refuse from its attacks.
Being imbued and encouraged by their unique love and fascination for
sky observation, the founders of Bangladesh Astronomical Society have
undertaken the task for creating Astronomy and Space Science awareness
among the people of Bangladesh and to interlink them with the
rest of the world…. |