Bangladesh has started Celebration of International Year of Astronomy. The Inaugural Ceremony of IYA2009 was held on the 1st of January, 2009 at Enayetpur.
The Inaugural Ceremony began with the lifting off hundreds of colourful Balloons tied up with the Logo IYA2009 below it which rose majestically to a few thousand feet then moved southward with the flow of air amidst thundering cheers and handclapping sounds of the students, teachers, guests and ordinary people participating in this historic event. The Celebration was held in the play ground of Enayetpur High Schools and continued from 10am to 12 noon. By the side of the Stage ,Models of a Rocket about 25 feet in height and an Earth Globe about 10 feet in diameter were set up. To mark the Celebration, school students launched Water Rockets and drew Space Arts which added more attractions to the event. Among the speakers who had delivered their lectures were Dr. A.R. Khan, President, Bangladesh Astronomical Society, Dr. Sadrul Ula, Head of the Electronics Department, University of Wyoming, USA, Dr. Ali Asgar, former Head of Department of Physics, Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (BUET), Dr. Sirajul Islam, former Professor of Economics, University of Rajshahi, Prof. Lokendra Nath Ghose, Principal, Khamargram College and F. R. Sarker, General Secretary, Bangladesh Astronomical Society and the Single Point of Contact (SPoC) for IYA2009 in Bangladesh.
In the Inaugural Speech, Dr. A. R. Khan outlined the facts about the initiative of International Year of Astronomy and advised the students and ordinary people to participate in the celebration of IYA2009. Dr. Sadrul Ula disclosed that most of the names of the Stars are derived from Arabic language as the Muslims were the first to systematically catalogue the names of the stars. Dr. Ali Asgar expressed his optimism that Celebration of IYA2009 is a golden opportunity for Scientific Sky observation by the students. F. R. Sarker told that IYA2009 is a joint initiative undertaken by the United Nations and International Astronomical Union in which about 135 countries have joined to celebrate it globally. Bangladesh has two important commitments to fulfill, viz. to avail opportunity for Telescopic Sky Observation to minimum 200,000 people and to arrange scientific Observation of historic Total Solar Eclipse to be sighted over northern part of Bangladesh on 22 July. Meanwhile, a National Committee for the Celebration of IYA2009 in Bangladesh has been formed with eminent Astronomers, Scientists and Educationists. The Committee has already chalked out Programmes which include among others Distribution of a few hundred Teselscopes to different Schools, about 10 Regional, 3 National Symposia and 1 International Conference to be arranged during 2009 aimed at creating substantial interest about Astronomy among the students as well as the ordinary people in Bangladesh.