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stronomy researchers, activists and enthusiasts across the globe have celebrated World Space Week from Oct. 4 to 10 every year since 1999.

In Indonesia, this year’s celebrations, that carry a theme of “Exploring New Worlds in Space,” are held over nine different events in various locations in Jakarta, West Java, Yogyakarta and East Java.

The events were mostly initiated by various communities and students of different universities who aimed to inspire young people into astronomy, in a country where space science is less well-known than other studies.

For instance, an event called Astara Ganesha in Bandung, West Java, which was held by astronomy students at the Bandung Institute of Technology (ITB).

Nadhilah Mustikarini, 19, who studies astronomy at ITB, organized Astara Ganesha 2017 along with her colleagues to commemorate this year’s World Space Week.

The week-long Astara Ganesha wrapped up last Saturday with a quiz program for senior high school students in West Java and Banten.

The ITB students had also arranged a series of pre-events involving various competitions, such as astronomy comics, vlogs, info-graphics and astro-photography competitions.

Nadhilah, who led the team organizing Astara Ganesha, said that the World Space Week celebration was essential to educate people, especially students, about astronomy.

“Astronomy could be interesting if we present it interestingly. We expect there will be more people who are keen to study astronomy,” she said.

Another event called the Star Party was held last Saturday by University of Indonesia’s (UI) physics students at the UI complex in West Java’s Depok, on the outskirts of Jakarta.

The event was opened with a public lecture by an astronomy expert from ITB, Chatief Kunjaya — who was also a former secretary general of the International Olympiad on Astronomy and Astrophysics (IOAA), an annual astronomy competition for high school students — and Jakarta Astronomy Amateurs Association founder Widya Sawitar.

The event also provided the public with an opportunity to observe space through a telescope.

“We provided five telescopes [in front of the UI rector building where the space observation took place],” said Hans Adhitya, a fifth semester student studying physics at UI and a member of the Star Party organizing committee.

In 1999, the UN General Assembly declared that World Space Week would be held each year from Oct. 4 to 10.

The event marks the anniversary of the launch of Sputnik 1, the first artificial satellite, on Oct. 4, 1957, and the signing of the Outer Space Treaty on Oct. 10, 1967.

Last year, 86 countries celebrated World Space Week with at least 2,700 different activities.

This year, World Space Week is focusing on various astronomical research into finding new planets resembling earth, including astrobiology missions such as New Horizons — NASA’s first mission to Pluto and the Kuiper Belt.

It also features a number of space engineering developments by both established and new players, like Space X, a California-based rockets and spacecraft manufacturer established in 2002.

Chatief Kunjaya said that World Space Week could be a tool to promote astronomy as an easy science.

“In the future, we will need intelligent people to study astronomy, since future technology will be related to outer space,” Chatief said.

In Indonesia, ITB is the only university to offer an astronomy program, with about 81 students and 19 lecturers in its undergraduate and postgraduate programs, as quoted from the ITB website.