Jamaica

Welcome(!) to the Jamaican page for the SGAC North, Central America and the Caribbean region. Please read on to explore the latest Space News in Jamaica, as well as the little known history of Jamaica's key role in Space.

Inspire Space

Inspire Space is a regional project aimed at taking the wonders and promise of Space to the general public. In Jamaica this project will be manifest in a campaign to ignite interest in Space and the related disciplines by starting high school Space clubs in Jamaica - i.e. highschool chapters of the Jamaican Space Gen network. Currently in the planning stages, the aim is to fully implement the project by October of 2008 after the new school year begins in Jamaica, when students have a fresh start. These clubs will largely be carried forward by meetings which include talks from professionals or university students in any discipline related to Space. If you would like to be involved in the project and need more information, please contact me.

Marc Cornwall - NPoC, Jamaica

Jamaica in Space

A small nation, Jamaica is one of the largest islands in the Caribbean (third largest) with Kingston, the capital city being home to one of the largest natural harbours in the world. Among the attributes Jamaica is best known for are sun, sand, blue sea, reggae music and great personalities. History has shown that Space has never been at the top of the agenda in Jamaica on a national scale: by no means, however is the Space advocacy movement in Jamaica a dormant one.

AAJ

The Astronomical Association of Jamaica (AAJ) is the premiar open Space (astronomy) group in Jamaica which advocates all levels of space and scientific enquiry. Celebrating 60 yrs in 2008 it has continued to bring the wonders of everything above down to the sunny reggae filled lives of many Jamaicans. The AAJ operates mainly out of the University of the West Indies - the oldest tertiary institution in Jamaica - where there is active research being conducted with direct connections to the Space domain.

Highlights from Jamaican Space History

Jamaica has made several cameo appearances throughout key first moments in the history of global astronomy, astronomical institutions and Space.

One of the earliest accounts of astronomy in Jamaica relate to a Colin Campbell (F.R.S. - Fellow of the Royal Society - Great Britain) who brought a suite of high quality astronimical instruments to the island back in the early 18th century. These were later sold to an Alexander Macfarlane F.R.S. who used them to build an observatory in Kingston. These were later sent to Scotland and used to found the University of Glasgow's first astronomical observatory, after Macfarlane's death.

In the latter part of the 19th century, Belgian astronomer Jean-Charles Houzeau spent several years on the island where he worked on the first catalogue of visible stars (to magnitude 7.0) of the northern and southern hemispheres. Houzeau later returned to Belgium to take up the post of director of the Belgian Royal Observatory.

Later still, before the rise and demise of Pluto to and from the status of planethood, renowned American astronomer William H. Pickering spent some time at an observatory in Jamaica searching for an unseen perturbing planet beyond the orbit of Neptune. Those perturbations were later found to be due to uncertainties in orbital measurements in use during his time. It was here, also that pickering used a 12 inch telescope to create the first complete and usable photographic atlas of the visible side of the Moon.

Most recently, Jamaican-born Mr Glenn C. Chin, worked as a Mission Manager on the Harmoney Module in the International Space Station and Spacecraft Processing Directorate at NASA. Harmony is the connecting node of the ISS which facilitates the addition of the other orbital labs of the ISS being contributed by international partners.

See links below for more on Jamaica in Space History:

Take a fascinating Jamaican journey through Space and Time with Jamaican Historian, Dr Joy Lumsden
More on the AAJ
J'can take on NASA - Article on Glenn Chin by the Jamaica Gleaner
Pickering Hunts for a Planet - New York Times 1919
William Henry Pickering
Jean-Charles Houzeau in Jamaica
The Jamaican Observatories of Colin Campbell F.R.S. and Alexander Macfarlane F.R.S.
University of Glasgow Mcfarlane (or Dowhill) Observatory