The International Perspective: From Small Astronomical Telescopes to the World Space Observatory

Abstract

The UN/ESA Workshops on Basic Space Science are a long-term effort for the development of astronomy and regional and international cooperation in this field on a worldwide basis, particularly in developing nations. The first four workshops in this series (India 1991, Costa Rica and Colombia 1992, Nigeria 1993, and Egypt 1994) addressed the status of astronomy in Asia and the Pacific, Latin America and the Caribbean, Africa, and Western Asia, respectively. One major recommendation that emanated from the first four workshops was that small astronomical facilities should be established in developing nations for research and education programs at the university level and that such facilities should be networked. Subsequently, material for teaching and observational programs for small optical telescopes were developed or recommended and astronomical telescope facilities were inaugurated at UN/ESA Workshops on Basic Space Science in Sri Lanka (1995), Honduras (1997), and Jordan (1999). Elements of the Workshops, focusing on teaching, observing programs, and the Japanese donation program for small astronomical telescopes are briefly summarized in the first part of this paper.

The second part of this paper is a report on the recent UN/ESA Workshop on Basic Space Science, held at the University of Mauritius in 2001, and a summary of achievements of the UN/ESA Workshops on Basic Space Science for the period 1991 to 2001. Since 1991, similar reports, issued for each of the UN/ESA Workshops on Basic Space Science, have been brought to the attention of UN Member States on an annual basis with the objective to gain more support for the worldwide development of astronomy.