NARIT News
ASEAN Astronomy Camp 2026 (AAC 2026)
Over 42 youths from around the world gathered in Chiang Mai, Thailand for The ASEAN Astronomy Camp (AAC 2026) before returning home after having earned new lifelong passions and friendships.
The ASEAN Astronomy Camp, or AAC is a series of ongoing astronomy camps operated by the International Training Centre in Astronomy under the auspices of UNESCO (ITCA), hosted by the National Astronomical Research Institute of Thailand (NARIT). The 2026 iteration was held from 10-13 March 2026 in Chiang Mai, Thailand. Students from around the world join together in this unique experience sharing their passion in astronomy. The camp was widely popular as over 200 participants applied to be part of this experience. In the end, 42 participants from over 12 countries were selected to participate in the camp.
AAC is aimed to be a truly international astronomy camp experience where young adults of age 15-19 across many cultures, religions, and ethnicities gather to learn more about astronomy. AAC 2026 saw young adults from Thailand, Philippines, Vietnam, Myanmar, Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore, Bangladesh, Italy, Finland, Romania, and even as far away as the Dominican Republic coming together during a four-day-camp.
The activities in the AAC are designed around promoting passion, being inspirational, engaging activities, and team-building while at the same time maintaining the atmosphere of fun and entertaining.
With the camp being held, at the capital city of Astronomy in Chiangmai, Thailand, participants were also awarded rare opportunities in witnessing firsthand some of the state-of-the-art astronomical facilities at Princess Sirindhorn Astropark: high performance computing clusters, high-precision machining facilities, spacecraft assembly, radio detector laboratory, Mirror coating machine prototype for the CTAO, robotics laboratory, etc. They also get exclusive tours within the largest optical and radio telescope in Southeast Asia: the 2.4m Thai National Telescope and the 40m Thai National Radio Telescope.
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As an astronomy camp, stargazing experience is held at the highest priority. The camp date was chosen based on little interruption from the Moon and during the season with the highest chance of clear skies atop the highest peak and one of Thailand’s best stargazing sights: Doi Inthanon National Park. Participants learn about basic stargazing then learn about constellations in Princess Sirindhorn Astropark’s planetariums. Then, they get to spend nights after nights under the starry sky atop the highest peak in Thailand as they operate 10” Dobsonian telescopes to gaze upon the otherworldly deep sky objects by themselves.
The four-day-camp was utilized to the maximum as participants are constantly challenged as they must together come through many unique challenges that aim to test their knowledge, problem-solving skills, creativity, and how to work together as a team. Whether via a reenactment of NARIT’s popular national trivia competition “Astro Challenge”, or a new and unique AAC tradition “Astro Rally” where the teams must face and solve unknown challenges together. During AAC, a simple telescope training session could turn into a challenge as participants compete to locate and observe hidden words to crack the hidden message, while a leisure walk in the flower garden becomes a “Next Top Model” competition as they together seek creative ways to pose for group photos for highly coveted points. An afternoon ice cream break becomes a learning experience in cryogenics as participants observe the ice cream being made in real-time using the very same liquid nitrogen used to cool the astronomical instruments.
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All in all, participants left the camp earning new lifelong passions, new friends and contacts, and memorable experiences whether it being the astronomical facilities, the fun activities, the sighting of Jupiter or Orion Nebula through an eyepiece with the telescope that they operated themselves, or even singing “twinkle, twinkle little stars” as they lie on top of the roof of Thailand gazing into the starry sky.
The feedback from participants is overwhelmingly positive. One participant revealed, “I’ve searched everywhere for astronomy camps that are truly open to international participants. Until I found AAC.” Another exclaimed, “This is forever going to be the most memorable 4 days of my life.” Another wrote, “I am very grateful for this experience, and it will forever be a part of me! Thank you for the great memories.” While another shared that this camp has helped confirm his passion towards taking a career as a physicist.
The AAC will return again in 2027 as we seek to inspire more youths and expand AAC into an international community.
