16 November 2020

The 2020 Observing Season officially commenced on November 16, 2020 at Thai National Observatory (TNO), Doi Inthanon in Chiang Mai. NARIT had the pleasure to welcome team U.S. Consulate General Chiang Mai led by Mr. Sean K. O’Neill – the Consul General to our state-of-the-art facility located at the highest spot in Thailand. Beneath the elaborate constellations, Dr. Saran Poshyachinda – NARIT Executive Director guided the Consul through the 2.4-meter and 1-meter in-house optical telescopes. The parties aimed to strengthen ongoing programs and initiate prospects between Thai and US collaborations on STEM and Space education. NARIT owns and operates the 0.7-meter robotic telescope at Sierra Remote Observatories (SRO) in California since 2015. Together with University of North Carolina, NARIT also operates the 0.6-meter robotic telescope as a part of the Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory (CTIO) located in Chile. Mr. Consul had a chance to observe these two telescopes from the control room as parts of the Thai Robotic Telescope Network (TRT) in which NARIT operates around the world.