In March 2019, the International Astronomical Union (IAU) received applications from candidates around the world to take a shot at winning one of the twenty available telescopes to be used for the IAU100 moon landing anniversary celebrations event, Moon Landing 50.

The telescope is a refractor Bresser 90/900 that features a special mount, custom-made by ATM group “Kijkerbouw VSRUG” (Ghent, Belgium) from the project SSVI. The telescope has been signed by several astronauts and the president of the IAU, Ewine van Dishoeck.

IAU recently announced the 20 selected recipients and organisations that would receive a telescope to be used for outreach and education, as part of the Moon Landing 50 global event.

The following individuals are recipients of the telescope from Africa, five in number:

1. El-Abbas Endaisha, Department of Physics – Misurata University, Libya
2. Razanakoto Mializo, Haikintana Astronomy, Madagascar
3. Christopher Luwanga, Space Generation Advisory Council, Malawi
4. Deodatus Stanley Kiriba, The Nelson Mandela African Institution of Science and Technology, Tanzania
5. Asma Bdhief, Tunisian Association of Young Astronomers, Tunisia

Moon Landing 50 is the IAU100 global event dedicated to celebrating the 50th anniversary of the first human moon landing which occurred in 1969. Registered events around the world will be collaboratively honouring the historic Moon Landing milestone by organising various activities in July 2019 through to the end of the year.

Visit the official announcement page to see the full list of 20 selected recipients from around the world.