Originally published in Stabroek Weekend on July 6, 2025, by Telesha Ramnarine
Stabroek Weekend ran a piece on AstroPhotosGY in July 2025 (Telesha Ramnarine). This is my side of that story, why I built the site and what I was trying to fix.
Why I built it
AstroPhotosGY is an astronomy site I built for Guyana, sky maps, learning posts, and my image gallery. As president of the UG Astronomical Society (2022–2023), I kept meeting students who were curious about the night sky but had nowhere local to read about it.
"To me, the universe is everything: a lens, a mirror, and proof that things are greater than the sum of their parts. I built AstroPhotosGY to return that sense of wonder to Guyanese people, scientifically, visually, and meaningfully."
Built between exams
I built AstroPhotosGY mostly solo, orbital mechanics, geolocation math, and a lot of late-night debugging between university exams. The point was a site that still works for Guyanese readers years from now, not a one-off project page.
The sky tools use real physics and map data for Guyana's coordinates. It's not a generic template with a Guyana flag on it.
What's on the site
Sky Tonight
Sky Tonight is the part I care about most. It shows which planets, constellations, galaxies, and events are visible tonight, with cards that change for urban, rural, and remote locations in Guyana. There is a 3D solar system you can scrub through time so the orbits are easier to follow.
Learn
The Learn section is a set of astronomy lessons, from first-night observing through more advanced topics. I want to add workshops and school materials when I can.
History
A History subsection is planned for traditional and indigenous sky knowledge in Guyana. That only works if people contribute. I would rather have that archive grow in public than invent it myself.
Gallery
The gallery is my own images for now, all captured and processed in Guyana. I want other Guyanese photographers to be able to upload their night-sky work so it is not a one-person archive.
Light pollution
Guyana benefits from relatively dark skies, but growing industrialization and increasing light pollution threaten this natural resource. As I noted in the interview:
"By disconnecting us from nature and the preservation of our environment, we risk losing our connection to the cosmos."
I care about that because the site is useless if the sky is washed out. This is not a slogan. It is why I bother with outreach at all.
Better Hope
I grew up in Better Hope, East Coast Demerara, under the same sky the site is built around. There was nowhere local to read about it. I went to St Rose's, then Physics at UG (Computer Science after that), and that is the background I used to build the tools.
What I want to build next
If AstroPhotosGY works, I want to take it off the screen: telescope kits in classrooms, a mobile observatory if we can fund it, workshops, and school partnerships. None of that exists yet. It is a list, not a national programme.
Community
People here do ask for science they can use. If you photograph the sky, teach, or just want a local page to send students to, you can contribute. I will put work up if it fits.
Recognition
Stabroek Weekend ran the piece in the same stretch as the Guyana Prize coverage (2022 and 2023). That is press, not proof of impact. It does mean more people in Guyana have heard of the site.
If you want to look
The site is at AstroPhotosGY.com. Instagram is @astrophotos_gy.
Read the original Stabroek Weekend article here.
About This Feature
This follows the Stabroek Weekend interview with Telesha Ramnarine, 6 July 2025.