After meeting Professor Jamal Mimouni at the CAP conference in Medellin back in May, I recently had the great pleasure of hosting both him and the winners of the Algerian national Cirta Science competition during their astronomical tour of the UK.  The group included the winning students, members of the Sirius Astronomy Association, as well Jamal and another physics professor.  They spent a day at Jodrell Bank learning about the telescopes and the science we can do with them, and visiting the offices of the Square Kilometre Array project. They were a really lovely group of people with lots of excellent questions about astronomy, and life as a scientist.  For me, it was a really enjoyable afternoon talking to genuinely-interested (and interesting!) people.  I hope they enjoyed the experience as much as I did!

Visit by the Sirius Astronomy Association and the winners of the Cirta Science competition from Algeria.

Visit by the Sirius Astronomy Association and the winners of the Cirta Science competition from Algeria.

Visit to Jodrell Bank of the Sirius Astronomy Association and the winners of the Cirta Science competition from Algeria. Top: exploring how interferometers work.  Bottom: looking at the structure of the Lovell telecsope. Credit: Prof. Jamal Mimouni.