Global Events in order for the International Year of Astronomy, 2009

4.2.09

In honor of 400 year anniversary of Galileo’s telescope, scientists have created a series of events for the International Year of Astronomy, 2009. Celebrations of astronomy are taking place in 140 countries, including global events such as 100 Hours of Astronomy, Around the World in 80 Telescopes, How Many Stars Contest, and the National Dark Sky Week.


UA hosted a few lectures in conjunction with the International Year of Astronomy, as a way for local students to focus on astronomy and cosmology, which can be found on the Physics Department Calendar. These included “New Methods For Determining The Dark Matter Content Of Spiral Galaxies” and “Conflict in the Cosmos – The Life and the Science of Sir Fred Hoyle.” The most recent took place on Thursday, as Nobel Prize physicist, Joseph Taylor gave his lecture, “Binary Pulsars and Relativistic Gravity.”


“Probably the most fun and inspiring way to participate in the IYA would be to get involved with our campus astronomy group,” said Daniel Kennefick, physics professor at the UA.


The Student Astronomical Society hosts astronomy-related activities not only with students, but also with the general public. Chris Sharp, president of SAS, said their events are a good chance to connect kids and their families with the cosmos. “We host several star parties each semester where attendees
get a chance to play with telescopes and giant binoculars while enjoying the hidden views in the night sky,” he said. Friday, April 3 the star party is a Messier Marathon. Participants will try to identify as many of the 110 galaxies, clusters, and stars listed in the French astronomy guide, the Messier Catalog, as possible. Sharp encourages students to attend the star party. More information can be provided by emailing universitysas@gmail.com.


National Dark Sky Week is April 20-26 this year. It was established to raise awareness of light pollution, to initiate a time for people to enjoy the beauty of the cosmos without city lights intruding and to eliminate or improve the energy-wasting outside lights that prevent a clear view of the night sky. The National Dark Sky Week Web site suggests that citizens turn out these porch lights or sidewalk lights and use a red-tinted flashlight for necessary visibility before observing the stars, since it won’t disrupt nighttime vision. An example of outdoor light improvement would be reducing the amount of light reflected upward away from usable space. The Nature Web site adds, “Reducing the number of lights on at night could help conserve energy, protect wildlife and benefit human health.”


The 100 Hours of Astronomy will take place April 2-5 and is hosted by the European Organization for Astronomical Research in the Southern Hemisphere. The opening event for 100 Hours is a five-month-long exhibit of Galileo’s telescope, manuscripts, paintings and other artifacts at the Franklin Institute in Philadelphia. This week Giorgio Strano, curator at the Institute and Museum of the History of Science in Florence, Italy, arrived at the Franklin Institute to deliver one of the two remaining Galileo telescopes for the exhibition “Galileo, the Medici and the Age of Astronomy.” The exhibition is especially historical, since it is the only time that the artifacts have left Florence, according to a Franklin Institute press release.


The enormous four day event “100 Hours of Astronomy” will include a 24-hour video footage titled “Around the World in 80 Telescopes.” It will provide coverage of the night sky from all continents in the world, according to the International Year of Astronomy press release. Among the most impressive of these telescopes are the four giant 8.2 meter “Unit Telescopes” in Chile.


A “How Many Stars” contest began Jan. 1 this year and will continue until Dec. 31, collecting observations from anyone willing to submit them. The advantage of this contest is to provide a great deal of data for annual comparisons for change in the visibility of the night sky. The observations are an estimation of how many stars are perceptible from your viewpoint without the aid of a telescope or binoculars. Estimations are to be based on a scale posted on the contest’s Web site and submitted with the time and location of the observation.