IYA2009 Discovery Guides now available online
Introducing 12 easy ways to share the excitement of the night sky during IYA2009!
The Night Sky Network, Astronomical Society of the Pacific, National Science Foundation, NASA, and the IYA US committee have teamed up to provide Monthly IYA Discovery Guides. These are internationally accessible and complete with articles, activities, instructional videos, and finder charts.
You can download them here: http://www.astrosociety.org/iya/guides.html
2008 ASP IYA Conference Proceedings
A comprehensive resource guide for IYA intended for the scientific and educational communities
Order your St. Louis IYA conference proceedings from the ASP at: https://www1117.verio-web.com/astr88/events/2008mtg/2008preorder.html IYA2009 Newsletters
The 400 Years of the Telescope newsletter (www.400years.org) is the official newsletter of the U.S. IYA2009, but there are two other free newsletters with IYA2009 articles: the Astronomical Society of the Pacific (www.astrosociety.org/pubs/newsletter.html) and Universe Today (www.universetoday.com/, sign up on the right-side toolbar).
The International Year of Astronomy in 2009 (IYA 2009) is poised to become the greatest-ever global celebration of astronomy and its many contributions to society and culture. The year-long event was conceived to honor the 400th anniversary of the first use of an astronomical telescope by Galileo Galilei in 1609. The IYA is sponsored by the International Astronomical Union (IAU) and endorsed by UNESCO and the United Nations. The IYA aims to stimulate worldwide interest in astronomy and science, especially among young people. The major cornerstone projects for the IYA include:
The Galileoscope: An affordable educational telescope kit to be distributed through local planetariums and science centers. You are encouraged to now team up with potential partners in this initiative, such as science centers, planetariums, amateur-astronomy clubs, and other outlets. At this stage this project needs to know, as soon as possible, how many Galileoscopes you estimate that you will need. This will give us a more clear idea of the price and delivery dates. For that purpose please return the pre-order form to iya2009@eso.org before 30 June 2008. The cost for each telescope is US$10.
Please note:
This is a pre-order only, not a final binding commercial contract on either side.
There is the option to have one or more sponsor logos placed on the telescope next to the IYA2009 and the Galileoscope logos, at an additional cost to be determined.
We are investigating a bulk order for a stable but affordable tripod and a safe aperture-end solar filter. Please indicate if you think you might be interested in these optional extras for your Galileoscopes.
We encourage the IYA2009 Single Points of Contact to coordinate the distribution within the individual countries, but direct individual orders from IYA2009 partners (Organisational Nodes, societies, organisations, etc.), will be accepted too. If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to contact:
Stephen M. Pompea
US/IYA2009 Project Director, US/IYA2009 Telescope Kits Chair spompea@noao.edu
Dark Skies Awareness: Promoting an appreciation for the value of dark skies in energy conservation and our quality of life through shared observations, art, and photography.
From Earth to the Universe: 100 of the most beautiful astronomy images with captions, prepared for local production and display at planetariums, museums, and at local public venues.
In addition, there will both a German and a United States planetarium show reflecting the 400th year of Galileo’s telescope. The U.S. show will be distributed for a small fee through the IPS. Both shows will be available for distribution in early 2009.
