Thursday, January 1, 2009

Happy International Year of Astronomy!

Today marks the first day of the International Year of Astronomy (IYA). The IYA celebrates 400 years since Galileo made his historic observations. Over 130 countries have national committees organizing events.

The US IYA has its official opening ceremony in Long Beach, California on January 6th in conjunction with the American Astronomical Society meeting. I am involved in a few projects, including the Galileoscope and Dark Skies Awareness. Since I am bloggind and may do a couple of podcasts, I will also be marginally involved in the New Media outreach efforts.

You can follow IYA events on Facebook, Myspace and Twitter.

I would like to point out two events that are already underway. First is the Cosmic Diary. This blog will let you get to know astronomers arond the world. They will blog about their their research as well as their lives, hobbies, families etc. The goal is to let people know what astronomers really do (I know my career is much different than I thought it would be when I was a young boy wanting to be an astronomer!)

The second is the 365 Days of Astronomy Podcast. Each day will feature a 5 - 10 minute podcast produced by a different person or group on a different topic in astronomy. These podcasts are intended for a general audience. You can subscribe via iTunes or listen streaming at the site. And if you have a little interest, you can produce your own podcast for this project! Dates are available later in the year.

There are many more events coming up throughout the year and I will blog them as they come up.

Reprinted with permission from the Half-Astrophysicist Blog.

1 comment:

OrbsCorbs said...

Happy IYA! Who hasn't looked up at the night sky and wondered? Our universe is awe-inspiring.