Tuesday, March 24, 2009

Calgary IYA Activities

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Greetings everyone!  Lots of exciting IYA activities are happening every week, all across the country. Today, we will move east to Calgary,and I’ll let you know some of the great things going on there.

The Calgary IYA folk are very organized, with three groups working closely together: Telus World of Science, the RASC Calgary Center,and the Rothney Astrophysical Observatory (University of Calgary). Their excellent webpage has lots of good information, and a schedule of their IYA events. 

The first Calgary activity I’d like to highlight is a very cool planetarium production:  Galileo Live!  This show was co-produced by the planetariums in Calgary , Vancouver , Winnipeg , and Montreal , and will be playing in all these cities sometime this year. It features live actors, multimedia audio and video, andgorgeous 360-degree panoramic scenes shot in Italy projected onto the dome.  The picture to the left is from one of the Calgary performances, and shows Galileo in the Medici chapel in Florence , dedicating the moons of Jupiter to his patron, Cosimo de Medici. Check with your planetarium for more information and show times.  You should also look at the blog that Alan Dyer did on Galileo Live! for 100 Hours of Astronomy.

The intrepid Calgary bunch also organize stargazing sessions at Telus World of Science (every Friday night from September till May) and at the Rothney Astrophysical Observatory (open houses (at least) once a month during all of 2009).  At these sessions, Calgary IYA members will show you planets and othercelestial bodies through several telescopes, and there are usually astronomical talks as well.  The picture on the right was taken at an RAO open house in January, and shows Roland Dechesne talking about Comet Cardinal (which was discovered at the RAO!) 

The picture on the left is from the February 20th Telus World “Friday Night Stargazing” session, featuring Mark Windsor of Telus World of Science.

Thanks to Alan Dyer of Telus World of Science, for telling me all about the Calgary IYA activities. Alan asked that I mention a few people (he’s too modest to mention himself of course!) who deserve special praise:  Brian Fenerty and Larry McNish from the RASC,  and Jennifer Howse, and Phil Langill from the RAO. In my next blog, I’ll tell you more about 100 Hours of Astronomy.

Until then, clear skies!

Terry