Tuesday, December 15, 2009

One Million Galileo Moments and Counting . . .

There are now over one million Galileo Moments registered on the Canadian IYA site! This tremendous accomplishment is due to the hard work, dedication and creativity of thousands of volunteers across Canada. See the IYA announcement HERE.

Galilean Nights, one of the big IYA cornerstone projects, took place October 22-24 and was a huge success, with just over 1,300 registered events (and many more unregistered) in 88 countries, reaching an estimated 175,000 people. In Bangalore, India, 33 volunteers at 39 locations gave over 10,000 people the opportunity to look through a telescope. In Enayetpur, Bangladesh, 200 students and teachers viewed the Moon and Jupiter with Galileoscopes. And in Homer Glen, Illinois, 150 children and adults turned out on a very cold night to see Jupiter and its moons, the Ring Nebula and several other deep-sky objects. This is just a small sample of the many fantastic events that took place worldwide. There was also a remote observing program, where hundreds of people got to take their own images on telescopes in Australia, Canada and the United States.And thousands of people took part in live webcasts hosted by the UniverseAlive group in Iran and by Gianluca Masi at the Virtual Telescope in Ceccano, Italy. Please see the Galilean Nights site for more information, pictures and educational material.

The Victoria IYA group has had a very full year, and I’ll let Chris Gainor of the RASC Victoria Centre tell you what they’ve done:

“The Victoria Centre has been very busy with IYA activities as it works toward its goal of obtaining 20,000 Galileo Moments. Centre members have participated in IYA events such as 100 Hours of Astronomy and have featured telescopes at public events and local fairs. A key initiative in Victoria has been the video artistic installation ‘From the Earth to the Universe,’ which has brought stunning astronomical images to thousands of Victorians through displays at the Bay Centre downtown, the Mayfair Shopping Centre and the Victoria International Airport.

“IYA activities in Victoria have taken a strong cultural theme. Victoria Centre members brought telescopes to the annual Symphony Splash in the Inner Harbour, which included astronomical-themed music as part of the event. The Victoria Symphony also presented astronomy-themed concerts aimed at children and adults, and the Early Music Society of the Islands mounted concerts based on music from Galileo’s time. One of the more unusual events was a tour of Victoria’s Ross Bay Cemetery that featured prominent astronomers from Victoria’s history. The National Research Council’s Herzberg Institute of Astrophysics and the University of Victoria’s department of physics and astronomy also put on numerous events and helped out with volunteers at the Victoria Centre’s outreach events.”

I think you’ll agree that the Victoria Centre has done a fantastic job this year, and here are a couple of pictures taken from the Centre’s photo site.

Now let’s go to Saskatoon, where Patricia Gakis from the RASC Saskatoon Centre fills us in on what they’ve been up to this fall:

“IYA is now over in Saskatoon, but we’ve definitely proved that this city loves astronomy. October is usually the month for our annual open house at our Sleaford Observatory. But this year, in honour of IYA, we not only pushed the date to correspond with the IYA project Galilean Nights but also extended the one-night event to two nights. Mother Nature was not on our side, however, as we were clouded out on both nights. But that did not stop the crowds. We had over 100 people come out that weekend to tour the observatory and learn more about astronomy and light pollution.

“November 20 has been designated Universal Children’s Day by the United Nations. One of the local malls here in Saskatoon decided to celebrate by showcasing a variety of local groups and talent, and we were fortunate enough to be invited. In less than eight hours, we had over 130 visitors to our table, all of whom were excited to learn more about astronomy. Kids had the opportunity to take home little projects and to get a look at some Christmas lights in a Celestron FirstScope! Unfortunately, the public observing session we had planned for a nearby park was clouded out again, but overall, the event was a great success.

“IYA may be over for us here, but looking back on everything we’ve done, it was a wonderful year. We have had a lot of fun showing off the heavens to our fellow Saskatoonians, and I personally am looking forward to continuing this momentum of teaching everyone about astronomy in the coming years!”

Well done, Saskatoon!

Next, I give you the arts roundup. In a previous blog, I mentioned science journalist Dan Falk’s excellent two-part series about Galileo, which aired on CBC Radio’s “Ideas.” You can get further information about this series and listen to both episodes HERE. The Eye 3D is a new movie about the European Southern Observatory’s Very Large Telescope. More information about the film, including a trailer, can be found HERE. It has certainly been a great year for astronomy movies. In addition to The Eye 3D, there’s also been Blast!, 400 Years of the Telescope and Eyes on the Skies.

I will leave you today with two pictures courtesy of Jim Hesser, the Canadian IYA’s Single Point of Contact.

Terry

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