Amateur Astronomy Around the World in 2009

Advances
eals are inherently cyclical business propositions that succeed in
Payday Loans eral supporting the payments on a group of tranched securities. This kind of deal is called a ‘collateralized bond obligation’ or CBO, an
Online payday loans instant approval atively high-risk credit
Fast A further innovation in many transaction deals, one which helped to reassure investors when the underlying assets were relatively risky
against the default of a bond. If the bond defaults then the protection Payday Loan Online to do something more exciting and more pro? table. Their innovation

Home

Blogs

Terry Bridges

Amateur Astronomy Around the World in 2009

Main Menu

Support 100 Hours of Astronomy
and its non-profit organizers with every new and renewed subscription to Sky and Telescope, the world's premier astronomy magazine

100 Hours of Astronomy - A retrospective
Photo Galleries	Blogs	Around the World in 80 Telescopes	24-hour Global Star Party	100 Hours of Remote Astronomy

2009.03.10 00:32:00

Terry Bridges

Amateur Astronomy Around the World in 2009

Today I'd like to tell you about some of the great things that amateur astronomers are doing this year. After reading this, I think you'll agree that they're helping to make the world a more beautiful and peaceful place.

The first event has already happened. Beauty Without Borders was an impromptu global star party which ran from Feb 25 to Mar 1, and was inspired by the IYA and the beauty of Venus. Additional inspiration was provided by the gorgeous conjunction of Venus and the crescent Moon on Feb 18. Astronomers from 18 countries took part in BWB, and the picture below shows Venus and the Moon as seen in Japan. There are many other lovely pictures and worldwide reports on the BWB website, and you should also take a look at the BWB Youtube video.

bwb1

The second event is GLOBE at Night, happening during Mar 16-28. People in any of the 110 GLOBE countries are invited to observe the constellation Orion during this time. Measurements of the brightness of stars in Orion will tell us how dark the sky is in different places around the world, and give us a better idea of how bad light pollution is globally. This is easy to do, and give very useful results, so I urge all of you take part in this important project. Here is a GLOBE at Night postcard to inspire you!

gan

Finally, there is the lovely StarPeace project, which is happening during all of 2009. StarPeace is a global project, aimed at connecting people living on both sides of land and sea country borders. By having common and public starparties, groups from these countries can use their common view of the sky to unite peacefully. So far, 17 clubs from 14 different countries are taking part in StarPeace, and a very successful event between India and Pakistan happened on Feb 9. The picture below was taken by a Pakistani group during this event.

starpeace1

This is just a small sampling of some of the many wonderful programs being carried out by amateur astronomers in 2009. I hope that they will inspire you as much as they have inspired me!

Terry

2009.03.10 14:37:44

GLOBE at Night is trying to have as much translations to its Orion spotting activity as possible, so if anyone is interested in translating to your language, please contact GLOBE at Night.

Star Peace, for me, is a great way of showing the AWB motto "Boundaries vanish when we look skyward. We all share the same sky".

And that is true. I've seen former enemy countries joined towards the same goal.

A team of Star Peace from Qeshm island (Iran) and the Amateur Astronomers Association of Kurdistan (Iraq), both joined the "Dawn of IYA2009" solar observation activity on January 1st 2009 (in this case, it was "We all share the same Sun"

.

It filled my heart with joy to see peace through astronomy.

2009.03.10 15:00:50

Hi Ricardo: thanks for letting us know about the Iran and Iraq StarPeace activity. I agree-- it is wonderful to see astronomy leading to these kinds of connections, and I'm so glad that IYA is so international.

2009.03.12 01:09:39

it was nice to know about the StarPeace activity. We own another need of peace. Jiménez is located at the Mexican prayer in Chihuahua; here the sky is quite clear. But astronomy is in an old fashioned way: usually, farmers know best about stars and the beauty of early morning sky. During Moon and Venus event few weeks ago, a rancher just said: "I took a picture with a cell phone". This sincere aproach to astronomy make us think about nature of wonder. I am waiting happy faces when they look at a telescope for first time. And a treasure of animic frames is awaiting among sub urban people. An so, the meaning of an amateur astronomer begins. Hope to share in enough words the inner feelings we have here. Recieve a warm salute from the Cathedral of light with wind ceiling.

2009.03.12 18:13:01

Hi, and thanks for your comment, which I find really inspiring! I too enjoy so much the expressions on children who are seeing something like Saturn for the first time-- that's what makes all this so worthwhile.

Terry

Blog about joomla | IDOBlog - blog for joomla 1.5

Previous 100 Hours Blogs

Bob Naeye wrote: 100 Hours of Astronomy, A Resounding Success on Several Levels

Nick Lomb wrote: Down Under success for 100 Hours of Astronomy events

Pradeep Mohandas wrote: Reporting the 100 Hours from India

Rick Fienberg wrote: The Planet that Got Away

Paul Salazar wrote: Being Part of a Worldwide Movement

Ricardo Cardoso Reis wrote: Size isn't everything

Alan Dyer wrote: The View from the Other Side of the Webcam

Ricardo Cardoso Reis wrote: Communication is the name of the game

Pradeep Mohandas wrote: Spending the 100 Hours in India

Donna Smith wrote: Get Involved

Paul Salazar wrote: A Call to Action

Rick Fienberg wrote: "Oh My God -- It's Full of Stars!"

Shahin Jafarzadeh wrote: 100 Hours of Astronomy and Activities for Children

Alan Dyer wrote: Putting in a Plug for Planetariums

Nick Lomb wrote: Earth Hour and the Night Sky

Kelly Beatty wrote: An Hour Under the Stars

Donna Smith wrote: Passion for Astronomy + Energy = 100 Hours Success

Rick Fienberg wrote: Saturn Takes Center Stage

Terry Bridges wrote: Amateur Astronomy Around the World in 2009

Alan Dyer wrote: Astronomy and Music in Concert

Shahin Jafarzadeh wrote: Activities without specific equipment!

Ricardo Cardoso Reis wrote: 100 hours national efforts

Donna Smith wrote: Reaching Out and Looking Up

Rick Fienberg wrote: Just One Moonth to Go!

Kelly Beatty wrote: Chasing Down Comet Lulin

Terry Bridges wrote: 100 Hours of Astronomy News

Alan Dyer wrote: Inspiring Galileo Moments in Everyone

Rick Fienberg wrote: Venus Is Just Going Through a Phase

Shahin Jafarzadeh wrote: How important are clear skies for a (successful) public observing event?

Terry Bridges wrote: Welcome to the 100 Hours of Astronomy Blog!

USTREAM.TV: Major Sponsor of 100 Hours of Astronomy

Blog Rules

You are encouraged to post comments to any of the blog postings below. However, we ask that all comments be relevant to the blog in question, and we advise that any offensive comments will be removed by the blog moderator.

Note: to post comments, you must be logged into the site.

Site Access

Organized by