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.

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!

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.

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