Astronomers have been in the news recently thanks to the exciting launch on Friday of the Kepler space telescope, which will search for Earth-like planets within our Galaxy. But you’re likely to see astronomy in the news throughout the year, since 2009 has been designated as the International Year of Astronomy by the United Nations.

Why 2009? Because it’s the four hundredth anniversary of Galileo’s first observations of the heavens with a telescope. (In that same year, 1609, Johannes Kepler also published his famous Astronomia nova.) With this key instrumental breakthrough, the field of modern astronomy was born. Four hundred years later, astronomy is one of the branches of science that’s most in the public eye, and we’re celebrating its discoveries and impact.

The International Year of Astronomy isn’t just for astronomers — an important goal of the IYA celebrations is to reach out to the general public and boost their interest in astronomy and science in general. There are a number of events happening throughout the year, many of which will be right here in the Bay Area:

• In conjunction with the Lawrence Hall of Science and Space Sciences Lab, the Berkeley Astronomy Department is presenting a series of monthly astronomy lectures for the general public. The next one will be given on March 21 by Dan Werthimer, the inventor of SETI@Home. More information about his talk and the schedule for the rest of the year can be found on the Berkeley IYA homepage.
• From April 2 to April 5, live images from observatories around the world will be broadcast nonstop as part of the 100 Hours of Astronomy event. The featured observatories will span the EM spectrum from radio to gamma rays and will include Cal-affiliated sites like the famous Keck Observatory. The climax of the event, however, will be a 24-hour global “star party” on April 4, when telescopes will be set up for public viewing all over the world (including Berkeley!).
• If you want to get even more hands-on, a team of astronomers and engineers has put together a low-cost, high-quality telescope kit called the Galileoscope. For $15, you can get an easy-to-assemble telescope with up to 50x magnification, which is enough to see Saturn’s rings, the phases of Venus, and the topography of the moon.
• Of course, these events are being blogged. The Cosmic Diary website hosts an international group of astronomers blogging about their work, their field, and the occasional fun stuff.

If you want to learn more about the International Year of Astronomy, visit the global website or the Berkeley IYA homepage, or email the Berkeley IYA organizer, Steve Croft.

Tags: astronomy 2009

This entry was posted on Monday, April 6th, 2009 at 2:15 pm and is filed under Astronomy/Astrophysics. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.