News round-up, 17 April 2009

17 April 2009

The weekly IYA2009 news round-up has arrived, bringing you the latest media coverage of everyone's favourite astronomically-themed year. Let's gallivant around some choice morsels!

We'll open with a corker, courtesy of Physics Today. Written by Toni Feder, the feature talks about IYA2009 in general before delving into specific projects such as She is an Astronomer, 100 Hours of Astronomy, and the Cosmic Diary. Then Second Life crops up (as it often does), in particular the virtual Astronomy 2009 island, modelled on a spiral galaxy. Check the article to see a Second Life avatar sporting an IYA2009 t-shirt. To finish off, there's a diagram teaching you how to say "quasar" in sign language. You learn something new every day!

Attention, residents of New York. Buffalo Rising says that the Buffalo Museum of Science is running an impressive programme of events for IYA2009. These include telescope training, constellation spotting, and even a tutorial about the conversion of light energy into heat and mechanical energies. Buffalo Museum of Science, you efforts are dazzling.

Explorer bagged an interview with IYA2009 and Galileoscope guru Doug Isbell. He talks about the Year from a U.S. perspective, and mentions various outreach efforts such as the 365 Days of Astronomy podcast, Today in Astronomy blog, and Astronomy Discovery Guides.

As the global recession bites ever-harder, free events are appreciated by more people than ever before. At least, that's the premise of a Fosters.com article suggesting low-cost activities, especially to entertain children. Astronomy features high on the list, and they recommend visiting observatories, attending star parties, and generally looking in an upward direction during the night.

Great Falls Tribune reports that the Central Montana Astronomy Society, U.S. Forest Service, and educators from Great Falls Public Schools are ready to hold a Spring Star Party Extravaganza. There will be observing if the weather is clear, but also contingency activities in the event of rain, which include decorating Hubble Space Telescope-shaped cookies. Best. Idea. Ever. Unfortunately when I read the article the advert on the left of the page was for shotguns, which made the article seem vaguely ominous.

News snippets time! Astro Nuts has found out about Canadian IYA2009-themed stamps, and has put a photo up to prove it. New Stamps has done the same for the Ukraine. Ada Evening News is advertising a free public astronomy lecture at East Central University, Oklahoma. The Malta Independent Online is also plugging astronomy talks, but this batch will be held at the University of Malta, and presented by United States Senator Harrison Schmitt. Again, free and open to the public.

Lee Pullen

IYA2009 Staff Write

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