The International Year of Astronomy

VisionTo help the citizens of the world rediscover their place in the Universe through the day and night time sky, and thereby engage a personal sense of wonder and discovery.

CelebrationA global celebration of astronomy and its contributions to society and culture, highlighted by the 400th anniversary of the first use of an astronomical telescope by Galileo.

Goals & Objectives

Increase scientific awareness.

Promote widespread access to new knowledge and observing experiences.

Empower astronomical communities in developing countries.

Support and improve formal and informal science education.

Provide a modern image of science and scientists.

Goals & Objectives

Facilitate new networks and strengthen existing ones.

Improve the gender-balanced representation of scientists at all levels and promote greater involvement by underrepresented minorities in scientific and engineering careers.

Facilitate the preservation and protection of the world’s cultural and natural heritage of dark skies and historical astronomical sites.

Organisational Structure

Organisational

Current Status (Feb '08)

106 National Nodes

49 National Websites

17 Organisational Nodes

11 Organisational Associates

11 Cornerstone Projects

8 Special Task Groups

Thousands of people actively involved!

Global Cornerstone Projects

100 Hours of AstronomyRound-the-clock, round-the-globe celebration: live webcasts; observing events; open doors; public talks; activities in schools and much more activities. The “100 hours of astronomy” will take place on the weekend of Thursday, April 2nd, through Sunday, April 5th, 2009.Chair: Dennis Crabtree (Chile)

The GalileoscopeA simple, accessible, easy-to-assemble and easy-to-use telescope that can be distributed by the millions. Ideally, every participant in an IYA2009 event should be able to take home one of these little telescopes. Chair: Rick Fienberg (USA)

Global Cornerstone Projects

Cosmic DiaryProfessional astronomers will blog text, images and video about their lives, families, friends, hobbies and interests, as well as their work, their latest research findings and the challenges they face in their research.Chair: Mariana Barrosa (Portugal)

The Portal to the UniverseA comprehensive directory of observatories, facilities, astronomical societies, amateur astronomy societies, space artists, science communication universities, as well as a news, image and video-aggregator and Web 2.0 collaborative tools for astronomy multimedia interconnectivity.Chair: Lars Lindberg Christensen (ESA/Hubble)

Global Cornerstone Projects

She is as Astronomer The aim of the project is to provide neutral, informative and helpful information to female professional and amateur astronomers, students and those who are generally interested in the gender equality problem in science.Chairs: Enikö Patkos(ESO) and Francesca Primas (ESO)

Dark Skies AwarenessIAU will collaborate with the NOAO, International Dark-Sky Association and other national and international partners in dark sky and environmental education on several related themes.Chair: Connie Walker (USA)

Astronomy and World HeritageUNESCO and the IAU are working together to implement a research and education collaboration as part of UNESCO’s Astronomy and World Heritage project.IAU Contact: Karel van der Hucht (IAU General Secretary)

Galileo Teacher Training ProgrammeA unique global effort in empowering teachers to exploit the existing astronomical educational resources. The Galileo Teacher Training Programme will create a hyper-network (a network of networks of networks).Chairs: Jim Manning (USA) & Rosa Doran (Portugal)

Global Cornerstone Projects

Global Cornerstone Projects

Universe AwarenessUniverse Awareness (UNAWE) is an international outreach activity that aims to inspire young disadvantaged children with the beauty and grandeur of the universe.Chair: Carolina Ödman (NL)

The Universe from the EarthThe Universe from the Earth is an exhibition that brings astronomical images to a wider audience in non-traditional venues like art museums, public galleries, shopping malls and public gardens.Chairs: Kimberly Kowal Arcand & Megan Watzke (USA)

Global Cornerstone Projects

Developing Astronomy Globally A cornerstone project that responds to the acknowledgement that astronomy needs to be developed professionally (universities, research), publicly (communication, media, amateur groups) and educationally (schools) in various countries that do not have strong astronomy communities. The implementation would be focussed on training and development at each of the areas mentioned above. Chair: Kevin Govender (South Africa)

Global Cornerstone Projects

The World At Night The World At Night is a new programme to create and exhibit a collection of stunning photographs of the world’s most beautiful and historic sites against a night time backdrop of stars, planets and celestial events. The eternally peaceful sky looks the same above all the landmarks and symbols of different nations and regions, attesting to the truly unified nature of Earth as a planet rather than an amalgam of human-designated territories.

Links with some IYA2009 Cornerstone Projects: From Earth to the Universe, Dark Skies Awareness and IAU/UNESCO Astronomy and World HeritageChair: Babak Tafreshi (Iran)

Special Projects

Special Task Groups

Opening event at UNESCO, Chair: Francoise Combes (France)

Closing Event (under establishment)

EU Seventh Framework Programme, Chair: Claus Madsen (ESO)

Kepler, Chair: Terry Mahoney (UK)

Galileo, Chair: Paolo Galluzzi (Italy)

IYA2009 New Year’s Eve Events, Chair: Helen Sim (Australia)

Solar Physics, Chair: Bruno Sánchez-Andrade Nuño (Spain)

Evaluation (under establishment)

Activities

e.g.: Sidewalk Astronomy Astronomy Olympiads Open Doors Star parties Public Talks Exhibitions Stamps Science Cafés Websites Documentaries…

Meetings

ESO (Garching, Germany), 3-4 March 2007www.communicatingastronomy.org/iya_eso

CAP2007 (Athens, Greece), 8–11 October 2007www.communicatingastronomy.org/cap2007

MEARIM2008 (Cairo, Egypt), 5-10 April 2008http://www.mearim.cu.edu.eg

AAS 212thMeeting, joint with theASP (St. Louis, USA), 1-5 June 2008http://www.aas.org/meetings/aas212

APRIM2008 (Kunming, China), 3-6 August 2008http://aprim.ynao.ac.cn

JENAM2008 (Vienna, Austria), September 2008http://www.univie.ac.at/jenam2008

IYA2009 Roadmap

'03-'06 Inception

2003: IAU General Assembly in Sydney, AU2005: UNESCO endorsement2006: IAU General Assembly in Prague, CZ2006: IAU EC WG structure set up

Feb: IYA2009 EC EG meetingFeb: SPoCs “kick-off” meetingAug: Secretariat structure set upAug: FundraisingSep: Cornerstone ProjectsSep: Brochure ver. 2Oct: CAP2007 conferenceDec: UN proclamation

'07 Planning

IYA2009 Roadmap

'08 Preparation

Jan – Dec: Cornerstone Projects developmentJan – Dec: National programmes developmentJan – Dec: IYA2009 SPoCs Regional Meetings May: Website ver. 2April: Brochure ver. 3Nov-Dec: First activities and events

Jan: Opening Ceremony: UNESCO HQ, Paris, FranceJan-Dec: Global EventsGlobal Cornerstone ImplementationRegional EventsNational EventsLocal EventsAug: IAU General Assembly in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

'09 Implementation

IYA2009 Roadmap

'10 Evaluation

Jan: Closing Event (Italy)Evaluations and Follow-upNational ReportsIYA2009 Secretariat Final ReportCAP2010: South Africa

www.astronomy2009.org

IYA 2009 SecretariatHubble European Space Agency Information CentreSpace Telescope-European Coordinating Facility ESO – Garching – Munich – Germany

Contact:Pedro Russoprusso@eso.org