Public Ceremony to kick off the U.S. Program for the International Year of Astronomy 2009 in Long Beach on January 6.<\/p>\n
The U.S. astronomical community will kick off a year-long celebration<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n of astronomy and its contributions to society and culture by using<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n 400-year-old light from a distant star cluster to trigger a<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n ribbon-cutting ceremony for the International Year of Astronomy 2009.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n The public event will take place at the winter meeting of the American<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n Astronomical Society (AAS) in Long Beach, California, on January 6,<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n 2009.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n The International Year of Astronomy 2009 (IYA2009) commemorates the<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n 400th anniversary of the first scientific use of a telescope by<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n Galileo Galilei.\u00a0 <\/span>More than 135 countries are preparing activities for<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n IYA2009, which has been endorsed by the United Nations, UNESCO and the<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n U.S. Congress.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n The U.S. IYA2009 opening ceremony will take place at the Long Beach<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n Convention Center on Tuesday, January 6, in Exhibit Hall B, starting<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n at 7:45 p.m. PST.\u00a0 <\/span>The public is encouraged to attend, and the<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n ceremony will be broadcast live on the World Wide Web at<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n www.ustream.tv\/channel\/us-iya-opening-ceremony.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n The ceremony will feature a virtual “ribbon cutting” of the IYA2009<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n presence in the online community Second Life<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n (www.secondastronomy.org).\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span>This action will be initiated using light<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n from the Pleiades star cluster sent over the Web from the Cincinnati<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n Observatory, via the world’s oldest telescope still in nightly use by<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n the general public.\u00a0 <\/span>Light from this famous star cluster (also known<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n as the “Seven Sisters”) takes approximately 400 years to reach Earth.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n Therefore, the photons of light to be viewed on January 6 were emitted<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n around the time Galileo first looked through his telescope to<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n see-among other things-mountains and craters on the Moon, the four<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n biggest moons of Jupiter, and countless faint stars in the Pleiades<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n invisible to the unaided eye.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Other highlights of the ceremony include the unveiling of a museum<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n wall-sized image of a galaxy taken by NASA’s Great Observatories and a<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n live performance of the official theme song for the IYA2009 “365 Days<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n of Astronomy” podcast (www.365daysofastronomy.org).\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span>A sample of<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n beautiful astronomy images from the international IYA2009 cornerstone<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n exhibit project “From Earth to the Universe”<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n (www.fromearthtotheuniverse.org) and colorful panels from NASA’s<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n Visions of the Universe exhibit for libraries will be on display.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n The ceremony will conclude with the world premiere of a new<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n high-definition PBS television documentary by Interstellar Studios,<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n “400 Years of the Telescope, A Journey of Science, Technology and<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n Thought,” which was filmed at dozens of the world’s greatest<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n observatories (www.400years.org).<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Celestron (www.celestron.com), a global sponsor of IYA2009, has<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n generously donated a NexStar(R) 130SLT computerized telescope and a<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n SkyScout(R) Personal Planetarium(R)\/SkyScout Scope bundle to be<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n raffled off during the opening ceremony.\u00a0 <\/span>SkyScout has been declared<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n an “Official Product” of IYA2009.\u00a0 <\/span>Celestron will also provide small<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n telescopes for public viewing of the Moon and other bright objects<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n before and after the U.S. opening ceremony, outside the convention<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n center starting at approximately 6:30 p.m.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n The U.S. IYA2009 opening event was made possible in part by a<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n contribution from Microsoft Research, inventor of the WorldWide<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n Telescope (www.worldwidetelescope.org).\u00a0 <\/span>With well over one million<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n users to date, WorldWide Telescope has been embraced by the<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n astronomical and education communities as a compelling astronomical<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n resource for students and lifelong learners.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/span>Key elements of the planned U.S. program for IYA2009 include hundreds<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n of grassroots star parties and local events (including a focus on the<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n first weekend of April 2009 as the “100 Hours of Astronomy”- see<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n www.100hoursofastronomy.org), a new high-quality low-cost telescope<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n kit called the Galileoscope (www.galileoscope.org), a variety of<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n dark-skies awareness activities (www.darkskiesawareness.org) and<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n citizen-science campaigns, and IYA2009 Discovery Guides related to<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n monthly highlighted sky objects<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n (www.astrosociety.org\/iya\/guides.html).<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Much more information on IYA2009 can be found at www.astronomy2009.us<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n and www.astronomy2009.org.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n The U.S. IYA2009 program is supported by the National Science<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n Foundation and NASA, and by private donations.\u00a0 <\/span>The American<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n Astronomical Society is the U.S. liaison to the IYA2009 program via<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n the International Astronomical Union.\u00a0 <\/span>Key U.S. partners include the<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n Astronomical Society of the Pacific, the National Optical Astronomy<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n Observatory, the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, the<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n