IYA2009 Update

12 September 2009

365 Days of Astronomy Podcast Wins Prestigious Parsec Award

The 365 Days of Astronomy Podcast, an official podcast IYA2009, won the prestigious Parsec Award for Best Infotainment Podcast on 5 September. This community-produced podcast brings together the voices of astronomers and astronomy lovers all around the world. Each day a different voice discusses their favourite corner of astronomy. The show can be found at www.365DaysofAstronomy.org

The World at Night attracts media coverage
The World At Night (TWAN) is a special project of IYA2009. It exhibits a collection of stunning photographs and time-lapse videos of the world's most beautiful and historic sites against a nighttime backdrop of stars, planets and celestial events. NewsHour, a long-standing and respected Public Broadcasting System programme, has given coverage to TWAN. This includes feature videos available to view online: http://www.pbs.org/newshour/video/share.html?s=news01pb58

Rare Saturn ring plane crossing occurred during IYA2009
On 4 September, an impressive cosmic coincidence took place. For Earth-bound observers, Saturn's rings will appeared edge on. As they are so thin compared to the planet, they effectively seemed to disappear from view. So, the ringed planet appeared ringless! These occurrences are infrequent, with the next not happening until 23 March 2025. For more information about Saturn's rings and plane crossings, please visit: http://www2.jpl.nasa.gov/saturn/faq.html

Astronomy webcast from Bareket Observatory available online
Israel's Bareket Observatory recently hosted a live webcast, exploring the amazing objects within, and indeed beyond, our Solar System. To help as many people as possible view the footage, event organisers recorded the entire broadcast and have now made it available to view online. The source file can even be downloaded to view at any time. To see the video, please follow the link: http://live-internet-telescope.com/

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