U.S. President Obama to host star party at the White House

5 October 2009

A White House star party is taking place this Wednesday, 7 October. President Obama will kick-off the event with a brief address to be streamed live on the whitehouse.gov website (estimated beginning at 8pm EDT) and broadcast on NASA TV. The programme at the White House includes more than 20 telescopes set up on the White House lawn focussed on Jupiter, the Moon and select stars; interactive dome presentations, and hands-on activities including scale models of the Solar System, impact cratering, and investigating meteorites and Moon rocks.

IYA2009 supporters are encouraged to follow this event, and host their own star parties to follow the example set. Indeed, the time has never been better with IYA2009 in full swing, World Space Week making headlines, and preparations in overdrive for the upcoming Cornerstone project Galilean Nights.

The official statement from the White House Office of the Press Secretary reads: "On Wednesday, the President will award the National Medal of Science and the National Medal of Technology and Innovation in a ceremony at the White House. The President will also meet with his national security team on Afghanistan and Pakistan. In the evening, the President and First Lady will host an event at the White House for middle-school students to highlight the President's commitment to science, engineering and math education as the foundation of this nation's global technological and economic leadership and to express his support for astronomy in particular - for its capacity to promote a greater awareness of our place in the universe, expand human knowledge, and inspire the next generation by showing them the beauty and mysteries of the night sky."

Useful links:

White House star party information letter: http://astronomy2009.us/Content/Documents/WHSPUpdateforDistribution3Oct2009.pdf
NASA TV: http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/nasatv/index.html
White House website: http://www.whitehouse.gov/
U.S. IYA2009 website: www.astronomy2009.us

List of other upcoming US and Global astronomy events:

October 4-10 -- World Space Week www.worldspaceweek.org

October 9 -- NASA's LCROSS impact www.lcross.arc.nasa.gov/education.htm and www.groups.google.com/group/lcross_observation

October 13 -- Hubble's Amazing Rescue premieres on NOVA www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/hubble

October 9-23 -- Great World Wide Star Count www.starcount.org

October 19-25 -- Fall Astronomy Week, including Fall Astronomy Day on Saturday, October 24, with the Astronomical League www.astroleague.org

October 22-24 -- IYA2009 Galilean Nights global star party www.galileannights.org

November 10-30 -- NASA's Image Unveiling www.hubblesource.stsci.edu/events/iyafinale

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