Greek astronomy society summarises its IYA2009 celebrations

26 March 2010

IYA2009 was celebrated in Thessaloniki, Greece through a series of events, seminars, exhibitions, public talks, and astroparties organised by Friends of Astronomy Club (Omilos Filon Astronomias) which is located in this northern Greek city.

The club was founded in 1997 and it counts more than 500 members from all over Greece. They possess a fully equipped observing team which frequently travels to dark places for observing and astrophotography. Each weekend they host astronomy related seminars with topics ranging from novice to advanced, and each Wednesday seen an astronomical documentary projection.

The following are events organised by the club to celebrate IYA2009:

January
Public talk by a university astronomy professor about space telescopes;
Talk by club member.

March
Talk in our premises about gravitational movement;
Three talks and astroparties in public schools;
Astrophotography exhibition;
Talk by club member;
Participation in "Earth Hour".

April
Four talks and astroparties in public schools;
Participation to "100 Hours of Astronomy" with events in five different places.

May
Talk by a club member about astrology and astronomy;
Two talks and astroparties in public schools;
Participation in IYA2009 postage stamps presentation;
Participation in science meeting.

June
Talk and astroparty in a public school;
Talk about Antikythera Mechanism and astroparty;
Astroparty organised for seminar students.

July
Astroparty in nearby village;
Expedition to China for the total solar eclipse (a group of 54 persons).

August
Five talks and astroparties in public schools and villages;
Shadow play with astronomy related script.

September
Participation in municipal event with astrophotography exhibition and astroparty;
One talk and astroparty in public school;
Participation in panhellenic astronomy conference.

October
Organised two-day event about Hershel Space Telescope with invited professors from UK, France and NASA Herschel Science Center;
Three astroparties during "Galilean Nights".

November
Public talk by a university astronomy professor about the theory of relativity.

For more information about the society and its IYA2009 events, please see http://www.ofa.gr/ and http://iya2009gr.blogspot.com/.

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