100 Hours of Astronomy Cornerstone Project Update

13 February 2009

100 Hours of Astronomy Cornerstone Project UPDATE!

The excitement is building for the 100 Hours of Astronomy project, an unprecedented outreach event taking place around the world 2 - 5 April. The 100 Hours of Astronomy Task Group has many resources and programs available on the official web site at http://www.100hoursofastronomy.org. We hope you'll visit to see what's available and spread the word to people in your country or organization.

Contacts
Do you have a Coordinator for 100 Hours of Astronomy in your country? If so, we'd like to list that person as a contact on our web site. Please send contact information to Jennie McCormick at farmcoveobs@xtra.co.nz. Do you have someone else as a contact for amateur astronomers for your national node? Let Jennie know and we'll list that person on our contact page.

Logos in your language
Do you want a version of the 100 Hours of Astronomy logo in your language? Send a translation of "100 Hours of Astronomy" encoded UTF-8, including the font, if necessary, to Jennie McCormick at farmcoveobs@xtra.co.nz. Deadline: 18/2

24-hour Global Star Party
Did you know International Sidewalk Astronomy Night (ISAN) is also taking place on April 4? ISAN planned their annual event to coincide with the 24-hour global star party to help make it a success. ISAN volunteers around the world are working hard to contact and include as many sidewalk astronomers as possible to take part. If you are organizing events for 100 Hours of Astronomy and would like these dedicated members of the astronomy outreach community to help, you can find their contact information on our web site.

New -- SunDay
A new program has been added to the overall program for the 100 Hours of Astronomy. In collaboration with 100 Hours of Astronomy, the IYA2009 Solar Physics Task Group has declared Sunday, 5 April as SunDay, a day to focus on bringing attention to our nearest star. Visit the Solar Physics Task Group's web site at http://solarastronomy2009.org/100-hours-sunday for more information.

Event Registration
Are you registering 100 Hours of Astronomy events on your web site? That's great, but please make sure they are registered on the 100 Hours of Astronomy web site, too. Much of the public and news media will be coming to our site and we want to be sure everyone can find events in every country. We're also going to be tracking the number of events and following up to get information on how everything went, and we need to know about everyone's plans to be able to do that. Sponsors and partners need the information for their planning, too. So please spread the word in your country or organization that events should be registered on the 100 Hours of Astronomy web site. Go to http://www.100hoursofastronomy.org/eventsmain to register events.

Merchandise available online at the 100 Hours of Astronomy shop
The Resource section of the 100 Hours of Astronomy web site has a lot of useful items available including labels, stickers, posters, stationery and more. They're all ready to be downloaded, printed and used to identify your events as part of the 100 Hours of Astronomy.
Now you can buy merchandise ready to go, too. The 100 Hours of Astronomy shop on Café Press has shirts, hats, buttons and more emblazoned with artwork specially created for each style and color. Go to our shop at http://www.cafepress.com/100HA and show the world you're getting ready to take part in this global celebration of astronomy.

Download artwork for clothing
If you prefer to create your own 100 Hours of Astronomy items visit our Resource page at http://www.100hoursofastronomy.org/all-content to download the special artwork, ready to use.

World map of events for your web site
You can now customize the world map of 100 Hours of Astronomy events and add it to your own web site. Go to http://www.100hoursofastronomy.org/component/content/article/91#embedding to learn how.

New web site features
The 100 Hours of Astronomy web site now has some new features to engage the community, broadcast information and gather new ideas. A blog will have entries of interest on developments and interesting, innovative events being planned around the world. The forum can be used to ask questions, get help from experience event planners and share new ideas with others. The photo gallery augments the forum by allowing users to post images of events that might inspire or help others in planning, as well as sharing the excitement as we build towards this great global event. Visit the 100 Hours of Astronomy web site at http://www.100hoursofastronomy.org, take part and watch the excitement grow.

If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to contact us!

Kind regards,

Mike Simmons
E-mail: msimm@ucla.edu
100 Hours of Astronomy Cornerstone Chair

Pedro Russo
IYA2009 Coordinator