IYA2009 News Round-up

3 July 2009

Space.com has a frankly marvellous story about a Scottish schoolgirl winning a competition to make a new constellation. Don't fret, it's only temporary. Called "Wee Sleekit Beastie", it is a cosmic mouse whose name means "Ode to a Mouse". The creator is Laura, a year 7 pupil at Dalmeny Primary School in Edinburgh. Laura beat entries from over 200 other pupils and received an award from Liz Lochead, the Scottish Poet Laureate. Says Laura, "Science is fun and extremely fascinating. There is so much to learn. Astronomy is my main interest now and I will stick with it for life I hope."

Happy six-month birthday, IYA2009! Little About is celebrating in style, by running through the Year's achievements to date. There are lots of impressive statistics to sift through, but an apostrophe error near the end limits the enjoyment somewhat.

To the US now, where a Montauk Observatory star party featuring author Dava Sobel is scheduled for 5 July, says 27 East News. Dava wrote the bestselling historic memoir "Galileo's Daughter" and will be discussing our favourite Italian astronomer from times-past, as well as talking about IYA2009. There are three images to accompany the article, the second of which is puzzling - is it really really good, or accidentally a bit blurry?

Next is a story from UK's Norwich Evening News 24. More than 600 youngsters from across the region have been flexing their intellectual muscles as part of the Science Olympiad held at the University of East Anglia. The participants, aged between eight and 17, completed space-themed challenges as part of IYA2009. Quote of the weeeeek! Miss Nayani, eight, said: "We won because we used all of the material and had marshmallows at the bottom, then spaghetti, and jelly babies in the middle - not many people thought of that."

IYA2009 isn't just about amateur astronomy. Professionals are also involved, as evidenced by an article from The State. It says that a veritable bonanza of new and improved cutting-edge instruments are being readied for use, 400 years after Galileo spied craters on the moon through the world's first telescope. It's a good time to be an astronomer.

To the Vatican! Zenit reports that a new edition of the investigations into the Galileo case has been released by the AMAZINGLY NAMED "Vatican Secret Archives". The article warns that is has a 208-page introduction. Here's the solid IYA2009 link: "The prefect of the Vatican Secret Archives, Bishop Sergio Pagano, oversaw this newest volume, which was presented today in a briefing at the Vatican press office. Its publication comes in the context of the International Year of Astronomy"

Finally, a quick look at the University of Wisconsin-Madison News, where a From Earth To The Universe exhibition is sure to impress all visitors. Each image has multi-lingual captions and children can even participate in a scavenger hunt game to discover a secret message.

That's it. Thanks for visiting.

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