News round-up

14 August 2009

Hitting the headlines HARD this week has been the International Astronomical Union's General Assembly in Brazil. Economist.com has an in-depth look at how individual astronomers are being drowned out as big projects keep getting bigger, and possible solutions. EurekAlert! has featured a press release issued from the Assembly, about the successor to IYA2009 and new resolutions, including boosting astronomy in the developing world. Important stuff! The General Assembly is also about SCIENCE, and i09 has a taste.

Did you see them? Did you? Eh? The shooting stars? The Perseids? This writer was clouded out, but at least the Guardian's Science Blog wrote some good stuff. They plugged Newbury Astronomical Society's Twitter meteorwatch, an internet observing plan in support of IYA2009. The media obviously liked the story, as it was also mentioned on BBC News and Times Online. Ansa.it also has coverage of the meteor shower, with an interesting twist: drinking lots of wine as you observe. Even SoccorBlog.com got in on the action. Really, check it out!

IYA2009 has been mentioned in a Times & Transcript article. If you're thinking of getting into observational astronomy then it's worth a look. Binoculars, telescopes, and light pollution are mentioned, along with the merits of astronomy clubs.

It's time for one of the semi-regular IYA2009 in Second Life features, woop! This one is from Examiner.com, who report that in the virtual world you can visit the courtyard of the house where Galileo was kept under arrest and "climb through the mammoth gothic stone arches and wooden scaffolding that housed the Leviathan of Parsonstown". Apparently IYA2009 is being celebrated on a collection of virtual islands called SciLands. How high-tech!

Hello, Times of India. You like IYA2009, don't you? That must be why you've written about Jupiter coming close to Earth (relatively speaking) and so being a good object for amateur and professional astronomers to observe. It's like a warm-up for Galilean Nights.

 

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The International Year of Astronomy 2009 is endorsed by the United Nations and the International Council of Science.