Newsletter to SPoCs

20 June 2008

Dear SpoCs,

A few updates from the past weeks:

1. Organisational Matters:

New Single Points of Contact: We would like to welcome our new Organisational Node, the World Space Week Association.

2. Resources

"Products"
On the IYA2009 Official Site you may find a catalogue with some “products” related with IYA2009. The first product that we have to offer to our IYA2009 network is: "Astronomical Pictures at an Exhibition" is a suite of High Definition videos that takes viewers through a virtual gallery featuring awe-inspiring, artlike images and science visualizations of the cosmos as well as astronomy-inspired artwork. The "Astronomical Pictures at an Exhibition" is directed by Dr. José Francisco Salgado, an astronomer and science visualizer at the Adler Planetarium in Chicago, USA.
More information on: http://www.astronomy2009.org/resources/

Resources Guides
Andrew Fraknoi(Foothill College & the Astronomical Society of the Pacific) put together a set of amazing Resources Guides for IYA2009! We are very grateful to him for this amazing work!

Galileo: The Man and His Science (A Resource Guide to Materials in English)
Kepler: His Life and Work (A Resource Guide to Materials in English for Beginners)
Multicultural Astronomy (The Astronomy of Non-western Cultures: A Resource Guide)
Music Inspired by Astronomy (A Selected Listing for the International Year of Astronomy 2009)
Resources for Doing Evaluation Research (In Informal Astronomy Education and Outreach)

These Guides are availabe here: http://www.astronomy2009.org/resources/guides/

Joint Statement on the occasion of the International Year of Astronomy 2009:

The Joint Statement on the occasion of the International Year of Astronomy 2009 by the Director-General of UNESCO and the President of the IAU is available here: http://www.astronomy2009.org/resources/documents/detail/documents_jointstatement/
This is a extremely important document for your contacts with your national stakeholders.

3. IYA2009 Special Projects

“400 Years of the Telescope; A Journey of Science, Technology and Thought”
We are proud to announce that “400 Years of the Telescope; A Journey of Science, Technology and Thought” project has been selected as IYA2009 Special Project. The IYA2009 Secretariat would like to express support to Interstellar Studios for the collaboration, effort and dedication to the IYA2009 initiative at all levels. “400 Years of the Telescope; A Journey of Science, Technology and Thought” is a key project in the IYA2009 initiative and of crucial importance to the IYA2009 success. More information:www.400years.org

Galileoscope
A Galileoscope prototype was unveiled during the ASP/AAS Meeting in St. Louis. The IYA2009 Galileoscope is now almost ready to start the manufacturing. The kit consists of only 15 individuals parts, is extremely easy to assemble and the optical quality is very good. It is now available for pre-orders. For more information checks the IYA2009 Galileoscope Cornerstone Project page: http://www.astronomy2009.org/globalprojects/cornerstones/galileoscope/

FETTU Liverpool Prototype
The first FETTU Exhibit is taking viewers deep into the Universe at the Albert Dock in Liverpool, UK. The comments received so far are very positive. A sneak preview of the exhibition is available on the FETTU official website: http://www.fromearthtotheuniverse.org/liverpool.php

4. Upcoming IYA2009 meetings:

· JENAM2008 (Wien, Austria) - 8-12 September 2008 - http://www.univie.ac.at/jenam2008/ or http://www.roe.ac.uk/ukatc/test/symposium.html

An invitation from Dr. Thomas Posch (Austrian SPoC and member of the JENAM2008 LOC):

“Dear SPoCs,

Last year's meeting in Athens (CAP 2007) was a great occasion to exchange ideas on the IYA2009. Talking to each other personally repeatedly proves to be a much better means to organize common projects such as the IYA2009 than just exchanging mails. Hence, I'd like to remind you that the symposium no. 2 within JENAM 2008, taking place in Vienna from 11th to 12th of September, is occasion that you should not miss. Also, the boat trip on the Danube, scheduled for the evening of Sept. 10th, will be a good occasion to talk to each other in a relaxed atmosphere.

To register, please visit the symposium webpage: https://www.cosmic-matter.org/indico/conferenceDisplay.py?confId=6

For any questions, don't hesitate to contact me: posch@astro.univie.ac.at

Kind regards,

Thomas Posch”

Upcoming IYA2009 meetings:

· Global Hands-on Universe Conference (Lisbon, Portugal), 20 – 23 July 2008 - http://ghou2008.globalhou.net/

· APRIM2008 (Kunming, China), 3 - 6 August 2008 - http://aprim.ynao.ac.cn/

If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to contact us.

Kind regards,

Pedro, Lars and Mariana
IYA2009 Secretariat

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