IYA2009 News Round-up

7 November 2009

Boing Boing is promoting the first ever Carl Sagan day tomorrow (7 November). Those in the Florida area will be able to enjoy planetarium shows, stargazing, a "Cosmos" marathon, and even appearances from the "Bad Astronomer" Phil Plait and James "The Amazing" Randi. The article has ideas for how you can mark the day if you're not in that area, along with linking to a video of Carl Sagan's last interview.

The UW-Whitewater physics department is celebrating IYA2009 with a lecture series and exhibits, or so Royal Purple would have us believe. They're wheeling out a From Earth To The Universe exhibit as well. They're always crowd-pleasers. What does Physics Department Chair Steven Sahyun have to say? "Astronomy is neat." Right on, Steve.

Examiner.com again? They can always be relied upon to bulk out the news round-ups. This story is about how Pope Benedict XVI received participants in a conference sponsored by the Specola Vaticana (Vatican Observatory) for IYA2009. Looks like it was part of the Catholic Church's move to make peace with the past and Galileo's legacy. Noble aim. Metro Catholic has run the same story, so you can read it there as well if you fancy.

Congratulations, Greenwich! The Royal Observatory has picked up Gold in a prestigious tourism category for its IYA2009 programmes. This paragraph is short, reflecting the article's length.

The Reporter has a longer article, along with a rather nice (albeit stock, most likely) photo. Even better, the reporter has a great name: Brian Bingaman. Universities and colleges in the North Penn, PA area are running free observing projects, as part of the No Night Without a Telescope initiative. They're also teaching people how to use telescopes that they may already own, but are unsure how to operate. "Point up" would be my advice.

Trak has some news from India. Professor Yash Pal has won the annual Kalinga Prize for the popularisation of science. He's known for presenting Indian science TV shows, and he also helped establish the Inter-University Centre for Astronomy and Astrophysics in Pune.

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