[AstroNet] news from IYA secretariat

Fri Apr 18 09:56:05 SAST 2008

Greetings
Some news from the international IYA scene...

-------- Original Message --------
Subject: 	[Spocs] Task Groups, Trailer, Presentation, Brochure and Meetings
Date: 	Thu, 17 Apr 2008 18:09:59 +0200
From: 	Pedro Russo <prusso at eso.org>
To: 	spocs at astronomy2009.org

Dear SPoCs,

A few updates from the past weeks:

*1. Organisational Matters:*

On 1st April, Mariana Barrosa joined the IYA2009 Secretariat, as IYA2009 
Coordination Assistant. Mariana supports the planning, coordination, 
preparation, implementation and revision of the International Year of 
Astronomy 2009, and other joint programming processes. More information 
on: 
http://www.astronomy2009.org/organisational-structure-mainmenu-31/secretariat-mainmenu-35.html

*New Single Point of Contacts*: The IYA2009 is growing; presently we 
have 110 National Nodes (55 of which have National dedicated web site) 
and 19 Organisational Nodes. A warm welcome to Bahrain and to the EAAE - 
European Association for Astronomy Education. More to come in the 
following weeks!
*
New IYA2009 Task Groups.*
2 new IYA2009 Task Groups were established to support the IYA2009 Programme:

/Philately:/ This Special Task Group will create and maintain a global 
philatelic checklist of postal authority releases generated in 
celebration of the IYA2009 and/or astronomy in general. Co-chairs: 
Michael Howell (mhowell at mail.accd.edu) & John Budd (jwgbudd at earthlink.net)

/Evaluation:/ IYA2009 is an excellent opportunity to increase public 
understanding and awareness of astronomy. All over the world, people 
will work to bring the public all sorts of activities promoting science 
in general and astronomy in particular. But will they achieve their 
objectives? What lessons will we learn? Co-Chairs: Pedro Russo 
(prusso at eso.org) & Mariana Barrosa (mbarrosa at eso.org)

*2.Resources*

*IYA2009 Trailer *
The IYA2009 Movie Trailer is now available in several formats. It is an 
exceptional resource that you can use it for your own national 
communication, press communication, communication with lay-people, 
science centres and planetariums. Versions of the Trailer with the text 
translated into other languages can be provided. Please request them via 
this email: iya2009 at eso.org
IYA2009 Trailer in different formats: 
http://www.astronomy2009.org/index.php/?option=com_content&view=article&id=378

*PowerPoint presentation: “Astronomy”*
What is Astronomy? What does Astronomy study? Why do we need Astronomy? 
Find out the answers to these questions and more in the Power Point 
presentation that we prepared for you: 
http://www.astronomy2009.org/resources-mainmenu-47/power-point-mainmenu-97.html

*New IYA2009 Brochure*
We are polishing the new IYA2009 Brochure. This brochure is much more 
than a simple popularisation product; it is also a unique resource for 
your own internal communication, press communication, communication with 
lay-people, project definition and fund-raising, etc. For your own 
consideration you may find the brochure working PDF on 
http://www.eso.org/~lchriste/trans/iya_brochure/ Suggestions and 
comments are welcome. This brochure is more orientated towards the 
general public, but can be used for different proposes, like 
fund-raising. The Brochure and source files will be available on the 
main IYA2009 website within days. We will send you a separated email 
regarding this issue.

*3. IYA2009 Meetings *

*NAM2008*
This year the UK’s National Astronomical Meeting had a session dedicated 
to Education and Public Outreach in astronomy and space science, both 
within the UK and overseas, in the run-up to International Year of 
Astronomy in 2009. The authors and abstracts of the talks may be found 
on: http://nam2008.qub.ac.uk/abstracts/P29.shtml

*MEARIM2008*
The MEARIM2008 session dedicated to IYA2009 programme, with special 
emphasis on Middle East and Africa was a success. Several countries from 
the region (~15) reported about their plans, ideas and projects for 
IYA2009. It was extremely useful to discuss with the community to 
project and to hear their inputs, comments and ideas. The main topic 
discussed was the IYA2009 and the developing national. The IYA2009 
Developing Astronomy Globally Cornerstone Project will prepare a 
document with the necessary steps to establish a IYA2009 programme that 
can last beyond 2009. Thank you very much to all of you (or 
representatives) who participated in this fruitfully meeting.

* Upcoming IYA2009 meetings:*

    * AAS 212th and ASP Meeting (St. Louis, USA), 31 May-5 June 2008 -
      http://www.astrosociety.org/events/meeting.html
    * APRIM2008 (Kunming, China), 3 - 6 August 2008 -
      http://aprim.ynao.ac.cn/
    * JENAM2008 (Wien, Austria) - 8-12 September 2008 -
      http://www.univie.ac.at/jenam2008/

*4. Related IYA2009 Activities and events*

*April 20th: The World Night in Defence of Starlight*
One of the achievements of the Starlight Initiative, promoted by IAC, 
UNESCO and international organizations, was the Declaration in Defence 
of the Night Sky and the Right to Starlight. During the Starlight 
Conference (2007), it was agreed to designate and promote April 20th as 
the "World Night for the Right to Observe the Stars." A video clip and a 
publication were prepared to contribute to the celebration of this day.
Website: http://www.starlight2007.net/videoeng.htm

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

Kind regards,

Pedro
IYA2009 Secretariat

-- 
_________________________________________________
Pedro Russo
International Year of Astronomy 2009 Coordinator
International Astronomical Union
e. prusso at eso.org  
p. +49 (0) 89 320 06 195
f. +49 (0) 89 320 06 703
w. www.astronomy2009.org
a. IAU IYA2009 Secretariat
ESO/ESA/ST-ECF
Karl-Schwarzschild-Strasse 2
D-85748 Garching bei München
Germany

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