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<DIV>IYA2009. RELEASE OF NEW WEB SITE <BR><BR>As of today, 123 National Nodes
and 28 organisations have <BR>formed committees to prepare activities for the
International <BR>Year of Astronomy 2009 (IYA2009). These committees are
<BR>collaborations between professional and amateur astronomers, <BR>societies,
universities, research institutes, educators, <BR>science centres and science
communicators.<BR><BR>The IYA2009 is also supported by 11 Global Cornerstone
<BR>projects, 6 Special Projects and 11 IYA2009 Task Groups. <BR>These are
global programmes of activities centred on a <BR>specific theme and represent
the means to achieve the <BR>IYA2009’s main goals; whether it is the support and
promotion <BR>of women in astronomy, the preservation of dark-sky sites
<BR>around the world or educating and explaining the workings of <BR>the
Universe to millions, the global projects are the key <BR>facets of the success
of the IYA2009.<BR><BR>The global coordination of IYA2009 is supported
financially <BR>by the Organisational Associates and Global Sponsors. We are
<BR>proud to announce that the companies Thales Alenia Space and <BR>Celestron
are the first IYA2009 Global Sponsors, and that <BR>seed funding of parts of the
Cornerstones has started.<BR><BR>The IYA2009 is constantly growing: both in the
number of <BR>people and organisations involved, as well as in the number
<BR>and quality of resources it makes available to its partners. <BR>For more
information on the IYA2009 and its worldwide <BR>activities, please see the
latest version of the IYA2009 <BR>brochure, which will be available on the
IYA2009 web page <BR><<A
href="http://www.astronomy2009.org/resources-mainmenu-47.html">www.astronomy2009.org/resources-mainmenu-47.html</A>>
on <BR>Tuesday, 9 September</DIV></BODY></HTML>