IYA2009-Puerto Rico Inauguration with Remote Observing from the Campus Observatory of Texas A&M University.

by Carmen A. Pantoja and Mayra E. Lebrón Santos, University of Puerto Rico (UPR)

Puerto Rico initiated the celebration of the International Year of Astronomy 2009 on January 31 at the “Ateneo Puertorriqueño”, one of the oldest cultural centers of the island. The Starry Messengers, the group of undergraduate students that are working as volunteers for the IYA2009-Puerto Rico events welcomed the visitors. The visitors received a copy of the book “Science, Technology, War and Peace” by  Dr. Daniel Altschuler (UPR). This book contains the UNESCO Chair for Peace Education Lecture 2007-2008 that was presented at the University of Puerto Rico in 2008. They also received a copy of the inaugural program, a NASA lithograph, an IYA2009 sticker and a copy of the musical composition “Seis a Galileo” by Dr. Ramón López Aleman (UPR).
The “Seis” is a traditional musical rhythm from Puerto Rico. The interpretation was by Daniel Vázquez and “Los Cantores de Bayamón”. As the visitors entered the room, they could listen to this composition that celebrates Galileo.

The Master of Ceremony for the event was Dr. José L. Alonso from the UPR.  The President of the “Ateneo Puertorriqueño”, Eduardo Morales Coll, Esq., welcomed the visitors. The Dean of Academic Affairs from the UPR-Río Piedras, Dr. Sonia Balet addressed the public. The Honorable Bernardo Márquez García, President of the Education Commission, read a Resolution from  the House of Representatives of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico that recognizes the achievements of the professional astronomers, the amateurs and the Starry Messengers during the IYA2009. Attending this inaugural event was Dr. Juan Martínez Rodríguez, Chancellor of the Interamerican University of Puerto Rico, the Director of the National Astronomy and Ionosphere Center (NAIC), Dr. Donald Campbell and the Director of Arecibo Observatory, Dr. Michael Nolan.

Dr. Carmen A. Pantoja and Dr. Mayra E. Lebrón Santos presented a summary of the core events for the IYA2009-Puerto Rico. Dr. Daniel Altschuler presented the conference “The Galileo Affair”. An exhibit of 14 images from the “From Earth to the Universe” (FETTU) collection was displayed for the first time. Dr. Mayra E. Lebrón made a description of the images. These images will be available to schools of Puerto Rico. During the event the visitors with visual impairments could enjoy the collection by means of an adapted Braille guide of the exhibit. An adapted children’s book of astronomy by Laura Salvá and adapted by Gloria M. Isidro was also presented. The title of this Braille book is “Plutón se Casa” (“Pluto gets Married”).

The central activity of this event was a remote observing session with a telescope from the Campus Observatory of Texas A&M University. This activity was made in collaboration with Dr. Lucas Macri and Mr. Don Carona from the Department of Astrophysics at Texas A&M. Observations were made of nebulas, galaxies and globular clusters. The public enjoyed the excellent presentation by Dr. Lucas Macri, who immediately connected with the audience and was able to transmit what an astronomer does, what the process of astronomical observing involves, and astronomy in general. Dr. Lucas Macri answered diverse questions from the audience.

The “Ateneo Puertorriqueño” provided refreshments for the participants. This was an opportunity for the interaction of professional astronomers, amateurs, professors, teachers, students, artists, musicians and the general public, to express suggestions, and comments about the activity. The organizing committee for the IYA2009-Puerto Rico expresses its gratitude for the great interest and support shown by the public and hopes that future activities have a similar reception.

Pictures available here.

U.S. Delegation Visibly Sharp During IYA2009 Opening Ceremony at UNESCO Paris

By Jarita C. Holbrook
University of Arizona Bureau of Applied Research in Anthropology
Chair, US IYA2009 Working Group on Cultural Astronomy

The United States was well represented by several U.S. IYA2009 leaders, working group chairs and group members, as well as two NASA IYA2009 student ambassadors, astronomers, filmmakers, and a secondary school science teacher.  Over 50 people attended from the extended U.S. team, including a delegation from Puerto Rico.

The most visible members were U.S. IYA2009 Single-Point-of-Contact Doug Isbell and U.S. IYA2009 Project Director Steve Pompea, who were focused on promoting the Galileoscope cornerstone project.  They set up a Galileoscope prototype in various parts of the UNESCO complex for public viewing and distributed many informational handouts for people interested in purchasing them, starting in just a couple weeks.  An early morning session on the front sidewalk of the UNESCO building, with the Galileoscope providing a sharp view of top of the Eiffel Tower was perhaps the most memorable (see photos).

Paris was also the first official appearance of new IYA2009 national spokesperson Derrick Pitts, chief astronomer at the Franklin Institute in Philadelphia.  Derrick interacted with numerous meeting participants and began developing lots of creative ideas for promoting IYA2009 throughout the year.

The new documentary production BLAST! was screened during a lunch break at the meeting by filmmaker Paul Devlin.  Paul is interested in showing the film in science centers, planetaria, universities, and other venues during IYA2009.  For more information, see  www.blastthemovie.com or write Paul at paul@pauljdevlin.com.  The official IYA2009 documentary 400 Years of the Telescope by Interstellar Studios was well promoted in Paris by producer/writer/director Kris Koenig, who was due to screen it during the subsequent conference on cultural astronomy; watch for its debut on PBS in early April.

Four U.S. participants were part of the official program of science overview lectures:
Robert Wilson (Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics) spoke on discovering the remnants of the Big Bang, Jonathan Gardner (NASA Goddard) reviewed the accomplishments of the Hubble Space Telescope and looked ahead to the James Webb Telescope, Baruch Blumberg (NASA Lunar Science Institute) spoke on astronomical exploration and the search for organic materials in the Universe, and George Saliba (Columbia University) discussed the rich history of Islamic astronomy.  American Astronomical Society President John Huchra (Harvard-Smithsonian CfA) was the senior official U.S. representative.

Jody Harkrider, a high school science teacher from Texas, created a unique souvenir from the opening: she asked each of the opening speakers to sign her hardcopy program.  Smart move, since many are Nobel Prize winners!  Jody plans to share the program with her science students.  Perhaps it will appear on eBay many years in the future.

Caption 1: View from UNESCO building taken using Canon compact camera

Caption 2: Magnified (zoom) view showing direction Galileoscope is pointing, to a crane in front of a distance building

Caption 3: View taken by simply holding Canon compact camera on normal settings to eyepiece of Galileoscope. (I held the camera upside down as the Galilescope provides an inverted view)