Welcome to IYA!
| To make the International Year of Astronomy a reality, we need your help! The International Year of Astronomy seeks donations to fully support all of the exciting projects and programs planned for 2009. |  |
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Programs needing your help
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These projects, coordinated by the US IYA2009 project office, will have a significant impact on the US public, but only with your help!
Please donate today via AAS or via Paypal and help the IYA 2009 US programs happen. |
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| Your donations are tax deductible in the United States where allowed. All donations are administered through the American Astronomical Society, a 501(c)3 non-profit and an organizing body of the US-IYA program. The donation links above will redirect you to a secure website that can handle your credit card donations. For information on corporate giving or other questions regarding donations to IYA, please contact Kevin Marvel . | ||
Ways to Volunteer for IYA
Are you looking forward to the International Year of Astronomy 2009? Want to help but don’t know how? Here are some ways you can jump in, get involved, and make IYA the greatest-ever global celebration of astronomy!- Visit both the U.S. and the International websites to learn about IYA projects that are being planned.
- Tell your friends-spread the word. Let all your friends know about IYA. Email them. Post a link in the forums you’re a member of. Give an IYA presentation to your local astronomy club.
- Bookmark us with del.icio.us. del.icio.us is a popular social bookmarking service. Add one for IYA.
- Blog about us.
- Link to us. If you have a website, put a link to www.astronomy2009.us.
- Find us a donor/sponsor. We hope to reach millions of people through the International Year of Astronomy. Do you know someone who’d like to sponsor us? It would be great exposure for businesses to partner with us. Please let them know.
- Donate. Even a small donation can help us spread the word and contribute to valuable programs.
- We need a few talented volunteers who can commit more substantial time. Are you or do you know a savvy graphic artist? Would you like to help maintain our IYA forum discussions?
- Get involved in the Forums. You can help create excitement and bounce your ideas around with other like-minded individuals in the forums.
- Suggest an improvement. We’re trying to make IYA a year to be remembered as well as an extension for other great astronomy programs. We’d love to hear any suggestions you have on how we can improve it. Email us at info@astronomy2009.us.
- Do you want to hold or sponsor a local star party?
- Send us your images of doing IYA outreach or hosting an IYA event.
Beyond IYA2009: U.S. Legacy Includes Telescope Kit, Dark-Skies Awareness, New Media and Image ExhibitionsAlthough the International Year of Astronomy 2009 (IYA2009) comes to a formal close this weekend with a ceremony in Padua, Italy, numerous core programs conducted during the year will carry on in 2010 and beyond, including many led by educators and outreach professionals in the United States and elsewhere in North America. Click here to see the details of these projects and where they are heading. Beyond IYA2009: U.S. Legacy Includes Telescope Kit, Dark-Skies Awareness, New Media and Image Exhibitions Although the International Year of Astronomy 2009 (IYA2009) comes to a formal close this weekend with a ceremony in Padua, Italy, numerous core programs conducted during the year will carry on in 2010 and beyond, including many led by educators and outreach professionals in the United States and elsewhere in North America. “Thanks to the support of the National Science Foundation, NASA, the American Astronomical Society and the Astronomical Society of the Pacific, as well as the hard work of hundreds of volunteers, we were able to conduct a vigorous, fun and wide-ranging set of programs and events throughout 2009,” says Douglas Isbell, the U.S. Single Point of Contact (SPoC) for IYA2009. “We are thrilled that so many of these efforts will continue to grow, mature, and morph into new projects in the years ahead.” |
Join the Dark Skies Rangers Program
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Great Observatories Explore Galactic Center
(Click to view image in higher detail) Today, in celebration of Galileo’s telescopic achievements and as part of the International Year of Astronomy, NASA has used its entire fleet of Great Observatories, and the Internet, to bring the center of our Galaxy to you. Pictured above, in greater detail and in more colors than ever seen before, are the combined images of the Hubble Space Telescope in optical light, the Spitzer Space Telescope in infrared light, and the Chandra X-ray Observatory in X-ray light. A menagerie of vast star fields is visible, along with dense star clusters, long filaments of gas and dust, expanding supernova remnants, and the energetic surroundings of what likely is our Galaxy’s central black hole. Many of these features are labeled on a complementary annotated image. Of course, a telescope’s magnification and light-gathering ability create only an image of what a human could see if visiting these places. To actually go requires rockets.
Credit: NASA, ESA, SSC, CXC, and STScI |
