 Library of Congress | |
| Galileo Galilei shows off his telescope as well as his astronomical discoveries to three women in a 1655 engraving. |
The International Year of Astronomy is ending, but the legacy of the last 12 months of celestial celebration will continue, under night skies and especially on the Internet.
Astronomers around the world contributed to the IYA under the auspices of the International Astronomical Union and other organizations in 148 countries, to commemorate the 400th anniversary of Galileo Galilei’s groundbreaking telescope observations in 1609. The activities included “100 Hours of Astronomy” in April, Galilean Nights in October … and the distribution of more than 110,000 low-cost, high-performance telescopes in 96 countries.
Another 70,000 “Galileoscopes” are currently in production, and more than 15,000 of them will be given out to schoolteachers across the United States thanks to a $250,000 private donation announced just this week.
All this would be enough to justify devoting a year to the celebration of astronomy, and then quietly taking a break and moving on to the next “international year.” But wait … there’s more: Several Web sites have been established to keep the astronomy buzz going into 2010 and beyond.
…(read more)