How on earth did I miss this? 2009, in addition to being the Year of the Ox, the Year of Science, and the Year Obama Entered Office, has given us further cause for celebration. It's the International Year of Astronomy! Stellar!
Four hundred years ago Galileo first turned his telescope to the sky. Dudeman got life imprisonment for sharing what he saw there. The International Year of Astronomy is meant to celebrate Galileo's discoveries (and the Universe in general) by encouraging us to focus our own attention starward, maybe to make a few discoveries of our own.
Coincidentally, it's been a fantastic year for galatic happenings: between the solar eclipse this spring, the Jupiter sightings in October and the upcoming Leonid meteor showers later in November, there's been a lot to love about the deep black beyond in 2009.
I know the year is almost up, but there's still time to celebrate. Check out the IYA's homepage for event listings and public sky-viewings near you. Bone up on your Galileo factoids. Peep some sweet astronomical poster art inspired by the celebration (one example is shown above). Or take the capitalist route and just buy some shit related to stars. My favorite is the paper constellation finder, pictured below and available for sale here.
2 comments:
I saw the tweet and loved the posters just as much.
Very cool is an understatement.
There's a real significance in the number 9. My boy Knowle was http://secretsun.blogspot.com digresses infinately on numerology and symbolism.
The anniversary of Woodstock, Sesame Street, the major deaths of public figures...
9 is completion. Apparently "my number" as well.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stars_Fell_on_Alabama
stars fell on alabama is actually about the leonids shower. that makes this song so much more celestial and wonderful.
let's find a golf course to sneak onto and watch it go crazy on the 17th!
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