The 2009 International Year of Astronomy (IYA) celebrated the 400th anniversary of the year in which Galileo Galilei first turned a telescope on the heavens, and revolutionized humankind's view of the cosmos. Canadian organizers for the IYA surpassed their collective goal of reaching more than one million Canadians with a "Galileo Moment", which is any experience relating to astronomy!
At SFU we hosted over 3,500 guests for the 2009 IYA, at a wide variety of public events throughout the year, giving our visitors many opportunities to experience many different kinds of Galileo Moments!
A major effort was hosting over 2,150 grade-school age kids at daytime astronomy workshops, accompanied by about 300 parents, guardians, and teachers, from about 70 schools and community groups, including many home-schooled families, and several scout and guide groups. Checkout our Astro Grads! feature for pictures and stories from many of these workshops! These workshops would not have been possible without the hard work of a band of dedicated volunteers. Please be sure to click here to see a list of the volunteers who participated at each workshop.
As part of our workshop program, SFU and its funding partners donated a free "Galileo Moment" starter telescope to each group that attended a workshop. Any family whose children attended an SFU grade-school astronomy workshop, and which then attended 4 SFU star parties (for a total of five (5) SFU astronomy functions), also received a free "Galileo Moment" scope! This telescope gives great views of objects that were observed by Galileo, including our Moon, Jupiter and its moons, Saturn and its rings, star clusters, and more.
By the end of 2009 we had donated 85 telescopes, with more than 25 of these going to individual families. Checkout our Scope Club! feature to see pictures of the many new telescopes owners! We also owe a huge debt of thanks to our generous sponsors for supporting these activities. Please click here for a list of our organizational sponsors.
Happily, our telescope donation program to families, and our daytime astronomy workshop program, continues beyond the IYA (writing as of early 2012)! Our continuing program of daytime workshops is being organized in cooperation with the SFU science outreach program Science in Action. Please email Dr. Sophie Lavieri, Director of Science in Action, at slavieri@sfu.ca, if you would like to register your school or community group for a workshop in 2010, and be sure to checkout our Astro Grads! feature for pictures and details of the groups that have already attended!
Our daytime workshops are held at SFU, and provide students, their parents, guardians, and teachers with training in the use of the telescope, and in the basics of observing the Moon, planets, stars, and other celestial wonders. Additional educational materials are also provided free-of-charge, including a star wheel produced by the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada (RASC), and astronomy trading cards.
SFU evenings of star gazing are generally held at the Burnaby campus, and occasionally at community locations (with our partners at the RASC - Vancouver Centre). Students, their teachers, and families can return with their "Galileo Moment" scopes, to use them under the guidance of experienced astronomers. Checkout our Event Blogs feature for pictures and stories from our star parties.
Starry Nights @ SFU:
2009 International Year of Astronomy!
We surpassed our goal of hosting over 2009 grade-school age kids at
astronomy workshops for the 2009 International Year of Astronomy!!
In fact we hosted over 2150 kids with 300 adults from 70 groups!
We also donated 85 telescopes to groups and families,
and hosted over 1000 guests @ evening star parties & theme events!
We also had an extraordinary crew of nearly 100 devoted volunteers!
Our final workshops that December included our largest of the IYA!
Here is an account of those final days of the IYA at SFU, complete with many pictures, giving a pretty good idea of what it was like!
Also be sure to checkout our Astro Grads!, Scope Club! & Event Blogs features for more blogs and pics on our full slate of IYA activities, and beyond!
Copyright © 2012 Howard Trottier
Starry-eyed
@ SFU since Nov. 2007