2009: The International Year of Astronomy

Initiated by UNESCO and the International Astronomical Union, the 2009 International Year of Astronomy (IYA) will be world-wide celebration honoring the 400th anniversary of Galileo's first astronomical use of the telescope. The University of Texas Astronomy Program is planning a series of events across the state to celebrate. See the list below. Please note that most of these plans are still being developed; please check back often for new information.

On February 24, the 81st Legislature of the State of Texas honored the state’s two flagship universities with a joint resolution, recognizing their cutting-edge research and outreach efforts in astronomy in celebration of 2009 as the official International Year of Astronomy.

Read more about the event.

Astronomers from The University of Texas at Austin and Texas A&M University will travel to a number of cities in Texas to deliver free talks on astronomy, IYA, Galileo, and astronomical research at our institutions. The series will also include a few speakers from outside our astronomy programs. The flagship events will be in Austin and College Station.

Click for a schedule and more details.

The University's Harry Ransom Center exhibit called "Other Worlds: Rare Astronomical Works," will run from September 8, 2009 through January 4, 2010. The exhibit features items from the Center’s science collections relating to early astronomy. Highlights include the Coronelli celestial globe (1688); Copernicus' "De Revolutionibus;" first editions by Johannes Kepler, Galileo Galilei, Isaac Newton, and others; papers of the Herschel family of English astronomers; and the Cassini Moon map.

For more information, see the exhibit site.

We held a free Open House at McDonald Observatory on April 4, from 2 p.m. to 11 p.m. Geared toward the local community, the day offered special speakers and events with an IYA theme.

Description of Events
(PDF file)

Schedule of Events
(PDF file)

Photos & Staff Comments
(PDF file)

This IYA cornerstone project consisted of four days of astronomy activities across the globe April 2-5. One of the major events scheduled during the 100 Hours was a 24-hour webcast. Called "Around the World in 80 Telescopes," the event followed nightfall around the globe as it travels from one observatory to the next.

The McDonald Observatory portion of the webcast began at 12 midnight Central Daylight Time on April 4 (5:00 Universal Time April 3). It included a video about the observatory, a look at the Hobby-Eberly Telescope (one of the world's largest), and a visit with observatory director Dr. David L. Lambert. You can watch a recording of the webcast.

For more information, visit: http://www.100hoursofastronomy.org/

On April 28, 29, and 30, as well as May 19 and 20, our Frank N. Bash Visitors Center will celebrate IYA and Astronomy Day 2009 with thousands of Texas students and teachers of grades 4-8. We will connect with hundreds of schools by videoconference, allowing students and teachers to observe with a telescope in real time, complete an activity, and ask questions of McDonald astronomer Rachel Fuechsl. Each of the three days, we will host four 50-minute programs in which up to five classrooms will interact with us directly while another 50-100 observe. This program is aligned with Texas’ science and mathematics standards (TEKS/TAKS), and available to any Connect2Texas member school.

For more information, visit our Astronomy Day 2009 site.

McDonald Observatory has created an educational IYA poster for SCOPE, the Southwestern Consortium of Observatories for Public Education. The back of the poster includes classroom activities and other resources about IYA 2009.

Click on the poster to visit the SCOPE website and download the educational activities and other IYA resources in Adobe Acrobat PDF format.

This poster will be distributed to Texas teachers via the Fall 2008 issue of Texas Science Teachers magazine, thanks to generous funding from the Texas Regional Collaboratives for Excellence in Science and Mathematics Teaching.