To celebrate Global Astronomy Month, the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics and NASA invite you to share your own views of the universe in this exciting astrophotography contest. The images that YOU take using online robotic telescopes could be featured on the Observing With NASA home page!

April 21-22, 2012

Perhaps you've seen "shooting stars" before, but during GAM you can witness a meteor shower!

The Lyrids meteor shower happens each year from about April 16 to 26 but the most are seen on April 22. Don't expect continuous meteors covering the sky but you'll still see a good display. A shower occurs when Earth goes through a swarm of material in space and the meteors appear to come from one point in the sky known as the radiant, in this case in the constellation of Lyra (giving the annual event its name). You'll see the most Lyrid meteors near the shower's peak on April 22 as Earth moves through the debris left behind by Comet C/1861 G1 Thatcher, a regular visitor to the inner solar system referred to as a periodic comet. The recorded history of the Lyrids is longer than any other, with records of observations going back 2600 years.

April 15, 2012

It’s time to welcome back Saturn, the “Lord of the Rings,” with Beauty Without Borders Saturn Watch 2012 - a stunning event for the mid-point of Global Astronomy Month.

It’s all about sharing.  Wherever you are in the world, you can join the Watchers by simply gathering a group of friends, family, or amateur astronomers from your local astronomy club - and setting up telescopes in public to share the those breathtaking views of Saturn with others.  Afterward, share the pictures, stories, or poems you create from the event with others on the AWB web site.

Following the outstanding success of live online observing events conducted by Virtual Telescope in Italy, Global Astronomy Month 2012 (GAM2012) will again have special online observing programs throughout the month.
Exciting activities using advanced, remotely-accessible observatories will include online guided cosmic shows, free personal remote observing sessions, and special discounts for observing time for those who want to do more. Discover the benefits of remote astronomy and enjoy the sky from the comfort of your own home.

26 April 2012, at 18:00 UT   New date, rescheduled due to weather

Would you like to explore the many treasures of the famous Messier Catalogue from home? Would you like to see as many of them as possible, in a single night? This is what is called a Messier Marathon!

Following the huge popularity of the 2010 and 2011, an online Messier Marathon will again open GAM using our robotic telescopes, providing real time images and live comments. All this while chatting and sharing your passion and excitement with friends from all around the world.

To join this free event, you will just need to access the Virtual Telescope webpage at the date and time shown above.

April 1 to 7, 2012

The Moon—Earth’s traveling companion in space—is an integral part of life on Earth. Still, few people notice it or recognize its importance to us.  Through out Global Astronomy Month, the Moon will be celebrated via MoonDays . A week-long special series of programs, from April 1 through 7, will be dedicated to the Moon to help people rediscover our closest companion in space.

Featured Lunar Week Member Blogs:
Timaru, New Zealand

Lunar Week takes place while the Moon is well-placed for observation in the evening sky.  As the Moon's phases and positions change during its orbit around the Earth, there will be Moon-themed star parties to observe the Moon by telescope and naked eye, educational programs, online observing events, competitions and a celebration of the Moon in different cultures.  We will be distributing Moon-related information in various forms, including answers to such common questions as: Why is it important to explore the Moon?  How does the Moon affect our daily life?  Why is the Moon visible during the day or night?  Why do its phases change?  All Moon missions and educational programs are invited to participate.

1 April 2012

SunDay, on Sunday April 1, is a day dedicated to our star, the Sun. The Sun is the main source of energy for Earth. As each part of the globe rotates daily into the Sun’s warm and cheering glow, darkness is removed and our world is energized.

Featured SunDay Member Blogs:
Linz, Austria
Gaia, Portugal
Catarina, Nicaragua

SunDay is a project intended to raise people’s awareness of our star. What is it? How does it affect us? The different layers of the Sun, solar activity (sunspots, flares, prominences, coronal mass ejections and the solar wind), space weather, energy production, helioseismology—these are all different aspects of the Sun waiting to be discovered and understood.

SunDay activities you can organize and take part in range from simple to complex, giving participants a wide choice that allows even those who can’t afford an expensive telescope to learn and teach something new about our star. In planning your own Sun Day activities, start with the suggestions below and then use your creative imagination!

28 April 2012

Be sure to reserve Saturday, April 28th, for GAM’s ultimate observing event: the Global Star Party.  Of course, it’s B.Y.O.T. - Bring Your Own Telescope - but encourage even those who don’t have one to come anyway. All are invited, all will be excited.  It is amazing that when we turn our gaze upward all religious, national, cultural and political barriers fade into the darkness.  April 28th is the time to come out under the stars, bridge gaps across the seas, and join your brother and sister skywatchers in proving that the world is, in fact, “One People, One Sky.”

30 April at 20.00 UT -- GAM 2012 Closing Event

As part of the Remote Observing program for Global Astronomy Month (GAM2012), the Virtual Telescope is proud to again offer unique event offering you the chance to discover an astronomical object: "Write Your Name in The Sky!".

To close GAM 2012, our cutting-edge technology telescopes will start surfing the spring skies, hunting for new, previously unknown asteroids. The images will be made available online, in real time, to make it possible for you to search them and make the discovery! The first to report to us a potential new object will be credited as a co-discoverer of it, when we send the data to the Minor Planet Center! The typical rules for these kind of discoveries will apply.

What if you want to experience how much night sky we have lost to light pollution?

Globe at Night 11 - 20 April

The GLOBE at Night program is an international citizen-science campaign to raise public awareness of the impact of light pollution by inviting citizen-scientists to measure their night sky brightness and submit their observations to a website from a computer or smart phone. Light pollution threatens not only our “right to starlight”, but can affect energy consumption, wildlife and health. The GLOBE at Night campaign has run for two weeks each winter/spring for the last six years. People in 115 countries have contributed 66,000 measurements, making GLOBE at Night one of the most successful light pollution awareness campaigns.