Hi, greetings to all

My name is Ricardo A. Martinez and I live in Caracas - Venezuela, I am an amateur astronomer, collaborate and participate in some club and forums for amateur astronomers, in Venezuela: SUNA (UCV), GUIA-USB (USB), AV, and others and internationally at: LIADA, CIBERASTONOMOS, ANASA , and others. I look forward to working and collaborating with all this great worldwide family of AWB from Venezuela.

I wish you all clear skies, dark nights and bright stars

carefully

Ricardo A. Marrtinez - www.ram9.co.cc

hola saludos para todos

Mi nombre es Ricardo A. Martinez  y vivo en Caracas - Venezuela, soy astronomo aficionado, colaboro y participo en algunos club y foros de astronomos aficionados, en venezuela : SUNA (UCV), GUIA-USB (USB),  AV, e internacionalmente en : LIADA, CIBERASTONOMOS, ANASA, y otros. yo espero trabajar y colaborar con toda la gran familia mundial de AWB desde Venezuela.

les deseo a todos cielos claros, noches oscuras y brillantes estrellas 

atentamente

Ricardo A. Marrtinez - www.ram9.co.cc

Aloha Christopher!  It's GREAT to know that GAM will be happening at these very important, world-known sites.  And I'm not just talking about the summit of Mauna Kea but the visitors center is itself world-famous.  When you have something to report we will have a blog where you can post report and pictures.  I'm looking forward to seeing them.  I wish I could be there!

Mike Simmons

Aloha folks!

For the Global Month of Astronomy 2010, 'Imiloa Astronomy Center will be hosting several outreach events for the local community here on the Big Island of Hawai'i.

I am organising observing sessions and astronomical activities and fun both at 'Imiloa Astronomy Center in Hilo and also at the Onizuka Visitors Center on Maunakea, the worlds largest volcano and site of 13 of the most advanced observatories in the world.

I shall keep AWB updated as to what we are doing and hopefully provide some more info nearer the time (and lots of pictures obviously!). :)

Clear skies to you all!

Christopher

Hi Avivah,

  I just noticed your post on here.  How are you?  Atwhat latitude are you?  Would you and people in your group like to participate on a team that is looking for bright variable stars to use for a 10 star tutorial for the southern hemisphere for Citizen Sky?

  You may have seen my request on the AWB discussion board site.

Joan Chamberlin

Valentin and Dorian,

Thanks so much for letting us know about this! I'm really touched that this great section of Astropoetry to the International Year of Astronomy is dedicated to AWB. That means it's dedicated to all astronomers around the world who feel a connection with each other, just as you describe it.

Of course, I am personally really pleased that 100 Hours of Astronomy earned praise through poetry. Let it be an inspiration for GAM and beyond as well. If it can inspire poetic work like this then there is no limit!

Clear skies and friendship,

Mike

In January 2009, at UNESCO in Paris, we had the chance to meet Mike Simmons and to see his lecture on Astronomers Without Borders and the magnificent exhibition of The World At Night.
-We related about those events in
SARM at UNESCO-IAU-IYA under the Sign of Galileo
http://www.cosmopoetry.ro/sarmatunescoiauiyagalilei/

Afterwards, very impressed by the extraordinary 100 Hours of Astronomy project and the ideals of AWB (to unite sky lovers, amateurs and professionals, from all over the world, and to make them give their best for astronomy and the large public), the Romanian Society for Meteors and Astronomy (SARM) tried to add its own contribution to the International Year of Astronomy, mirrored in the 15th pages of the international project
Astropoetry to the International Year of Astronomy
http://www.cosmopoetry.ro/astropoetrytoiya/

As a form of gratitude, we dedicated the largest chapter of this project to AWB, at the 4th Quarter page
http://www.cosmopoetry.ro/astropoetrytoiya/4th.html

And we end this message with the complete variant of
Andrei Dorian Gheorghe’s
Hymn to 100 Hours of Astronomy


FROM GALILEO TO 100 HOURS OF ASTRONOMY

Life in the Cosmos has scopes
Better seen through telescopes!


AROUND THE WORLD IN 80 TELESCOPES

80 telescopes, sky meanings,
And incalculable feelings!


24-HOUR GLOBAL STAR PARTY

So much shine! How happy we are!
Today the Earth is quite a star!


100HA JUNIOR

Children and a telescope,
Closer dreams and much more hope.


100 HOURS OF REMOTE ASTRONOMY

Telescopes, computers, and skies.
Here and there, us, superior eyes.


SUN DAY

To the glory of Sun Day,
Sunspots are quiet. O.K.!!!


THE LEGACY OF 100HA

The certain way for human flight:
A future richer in starlight.


We wish all of you to have a Happy Astronomical Year 2010,
Valentin Grigore and Andrei Dorian Gheorghe

Hello Silverio,

Welcome!  The forum isn't very active these days.  I hope there will be more soon as we get more activities going.

What city is UNAM in?

Clear skies,

Mike

Hello everybody.

My name is Silverio Rainier Olivar Valverde, I am a student of physics and member of the Astronomical Society of the Faculty of Engineering of the Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico (SAFIR-UNAM by its initials in Spanish), where I am currently director of outreach and external links.

I will be very happy to meet new friends, groups and societies to share experiences, photos, ideas and knowledge about the Universe.

I thank all those that enable AWB and from Mexico we wish them success, we are at your disposal and if anyone likes to visit us know that our home is your home.

We kept in touch, we wish you clear skies.

Hasta pronto

Silverio

We participated in the Dusk of IYA here in Pasay City Philippines last December 31, 2009. Free public viewing session was given from 7pm to 10pm infront of Astrocamp Observatory in SMBY Park in SM Mall of Asia Complex. Views of Jupiter and the Galilean satellites were given from Dusk to around 8:30pm then views of the Moon through an apochromat telescope was given up to 10pm. Live webcast of the event was done via www.justin.tv/medleeVideo clips of the event can be seen in that website. There were approximately 500 people that participated and we were blessed with clear sky all throughout the evening and then we proceeded to wait for the Partial Lunar Eclipse visible the next hour after the New Year Countdown in the SMBY Park (started at 1:15am Jan 1, 2010). Additional report regarding the eclipse can be seen at http://www.astroleaguephils.org

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 IMG_8687.JPG [698 KB] :: Free viewing of Jupiter & Galilean Satellites

  Hearts gathered, fillings and emotions erupted as a volcano! Its lava was (mixture of most beautiful memories of IYA2009) and the sound was (tenth of Salutes around the world), and then when it's becoming cold and solid, the result made (The Monument of Friends for Ever).   The sky was cloudy and rainy on December 31,2009, so the sun was singing the setting song behind drops of steam , but still we were able to listen of it's poems behind. There was no visible sun except its wonderful memories of past IYA2009 days.   There was a solution, using Stellarium Beta 10.0 software to simulating the real sun setting of that day. The mission was successes after we projected the Sunset of (Dusk of IYA2009) with a data show, members of AAAK and some guests arrived to AAAK's office in Erbil city at 04:00 pm local (13:00 GMT) and the processing began at 04:50:00 pm (16:50:00 GMT), then at 04:55:00 pm (16:55:05 GMT) the sun said Good Bye every one.   The participants was too happy and sad for all great goals that we all make it together around the world through IYA2009, and to leaving that year officially, but the promises was too strong and bright to continuing with the same road of programs of cooperation, friendship between all over partners of AWB and SW task group and made another bridges through the sky between us and finding new partner around the world probably wider than IYA2009.   After the event, clouds leaved the sky, and then IYA2009 carnival finished with a Partial Lunar Eclipse, magnificent scene was there between patches of clouds, it was just like a given from God to all of us, it was rally the last most beautiful ending for the movie of IYA2009…It was also a very good and encourages beginning to our activities on (Beyond International Year of Astronomy).                   By: Azhy Chato Hasan

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Aloha all!

I'd like to take this oppourtunity to introduce myself.

My name is Christopher Phillips and I'm a UK national currently living and working in Hawai'i.

I'm an astronomy educator and planetarium professional.

I run the planetarium for Palestine and Iraq projects as an affiliate of AWB and IYA 2009. The aim of these projects is to introduce modern high-tech, astronomy and science learning aid facilities and technology to developing countries for the enrichment of education and public outreach.

These projects also aim to foster international relations and build lasting relationships through a mutual passion for education and developement.

The project is also expanding to include the wider Middle East, African and Central Asian regions.

If you would like to know more myself or the projects I run then please do not hesitate to contact me.

I wiish you all clear skies!

   By: Azhy Chato Hasan       Time returned it self back again with a very nice event which gathered us again between the beginning of cold and hot days of Northern hemisphere winter, and Southern hemisphere Summer solstice.Just like June 21, 2009, AAAK prepared it self for the 2nd version of SWB in Erbil city in Iraqi Kurdistan Region. Clouds began covering the morning blue sky and then there were showers too! So the Star party that we planned for has gone with the wind!But that was not the end of the story! We made presentations between 03:30 pm to 05:00 pm Iraqi local time about: 1. The Seasons without Borders event around the world. 2. The winter and Summer solstice.3. (Our Goals on IYA2009).This was a brief story about our whole events during IYA2009, began with Dawn of IYA2009 and hope it will be ending with Dusk of IYA2009 on December 31, 2009. There were journalists, students, reporters and Religion men participated on or last presentation of IYA2009, They really fascinated with this wonderful relationship and cooperation between Iraqi Kurdistan amateur astronomers with the other part of the world and making all these unforgettable events between each other. One big disappoint thing that happened to us was internet connection which was very bad during our event  and did not give us a little chance to made live Skype meeting with the other participants around the world, specially with Marcelo De Soza from Brazil after he arrange him self for that perfectly. On that evening, there was pretty unscheduled meeting between Azhy, Thilina, Mike Simmons and Marcelo! Each one of us described the SWB event on them countries and the weather conditions. We apologized again to Marcelo about failure to meting through internet, and there was pretty sport spirit from every body there! Now we are preparing our self to say (Good Bye IYA2009) though the final event of this busy wonderful year of astronomy with Dusk of IYA2009.  

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Thank you Mike for doing this. It makes me proud and happy, if I can do some contributions to this great virtual place on our planet. Today I expanded the report. The thrilling story of making a supernova dedection has to be documented. Even the funny detail during or observing session, that I asked Gianluca to make a LIVE-discovery ;-) ........ and the astonishing fact: he really did !!!

Greetings to all participants of this event & CLS

Joe

Hi AstroJoe!  Thanks for posting your great report on this special event.  You've got the most extensive report on the web!  You've even got the chat box, which is missing even on Gianluca's page.

I've added a link to your report and others to the event's page on this site.

Mike Simmons

Hello !

During the first AWB-Remote Observing Session I have made some screenshots and I have written a little report about this exciting event. This session is a good example, what could be done with today's modern technologies.
Here is my link: http://johannes_stuebler.public1.linz.at/virtual_meeting.html

Thanks to AWB for enabling this event.

Greetings & CLS

Johannes Stübler (astrojoe)

Bangalore Astronomical Society as part of International Year of Astronomy 2009, organize a series of sidewalk astronomy nights in various areas of Bangalore.

"30 Non-Stop Sidewalk Astronomy Nights" is a unique program organized to reach more people in Bangalore. From 02.Oct.2009 to 31.Oct.2009

Check comments for daily reports and photos shared here www.bas.org.in

Anyone who is preparing to purchase one of these telescopes should be aware that Meade has been having some trouble with the software. The software version 7.01 that comes with the telescope has a somewhat hicky GPS system. Sometimes it works and somtimes it doesn't, this is due to bad software codes. To fix this there is an update to the software on Meades site (212mb) but also be aware that before you update the software you must update the software uploader to at least ASU version 5.9  Anything under this version will corrupt the software. The telescope manufacturers also decided to go with the obsolete mini SD chip instead of the standard SD chip. The telescope will not accept SDHC chips and all chips to be used in the telescope should be formatted in the FAT 32 format. One idea I tried and seems to work is to get a mini sd chip adapter and leave it in all the time. It is easier to get the Micro sd chip in and out with the adapter in place. Hope this helps anyone who has problems

Hi Johannes,

Yes, it's like a spark.  I just had a conversation today with an activist here in the US who has the idea for a program of remote observing by classrooms around the world. Each creates images, adds poetry or stories or something else and a CD is made called Tour of the Universe by Children of the World. It's a beautiful idea and I want to make sure it happens. So in a way the first remote observing session is a start for that as well. There are many good ways to use this technology. We're going to make a lot of use of this. And soon I hope we will be able to see each other with video conferencing during the session (though that will be restricted to high bandwidth participants).

Don't worry about your English. It seems fine to me. Do you want to hear my German? No, you really don't. I know it's hard to type in another language but we could talk on Skype if you want. Whatever you like.

Mike

HI Mike !

I am very pleased about your answer. I agree with you, the observing session was much more than a test. For me and my feeling it was a initial ignition. Simultaneously observing and sharing the beauty of our sky and talking to people around the world, across borders, of no importance which background the participants have (nation,race, religion, politic, profession....).The vision of creating relationship between people by the universal appeal of astronomy has become true. It was a first step, I hope many steps will follow.

Thankyou for your invitation for connecting via e-mail. In the next few days/weeks I will do so, telling to you something about my plans. Before talking on Skype I have to train my English. Its hard for  me to write in english and it needs my full attention. I am not trained speaking Englisch :-( maybe in future it will be better´

All the best

Johannes (astrojoe)