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GAM 2016 Blog
GAM 2016 BlogThe Celestial Experience - “Wow, the Moon is so big!”
By Monica Young I've invited friends over to see the so-called supermoon. I know that this particular full Moon isn't noticeably bigger than any other month, but why not take advantage of the hype? I now have two five-year-olds, a two-year-old, and even a one-year-old out in the dark, all of them vying for turns at my telescope. The hands-on experience is a far cry from my graduate school days, many of which were spent at a computer analyzing thousands of X-ray sources and examining their spectra. I pored over images from the XMM-Newton telescope, in which 58 gold-plated mirrors...
GAM - Over for another year
By Christie McMonigal Global Astronomy Month 2016 is over, and what a ride it has been! We had a number of new events this year. The Children's AstroArts Contest ran for the first time this year, and was incredibly popular, we have received so many amazing entries, I do not envy the judging panel who have to pick the winners. You can see all the entries on our Facebook page , and below. We also ran a very interesting hangout with some TWAN photographers talking about their adventures to capture the perfect picture, you can watch this below. We also...
Many Hands Can Make Light Work: The Quality Lighting Teaching Kit
By Constance E. Walker Poor quality lighting not only impedes astronomy research and our right to see a starry night sky, but creates safety issues, affects human circadian sensitivities, disrupts ecosystems, and wastes billions of dollars/year in energy consumption. It also leads to excess carbon emissions. How do you change the mindset of society that is used to turning night into day? You educate the next generation on quality lighting. The United Nations-sanctioned International Year of Light in 2015 (IYL2015) provided an opportunity to increase public awareness of dark skies preservation, quality lighting, and energy conservation. The Education and Public...
A Dot Opens to the Sky
By Ajay Talwar It is an exciting time for astronomy in India. Recently on 30th March 2016, a Telescope installed on top Devasthal Peak in the lower Himalayan was remotely switched on by the Prime Minister of India and Belgium from Brussels. The two countries have collaborated in designing and installing the telescope which happens to be the largest telescope in India. The telescope has automatically been christened as "DOT", Devasthal Optical Telescope. Devasthal peak is 2450 meters above sea level, in the Himalayas and is quite easily accessible, just 55km from the plains at Kathgodam and about 50 km...
Chasing the Shadows
By Avivah Yamani Photo Credit: langitselatan March 9th, 2016, was a special day for Indonesia as it was the day of Total Solar Eclipse. It is special as the last TSE was in 1995, and most of the people don't really remember the event. Prior to 1995, there were 3 other total solar eclipses with totality path crossing some places in Indonesia. The first and most memorable for public was the 1983 TSE. It was famous because at that time, the government banned people from viewing the eclipse using any eclipse glasses or telescopes with filter. Indonesia is a big...
