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Member Reports
Apr 20
2010
North Meets South for GAM
GAM opened in Maine, USA with Southern Maine Astronomers from Portland, Maine on April 1st. The club was supposed to have the event at the Southworth Planetarium, but had to move to another location because of a conflict. We made the best of this by meeting at the house of member, George Whitney. The event was a conjunction of Venus and Mercury at sunset. During the meeting, the group connected with Marcelo Souza from Brazil. Since it was very short notice, only Marcelo from his group was able to meet with us there on Skype. All the members took turns... Read More...
Apr 19
2010
Shannonside Astronomy Club Public Star Party for GAM Limerick Ireland
All I can say is WOW, what a night! We had prestine clear skies here in Limerick, some people asked if the volcanic dust from the Icelandic volcano would be a problem when infact it has actually helped us due to the complete absence of any contrails in the sky, and not a cloud in sight.!! Over the entire night we must have had over 150 people come along to the event with well over 100 there at one stage!!! Shannonside Astronomy Club Star Party for GAM by David Lillis and Frank Ryan Junior This was an amazing turn out... Read More...
Apr 19
2010
Astronomical Sketching talk for Kerry Astronomy Club Ireland
April 13th Kerry Astronomy Club invited Deirdre Kelleghan to give a talk in The Institute of Technology in Tralee Co Kerry. Deirdre's talk title was Astronomical Sketching taking it to a wider audience. Deirdre talking about Astronomical Sketching During the presentation Deirdre described how she goes about drawing lunar and solar features through her telescopes. She encouraged Kerry Astronomy Club members to use drawing as an educational tool to excite children about astronomy as part of their outreach work in the community. She showed examples of drawing programs she wrote and community drawing experiences she has had.She spoke about Catch... Read More...
Apr 19
2010
Ireland enjoys Saturn followed by a Star Party
A talk on Saturn and Her Wonderful Moons and a Star Party by Kerry Astronomy Club Ireland Deirdre Kelleghan talking about Saturn and Cassini On April 14th Kerry Astronomy Club arranged for outreach educator Deirdre Kelleghan to come down to St Brendan’s National School in Fenit Co Kerry to give a talk to the children. Deirdre is an Irish astronomer who enjoys doing talks on astronomy and space exploration. She is Vice Chair for IFAS i.e. The Irish Federation of Astronomical Societies and a member of The Saturn Observation Campaign an informal education program run by JPL/NASA. The presentation was... Read More...
Apr 16
2010
Rocking onto the green section for an asteroid hunt
by Lee Pullen
The event that EVERYONE (technically not true) has been waiting for has arrived: the live asteroid hunt! Due to some “hiccups” this highlight was put back to 22:00. And no-one seemed to know about it. Oana had the superb (or terrible, you decide) idea of nabbing a stash of Post-It notes and creating invitations to be distributed en masse. What, you thought I was joking? Look, it’s a veritable production line. Asteroid Hunt! Live on the green section 22:00 Who could possibly ignore such an offer? Especially when they’re put on people’s keyboards / middle of monitors. By unspoken agreement,... Read More...
Apr 15
2010
A talk from a SPACE MAN
by Lee Pullen
Oana and I, Queen and King of Campus Party, are now blogging live from the front line. So speak. But first here’s a brief synopsis of the previous evening’s discoveries. This is “Zone Camping”. Please, Sir, could you point me toward “Zone Five Star Hotel?” WELCOME TO PULLEN TOWERS. Highly trained astronomy communicators, like what we are, need a lot of food. So let’s find dinner. This was it. This was literally IT. Oana will confirm, and she’s actually trustworthy. Starvation rations. Prisoners get more. This must be a breach of human rights. Hello Oana, working hard. And, alas, making... Read More...
Apr 15
2010
Don’t lose the chance when it comes
Fastest and most sudden sidewalk event of AAAK Location: In front of Hawler High School Date: Tuesday - April, 13. 2010 Time: 04:30 AM – 05:10 PM local time. By: Azhy Hasan / April, 14.2010 Photos by: Aso Abdulrazzaq Thank God! Finally the weather changed before sunset by 1.5 hours from patches of clouds and dust to clear sky, the PST Coronado telescope was there waiting for an action, we take it outside the AAAK's office and put it in an open square in front of Hawler High School. It was a golden chance to let too many of students... Read More...
Apr 15
2010
Navigation and Astronomy in Vienna AUSTRIA
About 70 people visited the interesting lecture of Matthias Wolf about "Navigation and Astronomy" - a real globally theme! 70 people more in Austria who got to know about GAM and Astronomers Without Borders ;-) The planned observing session after the talk didn't happen because the weather was very wet and rainy :-( In this lecture Wolf explained the essentials of astronomical navigation using three-dimensional computer graphics. What looked like a simple screensaver turned out being right angel triangles in a Thalescircle, converting and subscribing a dangerous coastal landscape needful to circumnavigate. The simple geometric landscape converts to the earth... Read More...
Apr 15
2010
Iraqi first SunDay Activity
Always there is plan-B! Location: Fakir Mirgasuri Private High School Date: Sunday - April,11. 2010 Time: 10:30 AM – 12:00 PM local time. By: Aso Razaq Salih Translated: Azhy Hasan Still there were clouds and muddy skies covered Erbil city and whole Iraq, but these things will not stop presentations. Mr.Sherzad Ali Muhammad, our active member has volunteered to present an exciting subject about universe and the position of the sun, and then he turned to the born and the fate of the sun according o the recorded events in our galaxies. This presentation takes nearby 1:30 minutes after plenty... Read More...
Apr 15
2010
GAM at Blackrock Castle Observatory in Ireland
GAM 2010 kicked off in Ireland on Friday April 2 at Blackrock Castle Observatory's monthly event First Fridays at the Castle. Global Astronomy Month was highlighted to all visitors. A total of 35 attended the Cork Science Café. Tony O Hanlon’s Lecture "2012 is it the End?" had an audience of 60 StarGazing in association with Denis Walsh and the Cork Astronomy Club – 40 plus attended in the Castle grounds. Mercury and Venus were the observed targets until 8.15pm then the 5 telescopes were turned to Orion, the Moon, Saturn and other targets. Cosmic Calendars workshops for families had... Read More...
Apr 15
2010
It's a Sun Day: another GAM2010 event in Nepal!
Nepal Astronomical Society (NASo) organized an event to mark SunDay , global program of GAM2010 here in Nepal on Sunday, April 11, 2010. The program was organized in H.B. Complex during 14:00-17:00 Hrs for the public to view the Sun through 8 Inch Dobsonian and some solar eclipse glasses. Unfortunately we could not show Sun spot to the participants during the event :-( There were more than 50 participants of different ages with remarkable presence of women and children. During the event, Rishi Shah, president of NASO explained to the public why NASO is conducting such outreach events in Nepal.... Read More...
Apr 15
2010
Not even Madrid is safe from GAM...
by Lee Pullen
Hola from Espania! Or whatever they call Spain in Spain. Oana and I are spreading the GAM gospel far and wide. Well, as far and wide as Campus Party Europe, a.k.a GEEKFEST 2010. This display of talent and innovation in Madrid sees "800 young people from the 27 European Union countries participate in activities, conferences and challenges." I'm very glad to still be considered a "young person". ANYWAY, the idea behind Campus Party Europe is to showcase new technology. As official campuseros, Oana and I (who will henceforth be referred to as TEAM LEE) are hoping to run a GAM... Read More...
Apr 12
2010
Telescope Workshop and Saturn Watch gets under way Timaru New Zealand.
GAM got under way in South Canterbury New Zealand on Saturday evening. We started off with about 15 telescopes coming out from the closet for our telescope workshop. The novice astronomers recieved help from many of our more expierenced members, setting up there mounts, finderscopes, and assisting with eyepiece selection. Several went away with membership forms as well, a very benefical two hours. At 7PM the star party started, with 8 scopes from our members, everything from 90mm Mak to 12 inch dobs. We had about ... 150 attend, seeing conditions were great, everybody had a good time, and many... Read More...
Apr 12
2010
30 Nights of StarPeace from India
by 
Mike Simmons
Mike SimmonsApril 4-6 was the turn of countries in 72-108 E longitude. SPACE contacted various other starpeace counterparts in Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Afganistan, and Nepal to host a 30NSP event during April 4-6. During this period few solar observations and night observations were done. SPACE proposed sun observation to Pakistani counterparts as they had security problems in gathering people at night. SPACE did a walk through for publicat the Jantar Mantar observatory on 4 th April and held observations there. A solar observation was also done for public and educators at SPACE’S office on 5 th April. Images can be found... Read More...
Apr 12
2010
SPACE started GAM celebrations in New Delhi, INDIA
SPACE strated GAM celebrations in New Delhi, India by having a gathering of students for the 26th anniversary of first indian in space on 5th of April at Russian Centre of Science and Culture. The programme had presentations and Videos of Rakesh Sharma's Flight to space in Soyuz T-11. Mr. D K Bedi, Principal of Apeejay School, Pitampura addressed thye students and told them about the importance of astronomy and space sciences. Mr Sergey, Deputy director, science and technology, RCSC also talked about the russian-india collaborations in space sciences. C B Devgun, president SPACE, gave a presentation on the space... Read More...
Apr 11
2010
More GAM 2010 in New Zealand
Levin Stargazers & Foxton Beach Astro Society joined the global celebrations! Sometimes the weather gods smile upon you, and last night was one of those evenings when they are not just smiling but grinning from ear to ear! What a fantastic night to kick off GAM for Levin Stargazers and Foxton Beach Astronomical Society, who combined forces to host our first GAM event, the "Telescope Hunt". Admittedly, not as exciting as the name may suggest, but the idea was for the public to "hunt out" their old telescopes and bring them along for some pointers on how to use them... Read More...
Apr 10
2010
Clouds and Dust!
by Mike Simmons
Mike SimmonsReport on 30 Nights of StarPeace in Iraq After considerable preparation for 30 Nights for StarPeace events in Iraq, bad weather seemed to cover the entire country. Clouds and dust hung over the city of Erbil, the capital of the Kurdistan region of northern Iraq. It cleared later in the evening but by then everyone had gone. Other regions faired no better. Erbil Members and guests of the Amateur Astronomy Association of Kurdistan (AAAK) gathered in the office in the capital city of Kurdistan, Erbil, where they live video and phone contact with some of the participants in other countries... Read More...
Apr 10
2010
SPACE celebrated GAM at Jantar Mantar
SPACE celebrated GAM at Jantar Mantar, Delhi by organising public outreach programmes and taking readings at variuos instruments. Students from Delhi Public School, Dwarka and Our Lady of Fatima, Gurgaon took the readings of sun's position at Jantar Mantar. They also found the local noon by observing the shadow movement of samrat yantra and as the date was close to being at 0 min correction for the equation of time, it was a new experience for them to see that the local noon at delhi was at 12:22and if you do a correction for longitude, you arrive at 12'o clock.... Read More...
Apr 04
2010
Openings in Nepal, Iraq, Austria, 24-hour observing in Spain, USA
by Mike Simmons
Mike SimmonsGlobal Astronomy Month kicks off officially in Nepal The celebration of Global Astronomy Month has started officially in Nepal. On the first day of GAM, the Nepal Astronomical Society (NASO) organized a talk program at Celebration Co-Ed School, Narayan Taar, Jorpati, between 13:00-14:00. More at http://suresh-bhattarai.blogspot.com/2010/04/global-astronomy-month-kicks-off.html Welcoming ceremony of GAM in Kurdistan (northern Iraq) In order to bring astronomy to the people and to encourage the next generation to study this fascinating science, Amateur Astronomers Association of Kurdistan held a welcoming ceremony at Shubat Center Hall in Erbil city on March 31. Approximately 170 people of different ages and from... Read More...
Apr 04
2010
How to share your events using GAM resources
by Oana Sandu
Oana's profile GAM participants are encouraged to share their events with the rest of the world-letting everybody know about the activities they organize, as well as inspiring other people to do the same. Here are four steps to follow: Announce the event The first step is registration on the GAM website so that your event can be easily found by those interested, who can search by date, venue, country or type. Follow the simple procedure on the Register Events page . Once you are officially a GAM organizer, make sure you send the details of your event to [email protected] ,... Read More...
Apr 01
2010
Astronomy Day is April 24th.
90mm will be hosting our first sidewalk star party where the public can stop and view Saturn, Mars and other deep sky objects through our 150mm refractor. We're just going to setup the telescope on the corner of the intersection near our location and talk to the public as they pass by during the evening. Why do this in town where light pollution is, well, outrageous? That's just the point, to bring attention to the problem of light pollution and teach everyone about effective lighting for the community. Read More...
Mar 30
2010
AWB-CAR meets SAAA in GAM
During my trip "From Orient to Occident - One People, One Sky" with my "AWB-Car" I will visit the SAAA (Syrian Amateur Astronomers Asoociation). This will happen on 29.04.2010 during GAM2010. I have an invitation from the people of SAAA and my friends there are planning a little starparty to share the fascination of our sky - One People, One Sky. I will talk about AWB and what our organisation is doing and fullfill my role as an "Ambassador" of Astronomers Without Borders. I will deliver AWB's mission and goal to foster understanding and goodwill across national and cultural boundaries... Read More...
Mar 27
2010
Sidewalk Astronomy in Ireland
Image by Bernard Kelleghan What's going on in this picture? Look at it; we are on the pavement with a huge telescope. We were surrounded by light pollution from street lamps, houses, and a beach front glitzy fun fair. We had several telescopes that evening set up to share the night sky on International Sidewalk Astronomy Night. This image was taken to show our sidewalk astronomy activity using only available light, and was facilitated by members of The Irish Astronomical Society and South Dublin Astronomical Society. The atmosphere was drenched in yellow lights, spot lights, headlights and town lights. Why... Read More...
Mar 27
2010
Sunset of Peace
by Oana Sandu
Oana's profile Imagine you are in space, the Earth slowly rotating below you as each part of the globe falls into darkness and city lights spot the continents. It's a stunning view. Now imagine that as nightfall creeps from east to west like a wave flooding the land in darkness, at each national border two groups of astronomers come together from both sides to marvel at the beauty of the stars above. The scene is repeated at the border of each successive neighboring country as night moves forward, enveloping each in darkness. Circling the Earth, the resulting relay becomes a... Read More...
Mar 25
2010
Using the Virtual Telescope
by Oana Sandu
Oana's profile Have you made your mind up which Remote Observing Program to take part in? If you're going to have " The Universe at your Command ", you may want to read up on how to use this Web-based technology. The Virtual Telescope is a project of the Bellatrix Astronomical Observatory in Italy. Managed by Gianluca Masi, it consists of a complete observatory that is remotely accessible through the Internet. With cutting-edge technology, assistance from professional astrophysicists and a broad range of capabilities, it is one of the most advanced facilities of its kind in the world, yet it... Read More...
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