Star Party 2009 » Earth http://www.starparty2009.com Interschool Observation Competition & Workshop 2009 | Largest IYA 2009 Project of Sri Lanka Mon, 14 Dec 2009 15:45:29 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.1.1 NASA Webcast to highlight Sun-Earth Day:Today http://www.starparty2009.com/nasa-webcast-to-highlight-sun-earth-daytoday/ http://www.starparty2009.com/nasa-webcast-to-highlight-sun-earth-daytoday/#comments Fri, 20 Mar 2009 02:24:00 +0000 admin http://www.starparty2009.com/?p=44 Sun Earth Day
Under the theme “Our Sun, Yours to Discover”, annual Sun-Earth Day will be celebrated today, around the world. To promote the event, NASA scientists have launched a special Webcast, for the students and teachers to discover the importance of Sun and its influence on Earth, while SUN-Earth Day is recognized in conjunction with the spring equinox. The Webcast will commence today(20th) at 1 p.m. EDT (Eastern Daylight Time= UTC-4h) and in Sri Lanka the equivalent time would be 10:30 p.m.

Theme itself, celebrates the International Year of Astronomy 2009 ( IYA 2009) and focuses the daytime astronomy. A bunch of new discoveries about sun will be shared among the interactive-event participants, around the globe, including NASA, personnel as well. Participating students will be asked to present individual sundials, whereas others will be engaged in tasks, related to monitoring the sun and producing a unique space weather forecast through their own analysis.

“Tremendous strides have been made with satellite and ground-based observations of the sun, which have enabled us to monitor the sun to gain a better understanding of the processes that govern its influence on our solar system,” says Eric Christian, a scientist at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md.

Sun-Earth Day basically emphasizes the Sun and its influence on Earth and geospace -the proximity of Earth. Throughout last 9 years NASA has been organizing various types of projects to popularize the idea and make more people educated about the cause. There have been many NASA-sponsored public outreach events for Sun-Earth Day, mainly focusing NASA heliophysics research and discoveries. However the mission is to have as many people, including kids form kindergardens to grade 12 students, as possible to witness sidereal events and get them effectively involved through webcasts, podcasts, demonstrations, star parties and etc.

“These events also support the spirit of international collaboration, We are excited about sharing the latest discoveries about our sun and encourage others to join our quest for a greater Sun Earth Dayunderstanding of our closest star.”says Lou Mayo, project manager at Goddard for Sun-Earth Day 2009.

Goddard is producing the Sun-Earth Day webcast. NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., and the Adler Planetarium in Chicago also are participating in the broadcast. Moreover NASA Television and the agency’s Web site will broadcast the event live.

NASA TV streaming video, downlink and scheduling information http://www.nasa.gov/ntv

USeful resources:

http://sunearthday.nasa.gov/2009/index.php

http://www.nasa.gov/education


]]> http://www.starparty2009.com/nasa-webcast-to-highlight-sun-earth-daytoday/feed/ 0 IYA 2009′s"From Earth To The Universe ( FETTU)" Launched Globally. http://www.starparty2009.com/iya-2009sfrom-earth-to-the-universe-fettu-launched-globally/ http://www.starparty2009.com/iya-2009sfrom-earth-to-the-universe-fettu-launched-globally/#comments Thu, 26 Feb 2009 02:11:00 +0000 admin http://www.starparty2009.com/?p=31 FETTU – ” From Earth To The Universe ” another IYA 2009 project launched 25th Feb. 2009

25th Feb 2009 marked the international launch of FETTU project, another milestone of IYA 2009, with the initial celebration starting from United States. It was celebrated with an exhibition filled with vivid astronomy images and it’s still open at the Tucson International Airport in Arizona. The FETTU is aimed at showcasing uniqueness of Astronomy and making it accessible to the general public, through a series of free showings across the country.

FETTU is ranked a major project of both the US and global endeavours for IYA2009. High quality images taken from both ground- and space-based telescopes will be contributed to FETTU to boost its task of offering picturesque and manifold pictures on astounding astronomical objects – quas

ars, planets, comets, stars, nebulae, galaxies, clusters, satellites and much more. It is also possible to have different scopes of the same image through the electromagnetic spectrum which could enhance the scientific eye with a good analysis of wave-lenghts, belonging to X-rays, Gamma rays, Ultra-violet , Infra-red etc.

FETTU showcasing will be taking place almost everywhere, where there is general public. FETTU images are selected so that they can grab the attention of the viewer. The images should contain a glorious attraction and the target or the goal is to make an ordinary man understand the beauty of the universe and enjoy it while knowing the importance of astronomy as a fundaamental science as soon as he is drawn to the image.

More News

FETTU is sponsored by NASA in US and will appear in semi- permanent installations in Atlanta and Chicago later this spring. The traveling unit of FETTU, with its first stop in Tucson, will then head to Memphis in April. More FETTU locations are being processed across the US and an enhanced schedule is on the way.

It is reported that several editions of FETTU will also be appearing in the San Francisco and the Bay Area beginning in May. Therefore a lot of excitement is already left. The monetary allocations are from NASA’s Lunar Science Institute, the Fermi and Swift missions through Sonoma State University, and several other organizations which contribute to make FETTU a great success. Furthermore the NASA IYA Student Ambassador program is facilitating a FETTU exhibit in Madison, Wisconsin. With NASA’s support, FETTU panels for the visually impaired are being prepared. There would be comprehensive collection of 50 images in the US and the caption material is avaiable in both English and Spanish.

Kim Kowal Arcand of the Chandra X-ray Center and principal investigator for the NASA FETTU grant said “It’s very rewarding to see FETTU taking shape across in the United States thanks, in large part, to NASA. It’s also amazing to see how it has taken off around the world.”



Worldwide Focus

At the moment through IYA 2009 events FETTU is already being showcased in a variety of formats – both as physical installations and digital displays – in over 40 countries around the globe. Having been funded by a variety of local resources these episodes are getting more popularized among the public day by day.

Stay tuned to hearing updated!!


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