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More 100 Hours Events

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Astronomy, Astronomy, Astronomy

The 100 Hours of Astronomy events just continue on, and millions of people are enjoying and participating. How about you?  Did you watch any of the very cool “Around the World in 80 Telescopes” vodcasts yesterday and today?   I popped in throughout the day to see what’s shakin’ at observatories around (and above) the planet. The ‘casts are available from the web page link above.

The irregular galaxy NGC 55 obtained with the Wide Field Imager on the 2.2-meter MPG/ESO telescope at La Silla Observatory. Its about 7.5 million light-years away. (Click to embiggen.)
The irregular galaxy NGC 55 obtained with the Wide Field Imager on the 2.2-meter MPG/ESO telescope at La Silla Observatory. It's about 7.5 million light-years away. (Click to embiggen.)
The chaotic spiral galaxy NGC 7793, observed with the FORS instrument on the VLT in Paranal. Courtesy ESO. (Click to embiggen.)
The chaotic spiral galaxy NGC 7793, observed with the FORS instrument on the VLT in Paranal. Courtesy ESO. (Click to embiggen.)

Want to find out what’s happening near you?  Check out the Google Map-enabled activity chart here. If your 100 Hours of Astronomy participation is limited to the armchair variety (and hey, there’s nothing like sitting in front of  a warm, toasty screen enjoying astro-images), the European Southern Observatory has released two stunning images of galaxies to celebrate the events.  Both of these galaxies belong to the Sculptor Group of galaxies tha tlie about 7.5 million light-years away.  In NGC 55, astronomers studying planetary nebulae–the end-products of the evolution of stars like our Sun — were able to use their data to determine the distance to this galaxy.  They also think that this galaxy might be joining together with another galaxy, NGC 300.  For NGC 7793, astronomers are intrigued by the chaotic spiral structure it shows.  What causes the chaos?  Good question.  Perhaps an interaction with another galaxy?

(Click to embiggen)
Observing in UAE. (Click to embiggen)
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Observing in Iran. (Click to embiggen)

These are just two of the many images that observatories are releasing for 100 Hours of Astronomy. I’ll try to track some more down and post links. It’s not just observatories releasing images though — folks who are participating in astronomy events around the world are posting images on the 100 Hours photo gallery.  Here are a few of my favorites.

100 Hours of Astronomy Camel Cart in Gujarat, India. (Click to embiggen.)
100 Hours of Astronomy Camel Cart in Manthan, India.
First light in New Zealand -- January 1. By Paul Moss. (Click to embiggen.)
First light in New Zealand -- January 1. By Paul Moss. (Click to embiggen.)

It’s really quite wonderful to see people get so excited about reclaiming the night skies through such activities as 100 Hours and all the events connected to the International Year of Astronomy.   It’s been a great year of astronomy so far, and there’s a LOT more to come!

Now, if some news media would deign to mention this wonderful year of outreach and sky fascination… come on CNN and BEEB and others… let’s have a little astronomy on your pages. People need some awe and wonder in their news, too.

100 Hours of Astronomy, 80 telescopes, international year of astronomy

100 Hours of Astronomy

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A Global Astronomy Event

It has begun! 100 Hours of Astronomy, a global celebration of astronomy (part of the International Year of Astronomy) is underway.  It began today (April 2) and continues through April 5 (Sunday).

What’s available?  Why, the universe, of course!

There are free public activities going on around the world, ranging from star parties to lectures to an innovative 80-telescope tour of the world’s major observatories, and many, many other events.  To catch up with what’s going on, head over to the 100 Hours of Astronomy web site (it’s quite popular right now) and check out the list of events. I’m particularly impressed with the Google-based world map of events that are happening — and it’s interactive, so all you have to do is click on a push pin and get info about that particular event.

If you want to do a little stargazing (what a cool idea, eh?) there’s a 24-Hour Global Star Party on April 4.  It begins at sunset, your local time (wherever you are).  There’s also something called 100 Hours of Remote Astronomy.

There’s more astronomy going on in the next few days than you can shake a stick at — so, go check it all out!

NOTE: since I wrote this entry (Thursday night), the pages for 100 Hours have changed and links to the Global Star Party and other events are no longer available. I suspect this is due to over-loaded servers. This event is proving very popular!  The link above takes you to the 80 Telescopes page, where there are ongoing videos all day through Saturday morning.