IYA 2009 UK Update Ian Robson Top-level

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IYA 2009 UK Update Ian Robson

Top-level organisation Ø Royal Astronomical Society (RAS) the lead organisation Ø Initial seedcorn funding (£ 2 k) approved Ø Single Point of Contact agreed (self) Ø Chair of the UK IYA 2009 Working Group agreed (self) Ø Report directly to RAS Council Ø Web-link established and user forum in place

Kick-off Meeting Ø Kick-off meeting on October 6 th 2006 Ø 13 organisations represented – ranging from amateur societies, education, museums, through to funding agency (PPARC). The ‘uniformed groups (scouts guides), the producers (professional astronomers and observatories) were not represented Ø Presented the ‘overview’ and requested organisations to consult with the managing bodies and grass-roots members and come back with ideas for UK events and ‘global’ events before Garching meeting today Ø Strong hint of financial support from PPARC for events – looking to see consolidation of ideas and themes.

UK ideas Ø ‘Moon. Week 2009’ (National Astronomy Week) late March early April to: Ø Focus activity on observations of the Moon and Saturn Ø coincide with 400 th anniversary of Thomas Harriott telescopic observations of the Moon in July 1609 – events, observations, Ø Family day-event and exhibiton etc at Syon House Ø A telescope in every secondary school – very ambitious and complex, two contrasting ideas currently – one needs prototyping Ø Card telescopes for museums/planateria/VCs Ø Magazines and cartoons for children

Notes, questions and thoughts Ø Would there be a single focus (like Galileo) cf Einstein for Year of Physics? Ø Could we use the confusion between astronomy and astrology to our Ø Ø Ø advantage? 2009 is also Darwin year, which could be big competition within the UK If we want a special postage stamp set we need to act very quickly Must capitalise on the 40 th anniversary of the Moon landing The longest solar eclipse takes place (albeit in China) Jupiter is not well placed in 2009, but Saturn is Space should also be included in ‘astronomy’ Use the current ‘Science Festivals’ and events and expand re-focus Local science festivals spring up and could be useful venues Major ‘alternative events’ like Glastonbury should be considered as a potential audience Alternative audiences, such as ‘proms’ at stately homes might also work as events, especially with Holst themes National launch event must have something special as a hook for the media Robotic telescopes should be in a much stronger position by then

Next steps Ø Use this meeting as a springboard to energise the communities – next UK meeting is on March 14 th Ø Have not yet involved the professional community – will tackle at the National Astronomy Meeting (April 16 -20)

Problems so far Ø Inertia – hard to ‘drive’ the organisations Ø Some of the organisations do not seem to have pushed the question down to their grass-roots – maybe timing? Ø The education side is going to be very difficult to crack

Global ideas Ø 24 -hours around the world via great observatories – TV spectacular featuring the icons (telescopes, spaceprobes and people) of astronomy, linked with expanded culture, science, technology for local consumption

Observations Ø Interesting publicity just seen for the ‘polar year’ and IHY within the UK Ø Do we need a ‘Royal’ patron ? Ø Need to gear up feeding into CAP 2007 – this could be a very good incentivising focus

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