International Astronomy Day: May 10, 2008

Every year in late April or early May Astronomy organizations around the world stage public exhibitions on Astronomy. The event is coordinated by the Astronomical League, and the date is chosen to be a weekend with good observing conditions - a Saturday near or just before the 1st quarter moon (there is also an alternate "rain date" in Autumn).

RASC participates as do other local Astronomy clubs. There will be exhibits at the museum and in other public places, and usually one or more evening star parties organized for easy public accessibility. Watch for announcements in our news letters and on our web site.

Join Us!

There will be Astronomy events across Canada on this day. In Ottawa, the RASC Ottawa centre hosts a number of demonstrations and a star party at the Canada Science and Technology Museum, and the OAOG observers group hosts a star party at Silver City.

Science and Technology Museum Program:

Celebrate and investigate the science of the skies! Tour the Helen Sawyer Hogg Observatory, enjoy a Planetarium presentation, make a kitchen comet or join an evening star party (weather permitting). (We are inviting RASC members to attend and show examples of astrophotography and equipment. Interested volunteers should contact Alain Beaudoin).

Ottawa Centre distributed a brochure for Astronomy Day at a 2007 meeting. You can also download a softcopy of that brochure to print your own. It is formatted to be printed double-sided on legal sized paper, then folded into a 4-page brochure. We encourage you to download and print your own copies to give to friends or to distribute at public demonstrations. If you've never participated in a public outreach event before, don't be intimidated. Grab your gear and come. It's easy and very satisfying. This article provides more advice and encourages you to give it a try.

Page last modified: December 29, 2007