Tuesday, March 17, 2009
International Year of Astronomy in Tenerife
You simply can't mention Tenerife, nor its neighbouring Island of La Palma, without mentioning astronomy.
The Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias (IAC) (Canarian Astrophysics Institute) has the Observatorio del Teide on Tenerife and the Observatorio del Roque de los Muchachos on La Palma, with the exceptional quality of the sky for observation over the Canaries protected by Law 31/1988; which is known as the "Sky Law".
The IAC has been participating in the Año Internacional de la Astronomía (International Year of Astronomy) through various initiatives, plus:
Friday, March 20th, at 19.30 in the Museo de la Ciencia y el Cosmos (Museum of Science and the Cosmos, C/ Vía Láctea (Milky Way Street, seriously :), San Cristobal De La Laguna | map), Dr. Antonio Marín of the Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias asks the question, "Are globular clusters the fossils of the galaxies?"
Well, fairly obviously, he'll be asking and discussing the question, "Globos en el Universo.¿Son los cúmulos globulares los "fósiles" de las galaxias?", in Spanish, but those of you who do or are sufficiently fascinated with the stars ...
The Biblioteca Pública del Estado (Public Library), Calle Comodoro Rolín (info | map) in Santa Cruz also wanted to join in on the celebrations and are housing an exhibition (from February 16th, through to April 30th), provided by the Museo de la Ciencia y el Cosmos, entitled METErrORITOS (meteorites), which states that these "are not as dangerous as they paint, but they can destroy the Earth." Take heed! :) Should be easy to find in the library's entrance hall.
Activities also include a 7-hour Maratón Messier (Messier Marathon: a term describing the attempt to find as many Messier objects as possible in one night), on Saturday, March 21st, from 7 p.m., with the Grupo de Observadores Astronómicos de Tenerife (Tenerife Astronomical Observers Group) - affectionately known by the acronym of GOAT - and a similar group from La Gomera, competing with La Palma in this "sporting" event. :)
Aimed at schools, on Friday, March 27th, from 8.30 for around 1 1/2 hours, the Teide Observatory will be transmitting observations from the IAC80 telescope (The Canary's Eyes) over the internet in a project called TeleAstronomía. The webcams are situated in the control room as well as in the dome of the telescope.
If none of that applies or appeals to you, you could just download one of these astronomical Fondos de Escritorio (wallpapers), including the one pictured left of the circumpolar stars, taken by Daniel López (who works as an observer of space rubbish: it's a dirty job, but somebody's got to do it), from the Observatorio del Teide. See more of Daniel's spectacular Cielos del Teide (Teide Skies), astrophotography and nocturnal landscapes.
The Año Internacional de la Astronomía (International Year of Astronomy | International Year of Astronomy in the UK) coincides with the 400th Anniversary of when Italian physicist, mathematician, astronomer, and philosopher Galileo Galilei (1564-1642) first turned one of his telescopes to the night sky , in 1609.
And long may he be celebrated for daring to push a "radical" theory that the Sun- not the earth - is at the centre of the Universe.
My hope is that Sheila (yes this is an invitation :-) will come along and tell us something interesting and useful about these events to fill in the gaping void (i.e. I know nothing whatsoever) in my knowledge of astronomy. :)
0 Comments:
