Inlägg av Esther

It is forty years since the first moon landing, and over here in the UK, we are being treated to a whole host of programmes, articles and interviews about that great event forty years ago.

And one debate that is heating up this week is whether we should be sending more people into space. British Astronaut Helen Sharman has given a rare interview in this week´s Daily Telegraph in which she calls for the government to start funding human space travel again. Dr Sharman accuses the government of being too interested in short term gains. She describes how everyone from tiny children to pensioners are fascinated by space travel, and how seeing more manned space travel would inspire Britons to be interested in science, and to be proud of what we can achieve scientifically and technologically.

I think she is right – the public excitement and interest that manned space travel inspires is incredible and must surely justify the (admittedly huge) cost to the taxpayer. A colleague of mine, who must now be nearly 60, once told me how disappointing it was that the future he’d anticipated as a boy had never materialised. He had imagined by the time he was grown up we would all be living in space and zooming around in rockets. The moon landings however did inspire him to become a physicist. Otherwise (he jokes) he may have ended up as an accountant!

But perhaps in today´s political climate, the focus should be on the European Space Agency. A EU-crew could also create a feeling of EU solidarity that the politicians are all striving for…..

Link to the article:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/scienceandtechnology/science/space/5760717/Helen-Sharman-the-British-astronaut-who-flew-the-flag.html

Did you know that 2009 is International Year of Astronomy? If not, you are missing out on possibly the biggest public engagement event the universe has ever seen!

Astronomers – professional and  amateur- in 140 countries are marking 400 years since Galileo first viewed the universe through a telescope in spectacular fashion.

102 of these countries have their own website which all appear to be brimful of star-gazing, sun-gazing, star parties, dark sky events, parties, talks, walks and black hole science cafes.

I have been amazed by the sheer number of events. I did a quick search for events in my local area and discovered a star-gazing events in Chamber Farm Wood, a Star Party and BBQ at Kerridge Cricket Club and an exhibition on Portaits of Astronomers at a local art gallery. And that´s just this month!

 But it is certainly not just the odd eccentric Brit looking at the stars. This celebration is truly global! The Canadians are hoping to give 1 million people a ”Galileo moment” this year (defined as an ”engaging astronomy event”), in South Africa they have been organising daylight telescope sessions so even more people get to try out the telecopes. In Trinidad and Tobago there are several star gazing beach parties organised. The Iranian and Japanese sites looked interesting but unfortunately were incomprehensible to me!

As well as local events, IYA2009 has 11 worldwide cornerstone events . In April there was a ”100 hours of astronomy” event where as many people as possible were encouraged to look at the night sky. A similar event, Galilean Nights, is to held on the 23rd-24th October, where astronomers will take to the streets with their telecopes to persuade shoppers and passers by to look at the wonder of Jupiter and its moons, just as Galileo did all those years ago.

I could go on, but instead I will just encourage you to take a look. It really is very impressive. And refreshing to see people engaging with science for its own sake. After all astronomy will never cure cancer or rejuvenate the economy. But people seem to have embraced a bit of stargazing the world over.

Main international site. www.iya2009.org

Swedish site. http://www.astronomi2009.se/