**** 100 Days & Nights to Go! ****

To remain current with the increasingly intense preparations for Canadian IYA activities, see the monthly Newsletter available at www.astronomy2009.ca that Kim Breland, our Project Manager, initiated in August. My reports to CASCA members will accordingly be much briefer.

Amateur-professional partnership and cooperation are central to IYA planning and implementation in Canada. The cooperation between CASCA, the RASC and the FAAQ at the national level is nothing short of phenomenal. We are all working to make it possible for you to help your communities (be they educational, avocational, religious, or other) participate in, and benefit from, IYA. Let us know how things are going in your area, and whether there are ways the national team can assist.

The network of University & College Liaisons established last Spring (see ‘University Contacts’ on our IYA home page) is extensive. But we would welcome representatives from non-research institutions whose science departments want to participate in, or be kept aware of, IYA developments of special interest at the university and college level. If you have colleagues in institutions of higher education that are not yet represented, please have them contact us.

Don’t see news from your institution on our site? Tired of seeing only things happening in Victoria and Toronto? We are counting upon the liaisons to provide us with news and links to specific events that we can post on the national website. Please support your liaison and get news of your plans to our webmaster, Andy Woodsworth.

The Canadian launch of IYA will be Saturday, 10 January 2009, and it will be what you and your colleagues decide it should be in your community. After many months of thinking about how to launch, we decided that ‘grass-roots’ efforts are the way to go. While early January is not likely to offer exactly ideal viewing conditions in most of Canada, there are so many activities that could be done on Jan. 10^th to let the public in your area know that IYA is starting, and that there will be many more events for them throughout the year. You could start with an art and image exhibit, a theatre or musical performance, a Galileo Legacy Lecture, an open house, or some combination…let your imaginations soar and pique the curiosity of as many people in your communities as possible about the events to come.

Over the summer:

a) The Canadian image curatorial team led by Michael Bietenholz has been collecting outstanding images and simulations for people to use in IYA image exhibits across Canada, either alone or in combination with IAU-IYA From the Earth to the Universe material.

b) The Galileo Legacy Lecturers have provided their topics and abstracts, and Doug Welch is leading a small team that is preparing the process that will allow you to bring one of these dynamic, engaging lecturers to your community.

c) Efforts to develop the Astronomy Kit with a Galileoscope by Phil Langill’s team made major strides, too. Those designing the Galileoscope in the U.S. have been working with a private firm to establish an ordering and distribution system that countries can use; ordering information will be shared the moment it’s available.

Look for announcements soon about these initiatives and plan to incorporate them into you IYA plans.

If you have ideas, questions, suggestions, concerns, etc., contact me or our Program Manager, Kim Breland [iya2009@live.com]. And do share news of your activities with others through our web site.

James E. Hesser

Canadian Single Point of Contact

International Year of Astronomy 2009

Director

Dominion Astrophysical Observatory

5071 West Saanich Road 5071 chemin Saanich, O.

Victoria, B.C. V9E 2E7 Victoria, (C.-B.) V9E 2E7

Tel: (250) 363-0007 Tél: (250) 363-0007

Fax: (250) 363-6970 Fax: (250) 363-6970

Email: Courrier électronique:

Jim.Hesser@nrc-cnrc.gc.ca Jim.Hesser@cnrc-nrc.gc.ca