Apparently 2009 is now the official International Year of Astronomy as dubbed by the UN to celebrate the 400th anniversary of Galileo pointing a telescope up instead of through window of the neighbor girl. Sounds like it should be pretty fun. Not that astronomy's not fun without getting a bit of extra recognition, but this is a bit of welcome news given that the UK astronomy program has been hit with budget cuts and our administration isn't well known for its support of science. Hopefully, this will dredge up a bit of public support.
If the Dutch situation is anything to go by I wouldn't expect too much. Dutch education has been turned into a budget cutting factory and although there has been a grass-roots movement for a few years now that has been pleading for the return to good education, the political establishment still shows no interest in education whatsoever (beyond the retoric of course).
ReplyDeleteHow exciting! A whole year celebrating astronomy... I'll have to reread Pale Blue Dot and On the Shoulders of Giants. I live in a very rural area, so there's little light pollution. I haven't gotten my old ETX out yet. I think it's about time I did.
ReplyDeleteAhhh, to bad it's still another year away. I suppose I could still reread my astronomy pulp in preparation...
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