International Year of Astronomy and Galileo birthday celebration

The year 2009 represents the 400th anniversary since Galileo Galilei first aimed the then new telescope toward the heavens and discovered craters on the moon, the satellites of Jupiter, phases of Venus and even Uranus and Neptune. The UN has declared 2009 to be the International Year of Astronomy ["IYA"].

Astronomers at the University of Denver's historic Chamberlin Observatory are planning an IYA and Galileo birthday party on Sunday February 15th, 2009 starting at 2pm, to celebrate his contributions to astronomy. Celebrities, on hand to explain the importance will be:

• Jack Eastman, Galileo look-alike, along with Dr. Bob Stencel (DU Professor of Astronomy)
• Tim and Cathie Havens (S&S Optika, Littleton telescope store, presenting new product information)
• Tom Bisque (Software Bisque, Golden), who will demonstrate the latest in SKY software, and,
• Members of the Denver Astronomical Society will also be present to help answer your questions about telescopes.

In addition, we plan to unveil a pair of large-size color prints of galaxies obtained with the Hubble Space Telescope, provided by NASA, as part of a national program including only 3 other sites in Colorado (Denver Museum, Boulder and Montrose). These dazzling square yard poster prints of of the spiral galaxy Messier 101 combine the views from three NASA space telescopes into an amazing composite. It’s like seeing with your eyes, night vision goggles, and X-ray vision all at once!