posted 10-04-2009 07:09 PM               

Happy World Space Week!

World Space Week begins today, October 4. Highlights include:

• 10th anniversary of World Space Week, declared by the UN General Assembly in 1999.
  
• President Obama hosts a star party at the White House
  
• Events celebrate the International Year of Astronomy
  
• Cirque du Soleil founder Guy Laliberté broadcasts from space
  
• Students observe the Moon to win prizes
  
• Many events in Turkey, Romania, India, Czech Republic, and the United States
  
• Australian Government launches the Australian Space Science Program
  
• Space Festival and International Astronautical Congress in Republic of Korea
  
• Week-long space celebration across the Hawaiian islands
  
• Public and students send messages into space
  
• NASA's LCROSS mission impacts the Moon October 9
  
• Teachers globally use space to inspire students

A record-breaking year is expected. As World Space Week began, 400 events in nearly 50 countries were reported in the calendar, more at this point in time than in any prior year.

For more information, please visit the World Space Week home page. Visit the event calendar for details on planned events.

White House Star Party October 7

The White House has announced that the President and First Lady will host an event at the White House on October 7 for middle-school students to highlight the President's commitment to science, engineering and math education as the foundation of this nation's global technological and economic leadership and to express his support for astronomy in particular for its capacity to promote a greater awareness of our place in the universe, expand human knowledge, and inspire the next generation by showing them the beauty and mysteries of the night sky.

President Obama will kick-off the event with a brief address that will be streamed live on the whitehouse.gov website (estimated beginning at 8 pm EDT). The program at the White House includes more than 20 telescopes set up on the White House lawn focused on Jupiter, the Moon and select stars; interactive dome presentations, and hands on activities including scale models of the Solar System, impact cratering, and investigating meteorites and Moon rocks.

posted 10-07-2009 09:53 PM               

President Obama kicked off Astronomy Night on the South Lawn of the White House.

Some 150 middle school students from the Washington area got to learn more about their universe using more than 20 telescopes provided by NASA and other organizations. They observed Jupiter, the moon and selected stars.

Other activities included science presentations with samples of meteorites and moon rocks.

NASA's Museum Alliance, a consortium of museums, science centers and planetariums conducted activities worldwide to coincide with the White House event.

Astronomy Night helped note the International Year of Astronomy, a global celebration of contributions to society and culture in the 400 years since Galileo first used a telescope.