IYA News

NASA's Great Observatories Celebrate the International Year of Astronomy

In celebration of the International Year of Astronomy 2009, NASA's Great Observatories — the Hubble Space Telescope, the Spitzer Space Telescope, and the Chandra X-ray Observatory — have collaborated to produce an unprecedented image of the central region of our Milky Way galaxy. More than 150 planetariums, museums, nature centers, libraries, and schools across the country are displaying large prints of this never-before-seen view of the turbulent heart of our Milky Way galaxy. Find a participating institution near you.
Read more about the image itself on NASA's HubbleSite.

 

Women in Astronomy and Space Science

The Women in Astronomy and Space Science conference, which focused on meeting the challenges of an increasingly diverse workforce in the global world of today, was held in Adelphi, Maryland, USA, on October 20-23, 2009. Keynote speakers, Dr. Edward Weiler, NASA Headquarters, Dr. Kathie Olsen, National Science Foundation, and Congresswoman Donna Edwards, while recognizing the progress made in the education and employment of women in the scientific field, acknowledged that challenges still remained both in this area and in the integration of minorities into the scientific workforce. Dr. Catherine Cesarsky presented an IAU study on statistics, while Drs. Helen Walker and Hashima Hasan presented poster papers on International Year of Astronomy 2009 projects addressing women and underrepresented groups. Nobel Laureate, Dr. John Mather, led a panel discussion on leadership roles in space astronomy projects; Dr. Colleen Hartman on non-academic careers; Dr. Meg Urry on retention of women in astronomy; Dr. Anne Douglass on parenthood and scientific careers; Dr. Fran Bagnel on negotiations; Dr. Mark Goldman on mentorship; and Dr. Keivan Stassun on minority serving institutions. Other issues discussed during the conference included addressing unconscious bias, re-entry issues after a career break, and generational issues in the scientific workplace. A discussion group of early career astronomers identified work and family issues in the U.S. and presented their recommendations to the Executive Office of the President, at a meeting they had with the Office of Science and Technology Office representatives. They also toured the White House before the meeting. The conference was dedicated to Dr. Beth Brown, an astronomer at the Goddard Space Flight Center, who was at the peak of her career and a lead member of the Scientific Organization Committee of the conference, when she passed away. Details of the conference may be found at http://wia2009.gsfc.nasa.gov/.

 

Monthly Feature

During each month of the International Year of Astronomy, we'll highlight some key NASA missions, space science discoveries, and night-sky wonders that you can discover with your own observations and explorations, and we'll connect you to related NASA resources and events.

Join us each month of 2009 as we explore:

2009	» Hot Topics	» Go Observe!
January	Telescopes and Space Probes: Today's Starry Messengers	Venus
February	Our Solar System	The Moon
March	Observing at Night... and in the Day	Saturn
April	Galaxies and the Distant Universe	The Whirlpool Galaxy
May	Our Sun	The Sun
June	Clusters of Stars	The Hercules Cluster
July	Black Holes	Our Galaxy: the Milky Way
August	Rocks and Ice in the Solar System	Perseids
September	Planets and Moons	Jupiter
October	What is the Fate of the Universe?	Andromeda
November	The Lives of Stars	The Crab Nebula
December	Discovering New Worlds	The Orion Nebula

Additional News

Additional IYA related News & Events can be found on the official IYA News and Press Releases pages.