International Year of Astronomy 2009 in Victoria

The Royal Astronomical Society of Canada took a leadership role to promote International Year of Astronomy (IYA) to all Canadians.  Victoria Centre members actively reached out to the public here in Victoria. IYA gave us an opportunity to offer many special events throughout the Victoria area, and to highlight many other IYA celebrations being staged by other groups.

Setting up telescopes where the public can easily make use of them is something Victoria Centre has done for decades.  We staged many public events during 2009 so everyone could see the rings of Saturn, the Great Red Spot on Jupiter, craters on the Moon, and comets, asteroids, galaxies, star clusters, and so many more celestial objects.

The Galileo Moment was a key goal of IYA internationally - bringing as many people as possible to telescope eyepieces to observe a celestial object...possibly for the first time.  Victoria Centre's volunteers brought the wonders of the night sky to the people of Victoria. We were pleased to help you achieve your own personal Galileo Moment!

Victoria residents experienced 23,272 Galileo Moments during 2009
 

IYA2009 Report #4 - Dec 30, 2009

What a YEAR and what a JOURNEY it has been! Not fully comprehending the difficulties we might face along the way, the Victoria Centre embraced the challenge of IYA2009 celebrations with the impressive goal of providing an experience of discovery to 20,000 greater Victorians. After the last formal IYA2009 public viewing session at The Butchart Gardens on December 26th, we can proudly proclaim that 23,272 Victorians experienced their moment of discovery.

This milestone achievement in the history of our Centre would not have been possible without all the hard working and passionate volunteers, a contribution of 2,370 hours engaging with the public at 114 venues, big and small, throughout Greater Victoria.

The journey was worth taking. We are a group of volunteers with a passion to share. It showed what can be achieved if we all work together.

Here are a few of the IYA events/venues, where the Victoria Centre volunteers gave freely of their time:

I would have liked to mention here the names of all the 75 volunteers who contributed their time and effort in this landmark achievement. However there is not enough space so I will mention only two names; John McDonald, who early in his presidential mandate, singled out IYA2009 events as one of the key 2009 projects for the Centre and Jim Hesser for his continuing encouragement throughout the year.

There were so many memorable moments for me and I am sure each of you has your own. At the risk of boring you with my memorable events, let each and every one of us reflect on our own special moment.

To all the volunteers I would like to express my deep appreciation with a simple THANKS to you All. You were just SUPER.

In closing, The Irish Rovers song comes to my mind "WASN'T THAT A PARTY". It certainly was. WE DID IT.

Sid