World begins 100 Hours of Astronomy marathon

[bananas]

Source: Russia Today

Astronomers and sky lovers the world over are gearing up for a 100-hour-long marathon aimed at celebrating the night sky and boundless space. The event kicks off at sunset on Thursday.

With more than 1,500 events in 130 countries, the mass stargazing could potentially draw more than a million people, busting all records for participation in astronomy. The 100 Hours of Astronomy is a cornerstone event of the International Year of Astronomy.

In 1609, Galileo Galilei used a primitive telescope to discover spots on the Sun, craters and peaks on the surface of the Moon and four satellites orbiting Jupiter. 400 years on the world remembers the great astrologist and encourages his followers.

The Russian contribution to the festivities will include open doors in a number of astronomic institutions in Moscow, St. Petersburg, Kazan, Yekaterinburg and Irkutsk, as well as excursions to the special astrophysical observatory in Caucasian Karachayevo-Cherkessian Republic, where Russia’s biggest telescope, which is six meters in diameter, is located.

All one should hope for now is clear skies at night!

Read more: http://www.russiatoday.com/Top_News/2009-04-02/World_begins_100_Hours_of_Astronomy_marathon.html?fullstory

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The www.100hoursofastronomy.org website seems to be overloaded right now.
The International Year of Astronomy website is www.astronomy2009.org
"Around the World in 80 Telescopes" live broadcast at www.ustream.tv/channel/100-hours-of-astronomy
Local events world-wide.

[bananas]

1. The ustream.tv live feed is already broadcasting

Tour of the Galileo Exhibition at the Franklin Institute in Philadelphia.
http://www.ustream.tv/channel/100-hours-of-astronomy

Some blogs:
http://www.cosmicdiary.org/
http://twitter.com/statuses/user_timeline/25391676.atom
http://twitter.com/telescopecast

[Soylent Brice]

2. thank you!

[soothsayer]

3. man, you can see the whole universe in 100 hours. I can surf the whole internet

in half that time

[Lionel Mandrake]

4. the great astrologist?

Galileo was a natural philosopher. He contributed to physics as well as astronomy. I think he avoided astrology as much as he could, but I'm not sure about this.

Besides what was mentioned in the article quoted by the OP, Galileo also discovered that Venus, like the Moon, has phases. This was convincing evidence that Venus orbits the Sun, not the Earth.