Appropriately enough, CNES, the French space agency, is confident of reaching a wide audience to explain how space technology is contributing to a better understanding of our Universe. Both in French Guiana, where the Guiana Space Centre is on the IYA steering committee, and in mainland France, CNES teams have organised a packed programme of events that will enable the public to immerse themselves in astronomy all year long.
Exhibitions, talks, competitions and sky-gazing sessions … These are the kind of events that will be marking the International Year of Astronomy in French Guiana during 2009. The series of talks begins on 4 February with astronomer Jean-Louis HEUDIER who will be reviving Cassini and Richer’s historic experiments in a project entitled “Measuring Earth by Observing the Sky”. He will also be visiting a number of schools.
Daniel KUNTH, astrophysicist at the Institute of Astrophysics in Paris (IAP) and initiator of the “Night of the Stars” event in France, will also be giving two talks in October, while the Night of the Stars will be organised for the first time ever in French Guiana at the same period, during the dry season.
Thierry Vallée, Director of Operations at the Guiana Space Centre, who is responsible for the launch of the Herschel and Planck satellites, will be giving a presentation prior to their launch from the Guiana Space Centre. These two satellites are both ESA scientific missions.
Lastly, exhibitions, particularly on the solar system, will be held throughout the year to mark this special event, as well as a major writing and photography competition which will be open to the general public.
The Guiana Space Centre and its partners on the IYA steering committee in French Guiana have also planned several get-togethers with teachers and pupils in French Guiana. In line with this, they are supplying astronomical telescopes, encouraging the creation of astronomy clubs in schools, and launching a major competition for primary school classes entitled “Make your own Solar System”.
In mainland France, the President of CNES attended the inauguration of the International Year of Astronomy at UNESCO in Paris on 15 and 16 January. An exhibition retracing the history of astronomy was also held at UNESCO from 19 to 23 January. A French website entitled "la porte aux étoiles" (“gateway to the stars”) has been created to pool resources, and promote material and information aimed at young people, teachers and journalists as well as the wider public. Set up for the International Year of Astronomy, it is hoped that this project will be perpetuated. Other exhibitions and a series of major talks will tour both mainland France and the overseas territories, and will include Astronomy and Space get-togethers at the Cité de l’Espace in Toulouse from 2 to 5 April.
