In 2009, we celebrated the International Year of Astronomy together. As part of this world-wide, year-long celebration, the 100 Hours of Astronomy event connected observers and observatories all over the world for a marathon session enjoying the sky. Five years later, those 100 hours have evolved into an entire month of astronomy activities: Global Astronomy Month.

Coordinated by Astronomers Without Borders, this month-long celebration throughout April aims to connect all people around the world under our one, amazing, shared resource: the night sky. No matter where you are, a person looking through a telescope for the first time is amazed and inspired. We all share the same Moon, the same Milky Way, and the same stars (barring, of course, availability by latitude).

Many of the Global Astronomy Month celebrations are virtual, with online observing sessions, blogs, and a poetry contest. Others take place in the physical world, often simultaneously around the globe. If you love astronomy, you should do yourself a favor and plan to attend at least one such event as the weather gets milder.

We’re planning a couple of local events in conjunction with some of this April’s celebrations. If you are in the Southern Illinois/metro St. Louis area, we’d love it if you stopped by!

• Global Star Party – April 5th – I’m hosting a special session at the SIUE Skylab so we can join the world-wide party. This is in addition to our usual star parties, scheduled for April 8th and 22nd.
• Yuri’s Night – April 12th – although not specifically a GAM event, it just so happens that this world-wide celebration of humanity’s role in space is also in April. Our event involves frozen custard!

Plus, we have some other astronomy events happening in April that we hope you’ll join:

• Family Science Expo – April 12th – bring your kids to a pre-Yuri’s Night science celebration at the Edwardsville Public Library.
• 36-Hour HANGOUTATHON – April 26-27 – Oh yes. It is COMING. Another Hangout-a-Thon that will support science education and citizen science. You will not want to miss it!

And this is in addition to our NORMAL astronomy events throughout the month, that you can find on our calendar.

Thanks for celebrating the Universe with us!

P.S. See our episode of Learning Space with Mike Simmons where we discuss Global Astronomy Month: