NASA has designated the year 2009 as the year of astronomy. In memory of Galileo, the first person who turned his telescope towards the sky,thus making the dawn for modern astronomy, NASA has announced the the International year.
In concurrence with Galileo’s birthday,on February 15th , NASA is releasing images from its great observatories – the Hubble Space Telescope, Spitzer Space Telescope, and Chandra X-ray Observatory to more than 100 planetariums, museums, nature centers and schools across the country.
The selected sites will unveil a large 9-square-foot print of the spiral galaxy Messier 101 that combines the optical view of Hubble, the infrared view of Spitzer, and the X-ray view of Chandra into one multi-wavelength picture. “It’s like using your eyes, night vision goggles and X-ray vision all at the same time,” said Dr. Hashima Hasan, lead scientist for the International Year of Astronomy at NASA Headquarters in Washington.
The unveilings will take place between Feb. 14th and Feb 28th at 76 museums and 40 schools and universities nationwide, reaching both big cities and small towns located in USA