In 2009 the world is celebrating the International Year of Astronomy (IYA) to commemorate the 400th anniversary of Galileo's use of a telescope to study the night sky.

IYA2009 is a global celebration of astronomy and its contributions to society and culture. It stimulates worldwide interest not only in astronomy, but in science in general, with a particular slant towards young people.

During National Science and Engineering Week 2009 there were lots of astronomy related event (see our Google map for details).