ISAN-2 12 April 2008
2nd Annual International Sidewalk Astronomy Night
Sponsored by The Sidewalk Astronomers (www.sidewalkastronomers.us)
In the late 1950's, John Dobson looked through a telescope at the Moon and immediately said,
"everyone's got to see this!" and began making large telescopes and wheeling them down the streets of San Francisco
to show "everyone" the Moon and planets. “We aren’t born in Lexington, we
aren’t born in Kentucky, we aren’t born in the United States, we aren’t even born on Earth – we’re born into
this UNIVERSE, and we need to know about it!”
Since that time "sidewalk astronomy" has spread around the globe. On one night, amateur astronomers
will come together and offer the public a glimpse into the Universe. We'll be out showing the night sky to people as
they come out of the movies or are on their way to dinner. We're setting up telescopes around the world on sidewalks
near public parks, shopping malls, movie theaters, book stores, bus stops, schools, campgrounds – ANYWHERE we can set
up a scope and share the sky!
On this one night, April 12, 2008, we become a global community of united amateur astronomers
sharing the wonders of the night sky with our local communities. On this one night, we will be united on this planet while
looking out into the Universe into which we were all born.
The Sidewalk Astronomers was founded by John Dobson in San
Francisco in 1968 and we now have members all over the world. Our primary work is: 1- giving the
people of this planet a chance to see, with their own eyes, celestial objects through good-sized telescopes, and 2 - providing
them with information about what they are seeing. In order that more people may own and use telescopes for this purpose,
we also teach classes and offer assistance in low-cost telescope making.
We set up our telescopes in places where people
are likely to be passing by - busy street corners, shopping malls, movie theaters, fairs, etc. We call it "urban guerilla
astronomy". We also set up our scopes at campgrounds, parks, etc.
You can find more information about the Sidewalk Astronomers at
our website www.sidewalkastronomers.us AND
for a FREE sky chart with an observing guide for things that can be seen with just your eyes, binoculars or small telescopes,
go to www.skymaps.com – there are new charts each month. There
is also free access to an interactive sky chart on www.skyandtelescope.com – you can input any location for any time and see “WHAT’s UP!”
They also list astronomy clubs in your area!
And did you know that you can see 40-50 satellites per night as
they go over? Go to www.heavens-above.com to get a list for your location. And for other
cosmic news check out this website: www.spaceweather.com – among other things they have aurora alerts – and sometimes they can be seen from Kentucky!!!!
