White House to Celebrate World Space Week with Star Party

World Space Week is October 4^th through October 10^th and space-themed events are being held all over the world to help celebrate. The UN declared the first World Space Week in 1999 and 2009 marks the 10th anniversary of the event. More than 60 countries are taking part in this year's celebration. Even the White House is getting in on the act with a Star Party on Wednesday night, October 7^th according to the World Space Week Web site.

White House Holds Star Party to Celebrate World Space Week

To "highlight the President's commitment to science, engineering and math education as the foundation of this nation's global technological and economic leadership," President Obama'sWorld Space Week Star Party "will include 20 telescopes on the White House lawn focused on Jupiter, the Moon and select stars; interactive dome presentations; and hands-on activities including scale models of the Solar System," the White House said in a press release on Sunday. A select group of middle school students will be invited to the special event.

The Great World Wide Star Count begins during World Space Week

The third annual Great World Wide Star Count asks citizen scientists all around the world to compare their actual observations with star magnitude charts to record the quality of the night time sky all over the globe. Light from nearby cities and towns diminishes the visibility of stars and the project aims to track this effect. The University Corporation for Atmospheric Research reported more than 10,000 individual observations were logged in the two previous years by more than 31,000 citizen scientists.

World Space Week 2009 Theme is Education

Not only is the White House Star Party focused on highlighting education, but the entire World Space Week event is being themed around education. Since 2009 has also been designated as the International Year of Astronomy, the two seek to bring the excitement of space exploration and research to students around the world. As yet, there is no indication that this White House initiative will engender the same level of anti-Obama rhetoric that accompanied his speech to school children on September 8^th.

World Space Week is a Global Event

With more than 60 countries participating in World Space Week this year, this year's participation may top the 387,000 people who took part in World Space Week events in 2008. Some highlights include a teacher training session in London sponsored by the Association for Astronomy Education, an Introduction to Ancient Chinese Astronomy seminar at the Hong Kong Space Museum, and the lead in to the International Astronomical Congress in the Republic of Korea which starts on October 12^th. Turkey, India, Romania, Slovakia, and the United States have registered the highest number of World Space Week events on the official calendar of the World Space Week Association.

Sources:

University Corporation for Atmospheric Research Web site

Worldspaceweek.org