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"Urban Skies: A contest for the International Year of Astronomy!
We are losing the sky. Just look up there from a city and you will see only an handful of stars. Over the last decade the artificial lights grew too much, without control: we are cancelling the Universe. Soon, we will miss such a wonderful part of nature and human culture. But we can do a lot to save it. Using the proper lighting systems, for example, sending light just where needed and saving money. We need to keep alive the memory of the sky, as well as its scientific and multi-cultural meaning. For the International Year of Astronomy (IYA2009) we launch a Photographic International Contest to promote the observation of the sky from the cities. This way, we want to show that the stars are still up there, waiting for our consideration. Hopefully, this will increase our perception and awareness of the Universe from urban locations, the starting point to preserve the darkness and to limit the light pollution. We wish to thank Software Bisque for offering some great prizes for our Competition.
Guidelines The "Urban Skies: Spy the Heavens from your City" is an international, photographic contest, part of the events planned at the Virtual Telescope to celebrate the International Year of Astronomy (IYA2009). It wants to promote the awareness of the Universe from typical urban locations, a preliminary, important step to help saving dark skies and the many cultural meanings of the stars. Two main categories are available: Images should be sent in a digital format (jpg) to the following address iya2009@virtualtelescope.eu, and must be smaller than 4 MBytes. Participants are requested to provide details about the subject (place, setup used, special comments and so on). A maximum of two images for each category is accepted. All the images will be published on this website and those of the winners will be published on several astronomical magazines and authors will be invited to presernt them at the "2nd Virtual Meeting on Modern Astronomy" later this year. The image submission is possible from 2 April 2009 to 20 June 2009. Prizes (for each category). 1) "TheSkySix", Professional level, from Software Bisque. It is the well-known, complete and accurate software planetarium used by many professional and hobby astronomers. 2) "Seeker", from Software Bisque. It is the amazing, immersive and interactive three dimensional solar system simulator. 3) "TheSkyX", Student Edition, from Software Bisque. It is the latest planetarium release from the legendary software house, with a new look and many exciting features. A special prize, consisting in five hours of observing time at the Virtual Telescope will be also assigned to acknowledge special pictures of particular meaning. Patronage
Sponsors. We are pleased to acknowledge the following sponsors, helping us to succeed in our IYA2009 effort:
If you want to support as a sponsor, please contact us |
