(PLANETQUEST) -- The International Year of Astronomy is getting into full swing, and one of its flagship events will begin on April 2, when amateur and professional astronomers across the globe will celebrate 100 Hours of Astronomy.
There will be plenty of exoplanet action happening during this marathon stretch of astronomy. For starters, there will be a webcast of the April 2 opening event at the Franklin Institute in Philadelphia, Viewers will see one of the telescopes that Galileo used 400 years ago to survey the skies -- the earliest precursor to today's sophisticated exoplanet-spotting telescopes.
Then, on April 3, the public can tune into the "Around the World in 100 Telescopes," a live, streaming webcast that lasts 24 hours and will be hosted by telescopes from Spain to Antarctica, many of which have been used to discover exoplanets. Staff members will be available to answer viewer questions.
The following is a partial list of participating telescopes involved in exoplanet science and their webcast start times (all times EST):
| April 3 |
| Time |
Event |
| 6:00 a.m. |
W. M. Keck Observatory (Hawaii) |
| 7:40 a.m. |
MOA Telescope (New Zealand) |
| 8:00 a.m. |
Anglo-Australian Telescope (AAT) (Australia) |
| 1:20 p.m. |
The NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope |
| 5:20 p.m. |
NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope |
| 10:00 p.m. |
Arecibo Observatory (Puerto Rico) |
| 10:20 p.m. |
ESO Very Large Telescope (VLT) (Chile) |
| 11:00 p.m. |
Las Campanas Observatory (Chile) |
| 11:20 p.m. |
ESO La Silla Observatory (Chile) |
|
| April 4 |
| Time |
Event |
| 1:40 a.m. |
Large Binocular Telescope Observatory (Arizona) |
| 3:05 a.m. |
Kepler Mission |
| 4:00 a.m. |
Lick Observatory (California) |
|
100 Hours of Astronomy will also have plenty of opportunities to take a closer look at stars that have orbiting exoplanets. In the evening of April 4, astronomy clubs across the world will be setting up telescopes in public places. Use the Night Sky Network page to find a participating local club. Check out the New Worlds Atlas to search for exoplanet-bearing stars that are visible to the naked eye.
Finally, several remote telescope facilities are participating in the "100 Hours of Remote Astronomy," an event that will allow members of the public to control a remote telescope from their own computers. The list of telescopes is provided here:
http://www.100hoursofastronomy.org/component/content/article/34-site-navigation/
228-100-hours-of-remote-astronomy
Check the New Worlds Atlas for names and locations of stars with exoplanets.
For more more information on the events happening over during the 100 Hours of Astronomy, visit:
http://www.100hoursofastronomy.org
Written by Joshua Rodriguez/PlanetQuest
