Anyone, from any background and with any level of experience is encouraged to organize events, from one person sharing the night sky through a telescope with a small group of neighbors and friends, to large astronomical groups holding major observing sessions in public areas.
IYA2009 Executive Committee Chair, Catherine Cesarsky says, "Amateur observations have always played an important role in astronomy, a fact highlighted by one of the most exciting events of this year when it was an amateur astronomer who noticed that Jupiter had suffered a massive impact by an asteroid or comet. So it is fitting that Galilean Nights continues this tradition as thousands of amateur astronomers and the public will turn their attention to Jupiter and other objects that Galileo observed 400 years ago."
Stunning images of distant objects in the Universe are well known around the world and do more to bring astronomy to the wider public and to inspire future astronomers than words ever could. The public have been set the challenge of capturing the inspirational nature of our local solar neighborhood in the worldwide Galilean Nights photography competition. Run in partnership with Europlanet, the Galilean Nights competition encourages anybody with an enthusiasm for astronomy to try a different approach to their observations and create their own inspirational photographs of our planetary neighbors. The contest is being officially launched today during Europlanet's European Planetary Science Congress, held this year in Potsdam, Germany. Links include: Galilean Nights website and IYA2009 European Planetary Science Congress website.