AAVSO and the International Year of Light (Poster abstract)

Volume 43 number 1 (2015)

Kristine Larsen

Department of Physics and Earth Sciences, Central Connecticut State University, 1615 Stanley Street, New Britain, CT 06053; Larsen@ccsu.edu

Abstract

(Abstract only) The United Nations General Assembly has officially designated 2015 to be the International Year of Light (IYL). Modeled in part on the earlier International Year of Astronomy (IYA), this cross-disciplinary, international educational and outreach project will celebrate the importance of light in science, technology, cultural heritage, and the arts. It ties in with several important anniversaries, such as the 1000th anniversary of the publication of Ibn Al Haythem’s “Book of Optics,” the 150th anniversary of Maxwell’s equations of electromagnetism, the centenary of Einstein’s General Theory of Relativity, and the 50th anniversary of the discovery of the Cosmic Microwave Background Radiation. Because variable stars are defined as such due to the variability of the light we observe from them, all of the AAVSO programs, regardless of type of variable or instrumentation (eye, DSLR, PEP, or CCD), have natural tie-ins to the study of light. This poster will highlight a number of specific ways that AAVSO members and the organization as a whole can become intimately involved with this unique outreach opportunity.