April 8, 2015 8:52 pm

Share Your Love of Space with the World this Week!

If you’re a StarTalk fan, it’s a safe bet that you’re “into space.”

Needless to say you’re not alone, and this week, during Global Astronomy Month, there are two worldwide events that you might want to know about.

Let’s start with the later event first.

Yuri’s Night – April 12

Yuri’s Night is a global celebration of the human exploration of space, anchored by two historic events that share the same day.

On April 12, 1961 Yuri Gagarin became the first human to venture into space.

And on April 12, 1981, STS-1 Columbia, the first space shuttle, took off from Kennedy Space Center.

Every year people around the world hold a giant “World Space Party.” This year, there are already 180 registered events across all 7 continents. There’s even a “South Pole Yuri Night” at the Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station in Antarctica.

With that many local events, there might be something near you wherever you are – as well as a few virtual events you can attend from anywhere. You can even register your own Yuri’s Night event. Find out more and check out their event listing here.

Online Messier Marathon – April 11

Speaking of virtual events, that brings us to the 7^th Edition of the Online Messier Marathon on April 11, hosted by the Virtual Telescope Project 2.0 and an official Global Astronomy Month event.

Beginning at 18:30 UTC (Coordinated Universal Time), or 2:30 PM EDT, you can visit their site and join their live marathon event, where you’ll get to see a large number of real time images of Messier objects through their robotic telescopes. There will be live commenting throughout the marathon, and you can share your love of celestial objects with others around the world.

You can find out a little more on their website here, or just join the marathon when it starts here.

That’s it for now. Keep Looking Up!
–Jeffrey Simons