Hi all

2009 is going to be a special year for us amateur astronomers and for everyone who has a love and an interest in looking at the night sky. It's the International Year of Astronomy, or IYA2009 for short, and is a celebration of astronomy and a great chance to popularise, promote and teach astronomy to people of all ages.

IceInSpace plans to play an integral part in IYA2009 by hosting local, national and worldwide IYA2009 events and activities, as well as helping individuals, astronomy clubs and societies promote their own local activites.

We are well-placed as a community to make the most out of this year and use it as a fabulous opportunity to reach the masses - to take our hobby to the 99% of the population who have probably never looked through a telescope. To show them why we love this hobby so much and to hopefully give them the chance to look up at a dark, moonless sky with wonder and delight.

A new forum, International Year of Astronomy - IYA2009, has been created to announce, discuss and report on all IYA2009 related activities and events. Whether you're an individual and want to do something in your local community, or a club who is planning a number of local events, you can promote and discuss your ideas here. If you've got questions or you want to get involved, here's the place to ask. And when you've got reports or pictures from any IYA2009 events, there's the place to post them.

As a community, IceInSpace is planning to organise a number of activities and events, and so to help with ideas, planning and execution, I've started to assemble an IceInSpace IYA2009 Committee who will work behind the scenes to get things moving.

We plan to work closely with Astronomy Clubs and Societies for the benefit of everyone, especially the general public who we will be aiming to reach. So even if your club is already planning IYA2009 activities (which most already are), please get in touch with me to see how we can work together to make them even bigger and better.

I'm very excited about what 2009 will bring!