From the July 2010 issue

Astronomy’s year was 2009

You could call it "astronomy's birthday party."
By | Published: July 26, 2010 | Last updated on May 18, 2023

International Year of Astronomy 2009
The International Year of Astronomy marks the 400th anniversary of Galileo’s use of a telescope to observe the skies.
IYA2009

The entire year of 2009 marked the astronomy world’s big celebration. The International Year of Astronomy (IYA2009) celebrated Galileo Galilei’s first telescopic observations of the night sky, which happened 400 years prior.