2009 is the International Year of Astronomy. Who Knew?

Posted by Susanna McLeod May 9, 2009

Browsing through websites and books, I was trying to find information for a local weather history article, searching for history facts on meteorology. My questions remain unanswered, but in the meantime, topics for other articles popped up. Sometimes, I feel like a kid with a net in a field of flowers, ideas like butterflies, flitting in front of me and flying off in all directions to new destinations.

Printing out what I thought was weather station information, the paragraphs instead were about a Canadian astronomy observatory in Ottawa, Ontario. Oooh – a new topic that I hadn't thought of myself. Googling for more, I found a wealth of fascinating information about the observatory and the dedicated scientists who played the crucial parts in its creation. The details formed themselves into my Dominion Astronomy Observatory article.

In smaller print att the bottom of one research page on the observatory, the name Dr. Helen Sawyer Hogg caught my attention. On the closing of the Dominion Astronomy Observatory, the telescope was moved to new digs, and that observatory named in her honour. But who was she? Not in the science community, I was unfamiliar with her. Ah ha! Another history topic in the making, and the article discovering the prestigious astronomer Dr. Sawyer Hogg was written.

And then a surprising fact came to light, one not to be formed into an article, but very interesting. After the two astronomy articles were completed, I found that 2009 is the International Year of Astronomy. Coincidence lead me to write on the captivating science of sky-watching, something in which we can all participate and enjoy any time. Now, if I could only chase a butterfly toward the meteorological article... but who knows what great topic will fly into my butterfly net next.