Документ взят из кэша поисковой машины. Адрес оригинального документа : http://www.astrosociety.org/support/spring09.pdf Дата изменения: Sat Jun 5 21:03:51 2010 Дата индексирования: Mon Oct 1 21:01:30 2012 Кодировка: Поисковые слова: http astrokuban.info astrokuban

April 2009

Dear Friend of the ASP: I'm a cosmologist. So I have been trained to take the broad view, to deal in megaparsecs, not meters. On such a cosmic scale, the current downturn in the American economy won't last long; even pessimistic estimates are only one 10 billionth of the age of the Universe. On a human timescale, however, 2009 looms as a dark year financially. That makes it all the more important that those of us able to support the Astronomical Society of the Pacific do so this year. Those who make a gift to our Spring Fund Drive will be both supporting and investing in a Society with a growing, prudent and balanced budget; an increasingly visible role in astronomy education in the US and internationally; and a growing and devoted staff. Indeed, as I write, we have searches open for a Director of Education and for a person to lead the Society's efforts in formal education. And there are plans underway for another hire, to support the Society's work with amateur astronomers -- all to meet funded obligations. We owe this capability to recent successes in fundraising from individuals such as you, grant funding, and corporate support. As part of the national effort, the ASP is playing a leading role in the US celebration of the International Year of Astronomy. This celebration of the 400th anniversary of Galileo's remarkable discoveries and of the publication of Kepler's Astronomia Nova (as well as the 1859 publication of Darwin's On the Origin of Species) provides a chance for all of us, individually or through the ASP, to teach a little astronomy and thus a little science as we celebrate these anniversaries. Whether it be in Astro 101 classrooms, at star parties, in talks to senior citizens or on the patio with neighbors, we have a wonderful opportunity to reflect on how Galileo made his discoveries, how deeply he thought through his sketchy data, the conclusions he reached, and how his reasoning, as well as his observations, changed the world. The ASP provides useful support for reaching out to students and the public during the International Year of Astronomy. The IYA Discovery Guides, tuned to monthly themes, are but one example. Join astronomy enthusiasts from around the world, and check them out on the Society's web page www.astrosociety.org/iya/ or the IYA web page at http://astronomy2009.us. These are just a few examples of how your gift to the Society is utilized to advance our mission of improving science literacy through engagement in astronomy. Please join this cause, and support these and other valuable ASP programs today. What better time to do so than the International Year of Astronomy? Sincerely yours,

Bruce Partridge President P.S. Back to the issue of timing. The downturn in the economy and the pinch many of us are feeling affects organizations like ours as well as individuals. That makes support of the ASP particularly welcome and important this year. I hope you will make a gift to the ASP's Spring Fund Drive in this special year for cosmologists and weekend astronomers alike.

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