One of the most favorite programs of AWB, "Beauty without Borders" highlighted outreach from observing sessions to classroom activities catering planet Saturn during GAM2011 as SaturnWatch.

From "guerilla astronomy" to regular night observation sessions, Global Star Party encourages all eyes toward the skies. During GAM2011, the German version of "Astronomy Day" was celebrated along with the Global Star Party which had hundreds of participants.

In collaboration with Virtual Telescope in Italy, GAM2011 brought several crowd favourite events from GAM2010 and couple of new ones as well. “Online Messier Marathon” marked the launch of GAM2011 officially which ran for more than 10hours straight. This followed by more remote observing events; Saturn Watch -"Around the Ringed Planet", Global Star Party - "Stars for All", Lunar Week -"Walking on the Moon", SunDay event - "Here Comes The Sun!" and “Write Your Name in The Sky”. GAM2011 also featured live observing session from NightSkyNetwork and AstronomyLive.

Combining Astronomy with Music, creating a cosmic musical experience, “Cosmic Concert” conducted live online by the Italian composer Giovanni Renzo. GAM2011 featured the second edition of Cosmic Concert which attracted few hundreds of people around the globe.

SunDay program developed for GAM2010 and continued the effort to GAM2011 as an easy and inexpensive way to promote astronomy outreach using our Sun as starting point. A special set of solar resources were developed which were used to celebrate SunDay around the world.

Encouraging outreach on meteor observing and reporting, “Meteors without Borders” – a regular program of AWB – focused on Lyrids during GAM2011. Couple of outreach efforts and individual observations was conducted for Lyrids 2011 where some tweeted the experience using the hashtags; #MeteorWatch and #Lyrids2011

GAM has a special place for moon by dedicating a whole week for Lunar outreach expanding from both physical and virtual observation to classroom activities. During GAM2011, #LunarWeek hashtag was widely used by the participants to share the Lunar Week activities around the globe.

GAM2011 Global Programs

Global Astronomy MonthA New Annual Celebration of the Universe

Thilina Heenatigala — Astronomers Without Borders www.gam-awb.org

For further informationPlease contact; thilina@astronomerswithoutborders.orgMore information on Global Astronomy Month: http://www.gam-awb.org

AbstractOne of the most successful global outreach efforts in history was International Year of Astronomy 2009.With the momentum created by this year-long program, it was important to take the efforts to comingyears. Astronomers Without Borders organization captured the energy of the International Year ofAstronomy 2009 and refocused it as an ongoing annual celebration of the Universe by organizing GlobalAstronomy Month; a worldwide celebration of astronomy in all its forms in every April. In 2010, theprogram saw professionals and amateur astronomers, educators and astronomy enthusiasts fromaround the globe participating together in the spirit of International Year of Astronomy 2009 andprovided a global stage for established programs and a framework for partnerships. The 2011 version ofthe program saw much bigger participation with several global partner organizations joining in creatingmore than 40 global level programs throughout the month. Within a short period of two years, GlobalAstronomy Month has evolved to a much needed global platform after International Year of Astronomy2009.

Global Astronomy Month organized by

Astronomers Without Borders:GAM2011 partners: GAM2011 supporters:

In collaboration with Galileo Teacher Training Program (GTTP), GAM brought whole new outreach effort focusing on moon – MoonDays. Launched during GAM2011, a continuing program which covers various educational aspects from moon observations, live image sharing, research, new technology, cultural, poetry, etc…

GAM2011 Dark Skies Awareness efforts covered in collaborations with GLOBE at Night – a global citizen-science campaign to raise public awareness of the impact of light pollution, One Star at a Time – a global effort to preserve dark skies, International Dark Sky Week – a week dedicated to dark skies awareness and action, World Night in Defence of Starlight – an initiative taking action to declaration in defence of the night sky and right to the starlight.

For the second consecutive time, 30 Nights of StarPeace (30NSP) – an astronomical peace chain of outreach events circling earth – returned to GAM2011 in collaboration with StarPeace initiative. The programs ran throughout the month with a participation of groups from 24 countries.

GAM2011 Collaborative Global Programs

Global Astronomy Month: One People, One SkyIn April 2010, Astronomers Without Borders created Global Astronomy Month (GAM) to continue theexcitement of the International Year of Astronomy 2009 (IYA2009). GAM 2010 provided a global stagefor established programs and a framework for partnerships. GAM2011 version broadened the effortswith more than forty global programs in one platform.

GAM2011 Programs covered online and physical observing, 30 nights of StarPeace events circling theEarth, live Moonbouncing efforts, dark skies awareness, programs for people with disabilities,planetarium programs, astrophotgraphy contests, Astropoetry, Astro-musical, etc… which wereparticipated by tens and thousands of people around the globe. Collaboration was one of the key factorsin GAM2011. Programs included collaborations with NASA LEARN, ESA scientist, Globe at Night, GTTP,StarPeace, Yuri’s Night, etc…

GAM displayed the enthusiasm of people around the world for astronomy and how professional, amateurand governmental organizations work together to complement each others’ efforts rather than workingon similar but separate programs. Future GAM editions will focus on expanding the efforts to get moreparticipation, creating a real impact on society, sharing the same sky as One People, One Sky.

NASA and the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics organized astrophotography content via “Observing with NASA”. The contest allowed participants from around the world to use the MicroObservatory’s network of automated telescopes which is controlled over the internet.

GAM showcases creative set of programs, which includes musical performance and poetry. GAM2011 Astropoetry Blog featured many poetry from around the world, including poetry under two special themes; “Moonlight Poetry” and “Dark Skies Poetry”. Taking these artistic efforts further, Romanian Society for Meteors and Astronomy (SARM) in collaboration with GAM launched an international astropoetry project is based on the theme of visiting the largest international concentration of telescopes in the northern hemisphere.

GAM2011 logo made to the moon and back by the Earth-Moon-Earth radio signal bouncing off method. To share this creativity further GAM in collaboration with CAMRAS and Dwingeloo radio telescope, conducted the Opticks event – live streaming of moonbouncing Astro-artwork with commentary on background information about moonbouncing.

In collaboration with NASA Learning Environments and Research Network, Adler Planetarium and Astronomy Museum, Design Rhythmics Sonification Research Lab and Bareket observatory, GAM2011 brought NASA Voyage into Deep Space Live Webcast with Sonification making it possible for people with disabilities to enjoy astronomy.

“Earth and Sky” photography contest organized by The World At Night (TWAN) for the second consecutive time, under two categories; “Beauty of the Night Sky” and “Against the Lights” showcased some of the most amazing astrophotography. The winning photos featured all over the web including, National Geography, MSNBC, Astronomy Picture of the Day, Yahoo! News and Our Amazing Planet.

Poster presented at the "11th Asian-Pacific Regional IAU Meeting" (APRIM2011) held in Chiang Mai, Thailand, from 26 - 29 July 2011.