Astronomers Without Borders (AWB) is a U.S.-based organization founded by Mike Simmons, dedicated to spreading

astronomy Astronomy is a natural science that studies celestial objects and the phenomena that occur in the cosmos. It uses mathematics, physics, and chemistry in order to explain their origin and their overall evolution. Objects of interest includ ...

throughout the world and connecting people through this universal interest. Projects include crowdfunding in

developed countries A developed country, or advanced country, is a sovereign state that has a high quality of life, developed economy, and advanced technological infrastructure relative to other less industrialized nations. Most commonly, the criteria for eval ...

to sponsor the purchase of equipment and training for people in

developing countries A developing country is a sovereign state with a less-developed Secondary sector of the economy, industrial base and a lower Human Development Index (HDI) relative to developed countries. However, this definition is not universally agreed upon. ...

. The group's aim is to create "goodwill and understanding" across all boundaries through the sharing of astronomy. The group was founded in 2007, and achieved official tax-free status in 2009, which was the

International Year of Astronomy The International Year of Astronomy (IYA2009) was a year-long celebration of astronomy that took place in 2009 to coincide with the 400th anniversary of the first recorded astronomical observations with a telescope by Galileo Galilei and the pu ...

(IYA2009). AWB sponsored several events that year, including

The World At Night ''The World at Night'' (1996) is a novel by Alan Furst. Plot summary The story takes place in and around Paris between May 1940 and June 1941. ''Jean Casson'' is a French motion-picture producer who specializes in gangster films and who posse ...

(TWAN), and assisted in the IYA2009's Global Cornerstone Project

100 Hours of Astronomy The International Year of Astronomy (IYA2009) was a year-long celebration of astronomy that took place in 2009 to coincide with the 400th anniversary of the first recorded astronomical observations with a telescope by Galileo Galilei and the pu ...

. Utilizing important historical and natural settings across the globe, The World at Night created wide-angle images of the sky, in order to show the universality of star-gazing. 100 Hours of Astronomy ran April 2–5, 2009, the goal of which was to get as many people across the world to look through

optical telescope An optical telescope gathers and focus (optics), focuses light mainly from the visible spectrum, visible part of the electromagnetic spectrum, to create a magnification, magnified image for direct visual inspection, to make a photograph, or to co ...

s. The World at Night was the idea of

Babak A. Tafreshi Babak Amin Tafreshi (, born 1978 in Tehran, Iran) is an Iranian peoples, Iranian photographer, science journalist, and amateur astronomer. He is the creator and director of The World At Night (TWAN), an international program in which photographer ...

, the editor of Iran's ''Nojum Magazine'', at the time the only astronomy magazine in the

Middle East The Middle East (term originally coined in English language) is a geopolitical region encompassing the Arabian Peninsula, the Levant, Turkey, Egypt, Iran, and Iraq. The term came into widespread usage by the United Kingdom and western Eur ...

. As a follow-up to 100 Hours of Astronomy, the group has organized Global Astronomy Month every April since 2010.

References

{{Portal bar, United States, Astronomy, Stars, Spaceflight, Outer space, Solar System, Education, Science Astronomy organizations 2009 establishments in the United States Scientific organizations established in 2009

See also

References