My friend Andrei Juravle from Timisoara’s Antares astronomy club told me about the amazing FirstScope Telescope , soon to be released by Celestron. At $49.99, it has a great quality/money ratio, and in Romania it will be available, at not a hugely different price, from STARMAX/SkyWatcher in Cluj-Napoca. Some specs and pics, as per the producer:
* Named Official Product of International Year of Astronomy 2009, FirstScope pays tribute to the men and women who brought us one step closer to understanding the universe around us!
* High quality Dobsonian style stand with a 76 mm reflector optical tube make FirstScope an ideal entry level astronomical telescope.
* Portable and lighweight table-top design makes it easy to store, transport and setup your FirstScope Telescope
* FirstScope is very easy to observe with, the user simply navigates the night sky by moving the tube in the direction of their desired object.
* Stylish and decorative design makes FirstScope a wonderful keepsake for anyone interested in astronomy.
* Optical Design: Dobsonian Reflector
* Aperture: 76 mm
* Focal Length: 300 mm
* Focal Ratio: 3.95
* Eyepiece 1: 20 mm, Magnification 15 x
* Eyepiece 2 :4 mm, Magnification 75 x
* Weight: 1956.12 g

Many thanks to Lunar Librarian Ken Murphy for his review of my latest book at outofthecradle.net:
“Who Owns the Moon” by Virgiliu Pop. Published in 2009 by Springer as Vol. 4 in their Space Regulations Library, it weighs in at 175 pages all in. A handful of editing errors, mainly in the last half.
While this could be considered a follow-up to Virg’s earlier work “Unreal Estate”, which was as thorough a Title Search on who owns the Moon as you’ll find, really it stands alone by taking a different approach. While the prior book looked backwards at who was trying to do a land grab of Lunar real estate over the years, this one instead looks at how we can move forward by taking a look at how the law stands now, its context, including historical, and how it is interpreted.

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Agentia Spatiala Romana, coordonatorul national al activitatilor din domeniul spatial, a primit unul din cele doua premii oferite de catre Asociatia pentru Saptamana Mondiala a Spatiului Cosmic. “Apreciem foarte mult extraordinarul efort pe care l-ati depus in coordonarea numarului mare de profesori romani implicati in organizarea Saptamanii Mondiale a Spatiului Cosmic” – se arata in scrisoarea primita de catre Agentia Spatiala Romana la data de 25 Februarie. “Fara contributia dumneavoastra, aceasta manifestare nu ar fi avut, in anul 2008, cel mai mare succes de pana acum” – considera domnul Jim Volp, responsabilul pentru educatie al Asociatiei pentru Saptamana Mondiala a Spatiului Cosmic.
Saptamana Mondiala a Spatiului Cosmic este o sarbatoare internationala a stiintei si tehnologiei, si a contributiilor acestora la imbunatatirea conditiei umane. Aceasta manifestare este deschisa tuturor – agentii guvernamentale, firme, organizatii non-profit, cadre didactice, chiar si persoane fizice organizand evenimente pentru a sarbatori spatiul cosmic. Aceasta saptamana este coordonata de catre Natiunile Unite cu sprijinul Asociatiei pentru Saptamana Mondiala a Spatiului Cosmic si a coordonatorilor locali. Adunarea Generala a ONU a declarat, in anul 1999 – an din care Agentia Spatiala Romana coordoneaza acest everniment la nivel national – ca Saptamana Mondiala a Spatiului Cosmic sa aiba loc in fiecare an intre 4-10 Octombrie.
In anul 2008, au avut loc aproape 80 de evenimente in 10 judete ale Romaniei. De la mic la mare, participantii romani s-au implicat in explorarea universului cu ochii mintii. La Oradea, copiii de la o gradinita au pregatit “prajituri instelate”, in vreme ce la Deusu si Chinteni, doua localitati rurale din judetul Cluj, elevii au participat la un concurs de desene pe asfalt cu tema cosmica. La Bazna, un pensionar a construit un racheto/aeromodel, la Cluj-Napoca, elevii de liceu au “ocupat” o strada pe care au transformat-o in
“Bulevardul Sistemului Solar”, iar in alte localitati au avut loc spectacole, proiectii de filme, carnavaluri spatiale, si lansari de rachetomodele. Imaginatia si inventivitatea organizatorilor si participantilor s-a dovedit fara limite, dupa cum poate fi vazut si in raportul national disponibil online la adresa http://wswromania.blogspot.com/.
Si in anul 2009, romanii sunt asteptati sa contribuie la sarbatorirea Saptamanii Mondiale a Spatiului Cosmic, Agentia Spatiala Romana oferind premii celor mai merituosi organizatori.

The opening of the International Year of Astronomy in Banat ocurred saturday, February 28th, and comprised the following activities:
• 10:00 h – The official opening, the presentation of the Planetarium website, a talk about modern cosmology, and a talk about the 400th aniversary of the telescope. The West University of Timisoara, School of Physics, the “Constantin Sălceanu“ hall, old wing, floor 2.5.
• 11:30 h – Planetarium show at the West University of Timisoara, School of Mathematics and Informatics, old wing, floor 2.5.
• 19:00 h – The presentation of Timisoara’s Astronomical Observatory, sky watching, Timişoara, Axente Sever Square Nr. 1, near the Balcescu Square.

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