IGNIS July 2015 | Page 7

Science and Arts Organisations are helping spread the word and celebrate this year; here are just a few to get you started. On the official International Year of Light website there are activities for all ages. http://www.light2015.org/Home/HandsOnInvolvement/100-light-outreach-activities/8.html You may like to try some of the following: make an analemmatic (horizontal) sundial http://www.instructables.com/id/Largedriveway-sidewalk-or-garden-sundial/ explore polarization http://www.osa.org/osaorg/media/osa.media/ Membership/Explorations-in-Optics-July-2103.pdf determine how light pollution affects the stars using magnitude readers http://www.globeatnight.org/dsr/dsee/ Dark%20Skies%20Activities/How%20 Light%20Pollution%20Affects%20the%20 Stars/How%20Light%20Pollution%20 Affects%20the%20Stars%20Activity.pdf Anniversaries m 1000 years of Th e Book of Optics by Ibn A l Hay th am (1015) 200 years of the wav theory of light by elength Fresnel (1815) 150 years of the el ec theory of light by tromagnetic Max well (1865) 100 years of gene ral by Einstein (1915) relativity 50 years since th e discovery of th e cosmic microwav e ba by Penzias and W ckground ilson (1965) 50 years since th e implementation of fibre optics in com by Charles K ao (1 munications 965) SPIE: The International Society for Optics and Photonics http://spie.org/x109984.xml has free activities and resources online and if you vote for their Photograph of the Year before August 15th you can be entered into a draw to win a GoPro Camera http://spie.org/x108047.xml Light: Beyond the Bulb is an open-source international exhibition programme intended to showcase amazing photographs of the wide variety of light-based science being researched today. http://lightexhibit.org/photoindex.html NASA released a series of images of stars and galaxies to mark the International Year of Light, which the space agency hopes will “help spread the word about the wonders of light.” http:// chandra.harvard.edu/photo/2015/iyl/ m m m m m However 2015 is more than just a celebration of