Jul 19, 2008: The International Astronomical Union (IAU) has given the name Makemake to the newest member of the family of dwarf planets — the object formerly known as 2005 FY9 — after the Polynesian creator of humanity and the god of fertility.

Jun 12, 2008: J. Richard Bond, PhD, director of the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research Cosmology and Gravity Program, is the recipient of the 2008 Cosmology Prize of the Peter and Patricia Gruber Foundation, for groundbreaking theoretical work on structure formation and the evolution of the Universe.

Jun 11, 2008: The International Astronomical Union has decided on the term plutoid as a name for dwarf planets like Pluto at a meeting of its Executive Committee in Oslo.

Jun 5, 2008: In an important move, the Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters and the International Astronomical Union have joined forces in support of both the Kavli Prize and the IAU International Schools for Young Astronomers.

Jun 5, 2008: A prototype exhibit of astronomy images called From Earth to the Universe is a precursor of the wide range of events planned in celebration of the International Year of Astronomy in 2009. The dazzling display of images will take viewers deep into the Universe from 7-29 June 2008 and will be held at the Albert Dock in Liverpool, UK.

Jan 17, 2008: The organisers of the International Year of Astronomy 2009 (IYA2009), the International Astronomical Union and UNESCO, welcomed this week the 100th participating country to the growing ranks of participating countries and organisations for this worldwide astronomy project. This milestone is reached only four weeks after the official Proclamation of IYA2009 by the United Nations.

Dec 20, 2007: Early this morning (CET) the United Nations (UN) 62nd General Assembly proclaimed 2009 the International Year of Astronomy. The Resolution was submitted by Italy, Galileo Galilei's home country. The International Year of Astronomy 2009 is an initiative of the International Astronomical Union and UNESCO.

Oct 26, 2007: In response to an increasing need among the growing community of astronomy communicators, the International Astronomical Union is today announcing the advent of a new journal called “Communicating Astronomy with the Public Journal”. Subscriptions to print and online versions are free of charge to communicators.

Jul 17, 2007: A crazy result delivers the $500,000 Gruber Cosmology Prize to two teams who discovered the accelerating universe.

Dec 21, 2006: The web page for the International Year of Astronomy 2009 (IYA2009) http://www.astronomy2009.org/ has just gone public. The page is the main starting point for the global and local IYA2009 events and everyone interested in IYA2009 can use this page to get in contact with their local IYA2009 National Node. The Communicating Astronomy with the Public 2007 Conference (CAP2007) held in Athens (October 2007) will have IYA2009 as the main theme.