Caribbean Institute of Astronomy

The Caribbean Institute of Astronomy is a non-profit, educational and scientific organization dedicated to promoting the growth and development of Astronomy within the Caribbean region. It exists to fill the void for the leadership, direction and integration of astronomy resources and interests among professionals, amateurs and educators. CARINA is a collaborative effort among international and regional professional astronomers, astronomy enthusiasts, educators and members of the business community, all working together for the development of astronomy within the Caribbean. Our vision for this website is unabashedly bold! Here's what we have set out to be: 1) a place where Caribbean astronomy enthusiasts can get information about weather, get star maps for tropical latitudes and get facts about upcoming planetary appearances, moon phases, occultations, eclipses and so on. 2) a place where people can read articles of topical interest and pose questions on anything from starting a club to general relativity (yup, we've got experts on both...). 3) a place where CARINA can provide news about upcoming events and online resources such as astronomy links, access to affiliate information and educational material. 4) a place where people and groups can share their own experiences, pictures, equipment reviews and advice. Here CARINA provides the forum, and participants moderate their own rooms and generate their own dialogue. I hope we will see the appearance of special interest groups on topics such as cosmology, CCD imaging, comets and asteroids, and so on.