1) The IAU Office of Astronomy for Development Newsletter #19 is available online

The IAU OAD Newsletter #19 is now online. The newsletter is issued quarterly by the IAU Office of Astronomy for Development. Some highlights of this issue include the announcement of results of the 2017 call for proposals, for which 16 projects have been selected for funding in 2018; the contribution of the OAD’s Dr. Wanda Diaz-Merced to the "A Message from Earth" project; and a tribute to and recreation of the Voyager Golden Record in honour of the 40th anniversary of the Voyager mission.

An archive of all OAD newsletters is available on the website here.

2) Online Astrobiology courses IAU 

The IAU working group on Education and Training in Astrobiology is pleased to announce the launch of its first platform for online courses in astrobiology. Online Courses in Astrobiology presents quality lectures in different disciplines related to the search for the origin of life, and has been designed for upper-level graduate students and recent postdocs, as well as interested and curious members of the public. Lectures are presented by international experts and are currently available in French, English and Spanish. 

The courses can be found at http://astrobiovideo.com and are continually updated.

3)  News from Algeria

16th Festival of Popular Astronomy in Algeria
Our National Outreach Contact Jamal Mimouni wishes to invite you all to the traditional National Festival of Popular Astronomy, now in its 16th year. The festival will take place from the 22nd to 24th of March 2018 at Constantine, Algeria. The subject of this year’s festival is "The Vibrating Universe". It's all about wavy things, from gravitational waves to electromagnetic ones, to oscillating neutrinos and more... The festival will feature an Astro Fair, lectures, and workshops. Activities are multilingual and a fair number will be in English, while others will be in French and Arabic.

Find out all about the festival on the following website: http://www.siriusalgeria.net/salon018.htm

4) What will asteroid Ryugu look like? -- call for contest nodes

Asteroid explorer Hayabusa2 is fast approaching its destination. Between June and July 2018, the spacecraft will reach asteroid (162173) Ryugu and begin investigating this small world. JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) is now launching the challenge to imagine what Hayabusa2 is going to capture. The organisation is inviting science museums, planetariums, public observatories and other centres with space-related activities to become contest "nodes" and help gather the most imaginative artwork from around the world. Applications to become a node are being accepted until the end of February 2018.

The details can be found on this webpage: http://www.hayabusa2.jaxa.jp/topics/20171227_e/ 

5) International Day of Light – Call for astronomy programs

UNESCO will inaugurate the first International Day of Light at their headquarters in Paris, France, on 16 May 2018. The many events taking place worldwide on this day aim to raise awareness of both the many ways that light impacts modern society, and of how advances in light-based science and technology can help us achieve educational and sustainable development goals. In addition to encouraging you to take part in these events, we’re calling out to all organisers of astronomy-related events around the world so we can highlight your activities through our channels. If you’re planning any International Day of Light activities related to astronomy, please let us know via outreach@iau.org.

6) Globe at Night Campaigns

Globe at Night is an international citizen-science campaign to raise public awareness of the impact of light pollution by inviting citizen-scientists to measure night-sky brightness and submit their observations. It's easy to get involved—all you need is a computer or smartphone. Don’t miss any of the ongoing Globe at Night 2018 campaigns at https://www.globeatnight.org/5-steps.php.  

7) Inquiry-Based Science Projects for Astronomy Students

Launched in 2004, the National Schools’ Observatory (NSO) provides free access to the two-metre Liverpool Telescope for school students and teachers throughout the UK and Ireland, and reduced access to anyone worldwide. It currently has over 4,000 users regularly engaging with the website resources and over 125,000 telescope observations requested since inception. As part of these resources, the NSO has developed an extended research activity on open clusters providing students with background material, research-grade data and instructions allowing them to produce their own Colour-Magnitude (or Hertzsprung-Russell) diagrams. Students are then encouraged to upload and discuss their results within a forum.

Find the start page of the activity here https://www.schoolsobservatory.org/discover/projects/clusters/main

8) A Pint of Science

"Pint of Science" is a non-profit organisation that brings some of the most brilliant scientists to your local pub to discuss their latest research and findings with you. You don't need any prior knowledge to take part in these discussions. Here’s your chance to meet the people responsible for the future of science (and have a pint with them). The festival runs over a few days in May every year, and occasionally runs events during other months. 

Sign up at the “A Pint of Science” mailing list to be among the first to hear the latest news: https://pintofscience.co.uk/about/ 

9) Meetings and Global Events in 2018


Here you can find a list of astronomy outreach & education conferences and events around the world. Plan ahead for a year full of interesting events!

a) International Conference New Perspectives in Science Education
Dates: 22 - 23 March 2018
Location: Florence, Italy 
More information: https://conference.pixel-online.net/NPSE/

b) Communicating Astronomy with the Public - CAP2018
Date: 24–28 March 2018
Location: Fukuoka, Japan
More Information: http://www.communicatingastronomy.org/cap2018/ 

c) European Week of Astronomy and Space Sciences (EWASS)
Dates: 3-8 April 2018
Location: Liverpool, UK 
More information: http://eas.unige.ch/EWASS2018/

d) 15th International Public Communication of Science and Technology Conference (PCST2018)
Date: 4–6 April 2018
Location: Dunedin, New Zealand
More Information: http://www.pcst2018.org/pcst18  

e) 11th International Meeting of Astronomy and Astronautics
Date: 12—14 April 2018
Location: Campos de Goytacazes, Brazil
More Information: http://bit.ly/2xP8uik 

f) International Planetarium Society 2018
Date: 1–6 July 2018
Location: Toulouse, France
More Information: http://www.ips-planetarium.org/page/IPS2018Toulouse

g) ESOF (EuroScience Open Forum) 2018
Dates: 9-14 July 2018
Location: Toulouse, France
More Information: https://www.esof.eu/en/

h) Robotic Telescopes, Student Research and Education (RTSRE) Conference & the InterNational Astronomy Teaching Summit
Dates: 22-27 July 2018
Location: Hilo, Hawai'i, USA
More information: rtsre.org

Have we missed something? Then share your astronomy outreach and education international meetings or events with us via outreach@iau.org.

10) IAU Astronomy Outreach Newsletter in other languages

-     Translations into Serbian are available, by Dr Liliana Gracanin from Serbia: https://twitter.com/IAU_srpski ;
-     Translations into Japanese are available, carried out by Akihiko Tomita and Mikako Kuwamura through the Astronomy Translation Network: http://bit.ly/2xlNyCR. If you want to receive the Japanese newsletter translation, please subscribe to the Japanese Amateur Astronomers Association here: http://www.jaaa-astro.jp/jaaa-ml.html, or the Japanese Society for Education and Popularization of Astronomy here: http://www.tenkyo.net/;
-     Translations into Galician are available, by Agrupación Astronómica Coruñesa Ío, in Spain here: http://agrupacionio.com/gl/tag/boletin-iau    
-     Translations into Spanish are available by: 
             - Emílio Zuniga, The Association of Amateur Astronomers from León, Nicaragua: http://asafile.blogspot.jp/p/blog-page_12.html;
             - Basilio Solís-Castillo, Max-Planck Institute for Radio Astronomy, University of Bonn: http://astronomia-para-todos.blogspot.de.

If you are interested in translating our newsletter into your language, please let us know via outreach@iau.org.