1) National Outreach Contact (NOC) Corner: News from Syria

a) Building the “Future School” - a word from our NOC
Our country is exhausted by a war that has been changing the country’s features for seven years now. But the war has not been able to change our will and determination to go on with our activities and the quest to disseminate science, and to restore, with today's children and future scientists, the glory of astronomy and science in general. Here we wanted to share some photos of our "Future school" activities, organized by the Syrian Astronomical Society to educate children at Syrian schools about the importance of space science and astronomy and plant the love of science in their hearts. 

Find photos of the students with their beautiful curiosity for knowledge and their smart questions here: http://bit.ly/2zXtoNH
 

2) National Outreach Contact (NOC) Corner: News from Argentina

a) Argentine Astronomy Day
In Argentina, on October 24 the country celebrates Argentinian Astronomy Day. On October 24, 1871  
Argentina’s first observatory was created the Cordoba Astronomical Observatory. Its creation signalled the beginning of formal astronomical studies in Argentina.

Find more about the celebrations and their activities here: http://oac.unc.edu.ar/ 

3) International Day of Light 2018 Event Registration

Plan ahead and register your event in the official International Day of Light 2018 calendar! Following the highly successful International Year of Light and Light-based Technologies in 2015, May 16th, the International Day of Light, will provide an annual focal point for the continued appreciation of the central role that light plays in the lives of the citizens of the world. The broad theme of light allows many different sectors of society to participate in activities to raise awareness of science and technology, art and culture, and their importance in achieving the goals of UNESCO — education, equality and peace. 

Register your event by filling out the form: http://bit.ly/2xLvvDK

4) Europlanet Public Engagement Funding Scheme 2018

The call for the Europlanet Public Engagement Funding Scheme 2018 is open! Europlanet awards grants of between 5 000 and 15 000 Euros to fund projects to engage the public with planetary science. The judging panel will be looking for projects showing innovation, a potential legacy beyond the term of the funded project, the potential for wide European participation, the involvement of countries with recently established planetary research programmes, or the opportunity to reach groups in deprived areas or areas remote from STEM activities. The deadline for applications is January 31, 2018.

Find all information here: http://www.europlanet-eu.org/outreach/funding-scheme/ 

5) Global Science Opera 2017 Moon Village — new PR movie

On Dec. 13th, 2017 at 2:00 PM GMT, the Global Science Opera will livestream the opera “Moon Village”. This science opera will be performed around the planet as result of a year-long creative inquiry shared by schools, universities, and art institutions in 25 countries. It will communicate the process, science and technology of the European Space Agency’s Moon Village. The “Moon Village” Global Science Opera is the first opera initiative to produce and perform operas as a global community and is a cooperation organized by a vast network of institutions. 

The opera may be viewed online on Dec. 13th, 2017 at 2:00 PM GMT here: https://hnytt.no/se-tvh-live/ 
Find out more at http://globalscienceopera.com/productions/moon-village-2017/   

6)  Astrophysics: from the Solar System to Big Bang — new MOOC in French 

Incorporated in FUN MOOC platform, the Laboratoire d'Astrophysique de Marseille has launched a MOOC (Massive Open Online Course): Astrophysique: du système solaire au big bang. This course runs from November 13, 2017, to January 31, 2018, and is intended for French-speaking communities. It is primarily designed for an audience with a minimal scientific background, but it will also provide useful and interesting information to any other members of the public wishing to understand the Universe. 

You can find all information here: http://bit.ly/2lDD4L9

7) Robotic Telescopes, Student Research and Education (RTSRE) & InterNational Astronomy Teaching Summit Conferences

The 2nd annual Conference on Robotic Telescopes, Student Research and Education (RTSRE) will be held in Hilo, Hawai’i from July 23-25, 2018. This conference series focuses on building a sustainable community around the educational, technical, and student research uses of robotic telescopes. The conference will be co-located with the interNational Astronomy Teaching Summit (iNATS) from July 25-27, 2018 providing worldwide networking opportunities and hands-on workshops designed to expand educators’ teaching strategy toolkit designed for innovative astronomy professors, teachers, and outreach professionals.  

Find more information here: http://rtsre.net/ 

8) Physics playing cards

Physics playing cards is a project led by Physics post-doc Mikhail Stolpovskiy with the goal of creating a deck of physics playing cards, where each suit is dedicated to one of the four major fields of research in modern physics: quantum mechanics, particle physics, astrophysics, and cosmology.The deck is accompanied by a book where each card is described, and all the connections between subjects are depicted. After the project successfully concludes all materials (cards + book) can be downloaded for free at the project's website. You can also order the deck from the creator at production costs (plus shipping).  

Find more information about the project and how to help here:
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/799909310/physics-playing-cards 

9) Meetings & Global Events

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!

Recently Added

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

Upcoming

a) East Asian Young Astronomers 2017 (EAYAM2017)
Date: November 13-17 2017
Location: Ishigaki city, Okinawa, Japan
More Information: http://www-irc.mtk.nao.ac.jp/eayam/2017/index.html 

b) Astronomical Heritage of the Middle East
Dates: 13-17 November 
Location: Yerevan, Armenia
More Information: http://heritage.aras.am/

c) .Astronomy
Date: 14-17 November 2017
Location: Cape Town, South Africa
More Information: http://dotastronomy9.saao.ac.za/ 

d) Astrobiology 2017 
Dates: 26 November - 1 December 2017
Location: Coyhaique, Chile
More Information: http://astrobiology2017.org/ 

e) IFF 2017 - Immersive Film Festival
Dates: 1-3 December 2017
Location: Espinho, Portugal
More Information: http://iff.multimeios.pt/en/

f) ASP 129th Annual Meeting - STEM Outreach Conference:
“Beyond the Eclipse: Engaging Diverse and Underserved Communities in Astronomy and STEM”
Dates: 5-8 December 2017
Location: St. Louis, Missouri, USA
More information: http://bit.ly/2l0ibte

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

h) 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  

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

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

k) 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 Spanish are available by: 
             - Dr. S. Meneses-Goytia (ICG-UoP, UK): http://bit.ly/2rIqVGe;  
             - Basilio Solís-Castillo, PhD Student, Max-Planck Institute for Radio Astronomy,
               University of Bonn: http://astronomia-para-todos.blogspot.de;
             - The Association of Amateur Astronomers from León, Nicaragua:
                http://asafile.blogspot.jp/p/blog-page_12.html;
-     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    
-     You can find older issues of this newsletter in Spanish by the Astronomical Spanish Society here: http://www.sea-astronomia.es/drupal/content/newsletter-iau-noc.  

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