For the past two weeks, our team has been busy getting ready for the Communicating Astronomy with the Public 2018 Asia-Pacific Grant Applications and Abstract Submissions final deadline. We are happy to report a high number of submissions and registrations! We participated in the NAOJ Open House Day here at Mitaka Campus (don’t miss the pics on our Facebook page!) where our Astronomy Translation Network project was a huge, huge success; everyone wanted to learn how to write “I Love Astronomy” in different languages!
In this issue of our newsletter, we highlight the Cosmoquest citizen science project’s Image Detective, the return of European AstroPi, and take a moment to celebrate with ESA the legacy of Herschel Space Observatory.
Last but not least, we’ve again received exciting news, this time related to the hot topic of gravitational waves! Thanks to global collaborative efforts, astronomers have now observed both gravitational waves and light (electromagnetic radiation) from merging neutron stars. To celebrate, we’d like to share with you some links with great resources and activities related to gravitational waves. Have fun!
Happy reading and clear skies!
The IAU Office for Astronomy Outreach team
1) IAU Office of Astronomy for Development (OAD) Newsletter #18 (Jul-Sep 2017)
The IAU OAD Newsletter #18 is now online. The Newsletter is issued quarterly by the IAU Office of Astronomy for Development (OAD), and in it, you can learn about the latest activities of the OAD. Highlights of this issue include OAD interactions with development economists and their possible collaborations with the astronomy community; "Astronomy for Development: A Discussion on Inclusion" session at the 2017 Science Forum South Africa, 7-8 December, Pretoria, South Africa and the launch of the alpha version of the Astronomy-Data Science toolkit. OAD is looking for contributions to the toolkit from the community.
2) National Outreach Contact (NOC) Corner: News from Japan
a) Solar Remote Classroom for Peruvian students
On September 21, twenty junior high school students from the Universidad Peruana Union in Peru had a remote classroom in Planetario National IGP. From the Solar Flare Telescope located at the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan (NAOJ) Mitaka Campus, Tokyo via teleconference, Kentaro Yaji, a solar astronomer from NAOJ gave a lecture entitled "What star is the Sun?" In Peru, Taichi Tsujino, volunteering for the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), translated the talk into Spanish. Most Peruvian students have a few opportunities to study specialised sciences, and remote classroom experiences can play a very significant role in their academic life.
You can see Taichi Tsujino comments in Japanese here and the
report by the Planetarium IGP (Spanish) here.
3) National Outreach Contact (NOC) Corner: News from New Zealand
a) Aoraki Mackenzie Starlight Festival
On October 13 to 15, New Zealand hosted the Aoraki Mackenzie Starlight Festival, a three-day event full of stargazing, planetarium shows, workshops, a tour of the University of Canterbury Mt John Observatory, and lectures including a headlining talk by NASA scientist Natalie Batalha, IAU Office of Astronomy for Development Director Kevin Govender and IAU Office for Astronomy Outreach International Coordinator Sze-leung Cheung. The festival celebrated the southern hemisphere’s first International Dark Sky Reserve at Aoraki/Mt Cook National Park.
With the latest news on gravitational waves being highlighted by press everywhere (check the IAU congratulatory message here), many educators around the world are launched on a quest to find the best resources to show in class or in their activities with the general public. We take this opportunity to share a couple of interesting websites hosting educational activities with the theme of gravitational waves. The LIGO Collaborative Research offers resources and activities for the general public, teachers, and students. Penn State University also offers a good collection of resources. Another large collection can be found at Caltech and also at JPL/NASA repository. These are only a few good examples. Know of any other resource related to gravitational waves? Please share it with us and the community via outreach[at]iau.org or reach out to us on Facebook.
5) UNOOSA Call for Interest: Space Missions for Developing Countries
The United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs (UNOOSA) is partnering with the Sierra Nevada Corporation (SNC) to offer United Nations Member States the opportunity to participate in an orbital space mission using SNC’s Dream Chaser® space vehicle. The mission will be open to all United Nations Member States. Developing and emerging countries are particularly encouraged to participate. The mission will carry experiments, payloads, or satellites provided by institutions from the participating countries. If your institution is interested in participating, please complete the “Call for Interest” (CFI) no later than 1 November 2017.
6) #HerschelMoments: Celebrating the Legacy of Herschel Space Observatory
Last September, the European Space Agency (ESA) celebrated the science and legacy of the Herschel Space Observatory with a series of feature articles, new images, and videos about its main discoveries. A social-media campaign invites astronomers to share their personal memories and favourite images. The campaign was run via @esascience Twitter using the hashtag #HerschelMoments (as well as on ESA's Facebook page and on Instagram).
You can now find the relevant material (feature articles and videos) here and a collection of reactions from the community in this Twitter Moment compilation.
7) CosmoQuest's Image Detective
CosmoQuest’s Image Detective is a new tool to study Earth using photos taken by International Space Station astronauts. It is a NASA-funded citizen science project for the public to identify Earth features in photographs taken by astronauts from the International Space Station (ISS). Citizen scientists are asked to help identify geographic features (natural or human-made) in astronaut photographs and then determine the location on Earth where the photo is centred. The idea is to make these images searchable and label all the unidentified images within the database of 1.5 million-plus photos. For information, contact Pamela L Gay, Principal Investigator of CosmoQuest (pamela[at]astrosociety.org)
The European Astro Pi Challenge 2017-2018 is giving school students the chance to run their own science investigation in space using computer coding. This year’s Challenge will feature two different levels of complexity: mission Zero and mission Space Lab. Any questions regarding the European Astro Pi Challenge should be directed to astropi[at]esa.int. We wish everyone good luck!
To learn more about the European Astro Pi Challenge 2017-2018 go to http://bit.ly/2yx6uxn.
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
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
11th International Meeting of Astronomy and Astronautics
Date: 12—14 April 2018
Location: Campos de Goytacazes, Brazil
More Information: http://bit.ly/2xP8uik
f) Astrobiology 2017
Dates: 26 November - 1 December 2017
Location: Coyhaique, Chile More Information: http://astrobiology2017.org/
g) IFF 2017 - Immersive Film Festival
Dates: 1-3 December 2017
Location: Espinho, Portugal
More Information: http://iff.multimeios.pt/en/
h) 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
j) 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
k) 11th International Meeting of Astronomy and Astronautics
Date: 12—14 April 2018
Location: Campos de Goytacazes, Brazil
More Information: http://bit.ly/2xP8uik
If you are interested in translating our newsletter to your language, please let us know via outreach@iau.org.
11) Contributions to this newsletter - looking forward to hearing from you in 2017!
Here at the IAU Office for Astronomy Outreach, we are always looking for more news about astronomical education and outreach events around the world. Please continue to share your stories with us in 2017! If you are organising any large-scale events at a regional or international level, offering astronomy education or communication job positions, have any innovative projects or inspiring stories, looking for professional–amateur collaboration in astronomy, or have created any educational resources, let us know by sending an email to outreach@iau.org.
