In the past weeks at our host institution, the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan (NAOJ), our team has been promoting the first invited talk of Project Diversity @NAOJ, a series of lectures within the scope of the upcoming 2019 IAU Symposium “Astronomy for Equity, Diversity and Inclusion — a roadmap to action within the framework of the IAU 100th Anniversary”. Working towards 2019 and the IAU 100-year celebrations, our team aims to increase the number of national representatives—the National Outreach Coordinators (NOCs)—to 100! If you find that your country doesn't yet have a representative, please contact us! Last but not least, we’re happy to announce that the project Astronomy Translation Network (ATN) has been awarded the NAOJ “Research Environment Maintenance Budget”, following recognition of the project’s value for the dissemination of resources around the world.
In this issue, we highlight the Gender Gap in Science world survey, the IAU Commission 1 Astronomy Education and Development newsletter issue 87 and recommend that you Explore the Solar System through Vesta, the Moon and Mars Trek.
Wishing you all Happy Reading & Clear Skies!
The IAU Office for Astronomy Outreach Team
1) Astronomy Translation Network (ATN) awarded with NAOJ funding
Our NAOJ/IAU OAO Astronomy Translation Network (ATN) project has been awarded the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan (NAOJ) “Research Environment Maintenance Budget”. The NAOJ Director-General Dr Saku Tsuneta awarded 1 million yen to support the project’s continuity for its relevance to the international astronomical community. The ATN is a global networking framework that centralizes worthy resources needing translation, and matches translation needs with volunteers. This initiative is led by Yukiko Shibata, our OAO International Outreach Officer.
The Global Survey of Mathematical, Computing, and Natural Scientists “A Global Approach to the Gender Gap in Mathematical, Computing, and Natural Sciences: How to Measure It, How to Reduce It?” is being run by the International Council for Science and is open until 31 October 2018. The survey targets 45,000 respondents in multiple languages to develop a better knowledge of the gender gap in global science. The International Astronomical Union (IAU) is conducting this survey together with other unions and the International Council for Science (ICSU).
3) IAU Commission C1 Astronomy Education and Development Newsletter #87
IAU Commission C1 Newsletter #87 is now available. In this IAU publication, you’ll find updates from the IAU Office of Astronomy for Development, the reports on “NASE Meets Japanese High School Teachers”, “Astronomy Education: We Should Listen”, “Astronomy for Everyone: An Innovative Course to Prepare Educators to Teach Astronomy for Disabled Students”, ” Inspiring Stars – The IAU Inclusive World Exhibition Project Report”, “A Century of Astronomy and Communication Without Boundaries” and much more.
4) New Trends in Teaching Astronomy: One-day Workshop on Education in Astronomy and Astrobiology
The Inter-Division B-C Commission Protection of Existing and Potential Observatory Sites, the C1- Astronomy Education and Development and the Inter-Commission C1-F2-F3-H2 WG Education and Training in Astrobiology, propose a meeting to develop different topics and resources ready to be used for educators. Secondary and High School teachers, as well as IAU colleagues, are invited to a One-Day Workshop on Education (ODWE) on August 19, in Kuffner-Observatory, Vienna, Austria, right before the IAU General Assembly. The poster session will have three slots during the coffee break to discuss the work participants are doing on the topics of the Workshop: Light Pollution and Education in Astronomy and in Astrobiology. The deadline for abstracts is June 30, 2018.
For more information on how to participate, please contact Margarita Metaxa (marmetaxa[at]gmail.com) and Rosie Cane (rosiecane93[at]gmail.com).
5) Explore the Solar System with Vesta, Moon and Mars Trek
NASA’s Solar System Treks project produces a suite of online, web-based, interactive visualization and analysis portals. These tools enable mission planners, planetary scientists, students, and the public to explore the surfaces of a growing number of planetary bodies as seen through the eyes of many different instruments aboard a variety of spacecraft. Views can be stacked and blended. Users can interactively fly over peaks and down into valleys in 3D mode; measure distances, heights, and depths of landforms; and mark areas for output to 3D printers. Trek portals have been developed for Mars, Vesta, and the Moon, and new portals for additional bodies are being developed. The project is managed by NASA’s Solar System Exploration Research Virtual Institute and developed at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory.
Starting this summer, children from Puerto Rico will be able to explore space from their schoolyards. The non-profit organization Astronomers Without Borders and Ciencia Puerto Rico (CienciaPR) distributed donated telescopes to 20 underserved schools. In addition to the telescopes, the schools received science education resources that include "The Universe at Your Feet", a collection of astronomy activities in Spanish for children and classrooms, and celestial planispheres or maps to help identify visible stars and constellations. This is all part of a new collaborative initiative called "Astronomía al Servicio" (Astronomy in Service), which seeks to promote education, scientific exploration, and citizen participation.
Inspired by the discovery of TRAPPIST-1 planetary system, an astrophysicist, a musician, and an astrophysicist/musician decided to explore what happens when the rhythms and harmonies of astronomical systems are translated into music so they can be heard by human ears. The result is SYSTEM Sounds, a collection of music and animations generated by numerical simulations, real data, and a little creativity.
The STEAM Summer School in Science Communication is a 10-day intensive course from 2 to 11 July, which will cover a wide range of science-communication topics, including journalism, social media, policy, management, arts, and performance, making it a unique combination of the arts with STEM subjects for creative communication approaches. The course will be comprehensive and no previous experience is required. This year, the school will be hosted at the University of Malta.
c) International Science Engagement Camp (ISEC) Dates: 6-22 July 2018
Location: Barcelona, Spain
More Information: www.isec2018.wordpress.com
d) 5th European Conference of Science Journalists
Date: 8 July 2018
Location: Toulouse, France
More Information: https://www.ecsj2018.eu/
e) ESOF (EuroScience Open Forum) 2018
Dates: 9-14 July 2018
Location: Toulouse, France
More Information: https://www.esof.eu/en/
f) Committee on Space Research - COSPAR
Date: July 14-22, 2018
Location: Pasadena, California
More information: http://cospar2018.org/
g) 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
n) World Space Week 2018
Dates: 4-10 October 2018
Location: All around the world
More Information: http://www.worldspaceweek.org
o) International Observe the Moon Night
Date: 20 October 2018
Location: All around the world
More Information: http://observethemoonnight.org/
p) Starmus Festival V: A Giant Leap
Date: 24–29 June 2019
Location: Bern, Switzerland
More information: https://www.starmus.com/
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 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.
11) Contributions to the IAU Outreach Newsletter—looking forward to hearing from you in 2018
Here at the IAU Office for Astronomy Outreach, we’re always looking for news about astronomical education and outreach events around the world. Please continue to share your stories with us in 2018! If you are organising 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.
