In a couple of months, the yearlong centennial celebration (IAU100) of the International Astronomical Union (IAU) will take place, and our team will be closely involved in spreading news of the IAU100 events happening around the world. We strongly encourage everyone to reachout to us and share your activities.
And we have an exciting year ahead! As a big IAU100 kick-off event, the global project 100 Hours of Astronomy is organised on 10-13 January 2019. We strongly encourage everyone to participate in this joint effort to bring astronomy to the general public. The Einstein Schools program is another IAU100 Global Project to learn and communicate in a creative, original way about gravity in astronomy. In the spirit of the IAU, the project emphasises a worldwide collaboration among the participating schools. Students and teachers can participate in the IAU100 celebrations and become part of an Einstein School.
In this issue, we highlight the IAU PhD Prize, the call for letters of intent for the next IAU Office of Astronomy for Education, and the latest IAU100 world celebrations.
Wishing you all Happy Reading & Clear Skies!
The IAU Office for Astronomy Outreach Team
1) Dark Sky Defender Award awarded to the Globe At Night – Sky Brightness Monitoring Network
Each year, the International Dark-skies Association (IDA) recognizes and celebrates the incredible achievements of individuals and groups who are committed to the mission to preserve and protect the natural nighttime environment. Among the recipients of the 2018 IDA Dark Sky Defender Award are Jason Chun-Shing Pun, Chu-Wing So, and Sze-Leung Cheung, our IAU International Outreach Coordinator, for the Globe At Night – Sky Brightness Monitoring Network (GaN-MN) initiative, a multinational project for long-term monitoring of night sky conditions around the world.
2) Call for Letters of Intent for Establishing the IAU Office of Astronomy for Education
The International Astronomical Union (IAU) is in the process of creating the Office of Astronomy for Education (OAE) to achieve the goals set out in the IAU Strategic Plan 2020–2030. The IAU invites member countries or institutions interested in hosting the OAE to submit Letters of Intent (LoI). The letters of Intent should be submitted to the IAU General Secretary by 31 December 2018.
In 2016, IAU created a new prize — the IAU PhD Prize. Once a year, each IAU Division, including the Division C for Education, Outreach and Heritage, has the opportunity to award its own prize to the candidate it feels has carried out the most remarkable work in the previous year. The IAU PhD Prize is open to candidates from any country, regardless of whether the country has an IAU National Membership. The objective is to recognise outstanding scientific achievements in astrophysics around the world even at an early stage in the career. The deadline for applications is December 15, 2018.
From Colombia to Madagascar, from Egypt to Japan. The IAU100 kick-off activities and global calls for events are starting around the world. With Astronomy events of all kinds, including national and cultural events, the IAU100 is engaging with different communities worldwide. Meet the IAU100 National Committees and learn more about the people who are here to support you during the 2019 celebrations.
Culture with C of Cosmos opening in Madrid
The project “Culture with C of Cosmos” officially launched last October 23rd. It is an interdisciplinary project with the goal of communicating astronomy and astrobiology through the collections and activities of a large number of cultural institutions in Madrid (Spain), by promoting their artistic pieces from a scientific perspective. It is coordinated by the Centre of Astrobiology (CAB/CSIC-INTA), with funding from FECYT and the Spanish Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities. If you’re in Madrid, make sure you don’t miss it! The project will run from October 2018 till March 2019.
More information is available on the project’s website (in Spanish): https://culturaccosmos.es. (Our warm thank you to Amelia Ortiz-Gil, our Spanish National Outreach Coordinator for sharing the event with us.)
6) News from Brazil
XXVI Astronomy Week at the Museum of Astronomy and Related Sciences
From November 13 to 17, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, will host the XXVI Semana de Astronomia do Museu de Astronomia e Ciências Afins (MAST) - XXVI Astronomy Week at the Museum of Astronomy and Related Sciences. To celebrate the Black Consciousness holiday in Brazil, the Museum of Astronomy (MAST) will bring to the public the contributions from African people to modern and cultural astronomy. During five days, the public will be able to follow the latest science discoveries through many activities and lectures for children, youth, and adults. One of the novelties this year is a program for teachers that will run parallel to the program for visitors of the museum and be delivered by African scientists.
Find more information here (Brazillian Portuguese): https://bit.ly/2zK51EY. (Our warm thank you to Eduardo Penteado, our Brazilian National Outreach Coordinator for sharing the event with us.)
7) Science Cafés at the Dark Skies Reserve in Portugal
The Observatório do Lago Alqueva (OLA), is an astronomical observatory located in the Dark Sky Reserve in Alentejo, Portugal. OLA aims for visitors to find a pleasant place to discover the Universe and learn more about Astronomy and astrophotography, in one of Europe’s areas most protected from light pollution. One of their highlight activities is a series of Science Cafés. If you’re in Portugal, don’t miss this opportunity to visit the reserve and attend two lectures (in Portuguese, with English presentation slides) on November 17 and December 15. The event is broadcasted live to the Portuguese-speaking community in São Tomé e Principe (you can also watch it on YouTube). (Our warm thank you to Ana Alves and OLA's team, for sharing the news.)
8) International Observe the Moon Night
The International Observe the Moon Night is a worldwide celebration of lunar science and exploration held annually since 2010. Over almost a decade, 104 countries have participated in this worldwide celebration of our Moon. This year, 75 countries participated with over 1100 registered events on moon.nasa.gov/observe (up from the 633 registered events for last year’s InOMN!). The InOMN Coordinating Committee is led by NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Public Engagement Team at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center.
You can discover more about this annual event at https://moon.nasa.gov/observe-the-moon/annual-event/overview/ (Our warm thank you to Staci L. Tiedeken, the Outreach Coordinator of the Solar System Exploration Division for sharing the news.)
9) Meetings and 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!
a) Inaugural Asia-Pacific Science Conference 2018: Strengthening Science Communication in the Asia-Pacific
Date: 19 - 21 November 2018
Location: Singapore
More Information: https://apsc2018.sg
b) Starmus Festival V: A Giant Leap
Date: 24–29 June 2019
Location: Bern, Switzerland
More information: https://www.starmus.com/
c) 3rd Workshop on Dissemination and Education of Astronomy (WDEA III)
Dates: 2 July (Solar Eclipse), 4- 5 July 2019
Location: San Juan, Argentina
More information at http://sion.frm.utn.edu.ar/WDEAIII/
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 Martin Pawley, 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;
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.
