Our team has been busy making the final preparations to launch our annual plan of activities for 2022, more to come in our upcoming issues. For now, we leave you with news from the IAU, from our sister offices and plenty of interesting readings and events coming up in the next days and weeks.
We also wish to thank our National Outreach Coordinators who have been organising numerous online and offline events for the IAU Women and Girls in Astronomy project and beyond.
Finally, we take the opportunity to welcome Kelly Blumenthal, who will be joining the OAO team, as the OAO Deputy Director.
Wishing you the clearest skies and good health!
Suzana Filipecki Martins and Lina Canas, on behalf of the IAU Office for Astronomy Outreach Team
1) IAU and International Partners Urge UN to Protect Dark and Quiet Skies
The IAU, together with partner organisations, has submitted a new Working Paper to the United Nations Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space (COPUOS), seeking to protect dark and quiet skies from interference by human activities. The paper was accepted for discussion at the opening of the 59th session of the COPUOS Scientific and Technical Subcommittee (STSC) — the first time that the issue of dark and quiet skies has been tabled as a formal agenda item by the UN.
2) Follow-up from the IAU Seminar on Public Engagement Training
The IAU Seminar on Public Engagement Training was hosted on 22 February, with over 500 views, and more than 200 comments and questions! In case you missed it, the Seminar was recorded and can be found at this link.
As a reminder, the workshop materials produced from the IAU-Kavli Public Engagement Training Programme are open source and available for download from this link. This includes a facilitator's guide, literature review, workbook, and slide deck. All materials are customizable; users are encouraged to reuse, redistribute, review, revise, and remix these resources to fit their own communities.
3) Celebrate the International Year of Basic Sciences for Sustainable Development
Every organization or group on the planet is invited to celebrate 2022 as the International Year of Basic Sciences for Sustainable Development (IYBSSD2022). Any activity between January 2022 and the closing ceremony, held in June 2023, is eligible for the official IYBSSD2022 program.
Please visit www.iybssd2022.org for more information about the IYBSSD2022 program and how you can participate.
4) NOCs Sharing Sessions: Dark and Quiet Skies Outreach and Public Engagement Initiatives
Under the celebrations of its 10-year anniversary, the IAU Office for Astronomy Outreach is conducting a series of meet-ups where the IAU National Outreach Coordinators (NOCs) will share their public outreach experiences and initiatives on a given relevant topic. This first session will concern Dark and Quiet Skies, including outreach and public engagement campaigns, the creation of dark skies parks, dark skies preservation, and others.
Taking place on 1 March 2022, 10:00 AM UTC, the online event will also have as an invited speaker, Piero Benvenuti, the Director of the new “IAU Centre for the Protection of the Dark and Quiet Sky from Satellite Constellation Interference” (you can read the IAU press release on the creation of this new centre here: https://www.iau.org/news/pressreleases/detail/iau2201/)
If you are interested in joining us send an email to public@oao.iau.org, with the subject: NOCs Sharing Sessions: Dark and Quiet Skies Outreach and Public Engagement Initiatives. You can use this opportunity (1) to engage and learn more about this new IAU centre; and during the panel discussion to (2) discuss how we can further support you, your initiatives and your community and (3) connect with the NOCs that are working on similar initiatives for future collaborations.
5) “Astrologos” Science-Art Project
“Astrologos” is a science-art project funded by the IAU Office of Astronomy for Development (OAD) and it revolves around the recording of five short stories by world-renowned writer Italo Calvino, taken from the book ‘Cosmicomics’, inspired by astronomical facts, and commented on by several astronomers. The recordings, accompanied by original soundtracks and drawings, are publicly available online. The project hopes to remind the listener of the importance of maintaining perspective and faith in human collaboration, both through scientific inquiry, as well as the arts.
6) News from the IAU National Outreach Coordinators (NOCs)
a) NOC Togo, in collaboration with Space Bus France, is organising “Togo Under the Stars”, a country-wide event presenting conferences for the general public, practical workshops in schools and public squares, training for middle and high school teachers, observations of the sky, quizzes and more. “Togo Under the Stars” will take place from 13 to 27 March.
b) NOC Morocco participates in the organisation of the 21st edition of the Marrakech Astronomy Festival - “Contribution of amateur astronomers to professional astronomy”. From 28 February to March 6, the large-scale event will present conferences, night skies observations, workshops, film screenings, exhibitions and more.
c) NOC Mauritius is hosting the Mauritian edition of “Younivers - Astronomy for Adolescent 2022 Video Challenge”. Created in 2020 by the Astronomical Society of France, the event takes place in six other French-speaking countries (Belgium, France, Lebanon, Madagascar, Senegal, and Tunisia) and invites children 11 to 18 y.o. to create 3 mins videos that answer Astronomy questions starting with “How”…
d) Earlier this month, NOC Kuwait participated in “Into the Stars”, a stargazing night in the Kuwaiti desert. During the event, participants had the opportunity to observe the night sky using different types of telescopes and to discuss light pollution and its effects.
e) On 5 February, NOC Egypt, in collaboration with the Dept. of Astronomy at the Institute and the Scientific Society for Astronomy and Space SSASEgypt, organized “Kottamia Practical Workshop for Young Astronomers”, a one-day workshop in the field of practical astronomy. The workshop was supported by the National Research Institute of Astronomy and Geophysics (NRIAG) and the Arab Association for Astronomy and Space science.
f) Congratulations to NOC Lybia and the Vision Institute for Space Science who took place in the international asteroid search campaign and together with 120 teams and research institutions around the world located 387 new roaming near our planet Earth.
Throughout the past weeks, NOCs continue to engage with the Women and Girls in Astronomy project, organizing online and in-person lectures, meetings, round tables and more.
g) NOC Nicaragua, together with Asafile - Asociación de Astrónomos Aficionados de León, organized a celebration of Women in Astronomy.
h) On 17 February, NOC Iraq, together with the Ministry of Youth and Sports - Department of Scientific Care held an event that included several activities dedicated to highlighting the role of Iraqi Women in Astronomy.
i) The same day, NOC Czech Republic organized an online “chat day” between the public and female professional Astronomers working in the Czech Republic.
j) On 25 February, NOC Italy organized "Women in Astrophysics Research in Catania", an online meeting with female researchers from the Catania Astrophysical Observatory.
k) NOC Mauritania together with NOC Tunisia organised a lecture with female scientists, in particular astronomy. The lecture took place in French on 26 February.
l) And on 2 March, NOC Egypt will also organise an online event in the context of the International Day of Women and Girls in Astronomy.
7) Events and Opportunities
a) IAU East-Asia Office of Astronomy for Development invites the astronomy outreach community to participate and submit abstracts to “Educational Psychology and Astronomy for Mental health and Wellbeing”, an International Training Workshop taking place online and in Ulaanbaatar (Mongolia) from 19 to 21 May 2022.
b) DARA Big Data, in partnership with the Office of Astronomy for Development (OAD), IDIA and SARAO is hosting Africa Women in Data Science, a free 3-day online event. The event aims to help build a thriving African community of female data scientists and promote skills development for women who are interested in a career in data science.
a) Decolonising astronomy and developing astronomy research and education
In this interview by Italian National Institute for Astrophysicsarticle, Thilina Heenatigala, Director of Communication at the Earth-Life Science Institute (ELSI) in Tokyo, shares his experiences in the development of astronomy in his home country Sri Lanka, where he leads a student research group and is spreading awareness towards the need for a decolonial approach to astronomy research, education and outreach. https://edu.inaf.it/in-english/universe-world/thilina-heenatigala-decolonising-astronomy/
Japanese:https://bit.ly/36XeKZr
Translations are thanks to Akihiko Tomita, through the Astronomy Translation Network.
You can subscribe to the Japanese newsletter through the Japanese Amateur Astronomers Association (http://www.jaaa-astro.jp/jaaa-ml.html) or the Japanese Society for Education and Popularization of Astronomy (http://www.tenkyo.net/).
If you are interested in translating the IAU Office for Astronomy Outreach Newsletter into your language, please email public@oao.iau.org.
10) Contribute to the IAU Astronomy Outreach Newsletter
We’re always looking to include news about astronomy outreach, communication and public engagement from around the world in the next newsletter from the IAU Office for Astronomy Outreach. If you have an astronomical event, job, opportunity, educational resource, or anything else that would be of interest to the astronomy outreach community, send us an email at public@oao.iau.org with more information.
You can send us your suggestions through the 4th for issue #1 and the 17th for issue #2 of each month. We are looking forward to hearing from you!
