Greetings from the XXXI IAU General Assembly in Busan, South Korea! The whole OAO team is here to make connections, support our National Outreach Coordinators, and engage the IAU community in communicating the science of astronomy. If you are here at the GA, stop by our booth to chat about public engagement in your country! If you're joining us virtually, see the entry below to connect with us online.
The first week of the GA has been incredibly exciting, and the second week is shaping up to be even better. The entries below outline some of the highlights, including the launch of the 2022 edition of NameExoWorlds. For more information, see the entry and links below. Whether or not you are attending the GA, we hope you'll engage with the activities through this Newsletter and the official IAU GA e-Newspaper.
Stay tuned for another IAU Outreach Newsletter GA Edition at the end of this month as we look back and wrap up our experiences from the full conference.
May your skies be dark and quiet,
Kelly Blumenthal, on behalf of the IAU Office for Astronomy Outreach Team
Meet the IAU Astronomers!
The Meet the IAU Astronomers! aims to facilitate the astronomer’s engagement with the public. Through the programme, amateur astronomers, informal educators, teachers, and community groups can invite professional astronomers to present talks and share the wonder of the universe with communities around the world. Throughout the GA, the OAO will host multiple sessions on the programme, aiming to highlight why engaging with their community can be regarding and changing experiences for all involved. Stop by OAO’s booth (virtually or in-person to learn more) and request your event via this form.
2) Tune into the XXXI IAU GA e-Newspaper Whether you do or do not plan to attend the XXXI IAU GA in Busan, consider reading the GA e-Newspaper. This free online periodical will be published every day of the conference and will cover topics that will be discussed during the sessions of the day. Look for this and more on their website.
3) KASI-OAO Joint Satellite Session at the IAU GA
If you plan to attend the XXXI IAU GA in Busan (whether virtually or in person), the Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute (KASI) and the IAU Office for Astronomy Outreach invite you to the Astronomy Outreach Satellite Event on August 9, 2022, in Busan. During the XXXIst IAU General Assembly, this open event, composed of talks and a workshop, intends to bridge the Korean outreach astronomy community with the IAU astronomy community. For more information, see this website.
4) OAO Booth at the IAU GA During the XXXI IAU General Assembly in Busan, OAO team is looking forward to meeting the IAU members and other participating astronomy professionals. During these two weeks, the team hopes to engage with virtual and in-person attendees as much as possible. Attendees can stop by any time for one-on-one chats or book an online meeting via this link. Further, the OAO teams invite the virtual to join the in-person attendees for informal chats on OAO's programmes and activities that will hopefully foster future collaborations between astronomers and the IAU Outreach programmes, and inspire them to share the wonders of the universe with their communities.
5) Press Release: NameExoWorlds 2022
The IAU is pleased to announce the newest edition of NameExoWorlds. Communities around the world are welcome to join together professional and amateur astronomers, astronomy enthusiasts, teachers and students, to propose a name for one of twenty exoplanets and their host stars. All proposed names will be judged by a panel and, if selected, will be recognized as the official name for the exoplanetary system. For more information, see this website.
6) IAU GA Contributions from the IAU National Outreach Coordinators (NOCs)
The National Outreach Coordinators will be well-represented at the IAU GA in Busan! Below is a list of the contributions – a combination of e-posters, e-talks, contributed talks, and invited talks – from the NOCs who are participating remotely and in-person. Be sure to check out their work!
NOC Botswana: Molly Kgobathe, Astronomical Opportunities in Botswana
NOC Brazil: Eduardo Penteado, IAU100 NameExoWorlds Global Coordinator
NOC Chile: Maria Fernanda Durán, Breaking the Barriers: Adding inclusive elements to astronomy outreach
NOC China Nanjing: Jin Zhu, Observation of Chinese Space Station as a Tool to Promote Public Attendtion to Night Sky and Astronomy
Vice-NOC Colombia: Camilo Delgado-Correal, Astronomy with social sense
NOC Egypt: Somaya Saad, Outreach activities in Egypt
Co-NOC Greece: Margarita Metaxa, NOC Activities carried in Greece in collaboration with IAU/OAO, 2022
Co-NOC Hong Kong: Exodus Chun-Long Sit, Inspiration of IAU 100: New Approaches of Astronomy Communication (in Hong Kong) during COVID-19
NOC India: Samir Dhurde, Low-cost and Large-scale: a key to reaching most people
NOC Madagascar: Zara Randriamanakoto, Building a network of amateur astronomers in Madagascar
Vice-NOC Malaysia: Fairos Asillam, Virtual Outreach Programme as an Alternative Platform in Delivering Astronomy Education: A Case Study in Malaysia
NOC Morocco: Meriem Elyajouri, Public Astronomy in Morocco: opportunities & challenges
NOC Observer Morocco: Zouhair Benkhaldoun, Covid 19: How we coped with isolation for astronomical outreach activities?
Co-NOC Nepal: Suresh Bhattarai, Astronomy Outreach in Nepal: Creating a Legacy of Science Outreach
Co-NOC Nepal: Manisha Dwa, Astronomy outreach for an inclusive environment in Nepal, its impacts and challenges
NOC Pakistan: Yumna Majeed, Space Education and Outreach in Pakistan - Exploration by Yumna
NOC Spain: Ana Ulla-Miguel, OAO NOC Spanish activities
NOC Sri Lanka: Dhanushka Amaradasa, Case study: online hands-on astronomy activities for children during COVID-19
NOC Tunisia: Mayssa El Yazidi, Inclusion and intercultural aspects of Astro-Tourism activities: Astro Camping Project in Djerba: The First step to develop Astronomy in Tunisia
NOC Vietnam: Nguyen Tan Vu, A story about astronomy outreach in Vietnam: From an amateur club to a growing #scicomm ecosystem
For more information, see our programme of events on this website.
7) Opportunities
a) X-ray Vision of the Energetic Universe (X-VISION 2023) Workshop
This is a joint effort between the IAU, I-HOW and COSPAR Capacity Building Workshop. It will be held at the Centre for Space Research, North-West University Potchefstroom, South Africa, from February 06 to 17, 2023. The organisers encourage young researchers to apply to this free workshop. For more information, see this link.
b) Joint Observations of the Sun with the Hinode Satellite
Kentaro Yaji, of the National Institute of Natural Sciences and the National Institute for Fusion Science, is organising a joint observation of the Sun using the Hinode Satellite from 22 - 27 August 2022. For more information and to set up a collaboration with your school, see their website or contact Kentaro Yaji directly.
c) African Planetarium Association Virtual Meeting
The African Planetarium Association (APA) is hosting a virtual meeting for planetaria in Africa. As part of a comprehensive strategy, this meeting will lead to in-person and hybrid workshops. The meeting will be held on 26 August 2022. For more information and to register, see this link.
8) Cool Resources
a) JWST First Images Explainer by Prajval Shastri Watch Prajval Shastri explain the James Webb Space Telescope’s first images and dive into the science behind them.
b) Astronomers for Planet Earth Newsletter
Astronomers for Planet Earth is an organisation dedicated to addressing the climate crisis from an astronomical perspective. Their newsletter features resources and plans for action from across the globe. For their most recent issue, click here. For more information, see their website here.
9) IAU Office for Astronomy Outreach Newsletter in Non-English Languages
Our newsletter is being translated into the following languages:
Arabic
Translations are thanks to the members of the Bahrain Stargazers Astronomy Club.
Chinese (Simplified)
Translations are thanks to Dr Chen Cao, Shandong Astronomical Society (SDAS) of China.
Portuguese (European)
Translations are thanks to Catarina Leote and João Ferreira through the Astronomy Translation Network Portuguese Language Group.
Spanish
Translations are thanks to Andrea Ahumada of the Observatorio Astronómico, Universidad Nacional de Córdoba, and Ileana Andruchow of the Instituto Astrofísica de La Plata, Universidad Nacional de La Plata. For translations of previous Newsletters in Spanish, thanks to Emílio Zuniga of the Association of Amateur Astronomers in León, Nicaragua, click here.
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 are always looking for material about astronomy outreach, communication and public engagement from around the world to include in our next IAU Office for Astronomy Outreach Newsletter. 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.
Please send us your suggestions through the 4th for issue #1 and the 17th for issue #2 of each month. We look forward to hearing from you!
