This Newsletter brings you both celebrations of excellent science, and opportunities to participate in astronomy communication. For example, two of the nine IAU Symposia announced for 2023 are dedicated to topics which directly relate to the mission of the Office for Astronomy Outreach, astronomy for everyone; the Telescopes for All call for proposals has been extended to bring in more voices from the community; and Las Cumbres Observatory is seeking proposals for educational projects from underserved communities.
We hope you are inspired by the tireless efforts of our National Outreach Coordinators, who have worked hard during this month's celebration of the dark sky to expand astronomy's reach in their communities. We thank them for all that they do.
As we round out our Dark and Quiet Skies Awareness Month, we hope that you will continue to spread awareness of and protect the skies above you.
May your skies be dark and quiet,
Kelly Blumenthal, on behalf of the IAU Office for Astronomy Outreach Team
1) IAU-Sponsored Prizes Announced
a) Gruber Prize in Cosmology
The Gruber Foundation Cosmology Prize, co-sponsored by the IAU, recognises scientists whose discoveries have expanded our understanding of the Universe. The 2022 Gruber prize has been awarded to Frank Eisenhauer for developing technology which helped astronomers prove the existence of a black hole at the centre of our galaxy. For more information, see this page.
b) Gruber Fellowship Awards
The Gruber Foundation, in collaboration with the IAU, sponsors a fellowship programme for promising young astronomers. This year, three such astronomers have been named: Itai Linial, Kunyang Li, and Piyush Sharda. For more information on their work, see this link.
c) Shaw Prize
The Shaw Prize in Astronomy for 2022 has been awarded to Lennart Lindegren and Michael Perryman: two astronomers who have dedicated their careers to astrometry: most notably the Hipparcos and Gaia missions. Find out more here.
d) IAU PhD Prize
The IAU awards prizes to recent PhD students for the most important dissertation work within each IAU Division, and a more general PhD at-large prize. For more information on this year’s winners, see this link.
2) News from the IAU Office of Astronomy for Education
a) New OAE Node Announced
The IAU has announced a new branch office of the IAU Office of Astronomy for Education: the OAE Node France at CY Cergy Paris University. The OAE focuses on STEM education of primary and secondary students, particularly in astronomy. For more information, see this link.
b) Shaw-IAU Workshop on Astronomy for Education 2022
You are invited to join the Shaw-IAU Workshop on Astronomy for Education this 15-17 November. The workshop topic is “leveraging the potential of astronomy for formal education”. In particular, this workshop will tackle the questions: How do we teach astronomy? What is astronomy’s role in teaching physics, chemistry, or climate change?
For more information about last year’s Workshop, see their website.
3) Astronomy Day in Schools (ADiS) Website
The IAU sub-working group Astronomy Day in Schools under IAU Commission C1 has created a website to advertise information regarding astronomy activities in schools worldwide. Explore the website here.
4) Telescopes for All Deadline Extended
Following requests, the deadline to send applications to the Telescope for All has been extended to 15 June. More information on the submission process can be found here. The Telescopes for All distribute telescopes to underserved communities around the world. We welcome proposals for projects that will broaden the horizons of children, parents and educators alike, sparking an interest in science and raising awareness of equal opportunities for pursuing a career in astronomy.
5) IAU Symposia Announced for 2023
The IAU Symposia aim to significantly advance their fields and explore key questions through invited talks, contributed talks and posters, and ample discussion. The nine Symposia for 2023 have been announced, and all are welcome to attend. Two Symposia might be of particular interest to our readers: Astronomy and Satellite Constellations: Pathways Forward and Dark Sky and Astronomical Heritage in boosting Astro-Tourism around the Globe. For more information, see the IAU Announcement.
6) Call for Global Sky Partners
Las Cumbres Observatory is offering 1000 hours for educational projects using its robotic network of 10 x 0.4m telescopes. All applications for supported, educational projects are welcome but those from underserved communities and the developing world are particularly encouraged. The deadline is 12 June 2022. For more information, please see this link.
7) Updates from the IAU National Outreach Coordinators (NOCs)
a) Barbados
Our NOC Barbados, David Marshall, held a hybrid event to showcase the 15-16 May total lunar eclipse.
b) Brunei
Our NOC Brunei, Hazarry Haji Ali Ahmad, live-streamed the lunar occultation of Venus, which was visible to all in Southeast Asia. You can find the stream on their YouTube channel.
c) Italy
Our NOC Italy team has prepared a report for this trimester, which can be found here.
d) Egypt
Our NOC Egypt, Dr Somaya Saad, in collaboration with the National Research Institute of Astronomy and Geophysics at Helwan, Cairo, Egypt guided the public in a hybrid viewing event of the lunar eclipse at dawn on 16 May using the telescopes at Helwan Solar Observatory and Kottamya Astronomical Observatory. In addition, Dr Saad also gave an online talk in honour of the International Day of Light entitled: The evolution of light technology and its role in the development of astronomy.
e) Ethiopia
Following the lunar eclipse, our NOC Ethiopia, Kirubel Menberu, in association with the Ethiopian Space Science Society (ESSS), the Space Science and Geospatial Institute (SSGI), and Semera University (SU) organised an event to observe the Moon and other Solar System objects in Semera, Afar.
f) Kuwait
The NOC Kuwait, Khaled A. Al-jamaan, continued his Little Astronomer Workshop Series this month with a lesson on the constellations, and an activity where students ages 7-11 got to create and name their own constellations.
8) Opportunities
a) Join the IAU Working Group on Climate Change
The study of astronomy provides a unique perspective of the Universe that highlights the fragility of life on Earth. The IAU Working Group on Communicating Climate Change through Astronomy aims to use this perspective to place a spotlight on issues related to climate change. The Working Group is currently looking for new members, and all are welcome to apply. For more information, send an email to public@oao.iau.org.
b) INAF’s 2nd Edition Astronomy Festival, “Attractive Universe”
After the success of the first edition, INAF is now organizing, on June 10 - 12, 2022, the second edition of an Astronomy Festival - “Attractive Universe” - in Castellaro Lagusello, near Mantova in northern Italy. The central focus of this edition will be gravity; the festival will have exhibitions, hands-on workshops, wall-map projections, movies, shows, outreach lectures, and telescope observations. The goals of the Festival are multifold: promoting the dissemination of scientific culture and knowledge through public engagement, thus connecting research institutes and universities with schools and the general public by means of the so-called peer-education, and enhancing the beauty of the area and its historical sites. For more information and images of the first edition of this festival, see this link.
c) Join the Asteroid Day Global Event Organiser Community
Every 30 June, people all over the world organize local events to build awareness about protecting our planet from an asteroid collision, explore how asteroid resources might be used in the future, and learn the origins of the solar system through asteroids. For help organising an event, see this resource (content in English, Spanish, Portuguese, and French).
9) Cool Resources
a) New Paper on Citizen Science in Schools [Content in English, abstract in English, Portuguese, and Spanish] A new paper has just been published entitled, Citizen science through schools: the importance of interpersonal relationships. The authors specifically targeted communities with low astronomy awareness and demonstrate the importance of interpersonal relationships not only to the students’ outcomes but also to the efficacy of the citizen science project. To read the article, follow this link. For more information about the project, see their website.
b) New Report to Improve NASA DEIA Efforts [Content in English]
A new report from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine describes how NASA can improve to meet its diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility (DEIA) goals. To read the report, and for more information, see their webpage.
10) 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 Emílio Zuniga of the Association of Amateur Astronomers in León, Nicaragua.
If you are interested in translating the IAU Office for Astronomy Outreach Newsletter into your language, please email public@oao.iau.org.
11) 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!
