We hope you had a happy and restful New Year! We have a lot of exciting things lined up for 2023. Our programmes will build off of the success of last year’s 10-year Anniversary of the Office for Astronomy Outreach by expanding our offerings and strengthening our ties with our partners. For example, this year, we will host a poster competition during our Women and Girls in Astronomy programme wherein participants will be asked to design a poster of a historical or contemporary woman in astronomy that inspires them. This poster contest replaces the Draw An Astronomer Contest, which saw over 750 entries from 20 countries.
We also plan to greatly expand our Communicating Astronomy with the Public Training. We are planning to host a workshop roughly monthly in alignment with our Global Outreach Projects throughout the year. Everyone will be able to participate in these workshops through the recordings we place on our YouTube channel. One such training on how to build your own telescope will take place during Telescopes for All.
We are also planning some future collaborations and partnerships with astronomy organisations worldwide. Stay tuned for more information as we expand the reach of the OAO!
May your skies be dark and quiet,
Kelly Blumenthal, on behalf of the IAU Office for Astronomy Outreach Team
1) Women and Girls in Astronomy
Every year, our celebration of women and girls in astronomy will take place between the International Day of Women and Girls in Science on 11 February and International Women’s Day on 8 March. Following the success of the 2022 programming, we invite astronomy outreach professionals, amateur astronomy groups, professional astronomers, teachers, and community leaders to join us in the programme. You can host your own event to celebrate women and girls in astronomy, join the poster competition, or share your story within the astronomical field. More to be announced soon.
2) Telescopes for All
In 2023, Telescopes for All will once again partner with Sterren Schitteren Voor Iedereen (Stars Shine For Everyone - SSVI), Ghent University, Dept. Physics and Astronomy, Leiden University, and BRESSER to bring telescopes signed by astronauts and scientists – including Nobel Prize winners – to underserved communities around the world. The project aims to broaden the horizons of children, adults and educators. Our goal is to help spark an interest in science and provide equitable access to resources, paving the way for future careers in astronomy. For this fourth edition of the programme, we are planning to expand our support by providing the training and resources necessary to build your own telescope. Stay tuned and get ready for the launch in April 2023!
3) Dark and Quiet Skies
In May 2023, we plan to build off of the success of last year’s celebration of the dark and quiet sky. We will strengthen our connections with our collaborators, including the Center for Protection of the Dark and Quiet Sky from Satellite Interference (CPS) and the International Day of Light (IDL). This year, we are planning some new events, like a worldwide trivia night (with prizes!) and a light pollution pledge. In the coming months, we will announce more details about how you can participate in the fight to end light pollution!
4) Meet the IAU Astronomers!
In 2023, we will continue to support the Meet the IAU Astronomers! Programme. The programme brings IAU members closer to children, adults, and other members of the public to share their astronomical research, the importance of astronomy for society, and choosing astronomy as a career. Join the programme or request your activity at this link.
5) 100 Hours of Astronomy
From 5 to 8 October 2023, the OAO invites astronomy outreach professionals, amateur astronomy groups, professional astronomers, teachers, and community leaders to join this 100 hours of celebrating our shared skies. The programme aims to engage as many people from all over the works with astronomy outreach activities. Joining in is easy: just plan your event and let us know so we can add it to our global calendar!
6) Communicating Astronomy with the Public (CAP) Triptych a) CAPjournal
In the first quarter of 2023, you can expect a new issue of CAPjournal featuring some highlights from the hybrid CAP Conference 2022 that was held in Sydney, Australia and online in September 2022. Additionally, in honour of the centennial of the planetarium taking place from 2023-2025, CAPjournal will have a special edition on planetariums from around the world. You can expect to find a call for papers with more information within the next few weeks.
b) CAPconferences
We are looking forward to another hybrid CAP Conference in 2024. Applications are still being reviewed for potential hosts, but the location of the next conference will be announced in March 2023.
c) CAPtraining
This year we are scaling up our CAP training, including a workshop on making astronomical images accessible to the blind and visually impaired community, gender-inclusive outreach, astrophotography, and much more. Though the live events are exclusive to our IAU Family, we will make the recordings freely available on our YouTube channel.
7) 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.
8) Contribute to the IAU Office for Astronomy Outreach Newsletter
Want to contribute to the IAU Office for 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 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!
