This edition marks a slight change to the IAU OAO Newsletter. Though we have offered the public two monthly issues for several years, we are reducing this to a monthly periodical. This choice is largely influenced by comments from readers and a desire not to overwork our translators, who tirelessly work to produce timely translations of the Newsletter in time for its publication. We will, of course, continue to produce a high-quality Newsletter, and we urge you to participate in this process. If you have content you would like to share in the next Newsletter, please get in contact with us using the information below.
The IAU Office for Astronomy Outreach is also undergoing some changes as we continue to search for our next Director. We hope you will be inspired to join our team and be a part of our mission to make astronomy for everyone.
In this Newsletter, you will find many new opportunities to engage with the International Astronomical Union. We are very excited to share the news that the next Communicating Astronomy with the Public will take place from 24 – 28 June 2024 online and at Cité de l'espace in Toulouse, France. If you are looking for more workshops and conferences hosted by the IAU and IAU affiliate groups, you are in luck: education, inclusion, and outreach are all represented in the IAU's upcoming events. Do not forget to check out the resources we have collected this month, especially the opportunity to contribute to the IAU Office of Astronomy for Development's Astronomy for Mental Health Guidelines.
As always, we would like to thank our National Outreach Coordinators, all of whom dedicate (and often volunteer) their time to engage their publics with astronomy. We are so grateful for their work.
We would also like to extend a special thank you to all of you, our readers, who engage with this Newsletter. Thank you for your time and attention. We hope we can continue to live up to your expectations.
May your skies be dark and quiet,
Kelly Blumenthal, on behalf of the IAU Office for Astronomy Outreach Team
Save the Date! CAP Conference 2024
The Communicating Astronomy with the Public (CAP) Conference is the only large-scale international conference for astronomy communication. The next CAP conference will be held in hybrid mode from 24 – 28 June 2024, in-person at Cité de l’espace, Toulouse, France and online.
Anyone interested in a refreshing, inspirational, and dynamic exchange of ideas and best practices on bringing astronomy and space closer to people is invited to save the date. The conference is targeted towards professionals from science communication, informal education, planetaria and science centres, as well as professional and amateur astronomers, journalists and creative personalities. Cité de l’espace (French for Space City) is a wonderful venue with numerous exhibits and spaces relevant to Astronomy and Space communication, which will make the conference a great experience to be at.
This edition – CAP 2024 – will be the 11th in the series of conferences organised by the Commission C2 of the International Astronomical Union (IAU) and the IAU Office for Astronomy Outreach. The conference aims to bring together the diverse worldwide community of Astronomy communicators, both in-person and virtually.
Stay tuned for more information on registration, abstract submission, and grant applications!
1) Become the Next OAO Director The International Astronomical Union (IAU) Office for Astronomy Outreach (OAO) is a hub for coordinating astronomy public outreach activities worldwide. The aim is to make it easier for the public to access information about our Universe and local and global astronomy events. The IAU OAO is based at the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan (NAOJ), Mitaka Campus, Tokyo, Japan.
The IAU and NAOJ seek an excellent individual to join the IAU OAO. The OAO Director will be appointed according to the standard conditions of service of NAOJ employees and will report formally to the Director General of the NAOJ. The OAO Director is a contract position for three years, with the possibility of renewal under the standard employment procedures of the NAOJ. Applications are due by 21 August 2023.
2) Join the 5th Annual Shaw-IAU Workshop on Astronomy for Education
The IAU Office of Astronomy for Education (OAE) is pleased to announce that registration, abstract submission, and speaker suggestions are open for the 5th Shaw–IAU Workshop on Astronomy for Education (the deadline for all but registration is 26 August 2023). This fully virtual event will take place on 29 November – 1 December 2023 and is being organised by the IAU Office of Astronomy for Education (OAE), with generous funding from the Shaw Prize Foundation.
This year’s Shaw–IAU Workshop on Astronomy for Education focuses on two themes: one special practical astronomy education topic and one scientific topic. The special topic is astronomy education outside the classroom, looking at how astronomy can be taught in a diverse range of environments such as science centres, planetariums and youth clubs. The scientific topic is planetary atmospheres, both in the Solar System and exoplanets and our own Earth. We encourage teachers, astronomy education researchers and those interested in building up astronomy education in the curriculum in their country or territory to participate in this workshop.
3) Join the 3rd Workshop on Astronomy Beyond the Common Senses for Accessibility and Inclusion
The first two workshops in this series (in 2016 and 2021) represented an international effort aligned to the objectives of the IAU Division C Commission C1 WG 3, with a programme highlighting initiatives from many places around the world. This is an interdisciplinary meeting with participation from astronomers, educators and disability specialists.
This year, the 3rd edition of the Workshop on Astronomy Beyond the Common Senses for Accessibility and Inclusion will be held as part of the XVII Latin American Regional IAU Meeting (LARIM 2023), on October 8th, in Montevideo, Uruguay. This year’s workshop will provide a new opportunity to develop strategies, work toward specific objectives, share experiences, discuss recent applications, and participate in initiatives that were developed for audiences with disabilities.
4) Attending APRIM? Join the APRIM OAO Satellite Session! The Asia-Pacific Regional IAU Meeting (APRIM) is one of the Regional IAU Meetings held by invitation of a national astronomical society in years between General Assemblies. Their purpose, in addition to discussing specific scientific topics, is to promote contact between scientists within the regions, especially young astronomers. This year, APRIM will be held in person in Koriyama, Japan, and online. Registration is still open for both forms of participation.
On the last day of this conference, the OAO will be hosting, in collaboration with NARIT, KASI, and Langitselatan, a Satellite Session on building a legacy for your outreach activities. Though it is primarily centred around the experiences of the IAU National Outreach Coordinators (NOCs), this session is open to everyone interested in astronomy outreach, public engagement, science communication, and public relations: in-person and online. It will feature talks from our NOCs, a workshop on transforming press releases into social media content while considering institutional branding, and a networking event.
For more information about the APRIM OAO Satellite Session, please contact Kelly Blumenthal.
5) Updates from the IAU National Outreach Coordinators (NOCs) a) Haiti
The NOC Team Haiti conducted an online conference for students on the formation of the solar system. In addition, the NOC Haiti Team hosted events for International Asteroid Day. The Team, geology students, and teachers met with the public at Bureau des Mines et de l'Energie. For more information, see their report video [written content in French].
b) Iraq
The NOC Iraq, Ali Jaber Al-Edhari, continues to produce translated infographics and explanations in Arabic for their online audience.
c) Madagascar
The NOC Madagascar, Zara Randriamanakoto, helped coordinate an observing event in celebration of On the Moon Again, a campaign to get people to observe the Moon on and around the anniversary of the first Moon landing.
6) Cool Resources
a) A Trifecta of Space Scoops! [Content in English]
Space Scoop produces articles on the latest in astronomy and space science in easy-to-understand language. Don’t miss their weekly updates that include stories from many of the world’s space agencies! This Newsletter, we present three new Space Scoop articles on topics ranging from protoplanetary disks to exoplanets to primordial stars in the Milky Way. If you’d like to help Space Scoop get translated into more of the world’s languages, email them at info@unawe.org.
b) OAD Guidelines on Astronomy for Mental Health [Content in English]
The OAD has published an open set of guidelines for anyone interested in improving mental wellness through astronomy activities. They invite feedback and comments to improve the document. If you would like to contribute or know more about the 'Astronomy for Mental Health' project, write to Dominic Vertue, dominic@astro4dev.org. You can read more about the project in the recent CAPjournal article here, or on their Astronomy for Mental Health website here.
c) JAXA’s Newspaper [Content in Japanese]
Space and sound are not often paired together, except to say that there is not sound in space. This is because sound requires something to move through in order to propagate (like a wave in water). But sound plays an important role in physics, engineering, and astronomy.
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.
French
Translations are thanks to the Club d'Astronomie de Tabarre (CAT), a subset of the Haitian Astronomical Society (SHA). Translations of previous Newsletters into French were thanks to the Haitian Translation Group of Astronomy and are still available on this page.
Galician
Translations are thanks to Martin Pawley of the Agrupación Astronómica Coruñesa Ío in Spain.
Italian
Translations are thanks to Eleonora Piromalli of AstronomiAmo in Italy.
Portuguese (European)
Translations are thanks to João Ferreira and Frederico Arez 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 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.
The Newsletter will be published on the last day of each month. For publication in the next Newsletter, please send us your suggestions by the 10th of each month. We look forward to hearing from you!
