In the past weeks, our team has continued working on the upcoming IAU General Assembly (GA) that will take place from August 20 to 31 in Vienna, Austria -- IAU GA is the largest gathering of professional astronomers in the world. We're collaborating with other IAU scientific bodies to hold workshops in science communication for astronomers, two exhibitions -- one on light pollution and another on diversity and inclusion, meetings with some of the newly appointed National Outreach Coordinators (NOCs) and some IAU centennial celebration–related activities
If you’d like to join our team, consider applying for the position of International Outreach Coordinator (IOC). We’re excited about welcoming a new team member to work with us at the Office for Astronomy Outreach here in Japan. Don’t miss this great opportunity!
In this issue, we highlight the "Bringing Black Holes to Your Classroom" booklet, the newest planetarium show produced by ESO: "Europe to the Stars," and invite you to check the latest news about IAU’s 100-year celebrations.
Wishing you all Happy Reading & Clear Skies!
The IAU Office for Astronomy Outreach Team
1) Vacancy Announcement: International Outreach Coordinator (IOC)
The International Astronomical Union (IAU) Office for Astronomy Outreach (OAO) is a hub for coordinating astronomy public outreach activities around the world and is located at the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan (NAOJ), Mitaka Campus, Tokyo, Japan. The IAU and NAOJ are now seeking an excellent individual to join the office and to provide support for IAU OAO activities. The IOC is a contract position for three years, including the possibility of renewal under the standard employment procedures of NAOJ.
2) "100 Years: Under One Sky" IAU celebrations -- New Logo & Motto Revealed
In 2019, the International Astronomical Union (IAU) will celebrate its 100th anniversary. To commemorate this milestone, we will organise a year-long celebration to increase awareness of a century of astronomical discoveries as well as to support and improve the use of astronomy as a tool for education, development, and diplomacy, with the central theme of "Under One Sky". The centennial celebrations will stimulate worldwide interest in astronomy and science and reach out to the global astronomical community, with the IAU100 activities taking place at globally and regionally, and especially nationally and locally.
a) “Are UFOs real?” Audiobook
This audio-book is taken from the original children’s picture book "Are UFO’s real?" by Irina Wijaya, with a script adapted from our National Outreach Coordinator (NOC) Avivah Yamani's answer to questions regarding the existence of UFOs. Find out more about the book at anakbertanya.com and here.
b) Observing the crescent Moon to determine the end of Ramadhan
Last week, on June 14th, astronomers and observers from the Meteorological, Climatological, and Geophysical Agency, Bosscha Observatory, National Institute of Aeronautics and Space, and other networks observed the crescent Moon to determine the end of Ramadhan and also the Islamic Calendar (Hijri Calendar). This is an annual observation in Indonesia and the result can be found here or at http://bmkg.go.id/hilal.
c) Festival Anak Bertanya (“Children’s Questions” Festival)
Bandung hosted another edition of the Festival Anak Bertanya, held annually by Anakbertanya.com & partners. Thirty institutions/communities gathered on May 12, 2018, at Sabuga-ITB in Bandung. More than 6000 people visited the exhibition area that included a portable planetarium and astronomy-related activities for children and families. Four astronomy institutions/communities took part in this event including the famous mobile planetarium by LAPAN. Find out more about the festival here, here, and here.
4) News from Germany
a) Forum Wissenschaftskommunikation: science communication conference
The 11th Forum Wissenschaftskommunikation will take place from 7 to 9 November 2018 in Bonn, Germany. The meeting has an average attendance of nearly 500 professionals in science communication and science marketing and is one of the largest science communication conferences in the German-speaking world. The “Forum Wissenschaftskommunikation” is organised by Wissenschaft im Dialog (Science in Dialogue, WiD) focusing on organising dialogue events, exhibitions and competitions, as well as developing new formats for science communication and is committed to promoting science communication throughout Germany with the goal of involving all groups.
5) Europe to the Stars -- Brand New Open-source Planetarium Show
The European Southern Observatory (ESO) is proud to announce the release of "Europe to the Stars", a brand new open-source planetarium show that tells the story of ESO’s exploration of the southern sky. This stunning movie takes viewers on an epic journey behind the scenes of the most productive ground-based observatory in the world. "Europe to the Stars" will be part of the programme at the ESO Supernova from Friday 22 June and is also available to download for free from the ESO website.
6) All About Light -- UNESCO Recommended Literature
To mark UNESCO's celebration of the first International Day of Light that took place on 16 May 2018, the Courier—a UNESCO publication to promote UNESCO’s ideals— invited its readers to discover a selection of light-related articles published over the years. The Courier has been maintained as a platform for the dialogue between cultures and has provided a forum for international debate and available online since March 2006. Light-related articles include “Over the Moon”, “Our middle-aged neighbouring star”, “The years of the quiet sun” and others.
Black holes are among the most extraordinary objects in the Universe and students are often fascinated by them due to their peculiar characteristics. If you’re looking for educational resources to get your students involved with curriculum topics such as gravity, Universe Awareness has compiled a list of twenty-five educational activities related to different aspects of black holes, from their extreme gravity to how they’re formed and detected. The booklet consists of educational activities for children six years and older. The activities were curated by Han Tran and Pedro Russo of Leiden University for Universe Awareness (UNAWE) and Thomas Russell from University of Amsterdam for the IAU astroEDU Peer Review Platform for Educational Activities.
ART@CREATIONS is a network of scientists and artists who create artworks inspired by current inquiries into cutting-edge scientific questions and who have developed a demonstration of the European Commission’s science education project “Developing an Engaging Science Classroom (CREATIONS)”. ART@CREATIONS asks: What role might artists have in the scientific community’s study of scientific phenomena? “The Big Bang” is ART@CREATIONS’s first artwork, inspired by the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan’s Mitaka software. It includes images generated by the free 3D Universe simulator, as well as dancers, musicians, and animation.
c) International Science Engagement Camp (ISEC) Dates: 6-22 July 2018
Location: Barcelona, Spain
More Information: www.isec2018.wordpress.com
d) 5th European Conference of Science Journalists
Date: 8 July 2018
Location: Toulouse, France
More Information: https://www.ecsj2018.eu/
e) ESOF (EuroScience Open Forum) 2018
Dates: 9-14 July 2018
Location: Toulouse, France
More Information: https://www.esof.eu/en/
f) Committee on Space Research - COSPAR
Date: July 14-22, 2018
Location: Pasadena, California
More information: http://cospar2018.org/
g) Robotic Telescopes, Student Research and Education (RTSRE) Conference & the InterNational Astronomy Teaching Summit
Dates: 22-27 July 2018
Location: Hilo, Hawai'i, USA
More information: rtsre.org
q) Starmus Festival V: A Giant Leap
Date: 24–29 June 2019
Location: Bern, Switzerland
More information: https://www.starmus.com/
Have we missed something? Then share your astronomy outreach and education international meetings or events with us via outreach@iau.org.
10) IAU Astronomy Outreach Newsletter in other languages
- Translations into Serbian are available, by Dr Liliana Gracanin from Serbia: https://twitter.com/IAU_srpski ;
- Translations into Japanese are available, carried out by Akihiko Tomita through the Astronomy Translation Network: http://bit.ly/2xlNyCR. If you want to receive the Japanese newsletter translation, please subscribe to the Japanese Amateur Astronomers Association here: http://www.jaaa-astro.jp/jaaa-ml.html, or the Japanese Society for Education and Popularization of Astronomy here: http://www.tenkyo.net/;
- Translations into Galician are available, by Agrupación Astronómica Coruñesa Ío, in Spain here: http://agrupacionio.com/gl/tag/boletin-iau
- Translations into Spanish are available by:
- Emílio Zuniga, The Association of Amateur Astronomers from León, Nicaragua: http://asafile.blogspot.jp/p/blog-page_12.html;
- Basilio Solís-Castillo, Max-Planck Institute for Radio Astronomy, University of Bonn: http://astronomia-para-todos.blogspot.de.
If you are interested in translating our newsletter into your language, please let us know via outreach@iau.org.
11) Contributions to the IAU Outreach Newsletter—looking forward to hearing from you in 2018
Here at the IAU Office for Astronomy Outreach, we’re always looking for news about astronomical education and outreach events around the world. Please continue to share your stories with us in 2018! If you are organising large-scale events at a regional or international level, offering astronomy education or communication job positions, have any innovative projects or inspiring stories, looking for professional–amateur collaboration in astronomy, or have created any educational resources, let us know by sending an email to outreach@iau.org.
