In the past weeks, our team has been working on the “One Family, One Telescope” contest selection, we had 105 entries from 23 countries and the results will be announced by August 25. We have launched the National Outreach Coordinator (NOC) Funding Scheme for 2020 and, for the first time, our office will provide a dedicated funding scheme to our national coordinators. We are currently consulting and discussing with the community ways to improve this support.
Our IAU outreach community is growing. We want to welcome our 24 new National Outreach Coordinators that joined us in the last months and are actively engaged in astronomy outreach around the world.
In this issue, we welcome you to listen to the latest entries celebrating the International Year of Indigenous Languages, this time we highlight a sample from the numerous Malay native languages. We want to highlight the upcoming IAU AstroEDU conference at ESO Supernova Planetarium & Visitor Centre in Garching, Germany, and the Global Sky Partners Call, by the Las Cumbres Observatory.
Wishing you all clear skies and happy celebrations!
Lina Canas, on behalf of the IAU Office for Astronomy Outreach Team
1) Asteroid Bennu’s Features to be named after Mythical Birds
Working with NASA’s OSIRIS-REx team, the International Astronomical Union’s (IAU) Working Group for Planetary System Nomenclature (WGPSN) approved the theme “birds and bird-like creatures in mythology” for naming surface features on asteroid (101955) Bennu.
2) International Astronomical Union Approves Second Set of Pluto Feature Names
Several people and missions who paved the way for the historic exploration of Pluto and the Kuiper Belt — the farthest worlds ever explored — are honoured in the second set of official Pluto feature names approved by the International Astronomical Union (IAU), the international authority for naming celestial bodies and their surface features.
3) Celebrate Diversity with Astronomy: IAU100 "Under One Sky" in Malay
Help raise awareness of the alarming rate languages around the world are disappearing by highlighting the importance of astronomical knowledge of indigenous peoples and inspire other regions to take actions for the appreciation of our cultural diversity.
Our latest contribution to the project is from Malaysia, that celebrates with a sample of 16 Malay indigenous languages our IAU100 motto "Under One Sky". We would like to send our warm thanks to Nurul Fatini Jaafar for the amazing work collecting and recording. You can follow more efforts on Ethnographic Astronomy (in Malay) at https://www.facebook.com/Etnoastronomi.
4) The 17th Edition of the National Festival in Popular Astronomy, in Algeria
Since 2001, the National Festival in Popular Astronomy is held in Constantine, Algeria for the benefit of the general public and the astronomy community. The subject for this edition is "Under One Sky" in alignment with the IAU100 anniversary celebrating the excitement of the past century of astronomical discoveries and will highlight the important role of astronomy for education, as well as social and economical development. Implemented in over 100 countries, the organizers believe that the IAU celebrations are a great opportunity for astronomers, science communicators and educators around the world to reach out to the general public, policy-makers, teachers, students and inspire them about the wonders of the Universe. Other topics of the program include space science with an Astronomy and Space Fair, lectures and workshops.
The 2019 edition on the 3rd of October and a short description in English is available at the main webpage of the Festival: https://siriusalgeria.net/salon019.htm
5) XXVII Astronomy Week (SEMA), in Brazil
To debate astronomy topics, present the latest discoveries in the area and bring science closer to citizens, the Museum of Astronomy and Related Sciences (MAST) promoted the XXVII Astronomy Week (SEMA). The initiative took place from August 13 to 17 and attended by astronomers from various countries and research institutions, including a live virtual special appearance by the IAU President Ewine van Dishoeck. The theme of the twenty-seventh edition of SEMA was "The Pale Blue Dot", inspired by the famous astronomer's Carl Sagan's perspective on planet Earth and in alignment with the IAU100 celebrations “Under One Sky”.
Las Cumbres Observatory is pleased to announce that is accepting applications for new educational partners, Global Sky Partners, with projects to run between 1 December 2019 to 1 December 2020. The team is looking for people and groups with interesting, engaging, and innovative ideas for educational projects in astronomy, using the LCO 0.4m robotic telescope network. The deadline for submissions is 15 September 2019.
7) IAU Commission C1 and AstroEdu Conference on Astronomy Education: Bridging Research & Practice 2019
The field of astronomy education has grown significantly over the last few decades, with an increasing number of research articles published by a growing number of academic and practitioner groups. Despite this, there has been no regular international conference for astronomy education researchers and practitioners around the world to convene and discuss their work in the field. On the 16–18th September 2019, ESO will be hosting the first of a regular, biennial, Astronomy Education Conference with an aim to increase the quality, quantity, community and impact of astronomy education research and practice.
8) The 1st Shaw-IAU Workshop on “Astronomy for Education”
This year, the IAU will establish the Office of Astronomy for Education (OAE), whose objective is to provide structured support to astronomy education in all countries, providing training and resources to encourage using astronomy as a stimulus for teaching and education from primary to secondary school levels. An open call for Letters of Intent was issued, followed by an invitation for full proposals, and soon, the IAU will be in the process of reviewing proposals to host the OAE. The 1st Workshop will be held on the afternoon of 17 December 2019 through the morning of 19 December, at the IAP (Institute Astrophysique de Paris) auditorium near IAU Headquarters in Paris.
Here you can find a list of astronomy outreach & education conferences and events around the world. Plan ahead for a very special year for Astronomy, full of interesting events!
a) Astronomy Education Conference: Bridging Research & Practice
Date: 16-18 September 2019.
Location: Garching, Munich, Germany,
More Information: http://iau-dc-c1.org/astroedu-conference/
b) IAUS358: Astronomy for Equity, Diversity and Inclusion — a roadmap to action within the framework of IAU centennial anniversary
Date: 12-15 November 2019
Location: Tokyo, Japan
More information: https://iau-oao.nao.ac.jp/iaus358/
c) Art, Visualisation and the Cosmos in Education
Date 5-6 December 2019
Location: Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
d) Robotic Telescopes, Student Research and Education Conference
Date: 8-11 December 2019
Location: Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
More information: https://rtsre.net/
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 Martin Pawley, 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;
- Translations into Italian are available by Eleonora Piromalli, AstronomiAmo, from Italy here: https://www.astronomiamo.it/DivulgazioneAstronomica/Newsletter-IAU/last
- Translations into Russian are available by Artem Mokhnaktin, Central Astronomical Observatory of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Pulkovo. You can find the latest translations of the newsletter here.
- Translations into (European) Portuguese are available, carried out by Catarina Leote, João Ferreira & Jonas Souza through the Astronomy Translation Network (ATN) Portuguese Language Group (the previous issue can be found here).
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 2019
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 2019! 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.
You can send us your suggestions until the 4th (for issue #1) and the 17th (for issue #2) day of each month. We are looking forward to hearing from you.
