It’s been a busy, busy time at the IAU Office for Astronomy Outreach as the IAUS358: Astronomy for Equity, Diversity and Inclusion symposium took place, from 12-15 November from Mitaka, Japan. 124 people from 31 countries joined the first IAU symposium solely dedicated to the matters of diversity and inclusion within the astronomy community.
In this newsletter, we highlight many projects that are greatly increasing public engagement in astronomy: an agreement with our Palestinian NOC to increase astronomy education in schools, the latest release of the CAPjournal, a science and art exhibit curated by the IAU President, among many other exciting events. Check out the rest of the newsletter to learn more about a number of global citizen science projects happening that you can get involved in.
Wishing you all clear skies,
Lina Canas & Izumi Hansen, on behalf of the IAU Office for Astronomy Outreach Team
1) CAPjournal Issue 26 Now Available
The issue 26 of the Communicating Astronomy with the Public (CAP) journal is out! This issue covers increasing accessibility within the entire astronomy field, using social media to increase eclipse interest in Malaysia, and how the outreach campaign for the first image with a black hole came together.
2) IAU President Curates Art and Science Exhibition in Leiden, the Netherlands
“The Cosmos: Art and Knowledge” exhibition combining science and art, curated by IAU President Professor Ewine van Dishoeck of Leiden University, is open in the Netherlands. The exhibit is featured at the Rijksmuseum Boerhaave in Leiden, the Netherlands from 10 October 2019 to 15 March 2020.
3) Connecting Dark Sky Communities in New Zealand and Worldwide
At the end of October 2019 the New Zealand Starlight Conference took place in Tekapo. Endorsed by the International Dark-Sky Association (IDA), the independently organised meeting invited all people concerned about the preservation of dark skies to participate, and addressed the many and varied impacts of light pollution.
The 2020 observation dates for Globe at Night, a citizen science project recording light pollution, have been announced.
The November 2019 campaign is from 18-27 November 2019 for the constellation of Perseus, the gorgon slayer. So far this year, citizen scientists from around the world have contributed 9,307 data points. Help the project reach the goal of 15,000 data points in 2019!
The Harvard Observation Project (HOP) provides free observing sessions on-campus with the 0.4m Clay Telescope. The goal of the program is to not only give students an opportunity to learn to use the telescope (and give graduate students more opportunities to work with undergraduates) but also to collect meaningful data useful to the science community.
Each semester HOP chooses a new topic to focus on and takes in observers through an online sign-up. This semester focused on exoplanets, following up on TESS observations. Past topics have included supernova, asteroids, and Tabby’s star.
This program happens in-person at Harvard University in Boston, Massachusetts, USA and does not include monetary assistance for observers.
6) Palestinian NOC Signs Governmental Agreement to Increase Astronomy Education in Palestine
The Minister of Education in Palestine signed an agreement with the IAU National Outreach Coordinator for Palestine, Dawoud Tarawa, and the Palestinian Astronomical Society (AAA) to increase astronomy in schools in Palestine. This three-year agreement includes teacher training, establishing astronomy clubs, and developing curriculum, among other activities supervised by experts and specialists in astronomy. Congratulations to Dawoud for his excellent work!
The 14th Asia-Pacific Regional IAU Meeting (APRIM) will happen from 6-10 July 2020 in Perth, Australia.
Delegates from across the Asia-Pacific region will gather to present the latest astronomical and space research across a variety of fields to a broad but regionally-focused audience, make new connections and initiate new collaborations.
8) IAU100 Name ExoWorlds Global Project Conducts Over 100 National Competitions
The NameExoWorlds global project has received international participation and media coverage. Thousands of names have been submitted to respective national campaigns to name a designated exoplanet and its host star.
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!
b) 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.
