We hope you will join the Office for Astronomy Outreach (OAO) this May as we celebrate the preservation and protection of our Dark and Quiet Skies. We will host various events and opportunities, and we hope you will tell us about your work through our dedicated Events Calendar. Stay tuned to our website for more information about how you can get involved individually and with your communities.
The OAO is still seeking an International Outreach Officer and Deputy Director! The two positions are full-time and based in Mitaka, Tokyo, at the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan (NAOJ); remote or hybrid positions are not available. In addition to a collaborative work environment, you’ll benefit from the unwavering support of NAOJ staff to get you settled in Mitaka. If you or someone you know is interested in joining the OAO family, please apply before 17 May to be considered.
Two conferences this year—Communicating Astronomy with the Public 2024 in June and the IAU General Assembly in August—are shaping up to be excellent opportunities for networking and sharing best practices about astronomy communication, engagement, and collaboration. We hope you will join us at one or both of these opportunities. If you do, come visit us and say hello! We are always glad to meet people in our extended network.
Below, you will find that, as always, our National Outreach Coordinators are engaging their communities with astronomy in unique and creative ways. The OAO is recruiting new NOCs from a select group of countries; please apply using the link below if you are an active astronomy communicator with nationwide networks.
Finally, for those lucky enough to witness the 2024 solar eclipse – in person or via a live stream – we hope you will cherish the memory for years to come. For those of you who missed it, be sure to listen to the sonification below.
May your skies be dark and quiet,
Kelly Blumenthal, on behalf of the IAU Office for Astronomy Outreach Team
Dark and Quiet Skies 2024
The Dark and Quiet Skies Global Outreach Project raises awareness about the need to preserve dark and quiet skies. These two elements – dark and quiet – go hand-in-hand but refer to two different types of interference. Dark sky protection refers to the abatement of light pollution caused by artificial light at night by regional and national policy and law, in addition to public awareness. More recently, dark sky protection has also included the protection of the night sky from optical and infrared impacts (such as trails seen in images) resulting from the growing number of satellites in Low Earth Orbit. On the other hand, quiet sky protection refers to the threat posed by the radio interference of the same satellite constellations. The threats related to satellites are the primary concern of our partner, the IAU Centre for the Protection of the Dark and Quiet Sky from Satellite Constellation Interference (CPS).
Through this project, people will learn about the importance of dark and quiet skies for human culture, heritage, and health, as well as for the health of our ecosystems and for astronomy research.
1) Join the OAO Family!
The OAO is excited to announce a call for two job openings: Deputy Director and International Outreach Officer. Both positions are full-time and will be based at the OAO, located at the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan (NAOJ), Mitaka Campus, Tokyo, Japan. Remote working will not be considered for either position.
A joint venture of the IAU and NAOJ, the OAO is a hub for coordinating astronomy-related public outreach activities around the world. The Office’s mission is to make it easier for the public to access information about our Universe and local and global astronomy events while building networks to support and disseminate information to amateur astronomy and public outreach communities, primarily through its network of National Outreach Coordinators (NOCs).
2) Registration is Still Open for the Communicating Astronomy with the Public Conference 2024! This year, the Communicating with the Public Conference will be held from 24 to 28 June online and in person at Cité de l’espace in Toulouse, France. The Scientific Organising Committee is working hard to put together an excellent programme that is sure to be exciting and enriching for our participants. Registration is still open for both online and in-person participation! We look forward to seeing you in June!
3) Join the OAO at the IAU General Assembly The Office for Astronomy Outreach will host three sessions during the IAU General Assembly this August in Cape Town, South Africa: Ten Years of the NOCs Network, featuring talks and posters from our National Outreach Coordinators; Amateur Astronomy and Astronomy Communication, a session about collaborations in astronomy communication, hosted together with the Working Group on Professional-Amateur Relations in Astronomy; and Innovations in Astronomy Communication, dedicated to promoting creative ways of engaging your publics with astronomy. The OAO will also be represented during two joint sessions with the other Offices, in addition to a panel discussion during the Working Group for Junior Members session and the joint IAU booth in the exhibit hall. Registration for the IAU General Assembly is still open; come find us and learn about how you can get involved with the OAO!
5) Global Sky Clubs Las Cumbres Observatory (LCO) is offering the opportunity for astronomy clubs in schools to use robotic telescopes for projects or investigations - Global Sky Clubs. LCO provides 10 hours of time on its 10 x 0.4m telescope network exclusively for projects in schools and involving school students. The program runs for 6 months, starting 1 August 2024.
6) Updates from the IAU National Outreach Coordinators (NOCs)
a) Egypt
In collaboration with several local astronomy and science organisations, NOC Egypt, Somaya Saad, held an event discussing the many astronomical events that will take place in 2024.
b) Haiti
The NOC Haiti Team is dedicated to making astronomical knowledge accessible to everyone in their country. This month, they produced many videos that are available in Haitian and French. These include videos describing the planet Mars, reviewing the age of the Earth, explaining why we have leap years, detailing solar eclipses in honour of the recent eclipse, and challenging people to learn more about the stars.
c) Indonesia
The NOC Indonesia and a team of other astronomy communicators, including the NAEC Indonesia, continued working on an astronomy dictionary. In March, this team compiled a list of 500 words for the Language Development and Fostering Agency under the Indonesian Ministry of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology. Their goal is to create an astronomy dictionary that is approved by the agency and to add the terms to the Indonesian Dictionary.
d) Syria
The Syrian Astronomical Society, our NOC for Syria, held an interdisciplinary event at the Damascus Opera House in collaboration with several other organisations to make astronomy more accessible through art and music.
7) Opportunities
a) Join the NOCs Network!
The IAU National Outreach Coordinators (NOCs) are national-level representatives for the IAU Office for Astronomy Outreach (OAO). Members of the network act as a point-of-contact for astronomy outreach for a country or territory, and such must have access to a nationwide network of astronomy communicators. NOCs support the implementation of IAU OAO projects on a national level, share astronomy news and events within their country, and bridge the IAU with local communities. In the process, they receive outreach support from the IAU OAO, such as access to the NOCs Funding Scheme and a connection with the global network of NOCs. The OAO is currently looking for NOCs to represent select countries.
b) European Southern Observatory (ESO) Internships
Science Communication
Do you have experience in science writing, communication or journalism? The team at ESO is looking for interns to engage with cutting-edge science to produce materials for a broad audience. This 6-month internship is based in Garching, Germany, and remote or hybrid internships are not offered. Click here to join the ESO team in a science communication internship!
Science Presenter at Supernova
Interested in learning about working in a museum and interacting face-to-face with members of the public? This 6-month internship is based in Garching, Germany, and remote or hybrid internships are not offered. Be a part of a science presenter internship with the ESO team at Supernova!
How a Solar Eclipse Proved Einstein's Relativity? [Urdu/Hindi]
Solar eclipses have had a fundamental impact on the nature of our Universe and the physical laws that govern it. In this video, Salman Hameed explains the link between solar eclipses and the fabric of our Universe.
b) Listen to the Solar Eclipse
To sonify data means to convert parts or all of a data set into sound. This can be done for anything from galaxies in a deep field image to investigating planetary nebulae in multiple wavelengths to scanning across the centre of the Milky Way to solar eclipses. Musicians at the Exploratorium in San Francisco, California, created a live sonification of the recent solar eclipse.
9) IAU Office for Astronomy Outreach Newsletter in Non-English Languages
* A note to our subscribers looking for live translations: this month's Newsletter came at a particularly busy time. Please allow our translators about a week to produce the translations below. Thank you for your understanding and patience!
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 of the OAO Newsletter into Galician until March 2023 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.
10) 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!
