The IAU intends to bring the outreach community together around the International Day of Light celebrations on May 16, by promoting online events related to dark and quiet skies awareness around the world.
During May, one of our focal points will be Globe@Night Campaigns, starting on May 14 and running for 10 nights. During this time of confinement, we ask the public to safely to look up and take measurements in these five easy steps. Globe at Night is an international citizen-science campaign to raise public awareness of the impact of light pollution by inviting citizen-scientists to measure and submit their night sky brightness observations.
Additionally, you can also join our IAU Dark Skies Ambassadors network. The IAU Dark Skies Ambassadors is a program that invites keen enthusiasts worldwide to be dark sky advocates. The IAU Dark Skies Ambassadors organise actions in their communities. Joining the program creates a peer-supporting environment and provide visibility of your efforts internationally.
As the world struggles to contain the spread of COVID-19 we are adapting many of our IAU outreach programs related to dark and quiet skies awareness to a fully online framework, doing whatever we can to help tackle this pandemic as well as its collateral effects on society.
Wishing you and your families and friends all our best and thanking you for all your efforts, Lina Canas, on behalf of the IAU Office for Astronomy Outreach Team
Constance Walker, on behalf of the IAU Commission Protection of Existing and Potential Observatory Sites
Bethany Downer, IDL2020 Outreach and Communications Coordinator