IAU Outreach Newsletter

April 2013

In this newsletter:

  1. Global Astronomy Month 2013: Global Star Party
  2. Translating Galaxy Zoo
  3. KLM Competition: Win a Spaceflight
  4. Silicon Valley Astronomy Lectures Now on YouTube
  5. Call for Abstracts for “Planetary Science for Inclusion” at EPSC 2013
  6. Call to Action: A Touch of The Universe
  7. Synergy Moon – Above and Beyond
  8. Upcoming events
  9. Issue 13 of CAP Journal is Now Available


1) Global Astronomy Month 2013: Global Star Party

As part of Global astronomy Month this April, Astronomers Without Borders (AWB) is organising a Global Star Party, which will take place on 20 April. Head out under the stars and join your brother and sister skywatchers in living the words of the AWB slogan, “One People, One Sky”. You can share your experience with the world on Facebook or the Flickr group and Tweet using #GAM2013 hashtag (@gam_awb).

More information: http://goo.gl/9U1BX


2) Translating Galaxy Zoo

Zooniverse is inviting people to contribute to translating its citizen science project Galaxy Zoo into national languages.

From the Zooniverse blog: “It’s always a good feeling a be making a codebase open and today it’s time to push the latest version of Galaxy Zoo into the open. As I talked about in my blog post a couple of months ago, making open source code the default for Zooniverse is good for everyone involved with the project. One significant benefit of making code open is that from here on out it’s going to be much easier to have Zooniverse projects translated into your favourite language.”

For full instructions about how to get involved, please visit the Zooniverse blog.

More information: http://goo.gl/MDKP0


3) KLM Competition: Win a Spaceflight

From KLM: “Are you ready to win the ultimate journey of inspiration? Join the challenge before April 22nd. On that date we will launch a high-altitude balloon. It will carry a precious cargo: a ticket to space. Predict the location of its highest point and claim it as your place. If your guess is closest, you will win the journey of a lifetime: a spaceflight.”

More information: http://space.klm.com/

4) Silicon Valley Astronomy Lectures Now on YouTube

From Andrew Fraknoi: “We are happy to announce that the Silicon Valley Astronomy Lectures, featuring noted scientists giving non-technical illustrated lectures on recent developments in astronomy, are now available on its own YouTube Channel. The talks include Frank Drake, discussing his modern view of the Drake Equation, and Michael Brown, explaining how his discovery of Eris led to the demotion of Pluto. The lectures are taped at Foothill College near San Francisco, and co-sponsored by NASA’s Ames Research Center, the SETI Institute, and the Astronomical Society of the Pacific.

“Note that the top page of the channel shows the lectures in the order they happened to be uploaded to YouTube. If you want to see them in chronological order, select the Playlist option.”

More information: http://www.youtube.com/SVAstronomyLectures/


5) Call for Abstracts for “Planetary Science for Inclusion” at EPSC2013

Researchers, communicators and educators are invited to submit abstracts on their work to the ‘Planetary Science for Inclusion’ session for European Planetary Science Conference (EPSC) 2013.

From the event organisers: “Planetary Science is one of the most exciting fields in astronomy, engaging many enthusiasts around the world. The need for activities and resources dedicated to all and sensitive to the special needs among the different audiences is paramount. From social inclusion, to better cognitive and orthopedically accessible experiences, a great deal has been accomplished so far regarding activities and resources in astronomy for people with special needs. This session will be a time to share the most innovative and inspiring resources and best practices developed within the community around the world, to join and share efforts in taking astronomy and planetary science to all.”

Closing date for abstract submissions: 6 May

More information: http://goo.gl/e3M8N


6) Call to Action: A Touch of The Universe

From Thilina Heenatigala: “The beauty of the Universe never fails to amaze us. From poets, artists to astronomers and public, we all have been fascinated by its beauty. But, take a step back and think! What about people with vision impairments?

“According to the World Health Organisation, about 285 million people have some degree of visual impairment. About 39 million are blind, and 246 million are visually impaired. About 90% of them live in developing countries of Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Pacific Regions, and they are 10 times more likely to go blind than those in developed countries.

“To address this much neglected area, under the framework of Universal Design of Learning (UDL), we have created ‘A Touch of The Universe’ project. It aims to build 30 sets of tactile astronomy KITS for children with vision impairments. But we need your support to complete the project.”

If you would like to support the project, you can make a donation on the project’s website. You can also support the project by circulating the call amongst your friends, promoting it on your social media networks and blogging about it.

More information: http://astrokit.uv.es


7) Synergy Moon – Above and Beyond

From iUniverse Science Communication: “Synergy Moon – Above and Beyond will present the story of the first privately funded competition, the Google Lunar X Prize, to land a robotic spacecraft on the Moon by 2015 and follow the Synergy Moon Team on their quest to reach that goal. Team Synergy Moon was named through its Synergy between its team members, and as part of our mission goals through our education and outreach we aim to engage as many people as possible in making space accessible to all, giving you the opportunity to become part of the team.

“That’s why we are inviting you to send in your video clips, poems, art, and creative expression to contribute to the documentary and join us on this amazing journey. Imagine ‘Life in a Day’ and ‘One Day on Earth’ with a space theme – that’s what we are aiming for!”

Closing date for submissions: 14 June

More information: http://goo.gl/jBzzR


8) Upcoming events

a) Global Astronomy Month, 1-30 April
Location: Global
More information: http://goo.gl/BmTZ7

b) Nairobi Science Hack Day, 3-5 May
Location: Nairobi
More information: http://www.sciencehackday.or.ke/

For more events, please visit our EPO Events Calendar.

9) Issue 13 of CAP Journal is Now Available

Issue 13 of the IAU’s peer-reviewed journal ‘Communicating Astronomy with the Public’ is now available online:http://www.capjournal.org/issues/13/

The print edition is available for free to science communicators, libraries, journalists, educators and others working within science communication. To subscribe, visit: http://www.capjournal.org/subscription.php

 

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