IAU Astronomy Outreach Newsletter

September 2014 #1

In this newsletter:

0. From the Editor
1. Vacancy announcement: IAU Assistant Outreach Coordinator
2. OAD-IUCAA Fellowship for African applicants
3. IYL2015: Launch of the website “Light: Beyond the Bulb”
4. Event: Star Party at the Alps near the border between Italy, France and Switzerland
5. Upcoming Meetings
6. Contributions to this newsletter

0) From the Editor

I am very happy to announce that we are hiring the position IAU Assistant Outreach Coordinator to be hosted at my office, IAU Office for Astronomy Outreach. This is a great opportunity for science communicators, please feel free to mail me any questions concerned towards the position. At the same time, OAD and IUCAA is offering the fellowship opportunity. I am currently at the 3rd Middle East African IAU Regional Meeting, meeting about 50 astronomers and students from the region, engaged a number of African astronomers to promote astronomy in their home country. It is also such a great time to see the region is developing.

Clear Skies,
Sze-leung Cheung @ Beirut, Lebanon
IAU Office for Astronomy Outreach

1) Vacancy announcement: IAU Assistant Outreach Coordinator

The International Astronomical Union (IAU) Office for Astronomy Outreach (OAO) is a hub for coordinating astronomy public outreach activities around the world, and was established following the success of the International Year of Astronomy 2009. The aim 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 the amateur astronomy and public outreach communities. The IAU OAO is located at the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan (NAOJ), Mitaka Campus, Tokyo, Japan.

The IAU and NAOJ now seek an excellent individual to join the OAO supporting the IAU International Outreach Coordinator (IOC) to carry out OAO mission. The IAU Assistant Outreach Coordinator will be appointed according to the normal conditions of service of the NAOJ employees and will report formally to the IAU-IOC and Director-General of the NAOJ. This is a contract position for three years, with the possibility of renewal subject to performance.

Information: https://www.iau.org/news/announcements/detail/ann14023/

2) OAD-IUCAA Fellowship for African applicants

The IAU Office of Astronomy for Development (OAD) and its partner, Inter-University Centre for Astronomy and Astrophysics (IUCAA), are searching for exceptional individuals looking to grow their scientific and teaching/communication skills. Through the OAD-IUCAA partnership individuals will be awarded the travel and local costs for a visiting fellowship at the IUCAA headquarters in India. This fellowship will initially be open only to applicants from the African continent. Application deadline is 20 September 2014.

More information: http://www.astro4dev.org/partners/iucaa/oad-iucaa-fellowship

3) IYL2015: Launch of the website “Light: Beyond the Bulb”

We are pleased to announce the preliminary launch of the website for “Light: Beyond the Bulb” (http://lightexhibit.org), which has been selected as an IAU cornerstone project for the upcoming Cosmic Light Project of the International Year of Light 2015. Led by the same team and using the same model as “From Earth to the Universe” for IYA 2009, “Light: Beyond the Bulb” will be a free, curated set of publicly available images and captions that can be used for exhibitions and displays for IYL. If you are interested in hosting an exhibit and/or helping with translations of the captions into different languages, please contact Kimberly Arcand (kkowal@cfa.harvard.edu).

4) Event: Star Party at the Alps near the border between Italy, France and Switzerland

The 23rd edition of the Star Party in Saint-Barthélemy at the Alps near the border between Italy, France and Switzerland, will take place in the weekend Friday 26-Sunday 28 September 2014. Organized by the Fondazione Clément Fillietroz-ONLUS and Gruppo B Editore for the communication, the event will schedule observations of the Sun and the night sky, guided tours at the Astronomical Observatory of the Autonomous Region of the Aosta Valley, shows at the Planetarium of Lignan, public lectures. In addition, the Star Party will host the 1st edition of the Astronomical Science & TechnologyEXPO (AS&T-EXPO, www.starparty.it, in Italian), a national-level exhibition where manufacturers, suppliers and vendors will show their latest products in a special workshop, while professionals and researchers will give seminars about state-of-the-art science and technology topics, from astronomy to astrophotography and technology transfer.

More information: www.starparty.it (Italian only)

5) Upcoming Meetings

1. 44th Young European Radio Astronomers Conference
   Date: 8–12 September 2014
   Location: Toruń Centre for Astronomy, Nicolaus Copernicus University, Poland
   More Information: http://yerac2014.astro.uni.torun.pl

2. Astronomy Education Alliance Meeting
   Date: 8–12 September 2014
   Location: Cascais, Portugal
   More Information: http://handsonuniverse.org/astroeducation/

3. The 29th IAU General Assembly
   Date: 3–14 August 2015
   Location: Honolulu, Hawai'i
   More information: http://astronomy2015.org/

6) Contribution to this newsletter

We are looking for news for astronomical education and outreach events, if you are organizing any large scale events at regional and international levels, offering position for astronomy education or communications, having any special innovative projects or inspiring stories, or created any educational resources, please send us an email at outreach@iau.org.