IAU Astronomy Outreach Newsletter

2016 #5 March #1

In this newsletter:

  1. From the Editors
  2. 1st workshop on Astronomy Beyond the Common Senses for Accessibility and Inclusion
  3. IAU National Outreach Contact Corner: News from Australia
  4. Beyond Cosmic Light: Constellation shines across South America
  5. Eratosthenes experiment
  6. Visions of the Future by NASA/JPL
  7. Summer School Alpbach
  8. Galileo Teacher Training Program - Resource of the Week
  9. Win a Trip to Paranal with the Photo Nightscape Awards 2016
  10. Meetings & global events for 2016
      11. a. Recently added
      b. Important deadlines
      c. Upcoming
  11. Contributions to IAU Outreach Newsletter for 2016

 

0) From the Editors

In this issue, mark the date for the Eratosthenes experiment, and enjoy the excellent photos from IAU endorsed project Constellation by GalileoMobile. A huge thank you to our National Outreach Contacts who provide us with important news from their countries.

On March 9 Indonesia will be the place to see the total solar eclipse. The volunteer program set up by our office will gather tens of volunteers who will travel to Ternate and conduct a workshop on March 7. The activities will reach 500 students and teachers from 164 schools. Two hundred teachers will be trained to teach their students back in school.

The IAU - Office of Astronomy for Development has a vacancy for an Astronomer in its office in Cape Town; this is still open, so don’t miss the chance to be a part of OAD’s fantastic team. The selection process will begin on 15 March 2016.

Clear Skies!
Lina Canas & Sze-leung Cheung
IAU Office for Astronomy Outreach

1) 1st workshop on Astronomy Beyond the Common Senses for Accessibility and Inclusion

IAU Commission C1, in particular Working Group 3: Astronomy for Equity and Inclusion, announced the first workshop on Astronomy Beyond the Common Senses for Accessibility and Inclusion. The workshop will be developed as part of IAU LARIM 2016, on October 8th, in Cartagena de Indias, Colombia. This is an interdisciplinary meeting with participation from astronomers, educators and disability specialists. The workshop will provide an opportunity to develop new strategies, work toward specific objectives, share experiences, discuss recent applications, and participate in workshops designed for audiences with disabilities. Any queries may be sent by email to the chairs of the OC: Wanda Díaz-Merced (SOC): wanda.diaz.merced@gmail.com and Santiago Vargas (LOC): svargasd@unal.edu.co.

Learn more about the workshop here: http://sion.frm.utn.edu.ar/iau-inclusion/

2) IAU National Outreach Contact Corner: News from Australia

a) The Astronomical Society of Australia’s Education and Public Outreach Chapter (EPOC) held a two-day workshop in Melbourne on 17 - 18 February. Themes included “Engaging with and through the Media”, “Effective Engagement with Schools”, “Public Outreach” and sessions on communicating with Government and Industry. This inaugural event attracted 45 participants including research astronomers, astronomy outreach, education and communication specialists, and students. Breakout sessions and panel sessions provided participants with plenty of opportunity to discuss issues, identify priorities and map out future endeavours for the Australian astronomy outreach and education community.  Excursions to Melbourne Planetarium and the Victorian Space Science Education Centre allowed participants to experience world-class facilities.

For details on the workshop visit: https://asaepoc.wordpress.com/2016-epoc-workshop/

Future workshops are planned.

b) Australia’s biggest public astronomy event is on again in Western Australia this year. March 12th will see telescopes, astronomers and more out on show for thousands of members of the Perth public. As well as optical and radio telescopes observing throughout the day and night, Astrofest will feature interesting and exciting indoor and outdoor activities for everyone. Since 2009, Perth’s Astrofest has spread throughout Western Australia, and other events have started across Australia.

Learn more here. http://www.astronomywa.net.au/astrofest.html

3) Beyond Cosmic Light: Constellation shines across South America

GalileoMobile is a non-profit, itinerant, science-education initiative. In 2015, they began to implement Constellation, a project endorsed by IAU under the umbrella of Cosmic Light. Constellation aims to establish a  network of South American schools committed to the long-term organisation of astronomical outreach activities amongst their pupils and local communities. The Constellation program involves twenty schools in six countries (Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru).

See the “Constellation” gallery for the latest images of GalileoMobile activities: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10153076757397683.1073741854.121043282682&type=3

4) Eratosthenes experiment

On March 21 schools around the world will participate in the Eratosthenes experiment to record data and calculate the circumference of the Earth. All registered schools can join in, along with a partner school. If you belong to one of these schools, you can also participate in the Eratosthenes online lesson and photo contests.

Learn more: http://eratosthenes.ea.gr/

5) Visions of the Future by NASA/JPL

Following last year’s JPL's Exoplanet Travel Bureau series, the design and strategy team that works with JPL scientists and engineers proved once again that imagination truly is our window into the future. With Visions of the Future, exotic cosmic locations are available as space tourism posters: you can take a virtual trip to 14 alien worlds or even adorn your house with planetary art. The new travel posters are available free for downloading and printing.

Learn more: http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.php?feature=5052

6) Summer School Alpbach

Sixty European engineering and science students will be chosen to participate in the 40th Summer School Alpbach. In this ten-day learning opportunity held in Alpbach/Tyrol in Austria, from July 12 to 21, the successful participants will be part of in an in-depth learning experience. This year’s theme is “Satellite Observations of the Global Water Cycle”. Over ten days participants will attend lectures on various aspects of space science and technology and will work intensely in smaller groups to define and design a space mission, all under the supervision of noted scientific and engineering experts.

Learn more about this summer school: http://www.summerschoolalpbach.at/

7) Galileo Teacher Training Program - Resource of the Week

The Galileo Teacher Training Program is relaunching "Resource of the Week". Every week teachers will have access to an inquiry-based resource which they can use in a classroom context. Each of the educational resources is carefully selected from major repositories such as Go-Lab, Inspiring Science Education, and astroEDU, and is accompanied by a lesson plan that gives the educator guidelines on how to implement the resource in class.

You can check all resources here: http://on.fb.me/1OO71th

8) Win a Trip to Paranal with the Photo Nightscape Awards 2016

Take part in the third Photo Nightscape Awards (PNA) —  an international competition for astrophotographers organised by Ciel et Espace Photos. The European Southern Observatory (ESO) is a partner in the contest and will arrange for the winner of the Nightscape category to visit the Paranal Observatory in northern Chile, home of the Very Large Telescope (VLT). The deadline for submitting the photos is 30 September 2016.

Learn more: http://www.eso.org/public/usa/announcements/ann16009/.

9) Meetings & global events for 2016

Here is a list of astronomy outreach & education conferences and events for 2016.

a. Recently added

Starlight, Beyond Light Pollution 2016 Conference
Date: 2-10 July 2016
Location: La Palma, Canary Islands, Spain
More information: www.astro-travels.com/La-Palma-Starlight-2016.html

b. Important deadlines

Communicating Astronomy with the Public 2016 conference
Deadline for Standard Fee: 30 March, 2016
Date: 16—20 May 2016
Location: Medellín, Colombia
More Information: http://bit.ly/1OO3A5S

c. Upcoming

a) Global Astronomy Month
Date: April 2016
Location: All around the world
More information: http://www.astronomerswithoutborders.org/

b) Yuri’s Night
Date: 12 April
Location: All around the world
More information: https://yurisnight.net/

c) 9th International Meeting of Astronomy and Astronautics
Date: 14—16 April 2016
Location: Campos de Goytacazes, Brazil
More Information: http://9imaa.eventbrite.com/

d) Robotic Telescopes in Education workshop
Date: 18—19 April 2016
Location: Leiden, the Netherlands

More Information: https://lcogt.net/blog/robotic-telescopes-in-education-workshop/

f) International Meteor Conference (IMC) 2016
Date: 2—5 June 2016
Location: Egmond, Netherlands
More Information: http://imc2016.imo.net/

g) International Planetarium Society Conference
Date: 19—25 June 2016
Location: Warsaw, Poland
More Information: http://www.ips2016.org/

h) .Astronomy 8
Date: 21—23 June 2016
Location: Oxford, United Kingdom
More Information: http://dotastronomy.com/events/eight/

i) SPIE Astronomical Telescopes +Instrumentation 2016
Date: 26 June – 1 July 2016
Location: Edinburgh International Conference Centre, Edinburgh, United Kingdom
More Information: http://spie.org/SPIE-ASTRONOMY-conference

j) Royal Astronomical Society National Astronomy Meeting 2016
Date: 27 June to 1 July 2016
Location: Nottingham, United Kingdom
More Information: https://www.ras.org.uk/news-and-press/2730-national-astronomy-meeting-2016

l) European Week of Astronomy and Space Science (EWASS)
Date: 4—8 July 2016
Location: Athens, Greece
More Information: http://eas.unige.ch/EWASS2016/

m) International Astronomical Youth Camp (IAYC)
Date: 24 July to 13 August
Location:  Exmoor National Park, Somerset, UK
More information: http://www.iayc.org/

n) 41st COSPAR Scientific Assembly
Date: 30 July — 7 August 2016
Location: Istanbul, Turkey
More Information: https://cosparhq.cnes.fr/content/cospar-2016-0

o) Global Hands-On Universe Conference (GHOU 2016) & Galileo Teacher Training Program (GTTP) International Workshop
Date: 22 to 27 August 2016
Location: Stord, Norway
More information: http://handsonuniverse.org/ghou2016/registration/

p) Twenty Fourth Annual Conference (SEAC 2016)
Date: 12–16 September 2016
Location: Bath, England
More Information: http://www.seac2016.com/

q) International Conference on Artificial Light at Night (ALAN 2016)
Date: 26—28 September 2016
Location: Cluj, Napoca, Romania
More Information: http://www.artificiallightatnight.org/

r) LARIM 2016: XV Latin American Regional IAU Meeting
Date: 3—7 October, 2016
Location: Cartagena de Indias, Colombia
More Information: http://larim.unal.edu.co/

s) IAU Symposia IAUS 326: Research in Astronomy Education: Far-reaching Impacts and Future Directions
Date: 4–7 October 2016  - CANCELLED -
Location: Heidelberg, Germany
More Information: http://www.caperteam.com/iaus326/

t) International Observe the Moon Night
Date: 8 October 2016
Location: All around the world
More Information: http://observethemoonnight.org/

u) DPS-EPSC Joint Meeting 2016
Date: 16—21 October 2016
Location: Pasadena, CA, United States
More Information: http://www.epsc2015.eu/

v) IX International Conference on Oriental Astronomy
Date: 15–18 November 2016
Location: Pune, India
More Information: http://icoa2016.tifr.res.in

Have we missed something? Then share your astronomy outreach and education international meetings or events with us via outreach@iau.org.

10) Contributions to IAU Outreach Newsletter for 2016

Here at the IAU Office for Astronomy Outreach, we are always looking for more news about astronomical education and outreach events around the world. Please continue to share your stories with us in 2016! If you are organizing any 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.