IAU Astronomy Outreach Newsletter

2016 #12 June #3

In this newsletter:

0. From the Editors
1. IAU Office of Astronomy for Development Newsletter #12
2. CAP2016 Conference - Presentations now online
3. Beyond Cosmic Light: Quality Lighting Teaching Kit
4. National Outreach Contact (NOC) Corner: News from the USA
5. Celebrate the 4th of July with Juno!
6. The Arab Conference of Astronomy and Geophysics
7. Astronomy PH
8. 7th International Earth and Sky Photo Contest
9. Meetings & global events for 2016
   a. Recently added
   b. Important deadlines
   c. Upcoming
10. IAU Astronomy Outreach Newsletter in other languages
11. Contributions to IAU Outreach Newsletter for 2016

0) From the Editors

In this issue, we highlight the Quality Lighting Teaching kit Hangouts sessions by Dr. Constance Walker from the National Optical Astronomy Observatory (NOAO). The kit is a legacy of the International Year of Light 2015 special program Cosmic Light. If you still haven’t had a chance to see the winners of the Earth and Sky Photo Contest, please do — you will love this new set of incredible photos celebrating our profound relationship with the night sky. And with 4 July almost here, get ready to celebrate Juno’s arrival at Jupiter!

We would like to take this opportunity to highlight the work of the Japanese Amateur Astronomy Association (JAAA) who are currently translating our newsletter from English into Japanese — a huge thank you from our team to the JAAA! And would anyone who wants to translate the IAU outreach newsletter into their native language please let us know and we will provide  as much support as we can.

Last but not least, we would like to thank once again the IAU National Outreach Contacts and our readers for continuing to share national astronomy outreach and education news with us.

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

1) IAU Office of Astronomy for Development Newsletter #12

The IAU OAD Newsletter #12 is now online. It is issued quarterly by the IAU Office of Astronomy for Development (OAD), and there you can learn about the latest activities of the OAD. Highlights of this issue include the award of the Edinburgh Medal jointly to the OAD Director and the IAU, the Inauguration of the Portuguese Language Office of Astronomy for Development, and Celebrating UK/South Africa Science Excellence.

Learn more here: us10.campaign-archive1.com/?u=66c129a9091b286b3646f358c&id=67d12dad60&e=

The newsletter is also available in pdf form on the IAU Office of Astronomy for Development website at www.astro4dev.org/media/newsletters/

2) CAP2016 Conference - Presentations now online

The presentations given during the Communicating Astronomy with the Public conference in Medellín, Colombia, are now available on the conference website. There you will find, in downloadable format (.pdf), many of the latest initiatives in astronomy outreach and communication around the world, as presented at one of the most important meetings of its kind, organised by commission IAU C2 (Division C Education, Outreach and Heritage) - Communicating Astronomy with the Public.

Find more information here: bit.ly/1V9rkoJ

3) Beyond Cosmic Light: Quality Lighting Teaching Kit

The Quality Lighting Teaching kit is an initiative directly supported by the IAU during the International Year of Light (IYL2015). The concepts and practices of quality lighting are explored through problem-based learning and hands-on/minds-on activities. The kit’s six activities use quality lighting to solve realistic problems concerning how light pollution affects our daily lives and surroundings. So far 87 IAU/IYL Quality Lighting Teaching kits have been provided to 29 countries. The impact is amplified by the provision of professional development using a tutorial video created at NOAO and by question and answer sessions for program instructors conducted via Google+ Hangouts .

See the schedule below and, depending on the region of the globe you are in, choose the most convenient session.

Learn more about the Quality Lighting Teaching kit here: www.noao.edu/education/qltkit.php

4) National Outreach Contact (NOC) Corner: News from the USA

This July, Tufts University in Medford, MA, USA will host a series of three Workshops in Space Exploration (WiSE). These activity-rich workshops are intended for science educators, students, and enthusiasts. Each four-day workshop will be led by Bill Waller and Claudine Kavanagh and will include special presentations by Danilo Marchesini and other researchers at Tufts, Harvard, MIT, and others.

For more information and to register, please see bit.ly/1UwSJF1.

5) Celebrate the 4th of July with Juno!

NASA's Juno mission will arrive at Jupiter by 4 July 2016. The spacecraft will use special instruments to peer beneath the gaseous outer parts of the giant planet and reveal its mysteries — and in so doing unveil fascinating insights into the entire solar system. As celebrations take place around the world, such as Europlanet’s Juno public event in Greece, NASA has prepared a set of resources and activities, so everyone gets to learn more about this exciting event. Here you can find rich multimedia experiences, fly along with Juno, Juno citizen science, education guides, infographics, and much more.

Find out where Juno is right now here: www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/juno/where; or if you are an amateur astronomer participate in this contest: www.missionjuno.swri.edu/junocam/

Planning something special for your 4 July with Juno? Share with us via outreach@iau.org.

6) The Arab Conference of Astronomy and Geophysics

The National Research Institute of Astronomy and Geophysics (NRIAG) will organise the fifth Arab Conference of Astronomy and Geophysics in Helwan, Cairo, Egypt between 17 and 20 October 2016. The programme will feature a session on Historical Astronomy, in which articles related to the history of astronomy in the Arabic countries will be welcomed. NRIAG is one of the oldest observatories in the Arabic countries region, having been established in the eighteen hundreds.

Learn more about the conference here: acag-conf.org/

7) Astronomy PH

The Astronomy PH is a non-profit collaborative astronomy e-zine that showcases the different astronomy organizations and institutions throughout the Philippine archipelago to foster communication and collaboration between the community and the general public. This astronomy e-zine is freely available (in English) to the international community online and is produced by GAIA under its Open Research and Collaborative Learning Experience (ORACLE) program.

You can find the current issue here: guildastro.blogspot.jp/p/blog-page.html

Learn more about the project here: guildastro.blogspot.jp/

8) 7th International Earth and Sky Photo Contest

The 7th International Earth and Sky Photo Contest took place during the last Global Astronomy Month. The contest was co-hosted by the founding institution “The World at Night”, by Astronomers Without Borders and by the National Optical Observatory.This annual contest was created to highlight the natural beauty of the night sky and its growing battle with light pollution. The ten winners of the 2016 contest, selected from more than 1000 entries comprising images taken in 57 countries, were announced on 9 June. The winning entries can be seen in this video: www.twanight.org/contest/.

9) Meetings & global events for 2016

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

a. Recently added

ESO Astronomy Camp
Date: 26 December 2016 - 1 January 2017
Location: Aosta Valley, Italy.
More information: www.eso.org/public/announcements/ann16031/

b. Important deadlines

First Arab Winter School for Astrophysics (FAWSA)
Registration: 30 July 2016
Date: 28 November - 3 December 2016
Location: Cadi Ayyad University, Marrakesh, Morocco
More Information: http://marrakech-astro.uca.ma/fawsa/

c. Upcoming

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

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

c) Asteroid Day Celebrations
Date: 30 June 2016
Location: Worldwide
More Information: asteroidday.org

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

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

f) International Astronomical Youth Camp (IAYC)
Date: 24 July - 13 August 2016
Location:  Exmoor National Park, Somerset, UK
More information: www.iayc.org

g) 41st COSPAR Scientific Assembly
Date: 30 July - 7 August 2016
Location: Istanbul, Turkey
More Information: cospar2016.tubitak.gov.tr/en/

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

i) Twenty fourth Annual Conference (SEAC 2016)
Date: 12–16 September 2016
Location: Bath, England
More Information: www.seac2016.com

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

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

l) 1st Workshop on Astronomy Beyond the Common Senses for Accessibility and Inclusion
Date: 8 October, 2016
Location: Cartagena de Indias, Colombia
More Information: wai.unal.edu.co/information/

m) World Space Week
Date: 4–10 October 2016
Location: Worldwide
More Information: www.worldspaceweek.org/theme/

n) International Observe the Moon Night
Date: 8 October 2016
Location: Worldwide
More Information: observethemoonnight.org

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

p) Arab Conference on Astronomy and Geophysics
Date: 17–20 October 2016
Location: Helwan, Cairo, Egypt
More Information: acag-conf.org

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

r) First Arab Winter School for Astrophysics (FAWSA)
Date: 28 November to 3 December 2016
Location: Cadi Ayyad University, Marrakesh, Morocco
More Information: marrakech-astro.uca.ma/fawsa

s) ESO Astronomy Camp
Date: 26 December 2016 - 1 January 2017
Location: Aosta Valley, Italy.
More information: www.eso.org/public/announcements/ann16031/

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

10) IAU Astronomy Outreach Newsletter in other languages

You can find some translations of this newsletter in Japanese and Spanish:

In Japanese, by the Japan Amateur Astronomers Association: www.jaaa-astro.jp/jaaa-ml.html

In Spanish, by the Astronomical Spanish Society (older issues): www.sea-astronomia.es/drupal/content/newsletter-iau-noc

If you are interested in translating our newsletter into your language, please let us know via outreach@iau.org.

11) 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.