IAU Astronomy Outreach Newsletter

August 2014 #1

In this newsletter:

  1. From the Editor
  2. CAPjournal 15 is online
  3. Cosmic Light IYL2015 logo and video trailer
  4. Call for ideas: Story of Light Festival
  5. Astronomy club mentoring programme from Astronomers Without Borders
  6. Event: StarMus Festival and Ask Hawking contest
  7. Mark the dates: Globe at Night 2015
  8. Call for support: Survey to help define the future of the European Union astrobiology research programme
  9. Upcoming events
  10. Contributions to this newsletter

 

0) From the Editor

As we promised in the last issue, this newsletter will now be issued twice a month.  The Cosmic Light Project logo for the International Year of Light 2015 and the video trailer are available for download on IAU website, so please feel free to use and share them to spread the word — let’s look forward to a big celebration in 2015 for the Cosmic Light coming down to Earth. We already have many events for the International Year of Light, for example, the Story of Light Festival and the Globe at Night events covered in this issue. And if you are a newly established astronomy club or looking for help, Astronomers Without Borders is now offering a mentoring programme to support you.

Clear skies,
Sze-leung Cheung
IAU Office for Astronomy Outreach 

 

1) CAPjournal 15 is online

The 15th issue of Communicating Astronomy with the Public journal is available for download. In this issue you will find articles that outline best practice for astronomy outreach to the visually impaired, the elderly, children and audiences from around the world — from rural Mexico to downtown Tokyo, Japan. Amongst the research articles there are resources on designing your own spectroscopy lab, building a do-it-yourself portable planetarium programme and using new analogies to bring the Universe down to a scale that can be better understood.

To read more: http://www.capjournal.org/issues/15/

 

2) Cosmic Light IYL2015 logo and video trailer

The Cosmic Light IYL2015 logo and video trailer are available at https://www.iau.org/iyl/resources , and you are free to use them to promote Cosmic Light IYL2015 activities. If you would like to have a version in your language, please follow the instructions on the website.

 

3) Call for ideas: Story of Light Festival

From 14 to 18 January 2015, the historic city of Panjim (Goa, India) will be the backdrop to the Story of Light Festival 2015, India’s first festival exploring the intersection of science, philosophy and culture through art and design. The festival intends to make concepts of modern physics and the Universe accessible to the general public. It will be held at prominent locations around Panjim and attendance is free. The organisers expect 50 000 visitors, including school and college students, the local public, and visiting tourists, both Indian and foreign.

The call invites imaginative, well thought-out, bold and thorough proposals from scientists and artists (both institutional and individual) for the festival. The last date for sending in proposals is 31 August 2014.

Visit www.thestoryoflight.org for details.

 

4) Astronomy club mentoring programme from Astronomers Without Borders

Astronomers Without Borders (AWB) is offering a new programme for astronomy club mentoring. Through live web connections, experienced astronomy clubs will be able to teach apprentice clubs basic concepts in astronomy, astrophotography and even telescope operation. Budding stargazers in remote regions that otherwise might not have the opportunity to expand their horizons in the hobby, will even have a chance to learn about observing techniques and the wonders of the night sky by making use of the web-connected Las Cumbres Observatory Global Telescope (LCOGT) network.

More information at http://astronomerswithoutborders.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=1523

 

5) Event: StarMus Festival and Ask Hawking contest

The Ask Hawking contest is organised by the event organisers of the StarMus Festival to be held at Tenerife, the Canary Islands, where music and the stars come together from 22 to 27 September. Until 29 August, the general public will be able to participate in the Ask Hawking competition through their accreditation at the festival or, for those who are not attending, through its Facebook page. The jury will publish the names of the winners on 1 September.

More details: http://www.starmus.com/ and Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/StarmusFestival

 

6) Mark the dates: Globe at Night 2015

Globe at Night is an international citizen-science campaign on monitoring light pollution. The dates for the 2015 campaigns will be 11–20 January, 9–18 February, 11–20 March, 9–18 April, 9–18 May, 8–17 June, 7–16 July, 5–14 August, 3–12 September, 3–12 October, 2–11 November, 2–11 December.

To learn more about Globe at Night at http://www.globeatnight.org/

 

7) Call for support: Survey to help define the future of the European Union astrobiology research programme

ASTROMAP is a road-mapping exercise that will deliver the requirements for an astrobiology programme which will form the basis for future calls for the European Union framework research programme. The exciting field of astrobiology covers the search for life in the Universe and the study of extreme life on Earth as well as the conditions necessary for the emergence of life.

You can help them by filling in the survey at http://ulisse.busoc.be/astromapsurvey/

 

8) Upcoming events

  1. The 40th COSPAR Scientific Assembly
    Date:  2–10 August 2014
    Location: Moscow, Russia
    More information: http://www.galileoteachers.org/teacher-training-at-cospar/
  2. The 12th Asia-Pacific IAU Regional Meeting
    Date: 19–22 August 2014
    Location: Daejeon, South Korea
    More Information: http://www.aprim2014.org/
  3. The 3rd Middle-East and Africa IAU Regional Meeting
    Date: 1–6 September 2014
    Location: Beirut, Lebanon
    More Information: http://www.mearim3.org/
  4. 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/
  5. Astronomy Education Alliance Meeting (Late Registration by August 15, 2014)
    Date: 8 –12 September 2014
    Location: Cascais, Portugal
    More Information: http://handsonuniverse.org/astroeducation/

 

9) Contributions to this newsletter

We are looking for news for astronomical education and outreach events, so if you are organising any large-scale events at regional and international levels, have any special innovative projects or inspiring stories to tell us about, or created any educational resources, please send us an email at outreach@iau.org.

 

 

 

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