IAU Outreach Newsletter

January 2013

11/01/13

In this newsletter:

1. Join the Worldwide GLOBE at Night 2013 Campaign
2. NUCLIO & GTTP Comenius and Gruntvig Training Courses 2013
3. Last chance to book: Proposal deadline for the 2013 Science Communication Conference (London, UK) is January 11
4. ASP 2013 Annual Meeting: Super Early Bird Registration is Open
5. Highlights of Astronomers Without Borders’ latest activities

1. Join the Worldwide GLOBE at Night 2013 Campaign

GLOBE at Night is a citizen science project to record the brightness of the night sky around the world. During five observing campaigns in 2013, children and adults are asked to match the appearance of a constellation (Orion or Leo in the northern hemisphere, and Orion or Crux in the southern hemisphere) with seven star charts of progressively fainter stars. The data is collected to produce an interactive map of all worldwide observations. There are five GLOBE at Night campaigns in 2013: January 3-12, January 31-February 9, March 3-12, March 31-April 9, and April 29-May 8. Make a difference and join the GLOBE at Night campaign!

New for this year, the organisation is asking communities to plan observing sites in the ‘Adopt-A-Street’ programme to create a map of light pollution in their cities. The community to collect the most observations with reference to population will win a prize organized by the International Dark-Sky Association!

GLOBE at Night website: www.globeatnight.org
Adopt-A-Street programme: www.globeatnight.org/aas2013.php

2. NUCLIO & GTTP Comenius and Gruntvig Training Courses 2013

Three new Comenius and Gruntvig training events are planned for June and July 2013: ‘Universe Quest’, building games for education (in partnership with Learnit3D); ‘Astronomy@MyBackPAck’; and ‘Astronomy@MyPC’. These training events are open to everyone, but funding is available from the Comenius Agencies for teachers in Europe. The main objective of these programmes is to introduce educators to the use of new methodologies for science teaching.

The deadline for applications is January 16, 2013.

More information: http://goo.gl/YMyOp

3. Last chance to book: Proposal deadline for the 2013 Science Communication Conference (London, UK) is January 11

Alice Taylor-Gee, The British Science Association: The Conference brings together a diverse group of people to share ideas in science communication, reflect on projects, discuss new areas of development as well as just enjoying meeting new people and networking!

Delegates include those who work in research councils, the media, science centres, festivals or museums, medical charities, learned societies, teachers, funding bodies, as well as scientists interested in public engagement and freelance science presenters. It really is a great mix of people and usually attracts over 400 people each year. In 2013 the Science Communication Conference will take place on 16-17 May in London, UK.

The Conference has a mix of plenary sessions as well as small break out sessions. Although there is no set theme for the conference this year, there are a few key areas we would like to cover and these can be found on our website, along with the online form for submitting your proposal.

Conference website: www.britishscienceassociation.org/the-2013-conference

4. ASP 2013 Annual Meeting: Super Early Bird Registration is Open

The Astronomical Society of the Pacific (ASP) celebrates its 125th gathering of educators and public outreach (EPO) professionals on July 20-24, 2013. Co-hosted by San Jose State University, the ASP’s 125th Annual Meeting will take place in the nation’s hub of science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) industries. Accordingly, the focus of the 2013 Annual Meeting is STEM literacy across multiple disciplines, from earth science to space science, from physics to astrobiology.

2013 also marks a Cosmos in the Classroom year. This unique triennial conference welcomes more than 100 teachers of college-level introductory astronomy for a series of education workshops about one of the most popular basic science classes in universities across the country.

Conference website: http://astrosociety.org/education/asp-annual-meeting

5. Highlights of Astronomers Without Borders’ latest activities

a) AstroArt Now an Ongoing AWB Program
The AWB AstroArt programme presents inspiring and thought-provoking artworks involving astronomy, bridging the gap between the arts, science, astronomy and culture.
www.astronomerswithoutborders.org/projects/astroart.html

b) Dark Skies Awareness Blog Launched
In collaboration with the International Dark Sky Association (IDA) and GLOBE at Night (GaN), Astronomers Without Borders (AWB) is launching a Dark Skies Awareness blog. In this blog, you will find articles ranging from basic information about light pollution to detailed analysis of new research.
www.astronomerswithoutborders.org/blog/dark-skies-awareness-blog.html

c) Astropoetry Blog Re-Launched
The AWB Astopoetry Blog will be re-launched this year, with new interactive features. Blog Editor Bob Eklund said: “As the Astropoetry Blog begins its fourth year of publication, it’s a good time to reflect on how it can be improved to better fulfill its goals: helping to unite science and the poetic/artistic spirit, bringing greater depth to the human experience of the night.”
www.astronomerswithoutborders.org/blog/astropoetry-blog.html
Email your poems or content for the blog to astropoetry@astronomerswithoutborders.org

d) Share Your Culture’s Traditional Astro-Music with the World
The renowned musician and astronomy educator Matthew Whitehouse and AWB are collaborating in a survey of traditional songs and dances associated with the night sky. This is the first step toward creating a collection that will be made available (free of charge) to researchers and enthusiasts around the world on the AWB website. Contributions will be used strictly for educational purposes, and no information will be used for financial gain. The survey will run until the end of February, 2013.
www.astronomerswithoutborders.org/index.php?Itemid=705