IYA2009 Updates
Beyond IYA2009 Updates
10 September 2010
International Year of Astronomy 2009 Reached Hundreds of Millions of People: Final Report Released
A 1300-page final report for the International Year of Astronomy 2009 was released this week at the European Week of Astronomy and Space Science in Lisbon, Portugal. The report shows that at least 815 million people in 148 countries participated in the world’s largest science event in decades.
More information:
- http://www.astronomy2009.org/news/pressreleases/detail/iya1006/
- http://www.astronomy2009.org/resources/documents/detail/iya2009_final_report/
Cosmic Diary Anthology Released as a Free Book: Postcards from the Edge of the Universe
The book, Postcards from the Edge of the Universe, was launched during this week at the European Week of Astronomy and Space Science in Lisbon, Portugal. A legacy of the International Year of Astronomy 2009 Cornerstone project Cosmic Diary, the book features articles from astronomers around the world about the hottest astronomical topics of the moment.
More information:
- http://www.astronomy2009.org/news/pressreleases/detail/iya1007/
- http://www.postcardsfromuniverse.org/
Aesthetics & Astronomy project
The Aesthetics & Astronomy project, from the founders of FETTU, studies the public’s perception and understanding of astronomical imagery across multiple traditional and non-traditional venues and platforms, including mobile and web platforms. Results of the initial study are now available in the SAGE Journal of Science Communication: http://tiny.cc/t2mhx
A portable, FETTU-like research exhibit is traveling to 6 locations in 2010 in the U.S. and New Zealand for the second phase of the study. The mobile web platform study is in progress if you would care to be a part of it: http://chandra.si.edu/mobile/aa.html More data is on its way to science outreach practitioners! http://astroart.cfa.harvard.edu/
Aesthetics & Astronomy project
10 September 2010
Beyond IYA2009 Updates
3 September 2010
Online Universe Wins AAAS Education Website Award
A website that brings the universe into the homes and onto the computer screens of professional and amateur astronomers alike has won a Science Prize for Online Resources in Education, known as SPORE, from the American Association for the Advancement of Science. More information: http://www.astronomy2009.org/news/updates/1029/
Postcards from the Edge of the Universe
On 7 September at 10:30 a book based on the IYA2009 Cornerstone project, Cosmic Diary, entitled Postcards from the Edge of the Universe, will be launched at the ESO exhibition stand during the JENAM2010 Meeting in Lisbon, Portugal. More information: http://www.jenam2010.org/
JENAM2010 Special Session: New Trends in Global Astronomy Education: http://www.astronomy2009.org/news/updates/1027/
Babak Tafreshi: Hosting Star Parties in Iran
Babak Tafreshi featured on Dicover Magazine: http://discovermagazine.com/2010/may/17-questions-hosting-star-parties-in-iran Inspired by Carl Sagan, Babak Tafreshi is on a mission to bring the wonder of astronomy to the Middle East, and to the world. More info: http://discovermagazine.com/2010/may/17-questions-hosting-star-parties-in-iran
Get Ready for The Great World Wide Star Count
The Great World Wide Star Count encourages everyone to go outside, look skyward after dark, note the stars in certain constellations, and report what they could see online.The Great World Wide Star Count will be held from October 29 - November 12, 2010. For more information visit http://www.windows2universe.org/citizen_science/starcount/
or email starcount_info@ucar.edu.
Online Universe Wins AAAS Education Website Award
2 September 2010
A website that brings the universe into the homes and onto the computer screens of professional and amateur astronomers alike has won a Science Prize for Online Resources in Education, known as SPORE, from the American Association for the Advancement of Science.
Built by a Johns Hopkins University team led by astrophysicist and computer scientist Alexander Szalay, the SkyServer search tool of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey’s database makes more than 350 million stars and galaxies available to students, teachers and the public. SkyServer’s MapQuest-like interface allows them to pan through the sky, zoom in and out, and click on stars and galaxies for more information.
“The Sloan Digital Sky Survey has made its entire dataset available through this online portal for public use in education,” said Szalay, the Alumni Centennial Professor in the Krieger School’s Henry A. Rowland Department of Physics and Astronomy. “This is a unique opportunity for students, teachers and the public to learn about astronomy. Basically, anyone with Internet access can now interact with the data in the same way that professional scientists do.”
The most ambitious astronomical survey ever taken, the Sloan Digital Sky Survey-which began in 1991 and involved hundreds of scientists around the world-is sometimes described as astronomy’s equivalent of the Human Genome Project. When complete, it will provide detailed optical images covering more than a quarter of the sky, as well as a three-dimensional map of millions of galaxies and quasars. The development of SkyServer, in particular, benefited greatly from Szalay’s collaboration with Jim Gray of Microsoft Research, who worked with the Johns Hopkins team on that and several other large-scale, high-performance scientific databases.
The SDSS website (www.sdss.org) gives browsers access to a three-dimensional map of the entire universe, including the brightest 1 million stars and quasars. This data is fed into the website by a dedicated 2.5 meter diameter SDSS telescope that uses a 120 megapixel camera in New Mexico to image the entire night sky, 1.5 square degrees of sky at a time (about eight times the area of the full Moon). The goal of the survey is to address fundamental questions about the universe by looking at large-scale patterns of the galaxies.
Astrophysicists have many theories about how the universe came into being and evolved, and the Sloan Digital Sky Survey is aimed at telling scientists which theories are correct, or whether they must come up with completely new ones.
Using the SkyServer search tool, users can visually explore the heavens and sort through the reams of data available on the SDSS site, Szalay said.
“SkyServer users can pan through the sky, zoom in and out, and click on stars and galaxies for more information, such as the galaxy’s brightness or its position in the sky,” Szalay said. “There also are tools that let any user examine SDSS data on any object. It’s truly amazing.”
SkyServer also provides middle school, high school and college students with a series of suggested science projects, complete with Excel spreadsheet templates to make data analysis easier. Topics of the projects include nderstanding why stars have different colors,classifying stellar spectra and examining the expansion of the universe. These projects were designed by Johns Hopkins team member Jordan Raddick, who wrote about the educational value of the website in the Aug. 27 issue of Science, which announced the award.
“SkyServer provides an opportunity for teachers, students and the public to learn about astronomy interactively, which we know from education research is extremely effective and important,” Raddick said. “This website and its tools allow anyone with Internet access to interact with the SDSS data in the way real scientists do, which is remarkable.”
Over the last six years, the SDSS has been named several times as being among the most-used astronomy database facilities in the world, based upon an analysis of astronomy journal citations presented yearly at the meetings of the American Astronomical Society.
“The bottom line is that this is the way astronomy is being done in the 21st century. Scientists don’t have to compete for time on expensive telescopes-they simply dial up the sky on their computers,” Szalay said. “It’s wonderful to be recognized for our work on the SkyServer, but in truth this award reflects the amazing work of hundreds of astrophysicists and astronomers and computer scientists over the last two decades.”
Postcards from the Edge of the Universe
2 September 2010
On 7 September at 10:30 a book based on the IYA2009 Cornerstone project, Cosmic Diary, entitled Postcards from the Edge of the Universe, will be launched at the ESO exhibition stand during the JENAM2010 Meeting in Lisbon, Portugal.
More information: http://www.jenam2010.org/
JENAM2010 Special Session: New Trends in Global Astronomy Education
2 September 2010
Science Education is acknowledged globally as a major aspect of a modern education system. But it is also known that the interest of the younger generations in science topics has been decreasing. A shift in traditional science teaching methodology is mandatory. Astronomy, and the fascinating developments of the last few years, can be a very powerful tool to achieve this goal. Besides its multidisciplinarity, it also has the power to attract the interest of different partners. Actually, the recently approved IAU Strategical Plan for the next 10 years foresee the use of Astronomy as a trigger to the development in several nations. This can only be achieved if we steadily invest in capacity building by training educators and capacitating students to enter the work market properly prepared.
In this symposium we would like to discuss recent successes and challenges for the future. The recent success of IYA2009 brought a huge wave of interest and raised the awareness of the public in general towards Astronomy. It is mandatory that we use this opportunity to engage European authorities in broader usage of modern tools in schools all over Europe. We must invest in the construction of science culture as an official part of the upraising of future generations.
More information: http://www.jenam2010.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=40&Itemid=77
Contact: Rosa Doran
Programme:
09h00 Welcome
09h15 Rosa Doran - The GTTP - Now the future starts
09h30 Roger Ferlet - EUHOU
09h45 Constance Walker - New Trends in Using Globe at Night data
10h00 Daniel Brown - Peak into the Past - na Arechaeo Astronomy Summer School
10h15 Jose Espinosa - Early Science Education in Primary Schools
10h30 COFFE BREAK
11h00 Natasa Stanic - Art and Science Performance for all generation
11h15 Nino Kochiashvili - Astronomical Education in Georgia
11h30 Areg Mickelian - Astronomy for Students DVD
11h45 Thilina Heenatigala - Astro Book Drive - Sharing Materials to improve Astronomy Education
12h00 Victor Gudiel - HOU Spain - Recent Developments
12h15 Lucilia Santos - Teachers formation and practical activities in Astronomy for 1º CEB
Babak Tafreshi: Hosting Star Parties in Iran
2 September 2010
Babak Tafreshi featured on Dicover Magazine: http://discovermagazine.com/2010/may/17-questions-hosting-star-parties-in-iran
Inspired by Carl Sagan, Babak Tafreshi is on a mission to bring the wonder of astronomy to the Middle East, and to the world.
Get Ready for The Great World Wide Star Count
30 August 2010
The Great World Wide Star Count encourages everyone to go outside, look skyward after dark, note the stars in certain constellations, and report what they could see online. Star Count is designed to raise awareness about the night sky and encourage learning in astronomy. All the information needed to participate is available on the Star Count Web site. Be sure to download the 2010 Activity Guide (available in 8 languages) to prepare your class for this project.
Participation involves use of a simple protocol and an easy data entry form. During the first three years, over 31,000 individuals from 64 countries and all 7 continents participated in this campaign to measure light pollution globally.
At the conclusion of the event, maps and datasets will be generated highlighting the results of this exciting citizen science campaign. Mark your calendars and plan on joining thousands of other students, families, and citizen scientists counting stars this fall.
The Great World Wide Star Count will be held from October 29 - November 12, 2010. For more information visit http://www.windows2universe.org/citizen_science/starcount/
or email starcount_info@ucar.edu.
Beyond IYA2009 Updates
27 August 2010
She is an Astronomer Lunch @ JENAM2010, Lisbon, Portugal
Tuesday, 7th September 12:30 - 14:30
The She is an Astronomer Lunch session is an opportunity for women to get together to meet each other and do a bit of networking. Men are welcome to attend too! The lunch gives people time to explore an issue of common interest, and they are so popular there is often a waiting list, so book early. The IYA2009 Cornerstone Project 'She is an Astronomer' has highlighted that mentoring is an essential tool in the career-development of women. More information: http://www.jenam2010.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=25&Itemid=47
Observe the Moon Night: Photo Contest
Perhaps you are an aspiring lunar photographer. Or perhaps you have been photographing the Moon for years. Either way, we’ve got a contest for you! Be a part of the 2010 International Observe the Moon Night (InOMN) Photo Contest and you (or at least your photo) will become an InOMN legacy. More information: http://observethemoonnight.org/getInvolved/contest
NASA/IPAC Teacher Archive Research Project
The NASA/IPAC Teacher Archive Research Program, is a mechanism for getting authentic research experiences ultimately into classrooms. More information: http://www.astronomy2009.org/news/updates/1020/
Music and Astronomy Under the Stars
Donald Lubowich, Coordinator of Astronomy Outreach at Hofstra University, brought his NASA-funded Music and Astronomy Under the Stars program to the Tanglewood Music Festival in Lenox, MA on August 3, 2010. More information: http://www.astronomy2009.org/news/updates/1021/
Science & Development Network - Online Resources: http://www.astronomy2009.org/news/updates/1022/
Coloring Space
A recent development by two creative persons separated by the width of the North American continent and a border constitutes a legacy bridging the arts and astronomy from the digital From Earth to the Universe IYA2009 exhibits in Victoria, Canada. Recently a new element, “Coloring Space,” appeared on NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory web site: http://www.chandra.harvard.edu/art/color/
JENAM2010: Education and Outreach after IYA2009 in Europe, 7 September 2010, Lisbon, Portugal
The final programme is now available: http://www.astronomy2009.org/news/updates/1016/
International Observe the Moon Night: 18 September 2010 will mark the first ever International Observe the Moon Night!
More information: http://observethemoonnight.org/
Coloring Space
27 August 2010
A recent development by two creative persons separated by the width of the North American continent and a border constitutes a legacy bridging the arts and astronomy from the digital From Earth to the Universe IYA exhibits in Victoria, Canada. Recently a new element, “Coloring Space,” appeared on NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory web site: http://www.chandra.harvard.edu/art/color/ It juxtaposes selections from Organiverse by Netherlands-born artist Henri van Bentum with NASA images of celestial objects. Van Bentum has been for many years a resident of Victoria, and his wife, Natasha van Bentum, was the catalyst for Victoria’s extensive digital FETTU exhibits developed in collaboration with the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada’s Victoria Centre and the National Research Council of Canada with strong support from SONY Style, local malls and the Airport. Over the more than two years of planning and implementation, Natasha van Bentum developed a long-distance collaboration with Chandra’s Media Production Coordinator, Kimberly Kowal Arcand; together they worked closely to create this unique IYA legacy.
Search IYA2009 Updates
National Nodes: 148
Organisational Nodes: 40
Organisational Associates:33
National Websites: 111
Cornerstone Projects: 12
Special Task Groups: 11
Special Projects:16
Official Products:8
Media Partners:22
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