Session 10 – POSTERS

This poster will provide a summary of the Astrophysics From Home project, a Citizen Science initiative designed to collect data on a Cepheid Variable star using input from the public. The project was a collaboration between the Canada Aviation and Space Museum (CASM) and the Las Cumbres Observatory (LCO). Visitors to the website of CASM could opt to initiate an observation of the star TW Cap through an online portal. A script automatically queues an observation into the LCO telescope network, and returns the data. The member of the public whom initiated the observation is sent their data, and are invited to share with the world how they helped via social media. The data is prepared for submission to the American Association of Variable Star Observers (AAVSO) to be used by that community. This poster will provide initial results for the project and next steps.

Solar eclipses are popular targets for amateur astronomers. At the same time, solar eclipses are still scientifically important, because we can observe some aspects of the solar corona which are still difficult to observe with spacecrafts. Therefore, the total eclipse is a good chance to promote the participation of amateurs in scientific observations. Collaboration of many amateurs realizes the multipoint observations, which help to avoid the risk of the weather, and also enables to track the temporal variation of the corona. On the basis of such advantages, professional solar scientists and amateur astronomers in Japan have been energetically collaborated in the observation of the total solar eclipses for more than ten years. Some scientific results produced from the collaboration have been published. We will present our collaborative activities as a practical example of citizen science in our poster.

Armagh Observatory was founded in 1790 through the benefaction of Archbishop Robinson, then Primate of the Church of Ireland. It has been continuously in use for astronomical research ever since. An Act of Parliament on its foundation announced the intent for the Observatory to be in Armagh “for ever”. The Observatory is now a Grade A-listed heritage building, in which the offices of the astronomers and students are found adjacent to the historic telescopes that also lie within. The building itself marks an important milestone in the development of the field astronomy, being, along with Dunsink Observatory in Dublin, the first examples of a design around a central pillar to support the telescope and isolate it from the rest of the building. This important advance marked recognition that the design of an observatory building is fundamental to achieving the best performance from the telescopes that it houses.
Three generations of telescope technology from the 18th and 19th centuries can be still seen in situ in Armagh, in the locations where they were originally used. These are (i) the Troughton Equatorial (the oldest telescope in the world to remain in essentially its original setting), (ii) a Meridian Circle and Transit Instrument used to compile a fundamental star catalogue of the mid-19th century, and (iii) the Grubb 10-inch refractor and its wonderful clockwork drive, used to compile the famous NGC catalogue and still in working order today. Other telescopes and clocks (regulators) demonstrating advances in astronomical technology as far back as the mid-18th century are also extant. There are also surviving meridian markers in the surrounding countryside of Armagh, as used to align the meridian telescopes prior to observations.
This combination of frontline science and in situ heritage makes the Armagh Observatory a very special place. There is also an adjacent Planetarium, now over 50 years old and with its own heritage, that is used for education and public outreach, a fundamental part of the mission of the Armagh Observatory and Planetarium (AOP) today.
This remarkable combination poses a unique challenge, however. How to conserve and preserve the astronomical heritage, while continuing as a frontline research institution, and also delivering on education and outreach for the local population and meeting the demands of accountability for a publicly funded body? For the needs of a modern scientific institution conflict with the conservation needs of a heritage building and the scientific instruments within. Yet it is the continuous presence of the astronomers in the Observatory that has ensured that this in situ heritage has survived. The Observatory has not become just another museum. The challenge is therefore one of “living heritage”, of remaining an active scientific institution, while being able to preserve and conserve the heritage within, and in providing access to the public who have been largely excluded to date. This talk will discuss some of the challenges we face in trying to ensure this goal is achieved.

In this poster we describe the creation and display of a traveling image exhibit about astronomical observatories. The visitors can learn about science at different observatories as they stroll through the electromagnetic spectrum.
The exhibit includes: facts about the observatory, an example of the science studied at the observatory, a description of how light is detected, and highlights the people that make the discoveries possible. A special effort has been made by means of concrete materials and demonstrations to promote the active participation of diverse audiences (students, teachers, college professors, general public, amateur astronomers , and the visually impaired). 

One of the goals of this project is to allow people of the Caribbean to identify with the people involved in the progress of science. We have designed the exhibit to highlight the Arecibo Observatory, the second largest radio telescope in the world. We describe its legacy to science through the Nobel Prize in Physics of 1993. We include the biographies of astrophysicists with Caribbean heritage: Victor Blanco and Arthur B.C. Walker. We include the VLBA, which has one of its stations in St. Croix (US Virgin Islands). Our goal with this exhibit is to allow people from different regions in the Caribbean to learn about new discoveries, technologies and careers in science.
This project is funded by an American Physical Society Public Outreach and Informing the Public Mini Grant.
Key Words: Informal Education, Cultural Astronomy and Heritage, Astronomy to promote science vocations

The practice of preventive conservation of cultural heritage consists of “all measures and actions aimed at avoiding and minimizing future deterioration or loss” (ICOM-CC, 2008). Unlike conservation treatments that target single objects, preventive conservation deals with entire collections and their surrounding environment.
t is known that exposing historical objects to the environment has a significant impact on their degradation process and deterioration rate. Studying and managing risk factors is an indispensable practice within the management policies of any cultural institution.
The National Institute for Astrophysics (INAF) holds some valuable historical collections, heritage derived from the Italian contribution to astronomy over the centuries. The management and protection of these collections faces many challenges including limited resources, presence of heterogeneous materials with different conservation requirements, location of the heritage inside historical buildings.
A preventive conservation plan aimed at assessing and managing risks that threaten the collections to establish priorities of intervention and plan timely and sustainable strategies may offer many long-term benefits, allowing us to use available resources in the best possible way.
In the past few years INAF – Astronomical Observatory «G. S. Vaiana» of Palermo has been working on the development of preventive conservation projects for its archival documents, bibliographic materials and for the scientific instruments exhibited at the Museo della Specola.
The present contribution reports on these ongoing experiences and intends to stimulate a discussion within the scientific community in order to individuate the problems we are called to respond to in Astronomical Observatories, by adopting a new perspective that integrates restoration and preventive conservation and includes the management of storage areas, a typically problematic point.

The quarantine due to the COVID-19 pandemic hit the world. In a short period of a couple of weeks, the Unit of Communication of the Institute of Astronomy of UNAM put together a series of new activities to try to bring Astronomy to all the people that were confined in their homes. I will present three projects which we carried out during the hardest months of confinement in Mexico.
Astronomy in Two Minutes were weekly two-minute videos presenting a specific theme, like How do stars form? or Galaxies. The two-minute format was selected so that these videos could play automatically on Twitter and Facebook. The intention was also to catch new people to be interested in Astronomy by making it short and straightforward.
Astronomical Dialogues were audios recorded by different astronomers answering questions posted in our social media by interested people. The answers were posted on a weekly basis. This activity allowed the participation of all astronomers that were interested in taking part in this effort. It was also intended to establish a more direct communication with the publics. Finally, we started a series of weekly live talks on Facebook. The talks had a duration of half hour and then the speaker could answer questions for another half hour.
At the end of the strict quarantine a survey was launched to see how the people found these activities. The results of it will also be presented. From them it is possible to continue the more effective activities and plan for new ones following the preferences of the publics. This is particularly important as virtual activities will continue to be the only possibility to do outreach in the near future.

The Astronomy Translation Network centrally managed by the IAU Office for Astronomy Outreach (OAO) represents the first attempt to implement a global network connecting translation needs with volunteers’ efforts while providing high-quality astronomy education and outreach resources in different languages. Since its establishment in 2017, the programme has translated over 100 astronomy education resources and activities and has nearly 400 volunteers across 31 languages. The goal of the OAO under the IAU Strategic Plan 2020-2030 is to engage the public in astronomy through access to astronomical information and communication of the science of astronomy. One of the five key predicted strategic actions under this goal is to facilitate international communication through exchanges and translations, where the astronomy translation network represents a core programme. In this work, we share our findings from the early stages of conception and planning; the relevance of the programme for the astronomy education community; community management strategy and motivation of large networks of volunteers; and the challenges and sustainability of maintaining a global network of volunteers while securing the quality of the translations.

Since 2009, some leaders (scientists and educators) of Latin American countries, motivated by the celebrations of the International Year of Astronomy, began to organize the Latin American Olympiad on Astronomy and Astronautics. Over the years these olympiads have become the most important annual school astronomy event in the region, where, in addition to competition, there are many others favourable facts, as the creation of regional networks dedicated to astronomy education, organization of resources for teaching astronomy in every country, numerous exchanges of opinions, experiences and strategies in order to promote systematically the development of Spaces Science education in Latin American schools, according to the local reality of every country. In this talk we would like to provide an overview of our main goals as team leaders, educators and scientists. We would like to show how the olympiads have become an international tradition to join the regional community, as well as to present the structure and kinds of examinations of the olympiads, unveiling the challenges and efforts made by every country to provide equal opportunities and access to astronomical knowledge to Latin American school children, even virtually, in a time of pandemic.

The Colombian Olympiads Astronomy (OCA) general aim, motivate, invite and encourage the study of astronomy, astrophysics, astronautics and related sciences in childhood and youth of Colombia. The OCA contributes significantly to strengthening the scientific and social culture of Colombia through the generation and appropriation of knowledge and innovation. Through the Colombian Olympiads Astronomy principles based on love, discipline, commitment and unconditional passion into a transformative capacity that has no limits are strengthened. Students, teachers, schools and entities involved, become aware of the importance, promotion, dissemination, socialization, social appropriation of knowledge and implementation of programs and projects aimed at scientific, regional, national or international level. The 11 versions of the OCA that have been made in Colombia have been organized from the Universidad Antonio Nariño entity in the country with a history and a leader in developing Olympics mathematics, physics, computing, science, biology and astronomy. Strategies for teaching and learning of astronomy have implemented the Constellation Project aimed at Literacy Astronomical in 13 cities, 13 Dreams and 13 challenges, which was an academic and scientific event, which included 13 cities in Colombia for four phases of activities for teachers and students of astronomy. In this event 13 academic sessions accompanied by workshops, conferences for teachers and students of astronomy, visits to science centers, planetariums, observatories, universities and colleges were performed. The development of these activities led by the Office Olympics Antonio Nariño University, has been known for developing versions 11 National Astronomy Olympiad (2010-2020) and 2 versions of Latin American and Astronautics Astronomy Olympiad in 2010 and 2012, we also participated in 12 versions of Latin American and 10 international Olympics, We will be developing the 2020 version of the Latin American Astronomy Olympiad and the 2020 version of the International Astronomy and Astrophysics Olympiad in a virtual way due to the COVID situation and in 2021 the headquarters of the XIV will be Colombia due to the fact that it was postponed so presence in 2020 due to the pandemic situation.

Science communication and its succes are very much dependent on the cultural context. In this framework, we conducted some case studies on the benefits of the ‘culture-dependent approach’ for clarifying specific concepts and ideas within the field of astronomy. Two examples highlighted in my presentation concern a solar eclipse in Western Mongolia and a project with small telescopes in remote villages in Northern Senegal. It is worth investigating in which ways highlighting cultural astronomy can play a role in increasing scientific literacy and trust in science for the general public, or for the younger generations, in lowering the threshold to take up scientific subjects.

At the Planetarium of Buenos Aires, we encourage full participation under the motto «Knowledge is a social good that EVERYONE has the right to enjoy». We are committed to maintain astronomical dissemination by generating new communication channels and multiple formats that allow scientific knowledge to be accessible to everyone.
*DAD is an innovative project that encourages the unlimited expansion of the public that enjoys the different proposals, going beyond the premises limits, providing new ways and various opportunities to access astronomical contents. It allows the overcoming of constraints such as distance, technical possibilities and social, cultural and economic barriers.

Most of astronomy clubs In Indonesia has sustainability problems and high membership turn over. This hinder the clubs to develop into a strong astronomy clubs which can contribute to the society and to the enrichment of astronomy. Having attractive and even contributable activities will motivates club’s members to be active in their organization for longer time. To empower the clubs, we held a training to provide the club members the knowledge and skill to access virtual observatories and classify galaxies. The topic about virtual observatory offers an unprecedented opportunity for the general public to share in the excitement of astronomical discovery. The participants can explore an entire universe of observations with the VO tools.
The training was originally planned to be on site event, however, the COVID-19 pandemi has enforced us to choose between cancelling or go online. We reluctantly choose online, because we were not so confident to meet the participation rate target, and worry about the quality and possibility to meet other unknown obstacles. In fact, the number of registered participants were more than our expectation. More than that, we found some other unexpected advantaged. The cost was much lower for the organizer as well as for the participants. The flexibility of places has attracted participants, they are less worry about conflicting schedule with other activities. Distance and travel cost are not big problem anymore, even in a large archipelago like Indonesia. The training can be done with good quality and the targeted competence were attained. This experience provide a greater hope to disseminate astronomical knowledge and skills in the future.

ITAU is Iranian teachers astronomy union: The idea of ITAU came from a teacher, Hasan Baghbani, since 21 years ago in 1999. Due to limited facilities at the teaching place, a village in southern Iran, the founder was making astronomical teams. The team has been training teachers in other cities of Bushehr Province and other provinces. As a result, there are 20 local teachers’ groups in Bushehr Province and nine associations in other provinces of Iran. The most costs of doing these programs had been paid privately. The team, taking into account the real needs of students and teachers, has made educational and promotional activities for astronomy and nature with workshops, training courses and festivals. Eventually, these continued activities with the support of the members and the efforts of the founder, in 2015, the first Association of Iranian Teachers’ Astronomy was approved by the Ministry of Education. Subsequently, activities were expanded and in other provinces of Iran, the Astronomy Teachers unions were formed. The special teacher training course was held in Bushehr province since 2013 and has been officially established since2015. Now we are ready to share and give experiences to each other to make INTERNATIONAL TEACHERS ASTRONOMY UNION.

EnDiAs (Teaching and Public Communication of Astronomy) was founded in 2005 by Lic. Hipólito Falcoz, at the National Observatory of Cosmic Physics of San Miguel, in order to communicate astronomy within the field of non-formal education. This framework implies the design of activities, processes and means, based on explicit training goals, although not linked to the granting of degrees typical of the formal educational system. EnDiAs activities have been developed in different contexts, among which we can mention the frequent observational outings to different locations in the province of Buenos Aires, the delivery of open courses for the entire community at our San Miguel headquarters (Municipal Library “Domingo F. Sarmiento ”) and Moreno (Municipal Museum“ Amancio Alcorta ”), the teacher training courses in General Roca (Río Negro, 2009) and San Salvador de Jujuy (Jujuy, 2014), the telescope construction workshops, the scientific “mateadas” in the «Imaginary» Museum of the General Sarmiento University, the stands and the talks at several Book Fairs: Moreno (since 2012), San Miguel, Marcos Paz, Pilar and José C. Paz; the collaboration in the South American Project for the Observational Determination of Analemma directed by Dr. Néstor Camino, the participation in numerous congresses, seminars, workshops, such as the Star Party of the Copernicus Institute of San Rafael, Mendoza (since 2007), the First Meeting of Professional and Amateur Astronomers organized by the National University of La Plata (2009), the conference «200 years discovering the Universe» held in the Chamber of Deputies of the Nation (2010), the Conference on Education and Public Communication in Astronomy of Chivilcoy (since 2014), among others, in addition to being the local organizer of the LIADA Annual Event that took place in the town of Tigre, Province of Buenos Aires (2017). EnDiAs has also ventured into the artistic field through the play for puppets «Pluto, the exiled», during the Bibliomóvil Event of the National Commission of Popular Libraries held in San Miguel (2012), the Art and Astronomy Event, held at the “Sarmiento” Library in San Miguel (2012), and the astrophotography exhibition “The Universe, an instant, an eternity”, at the “Imaginary” Museum (2016).
The main goal of EnDiAs is astronomy literacy, hence the emphasis on teaching courses. Currently, Basic Astronomy, Modern Astronomy, Children’s Astronomy and Cultural Astronomy are offered. Due to the need to suspend face-to-face activities as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic, it was decided to continue with scientific communication through the radio station FM 103.3 Mhz Revolution, from Moreno, with a weekly cycle of astronomical talks in the «What is» programme, one more example that, over the years, EnDiAs has adapted to circumstances, but has never abandoned the dream of summoning those who are moved by the wonders of the sky..