Outreach Committee Update

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20 May 2007: The primary purpose of the Outreach Committee is to facilitate, or make connections to available sources of information, recommend partnerships with which planetariums can collaborate on activities or events, and provide media resource contacts. This committee update is intended to share some of the current resources available, or will be available to our membership. I hope that future partnership opportunities and resources can be posted on the IPS web site to be accessed when needed.

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Regarding the 2007 – ’08 International Polar Year (IPY) and International Heliophysical Year (IHY), the message for both the IPY and IHY focuses on linking the earth with space itself, particularly solar processes that impact earth’s outer atmosphere (and auroras, solar variations, polarizations of the cosmic microwave radiation). Both the IPY and IHY are setting up sites to encourage organizations like the IPS to become involved globally by teaching or supporting these linkages in local schools, science museums, and planetariums programs. The Burke-Baker Planetarium in Houston has a pending grant that will, if accepted, develop a planetarium show emphasizing global linkage between Polar Regions and the rest of the globe, and the processes controlling these links. If fully developed, this show will be distributed to planetariums free, or for a minimum fee. The IHY will have an International Open Doors day in June and will encourage coordinated collaboration in which planetariums worldwide could be useful. More on this after the IHY event.

In recognition of the International Year of Astronomy and the 400th year of the invention of the telescope in 2009, the IPS, along with partners in Canada, Mexico, and the Hubble Space Telescope Institute, the Sky & Telescope Magazine, the Astronomical Society of the Pacific (ASP), the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, and representation from the International Astronomical Union are in the planning process of developing worldwide participation in outreach programs to engage the public in astronomical activities and events that include dark skies awareness, telescope making and sky observations, lecturers, and possibly a five-minute mini planetarium show emphasizing the invention of the telescope. A 25-minute “traditional” and fulldome planetarium show on the history of the telescope, Galileo, and ways the public can explore the universe with telescopes is currently in the works by a consortium of planetariums (Adler, Buhl, Imiloa) and is intended to be distributed through the IPS to its members.

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Developing Countries

Since the 2001 Sri Lanka conference, the IPS is becoming involved in a project to do more for planetariums in developing countries. Dave Weinrich, Joanne Young, Dale Smith, and April Whitt are currently formulating plans to develop ways to reach out more to planetariums in developing countries. One idea is to use the international recognition of the IPS, in particular its contributions to space science education and alliances to projects worldwide with media coverage as lending support and recognition to planetarians in third world countries. Another idea for reaching out to planetarium interested folks in developing countries is inviting non-IPS people to conferences where they could participate in events such as vendor sessions, some selected paper sessions, and hear guest speakers. These offerings may also apply to inviting the general public.

The Astronomical Society of the Pacific will host their annual conference this year in Chicago 5 – 7 September. At this meeting, the IPS will co-host a panel session with the ASP. I will encourage the ASP to co-host future workshops at IPS meetings or regional conferences, as well as co-sharing materials to our members.

One particular opportunity to develop meaningful partnerships and provide resources is to involve scientists and workshop facilitators, especially from NASA. Within the United States, there are a series of NASA “Brokers/Facilitators” whose specific focus is to create partnerships between space scientists and educators to carry out activities and facilitate the dissemination of space science materials that are normally free. Listed below are regions of the U.S. and their designated Broker/Facilitator. Contact the Broker in your area for available guest speakers, workshop presenters, and materials.

NASA Broker Facilitators

The European Space Agency (ESA) and NASA offer a multimedia gallery that can be used to help build presentations and planetarium shows from some of the best images taken during the past four decades, especially of solar system exploration. Here are three topics and their sites:

Both NASA’s and ESA’s multimedia sites now contain video galleries, podcasts, animation downloads, and interactive features that are accessible and should be eventually listed on the IPS web site. These two multimedia sites are: http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/highlights/ and http://www.esa.int/esaSC/.

Future Outreach Committee updates will appear on Dome-L, in the Planetarian, and, hopefully, on the IPS web site.

The agenda is centered on the development of key activities per theme:
Looking Through a Telescope
Dark Skies Are a Universal Resource
Astronomy in Arts, Entertainment & Storytelling
Research Experience for Students, Teachers, and Citizen-Scientists
Telescope Building & Optics Challenges
Sharing the Universe Through New Technology

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Last Modified:
24 October, 2007