Outreach Opportunities

Published in the RSAA Lunations
Vol1 Issue2 1–31 March 2020

February has been a busy month for outreach!  Despite the school year only starting, we’ve already hosted 4 school visits (including a group from Birdsville!), multiple private stargazing sessions, plus undergoing major maintenance and upgrades to the outreach telescopes and domes (thanks to our friends at CAS).  

On the 18th of February, we hosted a sold-out public event for the 90th anniversary of the discovery of Pluto.  PhD students  Eloise Birchall, Adam Rains, Alex Wallace, and RSES PhD student Geoff Bonning discussed various aspects about Pluto, MC’d by CPAS student Katelyn Tsipiras.  Brittany also organized International Women's Day 2020: Speed Meet a Scientist (co-sponsored by InSpace) and is getting ready to go for another busy winter of Mount Stromlo Public Astronomy Nights.

Photo: International Women's Day event

On the 25th of February, Brittany and Brad hosted a workshop with ANU staff, tourism operators, Questacon, overseas partners, and government official to plan out the next 10 years in the public and outreach space, including growing facilities.  Collaboration with the Challenger Centre, the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum, astrotourism, and yes, the cafe were all apart of the discussion.  It was a very fruitful discussion and we’ll have lots of exciting updates in the coming months, so stay tuned!

Also, February saw the start of our partnership with Canberra Times to bring you Sunday Space.  Each Sunday, there is a dedicated column to Astronomy and Space written by one of our researchers.  

On February 9th, Marta Yebra from Fenner wrote about using satellites to help with bushfires - https://www.canberratimes.com.au/story/6601369/australia-we-can-do-better-to-support-fire-management/

On February 16th, Jonah Hansen wrote about the Event Horizon telescope image of M87 - https://www.canberratimes.com.au/story/6626014/an-image-of-a-black-hole-stunned-the-world-but-how-it-was-taken-is-just-as-fascinating/

On February 23rd, former PhD student Rajika Kuruwita talked about exoplanets and SciFi vs Reailty - https://www.canberratimes.com.au/story/6643263/sci-fi-planets-and-their-weirder-real-life-cousins/

On February 29th, Brad Tucker discussed leap year and why we need it - https://www.canberratimes.com.au/story/6654849/the-complicated-truth-about-the-leap-year/

 

If you are interested in writing a piece, email outreach@mso.anu.edu.au