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Reach out
Chris Starr
Head of Space Science, Aiglon College, Switzerland
I am an educator in Switzerland, running a new Space Science department in an international school. We have a small observatory and half a dozen telescopes of 15-30cm aperture, most of which are portable for easy use in outreach.
Space Science for us includes not just Astronomy, but also Space Exploration, its history, current developments and future. Besides starting up a new classroom teaching programme, we run regular observing sessions for our school community, which includes students from 9-18 years of age, parents, staff and friends.
Our main project for IYA 2009 has been to form a partnership with our thriving local tourist office to bring Astronomy to the general public. We are located in Villars, Switzerland, an international tourist resort, so we have the potential to reach a large number of visitors over the course of the year, as well as our local population.
Creating lasting partnerships with such local authorities is an important step for developing the resources, finance and infrastructure necessary for successful, large-scale outreach activities. While I and my colleagues are able to provide the equipment and expertise to introduce the wonders of the heavens to members of the public, our partners at Villars Tourist Office provide an excellent site, the support organization, hospitality, refreshments, and even transport to the site with a shuttle minibus. In this way, the astronomers can concentrate on running telescopes and explaining the night sky, without having to worry about the logistics of hospitality. In our experience, a well-managed hospitality infrastructure makes star parties very attractive to the public, particularly on our cold winter nights here in the Alps! The financial costs of our outreach activities are shared, too, a bonus when budgets are tight.
Our partners also have links with the press, radio and advertising agencies, so we have been able to inform a wider public of our activities and attract enthusiasts from far afield. This was very useful during the '100 Hours of Astronomy' in April 2009, when we had a good crowd on four consecutive evenings of observations, and also during the International Ramblers' Convention, when we were able to combine sky-watching with other outdoor activities. Our recent 'Nuit des Etoiles filantes' (Night of the Shooting Stars) was a great success, with hundreds of people coming out to watch the spectacle of the Perseids, and to discover the wonders of the (northern) summer sky, Jupiter and the Galilean satellites.
Particularly useful for our outreach programme has been investment in an Astrovid Stellacam III. This enables us to take images from a telescope (in our case a Celestron C-8) and show them on a TV screen. While the first view through a telescope of the Moon, Jupiter or Saturn is an unbeatable 'Wow!' experience for each individual, the Stellacam enables us to point out and explain features to a group of people. This rapidly stimulates discussion and dialogue with the public. Again, our partnership is useful here, with a local TV firm providing the large screen for the evening, and the Tourist Office the electric generator needed for power supply.
Pitch your explanations at the right level to suit your public, especially for families with young children - keep them straightforward to begin with, and don't overwhelm people with too much detail initially. You will find that people are keen to learn and deeper discussions will soon develop. It is useful to introduce them to different orders of scale, for example from a nearby planet, to the size of the Milky Way and our location within it, to M31, an easily visible galaxy outside our own. You can also select a range of objects to compare - for instance, Deneb, Vega and Altair (easily pointed-out as elements in the 'summer triangle'), Antares and the Sun, their distances, size, apparent/true luminosity and other characteristics. People are generally amazed when they hear of the relative luminosity of Deneb or the diameter of Antares!
In terms of the goals of your star party, be well-prepared. Have your targets well-established in advance, and prepare simple information leaflets to hand out, including basic sky charts and details of the main objects visible. You can design your own or use those available online, such as at www.skymaps.com or through www.astronomy2009.org. It's also useful to prepare simple laminated cards with information on objects to be observed for quick reference, especially for students helping out with the event to use.
Above all, sky-watching is fun! And, while we are fortunate here to have been able to develop a solid resource base over a number of years, you don't need a lot of expensive equipment to engage the public interest - our 'shooting star' night demonstrated this well, the public being thrilled to watch for meteors and to discover the Milky Way from a dark site. And the most memorable night's observing I ever had was with the naked eye when I sleeping out by a campfire in the bush under the magic southern sky, up in Botswana's Tuli Block.
However, a solid partnership with a local organization can be a key ingredient in organizing successful public events. We look forward to a lasting collaboration with our local partners, far beyond the initial impetus afforded by IYA 2009.
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