#iauga2024 — Public Fediverse posts

As athletes gathered in Paris for the 2024 Olympic Summer Games, the "Olympics of Astronomy" convened half a world away. At the International Astronomical Union's 32nd General Assembly, dark skies were on the agenda. Read about astronomers' involvement in the dark skies movement and how related concerns were top of mind at this year's event.

https://www.darkskyconsulting.com/blog/dark-skies-and-the-olympics-of-astronomy

#IAUGA2024 #IAU #Astronomy #DarkSkies #LightPollution

Last week our fantastic RAS medal-winning AMT Mobile Planetarium team took center stage at the International Union Meeting in Cape Town, where they were visited by Nobel prize winner and next IAU president Brian Schmidt. Last Friday I spoke to the new students in Windhoek and listened to their stories and experiences. Amazing next generation coming there. #iauga2024

#astronomy #astrodon #planetarium #scicomm

A parting gift from #IAUGA2024, announced after the fact in a press release: our IAU resolution on Dark and Quiet Skies was approved by the voting membership.

https://www.iau.org/news/pressreleases/detail/iau2410/

The Dark & Quiet Skies session ends with a wrap-up and a plea from the session chairs: please think about what @iau_org can be doing about these issues in the next triennium (2024-27). #IAUGA2024 #Astronomy2024

Nalayini Davies (@idadarksky Board) presents a draft best practice for #astrotourism development resulting from insights gained from surveying existing International Dark Sky Places. The working group that produced it now seeks community feedback. #IAUGA2024 #Astronomy2024

The final Dark & Quiet Skies session of the day is underway. Aparna Venkatesan (Univ. of San Francisco) presents the results of an @idadarksky task force whose charge was to establish a framework for advocating for dark skies around a core of environmental and social values. #IAUGA2024 #Astronomy2024

Richard Green (Steward Observatory), as chair of the IAU Commission B7 working group on lunar astronomy issues, calls for legal protection of lunar sites for this purpose: "The ITU can regulate some stray radiation, but rare sites need to be designated and protected". #IAUGA2024 #Astronomy2024

Q from the online audience: How long do you anticipate it will be until a private company tries to establish a communication satellite constellation around the Moon? Józsa: It could happen very quickly. "The Space Race is on." #IAUGA2024 #Astronomy2024

The afternoon session now pivots to (cis)lunar issues as they affect astronomy, increasingly seen as within the realm of Dark & Quiet Skies. Gyula Józsa (Max-Planck-Institut für Radioastronomie) notes that while radio astronomy "already enjoys comprehensive protection" in law, same is not true for optical or multimessenger astronomy. #IAUGA2024 #Astronomy2024

Now in a series of several talks about 'quiet' skies addressing radio frequency interference. Standout quote in response to the question How can you mitigate #RFI from satellites? Giorgio Siringo (@almaobs): "There is no way. If emission is there, it will affect the data." #IAUGA2024 #Astronomy2024 #RadioAstronomy

Byrne: Experiments in Johannesburg (compared with those far from the city) show that the loss of visual cues in the night sky cause disorientation among the beetles. His message: "Just turn out the lights." #IAUGA2024 #Astronomy2024

Byrne: dung beetles orient using the apparent position of the Sun during the daytime; this system is redundant when the Sun is high in the sky or behind clouds (other cues like wind apply). At night, they use not just stars, but the entire Milky Way. #IAUGA2024 #Astronomy2024

Biologist Marcus Byrne (University of the Witwtersrand) presents a special lunch talk, "Dancing with the stars: The Dung Beetle Celestial Compass". He begins by noting "dung beetles are very good astronomers", in that they use celestial cues to orient and move. #IAUGA2024 #Astronomy2024

Jake Noel-Storr (University of Groningen) reports on the EU Interreg-sponsored North Sea light pollution modeling program with @andhaenel et al. Notes that Groningen has perhaps the world's lowest-altitude telescope in @NPLauwersmeer: -1 meter! #IAUGA2024 #Astronomy2024

Walker also notes the establishment of the Gabriela Mistral International Dark Sky Sanctuary around the AURA Observatory site in Chile -- the first such Sanctuary in the world. #IAUGA2024 #Astronomy2024 https://darksky.org/places/gabriela-mistral-dark-sky-sanctuary/ #IAUGA2024 #Astronomy2024

Connie Walker (@NOIRLabAstro) describes actions taken to preserve night sky quality in Chile, currently home to about 40% of the telescope mirror surfaces in the world. Observatories are located in a "quintessential area for astrotourism". #IAUGA2024 #Astronomy2024

Carol Nyaguthii (DarkSky Kenya) talks about some of the special challenges in raising awareness of dark skies in East Africa, including the fact that light at night is often used to mitigate human-wildlife conflicts (e.g., use of "lion light" deterrents among the Maasai). #IAUGA2024 #Astronomy2024

James Lowenthal
(@smithcollege) gives an overview of the @aas_office Committee for the Protection of Astronomy and the Space Environment (COMPASSE), its composition, activities, and synergies with organizations like @iau_org and @idadarksky. #IAUGA2024 #Astronomy2024

The session begins with a tribute by DarkSky International Executive Director Ruskin Hartley to his predecessor and organization founder, the late David Crawford, in whose memory today's event is dedicated. #IAUGA2024 #Astronomy2024

Good morning from Day 8 of #IAUGA2024. Among today's session is an all-day discussion of Dark & Quiet Skies. Three parts consisting of invited/contributed talks and posters (and lighting talks to advertise them). #Astronomy2024

Our box of swag from the AAS Committee for the Protection of Astronomy and the Space Environment (COMPASSE) finally arrived in South Africa from the states a week late. I have a few of these to hand out, so come find me in the exhibit hall at #IAUGA2024. http://compasse.aas.org/

Concerns coming up include the possibility of overtourism threatening dark-sky resources; difficulty recruiting local support over nighttime security concerns; the need to engage locals early in order to convey the value of the resource (and build support for conservation). #IAUGA2024 #Astronomy2024

Questions for attendees include:
1. What safeguards can we put in place to ensure that astrotourism grows sustainably?
2. How can we balance tourism growth with the need to reduce light pollution?
3. What successful models can we draw inspiration from?
#IAUGA2024 #Astronomy2024

Day 7 #IAUGA2024 begins (for me) with an IAU OAD-presented “uncoference” on astrotourism for sustainable economic development. #Astronomy2024

Question from the online audience about the use of AI/ChatGPT in drafting scientific papers. Tout: "You've got to write something yourself, otherwise it won't be yours." If English is not your first language, AI can be a helpful tool. But look carefully at the result! #IAUGA2024 #Astronomy2024

Christopher Tout (@cambridge_uni) gives a talk called "Improving writing skills" that is chock full of good information. His parting advice: read and re-read your manuscript drafts. "If you don't like reading your paper, no one else will either!" #IAUGA2024 #Astronomy2024

I've written a paper or two in my time, yet even I learned new things about the process from Prof. Han's presentation. What I appreciated most: his advice about responding to referee reports, especially not to take criticism personally! #IAUGA2024 #Astronomy2024

#IAUGA2024 Day 6 starts with parallel Division sessions. I'm attenging Working Group 2 ("Junior Members"), helping young scientists improve their skills -- a great "value added" aspect of attending the GA. Here, Zhanwen Han presents "Writing a scientific paper" #astronomy2024

Closing out today in the fascinating #IAUGA2024 Commission C parallel session on astronomy outreach and education in conflict zones around the world. #Astronomy2024

Day 5 of the #IAUGA2024: Major #DarkAndQuietSkies event of the day is the business meeting of IAU Commission B7 (https://www.iau.org/science/scientific_bodies/commissions/B7/). Lots of results in the past triennium; here to discuss plans for the next. #Astronomy2024