bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
The role of Big Data in Astronomy Education
Authors: Mickaelian A. M. , Mikayelyan G. A. 
Published: December 2021

AbstractWe review Big Data in Astronomy and its role in Astronomy Education. At present all-sky and large-area astronomical surveys and their catalogued data span over the whole range of electromagnetic spectrum, from gamma-ray to radio, as well as most important surveys giving optical images, proper motions, variability and spectroscopic data. Most important astronomical databases and archives are presented as well. They are powerful sources for many-sided efficient research using the Virtual Observatory (VO) environment. It is shown that using and analysis of Big Data accumulated in astronomy lead to many new discoveries. Using these data gives a significant advantage for Astronomy Education due to its attractiveness and due to big interest of young generation to computer science and technologies. The Computer Science itself benefits from data coming from the Universe and a new interdisciplinary science Astroinformatics has been created to manage these data.
Construction of didactic devices that materialize the states of illumination of the ground and of the planet
Authors: Camino Néstor 
Published: December 2021

AbstractThe original design of the IAUS367 included the development of a Workshop, thought to be a face-to-face instance, in order to interact with teachers and researchers, and to discuss the design, the theoretical foundations and the use of some didactic devices to observe and record the state of illumination and shadows casting variations on different objects, natural or artificial, through time, and its interpretation from a local, topocentric perspective, together with a global, planetary perspective. The pandemic forced us to convert this activity in a virtual one, which was very interesting anyway, with the participation of colleagues from different countries and with great theoretical wealth in the discussions. The Workshop lasted 2 hours, in Spanish language. We present here the initial proposal and a summary of what was discussed. (The complete video register can be accessed in the YouTube channel of IAUS367).
NASE Workshop: Eclipses and Gravitation Lenses
Authors: Ros Rosa M. , García Beatriz , Moreno Ricardo , Jiwaji Noorali T. , Rokni Mahdi 
Published: December 2021

AbstractAstronomy is connected with the every day experiences of the people, since the observation of simple and repetitive phenomena, as the succesion of days and nights, untill events of high impact, as the total solar eclipses. In this sense, the Astronomy is a fascinating activity and can be used to inspire interest in sciences in general. In this contribution, we introduce the Network of Astronmy School Education as part of the IAU proposals connected with teaching training programs, and we highlight several examples on the specific topic of the eclipses: their importance and connection with the culture, that can capture students attention if we use the workshops as part of the classes.
Stellarium: Simulation for Research and Outreach
Authors: Zotti Georg 
Published: December 2021

AbstractOver the past decade the free and open-source cross-platform desktop planetarium program Stellarium has gained not only most of the computational accuracy requirements for today’s amateur astronomers, but also unique capabilities for specialized applications in cultural astronomy research and astronomical outreach. A 3D rendering module can put virtual reconstructions of human-made monuments in their surrounding landscape under the day and night skies of their respective epochs, so that the user can investigate and experience the potential connection of architecture, landscape, light and shadow, and the sky. It also played a key role in an exhibition about Stonehenge in Austria.Exchangeable “skycultures” allow the presentation of constellation patterns and mythological figures of non-Western cultures. Stellarium’s multi-language support allows community-driven translation of the whole program, which predestines its use in education also in minority languages.Stellarium is developed by a very small core team, but is open to external contributions.
Sunspot observation by the cooperation of amateur astronomers and researchers in Japan in early 20th century as early citizen science program
Authors: Tamazawa Harufumi 
Published: December 2021

AbstractThe development of astronomy has been developed by the cooperation of amateur astronomers and researchers. Sunspot observation is a good example of Extreme citizen science in early days. Issei YAMAMOTO (1889–1959), organized “Oriental Astronomical Association (OAA),” Yamamoto’s materials (now in Kwasan observatory) include solar observation data sent from many observers in Japan. From the viewpoint of today’s Citizen Science, collaborative observation of sunspot between researchers of solar physics and amateur astronomers in Japan has clearly a context of social mission rather than mere academic interest. From the viewpoint of science communication, we can see that Yamamoto’s call includes a social mission to promote astronomy in Japan, and that amateurs responded to Yamamoto’s call by participating in the observation network. It can be said that this collaboration have not only “cultural” aspect but also “civic”or “practical” aspect.
Solar Eclipse: a didactic alternative for education in Astronomy
Authors: Chis Paula 
Published: December 2021

AbstractInfluence of astronomy education, in other disciplines, can give some possible explanation even in the history field. We propose to link astronomy, history and heritage through Big Data, without a telescope.If we look to the Dacian Draco flag we can find a similitude with Draco constellation and that was a little bit intrigue. In the era of digitalization we can use computers to see back in time.
A HOLOtta Fun: Explaining Astronomy with 3D Holograms
Authors: Buckner Anne S.M. 
Published: December 2021

AbstractTraditional visual aids used in astronomy outreach (such as 2D telescope images) can fail to effectively convey complex and abstract ideas to lay audiences. With the advent of impressive CGI images widely available in film and other media, these aids may also not meet their expectations or visually engage people. To address this, we have been employing 3D holograms in lieu of 2D images for astronomy-based outreach activities both in-person (pre-pandemic), and virtually since the start of the pandemic. Here we demonstrate how the reader can make and incorporate holograms in their own virtual talks (no budget required) and present the feedback we’ve received so far.
Astronomy for Development – A story from South Africa
Authors: Ödman Carolina J. 
Published: December 2021

AbstractIn this article we describe the recent history of astronomy in South Africa from the perspective of development. We describe how all major astronomy initiatives have carried a component of development with them, be it capacity building or socio-economic development. We highlight some activities and conclude that South Africa’s coherent and ambitious strategy has led to substantial changes in the astronomy research community in South Africa and that the young astronomers now starting their careers are taking possession of a bright future.
Tanzanian experience of In-service Teacher Training in Astronomy through the NASE program
Authors: Jiwaji Noorali T. 
Published: December 2021

AbstractWe provide our first experience of Astronomy training as an in-service training of teachers of Science in Primary schools, and teachers of Geography, Physics and Mathematics in Secondary Schools necessitated due to lack of Astronomy specific training in their teacher training programs. The hands-on training was conducted in collaboration with the IAU Commission 46 Working Group program of Network of Astronomy Schools Education (NASE). Experiences from both face to face and virtual sessions conducted during the Covid19 period and in preparation of a major African solar eclipse, are discussed.
Strategies on Astronomy Education in the Era of Digital Transformation
Authors: Soonthornthum Boonrucksar 
Published: December 2021

AbstractTwo important strategies on astronomy education in the era of digital transformation proposed on this presentation are the uses of “Astronomy Literacy” and a “Deep Learning” through “Data Intensive Astronomy” to support astronomy education.Astronomy literacy can create several thinking skills to young generation and public for promoting human capacity buildings on science and technology.Nowadays, the astronomical data archives are impressively large and the “digital age” has made it easy to make the data available to astronomers, researchers, under graduate and graduate students and even to publics. Big data in astronomy has then played an important role in astronomy education both in higher education and school education. Astronomers and researchers can access “big data” for the deep learning through data intensive astronomy on their research works and school students and publics.We hope to extend these strategies through regional and inter-regional collaboration to promote astronomy education in wider scale.
The IAU Office of Astronomy for Education
Authors: Pössel Markus , Liefke Carolin , Deacon Niall , Fischer Natalie , Muñoz Juan Carlos , Nielbock Markus , Salimpour Saeed , Sanderson Gwen 
Published: December 2021

AbstractSince January 2020, the International Astronomical Union has an Office of Astronomy for Education (OAE). The OAE, which joins the previously existing IAU Offices for Astronomy for Development (OAD), Astronomy Outreach (OAO) and Young Astronomers (OYA) is hosted at Haus der Astronomie, a center for astronomy education and outreach operated by the Max Planck Society in Heidelberg, Germany. This contribution outlines the mission of the OAE, the current state of the office, its background, mission and collaborative structure, as well as the activities that have already started or are planned for the future.
Inclusive Eclipse: a sensorial experiencing along Chile
Authors: Troncoso-Iribarren P. , Santander C. , Díaz J. , López H. , Labbé E. , Schacht I. , Piña C. , Morales Marín C.A.L. , Drass H. , Barr Domínguez A. 
Published: December 2021

AbstractAn Eclipse is an astronomical event that convenes a large audience. Few days before it, most of the community is aware of the event and the press is activated fully on it. The alignment recovers our most intrinsic human aspects, the curiosity, and enthusiasm for a natural phenomenon. This work is focused to enjoy and perceive it in three different ways: visually, listening, and in an artistic expression.We focused on the construction of more than one hundred LightSound devices, which the main purpose is to record the light intensity and transform it into different tones. Besides, we created an artistic representation of the Eclipse motivated by the ancestral culture of the people residing in the totality zone. This music adds a sensorial joy to the eclipse event.
Closing Remarks
Authors: Elmegreen Debra Meloy 
Published: December 2021

AbstractThis symposium has highlighted key first steps made in addressing many goals of the IAU Strategic Plan for 2020–2030. Presentations on initiatives regarding education, with applications to development, outreach, equity, inclusion, big data, and heritage, are briefly summarized here. The many projects underway for the public, for students, for teachers, and for astronomers doing astronomy education research provide a foundation for future collaborative efforts, both regionally and globally.
An investigation on conceptual understanding about cosmology
Authors: Colantonio Arturo , Marzoli Irene , Testa Italo , Puddu Emanuella 
Published: December 2021

AbstractIn this study, we identify patterns among students beliefs and ideas in cosmology, in order to frame meaningful and more effective teaching activities in this amazing content area. We involve a convenience sample of 432 high school students. We analyze students’ responses to an open-ended questionnaire with a non-hierarchical cluster analysis using the k-means algorithm.
Astronomy outreach for hospitalized children at Kyoto University Hospital
Authors: Tampo Y. , Mineshige S. , Arimoto J. , Tomato Nico-Nico , Hayakawa T. , Kawamura S. , Ohuchi R. , Kihara K. , Okamoto S. 
Published: December 2021

AbstractDepartment of Astronomy, Kyoto University has been conducting astronomy outreach programs in Kyoto University Hospital since 2006. In this proceeding, we report our activities in the hospital, survey results from graduate students, and discuss future directions.
Relative Orientation of Prasat Hin Phanom Rung Temple to Spica on New Year’s Day: The Chief Indicator for the Intercalary Year of the Luni-Solar Calendar
Authors: Komonjinda Siramas , Riyaprao Orapin , Sriboonrueang Korakamon , Saelee Cherdsak 
Published: December 2021

AbstractPrasat Hin Phanom Rung, located in Buriram Province of Thailand, is an ancient temple that had been built between the 10th and 13th century. The temple, which is off east-west orientation by 5.5° towards north, has unveiled the astonishing phenomena exhibiting both astronomical and architectural intellect of the ancient builders. The phenomena involve perfect quarterly-alignments of the sun through all the fifteen doorways of the temple. The phenomenal orientation of this ancient architecture has been elucidated by several scholars—including historians, archaeologists, and astronomers—that it might be related to solar or lunar events only. However, our studies have otherwise found a clue to this mystery that it may be based on how the ancient intelligence used stars in the zodiacal constellations to regulate agricultural calendars. In this study, we find that Phanom Rung was oriented with respect to Spica such that on the day Spica set on the west-side doorway at dawn, the sun was entering Mesha Rashi (Aries). This day has a direct connection to a New Year’s Day of Saka calendar (Śaka Era), presently called Thaloeng Sok Day. Furthermore, we have found the relationship between Spica and the full moon of Caitra from which the intercalary month-year (Adhikamas) was detected.
SeneSTEM: promoting STEM in Senegal
Authors: Mbaye Salma S. , Mbaye Modou , Kolenberg Katrien 
Published: December 2021

AbstractSeneSTEM aims to bring Senegalese children and young people into contact with science, and – by extension – with the STEM disciplines (Science Technology Engineering Mathematics) in a very accessible and illustrative way. We do this with concrete workshops and experiments, for both teachers and for groups of children and young people. In collaboration with different educational organisations in Senegal, among which the Senegalese Association for the Promotion of Astronomy, SeneSTEM ensures that all layers of the population are enthusiastic about science (education). Special attention is given to motivating girls for scientific careers. SeneSTEM actions are based on an international collaboration partly supported by development funds from the city of Antwerp and the University of Antwerp (Belgium).
Inclusion of deaf and hearing-impaired people in a planetarium show
Authors: Garca Guillermo M. , Gerini Juan I. , Costa Andrea F. 
Published: December 2021

AbstractIn the Planetarium of the city of Rosario the deaf and the hearing-impaired people could only perceive the visual elements of the show, such as the starry sky and the video images, which are meaningless without the narration. The technical team detected the problem and implemented a solution, adapting a particular show with a team of interpreters and a deaf person, with a low cost of development and arriving to great results.
The National Schools’ Observatory: Access to the Universe for All
Authors: Cooper Sally E. 
Published: December 2021

AbstractThe National Schools’ Observatory is an educational platform that offers free access to all schools in the UK and Ireland to the world’s largest robotic telescope, the Liverpool Telescope. The website offers activities, resources for teaching and importantly Go Observing, the telescope interface. The website receives 1.5 million visitors a year and has registered users in 80 countries. The next generation of robotic telescopes offer a unique opportunity to build in education, that is open and accessible to all.
Is increased size at birth associated with longevity on the population level? – A historical and comparative analysis of regions in Sweden
Authors: Quaranta Luciana , Sharma Ankita , Pontén Åsa , Källén Karin , Nilsson Peter M. 
Published: December 2021

AbstractIncreased population longevity could be influenced by early life factors. Some areas have long-lived populations, also in a historical perspective. We aimed to study these factors in Halland, an area with the highest life expectancy in Sweden. We collected archival data on gestational age and birth characteristics from 995 live singleton full-term births at the Halmstad Hospital, Halland, from the period 1936 to 1938 and compared these to 3364 births from three hospitals in nearby Scania for the period 1935–1945. In addition, data were obtained on maternal and offspring characteristics from the national Swedish Medical Birth Register during 1973–2013. The results show that when controlling for background maternal and offspring characteristics, mean birth weight (BW) and mean birth length were higher in Halland than in Scania, but the proportion of low birth weight (LBW) and small for gestational age (SGA) was lower. However, mean BW for Halland did not differ from the rest of Sweden in recent years 2004–2013. We also conducted a mortality follow-up for children born in Scania, which showed that LBW, being born SGA, or short birth length reduced survival. In conclusion, the high mean life expectancy in Halland compared to the rest of Sweden could have been associated with beneficial early life factors influencing birth size in the past. In more recent decades the mean BW of Halland is not different from the national mean. Thus, longevity could be expected to become more equal to the national mean in the future.
Unraveling the Relationship Between Tropical Storms and Agricultural Drought
Authors: Song J. Y. , Abbaszadeh P. , Deb P. , Moradkhani H. 
Published: December 2021

AbstractDrought and tropical storm (TS) are associated with water deficit and surplus, respectively. Soil moisture is a key component in the hydrological cycle that plays an important role in monitoring drought and reflects the infiltrated or stored water due to TS rainfall. Therefore, soil moisture information can be used for the assessment of whether TS can ameliorate severe drought conditions. Here, we use downscaled 1 km Soil Moisture Active Passive data set generated at the Center for Complex Hydrosystems Research at the University of Alabama, and Hurricane Database 2nd generation to examine the coincidence of extreme events between agricultural droughts and Atlantic TS in the contiguous United States from 2015 to 2019. The Cumulative Distribution Function (CDF) matching approach is employed to correct the bias using the root zone soil moisture data provided by the North American Land Data Assimilation System Phase 2 (NLDAS‐2), and then weekly Standardized Soil Moisture Index is calculated for characterization of agricultural drought. As a result, we estimate the frequency of TS impacted regions in the US, the ratio of droughts ameliorated and exacerbated by TS, and the regions where TS highly affect the offset of drought. Our findings indicate detailed spatial information of the offset of drought conditions based on a high‐resolution data set and provide potential information in terms of mitigating drought and TS for the future.
High‐Latitude Electrodynamics Specified in SAMI3 Using AMPERE Field‐Aligned Currents
Authors: Chartier A. T. , Huba J. D. , Sitaram D. P. , Merkin V. G. , Anderson B. J. , Vines S. K. 
Published: December 2021

AbstractA new technique has been developed to determine the high‐latitude electric potential from observed field‐aligned currents (FACs) and modeled ionospheric conductances. FACs are observed by the Active Magnetosphere and Planetary Electrodynamics Response Experiment (AMPERE), while the conductances are modeled by Sami3 is Also a Model of the Ionosphere (SAMI3). This is a development of the Magnetosphere‐Ionosphere Coupling approach first demonstrated by Merkin and Lyon (2010), https://doi.org/10.1029/2010ja015461. An advantage of using SAMI3 is that the model can be used to predict total electron content (TEC), based on the AMPERE‐derived potential solutions. 23 May 2014 is chosen as a case study to assess the new technique for a moderately disturbed case (min Dst: −36 nT, max AE: 909 nT) with good GPS data coverage. The new AMPERE/SAMI3 solutions are compared against independent GPS‐based TEC observations from the Multi‐Instrument Data Analysis Software (MIDAS) by Mitchell and Spencer (2003), and against Defense Meteorological Satellite Program (DMSP) ion drift data. The comparison shows excellent agreement between the location of the tongue of ionization in the MIDAS GPS data and the AMPERE/SAMI3 potential pattern, and good overall agreement with DMSP drifts. SAMI3 predictions of high‐latitude TEC are much improved when using the AMPERE‐derived potential as compared to Weimer's (2005), https://doi.org/10.1029/2005ja011270 model. The two potential models have substantial differences, with Weimer producing an average 77 kV cross‐cap potential versus 60 kV for the AMPERE‐derived potential. The results indicate that the 66‐satellite Iridium constellation provides sufficient resolution of FACs to estimate large‐scale ionospheric convection as it impacts TEC.
Development of a High‐Latitude Convection Model by Application of Machine Learning to SuperDARN Observations
Authors: Bristow W. A. , Topliff C. A. , Cohen M. B. 
Published: December 2021

AbstractA new model of northern hemisphere high‐latitude convection derived using machine learning (ML) is presented. The ML algorithm random forests regression was applied to a database of velocities derived from the Super Dual Auroral Radar Network (SuperDARN) observations processed with the potential mapping technique, Map‐Potential (Ruohoniemi & Baker, 1998, https://doi.org/10.1029/98ja01288). The features used to train the model were the interplanetary magnetic field components Bx, By, and Bz; the solar wind velocity, vsw; the auroral indices, Au and Al; and the geomagnetic index, SYM‐H. The SuperDARN velocities were separated into north‐south, and east‐west components and sorted into a magnetic local time ‐ magnetic latitude grid that ran from 55° to the magnetic pole with a bin size of 2° in latitude, and 1‐hr in MLT. Separate models were created for each velocity component in each bin of the grid. It is found that even though the models in each bin are independent of one another a coherent convection pattern is formed when the models are viewed in aggregate. The resulting convection pattern responds to changes in the auroral indices by expanding and contracting in a way that is consistent with expectations for a substorm cycle. Further it is found that the mean‐squared difference between predictions of the model and observed values of the velocity are substantially lower than the same quantity calculated for an existing climatology that was not formed with ML techniques.