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Editorial (page 03)
Georgia Bladon

It is once again my pleasure to introduce the CAPjournal, as it reaches its 15th issue.

Earlier this year I was lucky enough to visit the Chilean Atacama Desert, an arid and unforgiving environment that is home to some of the clearest skies on the planet — not to mention some of the world’s most impressive ground-based telescopes. Viewing the night sky with such clarity — very different from the orange skies of home — was unlike anything I had seen before and highlighted to me how important it is to do what we do. To bring those skies to people all over the world.

The commitment that this community has to engaging the public with astronomy and astrophysics never ceases to astound me, and neither does the enthusiasm of the public to engage with it. Even in a remote desert town — 106 kilo- metres from the nearest city with a population of under 5000 — I waited four days for a place on a “star tour”. The appetite for knowledge about the Universe is phenomenal.

So, I would like to thank the authors of the papers and articles found in this journal for helping us to share knowledge on communicating astronomy with the public and to expand and improve upon the field. Not to mention the team of people at the IAU and ESO ePOD who make this journal happen, alongside countless other outreach initiatives.

In this issue you will find articles that outline best practice for astronomy outreach with the visually impaired, with the elderly, with children and with audiences from around the world — from rural Mexico to downtown Tokyo, Japan. Amongst the research articles there are resources on designing your own spectroscopy lab, building a do-it-yourself portable planetarium programme and using new analogies to bring the Universe down to a scale that can be better understood.

If you have any comments, feedback, or wish to send a submission or proposal of your own for our upcoming issues, do not hesitate to get in touch: editor@capjournal.org.

Many thanks for your interest in CAPjournal and happy reading,

Georgia Bladon
Editor-in-Chief