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Editorial (page 03)
Georgia Bladon
Welcome to another issue of the Communicating Astronomy with the Public Journal.
As many of you may know, our journal forms part of Commission 55 of the International Astronomy Union’s (IAU) Division C — known as Communicating Astronomy with the Public. To begin this issue I would like to acknowledge a recent change in this commission. Lars Lindberg Christensen, who has been president of the commission for three years, officially stepped down in August during the IAU General Assembly in Honolulu, Hawaii. Lars has made a significant contribution to the commission, including helping to bring this journal to life. I would like to sincerely thank Lars for his unwavering support of astronomy communication, the commission and the journal.
In addition to celebrating Lars's successes as president we also have reason to celebrate the arrival of our new president, Pedro Russo. Pedro has been vice-president of the commission for three years; he played a leading role in its development and initiated the creation of CAPjournal in 2007, before becoming its first editor. Congratulations Pedro, we all very much look forward to working with you in your new role.
Another exciting result from the General Assembly was the announcement that the Office of Astronomy for Development (OAD) will open new coordinating offices in Armenia, Colombia, Jordan, Nigeria and Portugal. One of our leading aims at CAPjournal is to represent astronomy communication activities from across the globe and in doing so reflect the IAU’s strategic plan — to realise the societal benefits of astronomy. These new offices will support this aim and we hope to hear more from representatives in these areas in upcoming issues of CAPjournal.
In this issue of the journal we reflect on some key findings in astronomy communication, including research into astronomers’ views on outreach; reflections on the highly successful Galileoscope project and Global Astronomy Month; and insights into new ways to share and improve access to the huge files we, as astronomy communicators, are creating.
We also gain a new perspective in this issue by hearing from those who have participated in our projects. ESO Astronomy Camp students reflect upon what they gained from the camp, whilst a winner of the ESA/Hubble Ode to Hubble competition explains how she tied together photography, philosophy and astronomy for the competition, and why.
If you have any comments, feedback, or wish to send a submission or proposal for our upcoming issues, please contact: editor@capjournal.org. Many thanks once again for your interest in CAPjournal, and happy reading,
Georgia Bladon
Editor-in-Chief
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