Astronomy outreach goes virtual to support home-staying families

As soon as the confinement hit, the international astronomy outreach community scrambled to get involved to help support parents-turned-teachers and people staying at home.

The International Astronomical Union’s Office of Astronomy Outreach (IAU OAO) has been coordinating a global response by educators and outreach experts to compile and make material available online, producing an impressive list of free resources available here by age, role and language.

The SKAO Comms team has played its part, refreshing much of our online content since the lockdown started. We updated our Amazing Facts about the SKA, added a list of SKA-relevant citizen science projects people can get involved in; we added fun new activities developed by our partners using Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality, and we also added a list of activities for children that explain some of the engineering behind the SKA. Last but not least, coinciding with World Art Day and following the example of museums around the world, we made our indigenous astronomy art exhibition Shared Sky available online for all. You can now enjoy all of the artworks in the collection in our virtual gallery from the comfort of your home.

See below for a list of the resources:

IAU online resources: https://www.iau.org/public/callforonlineresources/

SKA Amazing Facts: https://www.skatelescope.org/outreachandeducation/outreach-resources/amazingfacts/

Citizen Science from SKA partners: https://www.skatelescope.org/outreachandeducation/outreach-resources/citizen-science/

AR, VR and other fun stuff: https://www.skatelescope.org/outreachandeducation/outreach-resources/fun-stuff/

Activities explaining the engineering behind the SKA: https://www.skatelescope.org/outreachandeducation/outreach-resources/engineering-behind-ska/

Shared Sky virtual gallery: https://www.skatelescope.org/shared-sky/virtual-gallery/

By SKAO