Category: Uncategorized

2nd Planetary Mapping and Virtual Observatory Workshop

The 2nd Planetary Mapping and Virtual Observatory Workshop took place from 1-3 July 2019, Domaine de St. Paul, Saint-Rémy-lès-Chevreuse, France. The workshop aimed to bring together the geologic, geospatial and VO communities at European scale to progress knowledge, tools and standards for mapping the Solar System.The programme included updates on VESPA, PLANMAP and Data / science infrastructures (OneGeology, INSPIRE, EPOS), as well as lightning talks, tutorials and hackathons.

If you missed the workshop, the presentations are online.

Discussions related to the hackathons and tutorials can be found here: 

https://forum.openplanetary.org/c/events/vespa-mapping-2019

You can also catch up on the Lightning Talks from the meeting:

A selection of photos are below. For all photos of the workshop, see here.

Making the Case for Astronomy at EWASS 2019

The European Week of Astronomy and Space Science (EWASS) is the annual conference of the European Astronomical Society (EAS) and the largest meeting on astronomy held in Europe. For the past three years, Europlanet 2020 RI has collaborated with the EAS, ESA and the RAS to convene a session on public and political engagement: “Making the Case for Astronomy”.

EWASS 2019 took place under heatwave conditions at the Manufacture des tabacs, University of Lyon 3 from 24-28 June. The 2019 edition of Making the Case for Astronomy ran for a full day of parallel sessions and was split over three themes: evaluation, engaging with non-traditional audiences, and talking to policy-makers. The sessions included time for questions and wider discussion with all participants attending.

Measuring the impact of communication and outreach

The first session focused on lessons learned from social science and evaluation. Marta Entradas of the LSE, UK, and ISCTE-IUL, Portugal, kicked off with a presentation on her 2018 study of the public engagement practices and motivations of 2587 members of the IAU. “Bustling public communication by astronomers around the world driven by personal and contextual factors” is the largest international investigation of astronomy outreach to date. Marta presented a positive picture of self-motivated researchers, who in all regions of the world are striving to engage external communities with their science.

Eric Jensen of the Institute for Methods Innovation, UK, presented an evidence-based approach to public engagement, focusing on how evaluation can lead to more effective communication and outcomes.

We finished the final session with a presentation by Anita Heward on the Europlanet Evaluation Toolkit. Karen Bultitude and Jen DeWitt developed the toolkit for Europlanet 2020 RI with the aim of empowering outreach providers and educators in measuring and appraising the impact of their activities. The kit includes 14 easy-to-use data collection tools and two data analysis tools for deriving more in-depth information from data collected.

Engaging with different audiences

The second session started with a review by Mark McCaughrean of ESA’s recent communications activities aimed at non-traditional audiences. Initiatives include “Space Rocks” music events and the “Ambition” science fiction film, which has opened up opportunities to participate in science fiction conventions such as FEDCON.

Jacqueline Campbell of UCL’s Mullard Space Science Laboratory followed this with a dynamic talk on reaching out to people in society – particularly young people – who feel that science is “not for them”. She highlighted the importance of role models and drew analogies with sport in discussing how science can become more accessible by opening it up to society at all levels, not just those individuals that wish to pursue a career in STEM.

Next, Michelle Willebrands brought a pan-European perspective with a presentation on the European IAU Regional Office of Astronomy for Development (E-ROAD), which has been established at Leiden Observatory and is operated jointly by the EAS and Leiden University. While astronomy is well established in Europe, the continent faces its own challenges in achieving the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals in Europe. The new E-ROAD will find ways in which astronomy can improve aspects of European society.

Finally, Gina Maffey of JIVE discussed the challenges of communicating radio astronomy to public audiences (and the joys of unscrambling acronyms within acronyms). Gina rounded off the first part of the session with a practical exercise in communication, where participants were asked to describe their work in one sentence to their neighbour and find out what kind of visual imagery their words evoked.

Talking to policy makers

The third part of the session was opened by Clare Moody, the former MEP for the Southwest of the UK, who gave practical advice on engaging with policy makers. Clare highlighted the timeliness in the aftermath of the European elections for engaging with the new intake of Members of the European Parliament, who are currently scoping out their areas of interest. Clare’s top tips included:

• Identify a cluster of people to target through your Member State. Look at the backgrounds of MEPs to see who has an interest in science or who has a link to a particular university. This kind of mapping early on can pay dividends in developing good relationships with policy makers.
• Look at the target committees that will be formed in July 2019 and the appointed rapporteurs. The ITRE Committee is particularly important for astronomy, as is the Budgets Committee.
• As well as developing a good relationship with an MEP, it’s also vital to have a good relationship with the MEP’s office team. The offices are an important part of policy development and are gatekeepers to the MEPs.
• Be clear about why you are engaging with a policymaker. What do you want to get out of developing the relationship? What knowledge or expertise can you bring to the MEP that will help them in their work or make them look good. Tell a coherent story.
• Keep in regular contact with your MEP and their offices, and with activities within the Parliament. This will make it easier when you need something e.g. to ask for a hearing in the run-up to a key decision.

Next, Andy Williams, the External Relations Officer at the European Southern Observatory, talked about creating a favourable policy landscape for astronomy. Andy covered strategies for engagement with political and government actors and gave sound advice on how to act as a “policy entrepreneur”, including the need to understand the timeline of policy making, to build up contextual knowledge of policy systems, and to capitalise on external events and successes.

Robert Massey, Deputy Director of the Royal Astronomical Society (RAS), gave a perspective on policy engagement during a turbulent time in UK politics. The EU currently plays a vital role in supporting UK astronomy, which is one of the most international fields of research. With 1/3 of UK postdocs coming from other EU countries and the ERC supporting over 30% of grants for UK space science and astronomy, any form of Brexit is likely to have a huge effect on astronomy in the UK. Policy changes regarding open access are also causing a major shake-up in scientific publishing. Organisations like the RAS must adapt to continue to provide a strong and effective voice for the communities they serve.

Finally, Niall Smith of the Cork Institute of Technology / Blackrock Castle Observatory in Ireland talked about how the conversion of a 16th century castle into a science destination was enabled initially through engagement with decision makers on a local level and has led to partnerships across Ireland and beyond. Niall also discussed how the success of Blackrock Castle Observatory’s public enagement had played an important role in catalysing and developing Ireland’s first National Space Strategy for Enterprise through its thought-leadership in space policy development.

Many thanks to Karen O’Flaherty (ESA), Mike Bode (EAS), Robert Massey (RAS), Konstantina Moutsouroufi (U. Athens) and Eric Lagadec (Observatoire de la Côte d’Azur) for their work in preparing a very successful session. Special thanks to Nantia Moutsouroufi for the images included in this post.

Find out more about previous EWASS “Making the Case for Astronomy” sessions in reports from Prague in 2017 and in Liverpool in 2018.

Europlanet Summer School 2019

From 11-21 June, Europlanet 2020 RI once again welcomed 21 students, early career researchers and amateur astronomers to a summer school at the Molėtai Astronomical Observatory in Lithuania.

The 2019 course was the 20th anniversary of the inaugural summer school organised by the University of Vilnius at MAO and the third time that it has been supported by Europlanet 2020 RI.

This year, the summer school was attended by students from 17 countries. A priority for Europlanet is to support planetary science in under-represented states, so we were particularly delighted to that the class of 2019 included students from Albania, Armenia, Bulgaria, Croatia, Georgia, Lithuania, Poland, Turkey and Romania, as well as Austria, France, Ireland, Italy, Norway, Spain, Vietnam and the UK.

All the students were given practical experience in spectroscopic and photometric observations with the MAO’s two telescopes under the supervision of Arnas Drazdauskas, Sarunas Mikolaitis, Edita Stonkute and Justas Zdanavičius of Vilnius University’s Institute of Theoretical Physics and Astronomy. In the mornings, students analysed observations. In the afternoons, they participated in a programme of science communication training.

An introductory lecture, “Stars and Exoplanets – the breakthrough of research”, by Hans Kjeldsen of Aarhus University in Denmark put the programme into context. Participant Martin Topinka of the Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies gave the public talk, “A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away – in the perspective of JWST”.

Special thanks to Gražina Tautvaisiene, Renata Minkevičiūtė and all the Local Organising Committee for their work in organising the Summer School and creating a memorable event once again.

Europlanet Webinar: Volcanism on Io

3rd June, 14:30 GMT / 15: 30 CET (This webinar has been rescheduled from  25th March)

Register on Zoom

For our June Webinar, Dr Ashley Davies will tell us how volcanoes helped transform the surfaces of the Earth, the other terrestrial planets, and the Moon. The biggest volcanic eruptions in the Solar System are taking place not on Earth, but on Io, a moon of Jupiter. This wonder of the Solar System is a fascinating volcanic laboratory where powerful volcanic eruptions result from tidal heating, a process that also affects the ice-covered moon Europa. Despite multiple spacecraft visits and spectacular new observations of Io with large Earth-based telescopes, some of the biggest questions about Io’s extraordinary volcanoes remain unanswered. Getting the answers requires an understanding of the difficulties of remote sensing of volcanic activity; a new, innovative approach to instrument design; and ultimately a return to Io. Ashley Davies, a volcanologist at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, in Pasadena, CA, will describe how studying volcanoes on Earth leads to a clearer understanding of how Io’s volcanoes work and how best to study them from spacecraft.

About Ashley Davies

Dr. Ashley Davies is a Research Scientist at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory – California Institute of Technology. He received a Doctorate in volcanology from Lancaster University, in the United Kingdom, in 1988 and has been at JPL for over 25 years. He was a member of the Galileo NIMS Team; is a Co-Investigator on the Europa Clipper Mapping Imaging Spectrometer for Europa (MISE); has written over 100 papers on observing and understanding volcanic processes; and is the author of “Volcanism on Io – A comparison with Earth”, published by Cambridge University Press. He continues to be engaged in research into volcanic eruption processes, spacecraft mission and instrumentation development, and field work on volcanoes around the world. He was a co-recipient of the NASA Software of the Year Award for the successful Autonomous Sciencecraft (demonstrating science-driven full spacecraft autonomy).

Interview with Amelia Ortiz-Gil, Europlanet Prize Winner 2019

In this interview, we ask our Europlanet Prize Winner 2019, Amelia Ortiz-Gil, about the inspirations and motivations behind her work in outreach and her ambitions to make astronomy more accessible, both within the community and to wider society.

When did you first become interested in astronomy?

“I was a very young girl of about 4 or 5 when I read a book about the Solar System. I became fascinated to learn about worlds so different from our own. This fascination turned into curiosity and it led me to read everything I could related to astronomy as I was growing up, finally deciding to become an astronomer myself as I was also very interested in Physics.”

How did you first become involved in outreach?

“It was in 2003, when I moved to the University of Valencia (Spain) with a research fellowship to study clusters of galaxies. Towards the end of the fellowship the Astronomical Observatory of the University started this amazing project called ‘Aula del Cel’ (Sky Classroom) to conduct activities with school children daily at the Observatory. I became part of the team running the project and ended up working in outreach and education full time.”

What has inspired you in your work to make astronomy more accessible, particularly to those with visual impairments and disabilities?

“After a couple of years running the ‘Aula del Cel’ we received a request from a special education school to visit our Observatory. We had not conducted any activities taking into account any special needs of our public so this was the perfect chance to reach this part of the population. I think the sky is there for everybody to enjoy and it is our moral duty as outreach professionals to help everybody to reach the stars.

“We set up working very closely with the teachers of the special education school to adapt the activities that were usually conducted during the school visits. We learnt a lot from these teachers. The most important outcomes of the experience were two. First, that we were indeed able to adapt and develop astronomical activities for persons who are functionally diverse, and second, that it is an extremely gratifying experience because we had one of the most passionate and grateful publics ever.”

What are the initiatives that you have worked on that you are most proud of?

“I am very proud of the ‘A Touch of the Universe’ project (2013) which was the first to create a kit of astronomical resources accessible to the blind and visually impaired. We distributed 20 of these kits around the world and I know they have been very useful and have helped educators who wanted to reach this kind of public but needed this support and extra push. The resources are freely available to download from the project’s site so anyone anywhere in the world with access to a 3D printer can reproduce the tactile planetary globes.

“The project was based on two previous ones, the ‘Hands in the Sky’ planetarium show for the blind that we developed during the International Year of Astronomy (2009) and the Tactile 3D Moon, which was possible thanks to the generous funding of Europlanet’s Outreach Funding Scheme in 2011.”

Are there areas/things that the astronomical community should seek to address, or could do to make itself more inclusive and accessible?

“There are many areas and things that should change in order to make astronomy more inclusive and accessible at the outreach, academic and professional levels.

“There are a lot of barriers that need to be acknowledged and removed. Many are simply the result of some arbitrary choices that can be changed for the benefit of everyone, like the ways in which we chose to store, disseminate and present information. These choices will have a different impact on people with visual, hearing or learning impairments. Specifically, there is a clear need for scientific journals to follow a set of rules for them to be accessible to people with functional or neurological diversity.
Several actions are needed to ensure scientific meetings are inclusive and accessible to all.

And selection and hiring processes must ensure that they are not being discriminatory against anyone with an impairment.

There has been work done along theses lines already. For example, the Nashville Recommendations for Inclusive Astronomy is a living wiki document with many recommendations on how to make Astronomy more inclusive. And the Sloan Digital Sky Survey has created COINS (Committee On Inclusion iN SDSS), developing guidelines and recommendation documents for best practices, also regarding meeting and telecon accessibility.”

What are you working on at the moment?

“I am currently the chair of the International Astronomical Union’s Working Group of Astronomy for Equity and Inclusion, a group of astronomers and outreach professionals that seeks to inspire the community about inclusive practices. One of the WG projects I am involved with is the compilation of a Universal Dictionary of Astronomical Signs in as many different sign languages as possible in order to provide communicators and educators with a basic astronomical jargon when talking to deaf persons.

“I am also involved in the organisation of the IAU Symposium 358 ‘Astronomy for Equity, Diversity and Inclusion’ that will be held in Tokyo (Japan) on November 2019. One of the outcomes of this meeting will be the ‘Mitaka Resolutions’, a document to guide the IAU to achieve higher levels of Equity, Diversity and Inclusion in Astronomy.

“I am the IAU’s National Outreach Coordinator for Spain. This year the IAU is celebrating its 100th anniversary with a global celebration called IAU100 which is paying special attention to inclusive practices in astronomical outreach activities. I have also contributed to the traveling international exhibition “Inspiring Stars”, an IAU100 exhibition about inclusivity and accessibility in Astronomy, from school to professional environments. It features our tactile 3D planetary globes (Moon, Mars and Venus). Also the tactile 3D Moon is one of the prizes that can be won in different IAU100 competitions.

“The IAU’s OAD funded last year our project ‘A Touch of Venus’ to print 3D tactile models of the planet Venus. We have recently shipped them along with an activity book in Braille to developing countries.”

To find out more about Amelia’s work, read the press release on the Europlanet Prize 2019 and see https://astrokit.uv.es

Europlanet Webinar: Volcanism and Mars

Monday 13th May at 13:00 BST / 14: 00 CEST with Dr Petr Brož, Researcher in the Department of Geodynamics at the Institute of Geophysics of the Czech Academy of Sciences and EPEC Outreach Working Group Chair.

Mars is a terrestrial planet whose surface was significantly modified by the volcanic activity throughout its history. The volcanism left many evidences in the form of variously sized volcanoes, endless lava fields, or volcanic rocks widely spread over the surface. In this webinar, Petr will present evidence of the volcanic history of Mars and explain the importance of volcanism on the evolution of this planet.

There are two ways to watch the webinar:

• Full Access using the Zoom app (desktop or mobile) – this gives the best quality, allows you to ask questions to the speaker and fully participate in the webinar. Click the button below to register to access the webinar and have the Zoom app installed. We won’t share your data with anyone and will only use it in regards to this webinar.

Register on Zoom

• Live Streaming on YouTube – you can watch the live stream of the webinar through Europlanet’s YouTube channel without registration when the webinar is live. This is a straight feed and you aren’t able to communicate with the speaker or participate further in the webinar in any way.

Europlanet’s YouTube Channel
(Webinar visible only whilst live)

We highly recommend using the Zoom app, especially if you have multiple viewers, are projecting the webinar, etc.

Dr Petr Brož has been a researcher at the Department of Geodynamics, Czech Academy of Sciences since 2010, where he focuses on volcanism across the Solar system. His main interest is kilometer-sized cones formed by explosive volcanic activity caused by magma degassing and water/magma interactions on the surface of Mars. His research is based on the analysis of the remote sensing data from morphological and morphometrical points of view. During his PhD at Charles University, Prague, he completed internships at the DLR (Germany) and the Open University (UK). He has been awarded the Nadání Josefa, Marie a Zdenky Hlávkových prize and the Otto Wichterle Award, both from the Czech Academy of Sciences. we has also won the SCIAP 2016 prize with Dr. Matěj Machek for new and inspirative outreach model of plate tectonics. Dr. Brož is dedicated to public outreach in order to help popularize geosciences in the context of solar system exploration.

Europlanet Webinar: Searching for Life Outside of Earth – Perspectives of Science Fiction vs. Reality

Monday 29th April at 13:00 BST / 14: 00 CEST

For our April Webinar, Dr Julie Novakova will talk about “Searching for Life Outside of Earth – Perspectives of Science Fiction vs. Reality”. 

Julie Novakova is an award-winning Czech author of science fiction and detective stories. She has published seven novels, one anthology and over thirty stories in Czech. She started publishing short stories in English in 2013 and her work has appeared in Asimov’s, Clarkesworld and other magazines and anthologies. Some of her works have been translated into Chinese, Romanian and Estonian. She’s also active in science outreach and education, nonfiction writing and translation. She is currently a PhD student of evolutionary biology at the Charles University in Prague.

There are two ways to watch the webinar:

• Full Access using the Zoom app (desktop or mobile) – this gives the best quality, allows you to ask questions to the speaker and fully participate in the webinar. Click the button below to register to access the webinar and have the Zoom app installed. We won’t share your data with anyone and will only use it in regards to this webinar.

Register on Zoom

• Live Streaming on YouTube – you can watch the live stream of the webinar through Europlanet’s YouTube channel without registration when the webinar is live. This is a straight feed and you aren’t able to communicate with the speaker or participate further in the webinar in any way.

Europlanet’s YouTube Channel
(Webinar visible only whilst live)

We highly recommend using the Zoom app, especially if you have multiple viewers, are projecting the webinar, etc.

Announcement of venues for EPSC 2020 and EPSC 2021

The EPSC Executive Committee, on behalf of the Europlanet Society,  is delighted to announce the selection of venues for the European Planetary Science Congress (EPSC) in 2020 and 2021:

• EPSC 2020 will be held at the Palacio de Exposiciones y Congresos de Granada, Spain, from Sunday 27th September – Friday 2nd October 2020.
• EPSC 2021 will be held at Finlandia Hall, Helsinki, Finland, from Sunday 19th – Friday 24th September 2021.

Many congratulations to both Local Organising Committees who put together the bids. We look forward to working with them and to meeting the planetary science community in these two beautiful cities.

Translated Europlanet videos released

We are excited to announce that our animated videos (‘Jupiter and its Icy Moons‘, ‘Astrobiology – Life in the Universe‘ and ‘Space Detectives – the Case of the Rocks from Space‘) have been translated into French, German, Spanish and Italian! Now, with videos in a multitude of European languages we hope to reach more people than ever before and share what we can learn from extreme environments, space rocks and more. Keep your eyes on our YouTube channel and #EuroplanetVideos on Twitter to find out more!

Watch all Europlanet videos

From the desert of Ethiopia to other worlds

This interview by Livia Giacomini with the geologist, Barbara Cavalazzi, was first published in Italian on the MEDIA INAF site on 22 March 2019 and is reproduced with kind permission. Barbara Cavalazzi has just returned from the desert of Ethiopia for the first “Afar Desert Class”, an educational project that aims to explain to elementary school children and their teachers how to study the Earth and other planets – and the rich resources offered by our own planet.

Imagine being out in the desert of Ethiopia, talking about geology and extraterrestrial life with local children and teachers, explaining what scientists do in the field and giving the community an opportunity for growth and development… This is what Barbara Cavalazzi, a geologist from the University of Bologna, has been doing with the “Afar Desert Class”, an initiative conceived in the European project, Europlanet, in collaboration with GEMMA (Estense Mineralogical and Geological Museum of the University of Modena) and Reggio Emilia and with the support of some private associations and supporters. We met Barbara on her return from the Danakil desert, where she has just spent a couple of weeks studying and working.

Barbara, what led you from Bologna to the Ethiopian desert?

“I am a geologist and I deal with extreme environments and extremophilic life forms. I started to explore this part of the world with the University of Bologna in 2013, when no one knew about the Danakil desert as a possible terrestrial analogue for Mars. Today we know a lot more about this place, which can be considered as one of the most extreme natural places in the world with environmental temperatures easily reaching 50°C. In the middle of this salt desert rises the volcanic structure of Dallol – a salt dome about 60 meters high – formed by a phreatomagmatic eruption [an explosive eruption that results from the magma erupting through water]. On the top, there are hydrothermal sources of hot water up to 110°C, that are extremely acidic with a pH equal to 0, and with very high salinity. After several geological campaigns in these regions I came into contact with many children, who wandered around to look at my strange samples at the end of the day. I realised that despite the extreme conditions and all the difficulties, their curiosity was the same as any child’s anywhere else in the world.”

And you had an idea …

“One of the main problems with teaching local children was the language barrier. So, I thought about creating a programme with the idea of teaching teachers to reach children and offer them knowledge and opportunities. The program is called “SPACE: Speaking Planet to Teachers Community in Ethiopia”. SPACE was born in 2013 and was developed as part of the AlmaEngage project, and with support of the European planetology organisation, Europlanet 2020-RI. The objective is to work with local communities, especially in rural areas, to create opportunities, for example by creating training courses for discovering the region in respect and harmony with local communities and their culture. We focus on teacher training and the implementation of projects and courses in the school environment.”

It can’t be easy to bring elementary school children to an extreme desert environment to do lessons. Can you tell us what happened?

“This year, as part of SPACE, I led the first ‘Afar Desert Class’, a learning experience designed for elementary and middle school students of the village in this very special environment, to help them understand the uniqueness of the place where they live. The course took place from February 23rd to 25th and involved 60 children from the Hamed’Ela elementary school, their six teachers and, as often happens in Africa, the whole community of the village. The first day I taught the teachers about the geological peculiarities of their region. Obviously, the safety of children has also been a fundamental consideration, given that the places we were going to visit are extremely hot and acidic. The next day we took the children out to the field in cars. The departure from the school was unforgettable, with lots of teachers in white coats, children in single file and flags of the Afar region and Ethiopia waving us on our way. After crossing the expanse of the salt plain with our cars, we arrived at the Dallol volcano, where we got out. There, in the field, the children discovered what their region means from a scientific and geological point of view, and learned to look at their place of origin with different eyes.”

So there, in the middle of a desert, the children could see how a geologist works …

“With the help of the teachers, who acted as translators, I explained in a simple way to the children about their surroundings, the reasons for the different colours and how they were formed. For example, those hot and acid sources: why are they there, and how do we study them? Together, we collected samples and minerals, measured the pH and other simple parameters such as temperature. In short, we did everything scientists do, to understand how they do it and above all why they do it – and why it so important. In other words, we applied the basics of the scientific method for all natural sciences, starting with observation. But the idea is also to give children awareness of the uniqueness of the place in which they live, and to be proud of it and protect it from the “plasticky” pollution of tourists. The children, who have only seen the reality of the desert in their lives, were amazed to know that this is a unique place in the world, with so much potential scientifically but also touristically. There is a lot to do for the development of these countries, and we must do it one step at a time, starting with the children.”

Did you say that the experience also involved children’s families?

“Yes, that’s right: these three days have been a real event for the whole community. On the third day of our course, back at the village, we invited the families to the school. We organised a photo exhibition about the project, and the children acted as guides for their parents by telling them everything they had seen and learned. It was a real party for the whole village, with a big lunch, which the whole community will remember for a long time. Also, at the end of the course, we gave them educational materials so that they could continue the experience independently. Thanks to the organisers – but also thanks to the I Bambini del Deserto and Vivere Insieme in Pari Dignità associations, to the Istituto comprensivo Pescara 5, to Zab Tours Ethiopia and to the many friends who collaborated with me on this idea of mine – we were able to give educational resources, books and clothing to the children and the school. A little dream too… The children at the beginning of this adventure were incredulous – they could not believe that everything was being organised for them and they seemed almost scared. Then, during the three days, they loosened up, we had fun, and they learned a lot. In exchange they taught me a few words in Afar and how much can be done in developing countries, starting with the next generation. We left each other with a “See you soon!” Because yes, this has become an important part of my scientific research.

Europlanet Summer School 2019 – Registration now open

Are you an early career researcher or amateur astronomer that would like to develop your science communication skills, as well as learning more about making ground-based observations in support of space missions?

Europlanet 2020 (RI) and the Molėtai Astronomical Observatory (ITPA VU) are pleased to announce that they are once again holding an international research summer school, Space missions: ground-based observations and science communication, from 11th-21st June at the Molėtai Astronomical Observatory in Lithuania. Morning sessions will focus on ground-based observations required by space missions and the afternoons will be devoted to science communication training, with sessions on writing for the media, engaging with schools, exhibition design, engaging with the public, and social media. The Summer School is also an opportunity to explore beautiful Lithuania, with an excursion to Vilnius and Trakai.  The school is orientated to PhD students and early career scientists, however amateur astronomers will be provided with the additional scientific support during lectures and observations.

Find out more about the preliminary programme or book your place now!

The deadline for application is 10 April 2019 23:59:00 UTC.

Notifications of acceptance by 01 May 2019 23:59:00 UTC.

Call for the Farinella Prize 2019 launched.

The call for the Farinella Prize 2019 has been announced. The ninth Paolo Farinella Prize will be awarded to a young scientist with outstanding contributions in the field of planetary science concerning “The Trans-Neptunian Population”. The prize is supported by the University of Pisa and by IAPS-INAF (Rome). The award ceremony will be hosted by the  European Planetary Science Congress (EPSC) – Division for Planetary Sciences (DPS) Joint Meeting in Geneva, Switzerland (15-20 September 2019).

For the 9^th“Paolo Farinella” Prize the terms and rules are as follows:

1. A competition is announced to award the “Paolo Farinella” Prize for the year 2019. The prize consists of a plate, a certificate and the amount of 1500 €. The winner is expected to give a Prize lecture at the EPSC/DPS awards special session.
2. The winner will be selected on the basis of his/her overall research results in the field of “The Trans-Neptunian Population“.
3. Nominations must be sent by email not later than April 15 to the following addresses: morby@oca.eu,acb@ua.esand david.lucchesi@inaf.it, using the downloadable form.
4. The nominations for the “Paolo Farinella” Prize can be made by any researcher that works in the field of planetary sciences following the indications in the attached form. Selfnominationsareacceptable. The candidates should have international and interdisciplinary collaborations and should be not older than 47 years, the age of Paolo when he passed away, at the date of April 15, 2019.
5. The winner of the prize will be selected before May 20 by the “Paolo Farinella” Prize Committee composed of outstanding scientists in planetary sciences, with specific experience in the field.
6. The Prize Committee will consider all the nominations, but will be entitled to autonomously consider other candidates.

Apply now for the Europlanet Outreach Prize and Funding Scheme 2019!

Have you run a successful outreach project for which you deserve some recognition? Or are you looking for funding to kickstart an outreach project related to planetary science? 

The application deadlines for the 2019 Europlanet Prize for Public Engagement and Outreach Funding Scheme is 31st January 2019.

About the Europlanet Prize For Public Engagement 2019

The Europlanet Prize for Public Engagement recognises achievements in engaging European citizens with planetary science. The Prize of 4 000 Euros is awarded annually to individuals or groups who have developed innovative practices in planetary science communication and whose efforts have significantly contributed to a wider public engagement with planetary science.
The call for nominations for the Europlanet Prize for Public Engagement 2019 closes on 31st January 2019.

Find out more at: http://www.europlanet-eu.org/outreach/prize/

About the Europlanet Outreach Funding Scheme 2019

Europlanet awards grants of between 5 000 and 15 000 Euros to fund projects to engage the public with planetary science. Through the funding scheme, Europlanet aims to encourage new ways of bringing planetary science to audiences across Europe and inspire the next generation of scientists and engineers. The call for applications closes on 31st January 2019.

Find out more at: http://www.europlanet-eu.org/outreach/funding-scheme/

Review of Europlanet Highlights in 2018

2018 has been a milestone year for Europlanet with the launch of the new Society and a plethora of planetary activities. Here, the outreach team has chosen its highlights from the past 12 months.

December – European Commission showcases Europlanet 2020 RI success

Danakil Depression in Ethiopia is helping to redefine the conditions for life on our planet & beyond. #EUfunded @europlanetmedia enabled European researchers to visit planetary analogue field & explore extreme planetary environments ? #ResearchImpactEU https://t.co/EpcdIsv3Lj

— EUScience&Innovation?? (@EUScienceInnov) December 10, 2018

In December, we were delighted and honoured to be chosen as a Horizon 2020 success story by the European Commission as part of its thematic month on research infrastructures. Our showreel video was shared through the Commission’s social media accounts and an article was published in Horizon Magazine.  The showreel video draws on the brilliant series of animations on planetary topics created for Europlanet by the award-winning Science Office, including ‘Space Detectives – The Case of the Rocks from Space‘, ‘Astrobiology – Life in the Universe‘, ‘Jupiter and its Icy Moons‘ and ‘The Transit of Mercury‘. Watch and enjoy!

November – Teacher training in Ethiopia

In November, Europlanet held a training workshop for 46 science teachers from schools in the Tigray and Afar regions of Ethiopia. The team of trainers included researchers from the University of Mekelle, University of Bologna and Open University that had participated in Europlanet field trips to the Danakil Depression. In October, representatives from Europlanet also took part in a workshop to explore how Botswana could expand its involvement in planetary research and create a solid network of collaboration with international partners. We look forward to developing more collaborations with African partners in the future.

October – BepiColombo launches season of mission milestones

On 20th October, the ESA-JAXA BepiColombo mission set off on a seven year journey to reach Mercury. Europlanet researchers participated in a live webinar and shared their experiences of the launch from Kourou and mission control in Darmstadt. BepiColombo’s launch heralded the start of a gripping season of planetary mission milestones, with the landing of InSight on Mars, the end of the Dawn mission‘s asteroid tour, the arrival of Osiris-Rex at asteroid Bennu, the New Horizons flyby of Ultima Thule and the landing of Chang’e-4 on the far side of the Moon all occuring within an action-packed few months. Analysis of data sent back should make 2019 an exciting year for planetary science!

September – Launch of Europlanet Society at biggest-ever EPSC

The European Planetary Science Congress (EPSC) 2018 in Berlin was our biggest stand-alone annual meeting to date, with more than 1000 participants. EPSC 2018 included 59 oral sessions, three dedicated poster sessions and multiple splinter meetings and workshops. We issued 10 press releases and held two press briefings, resulting in worldwide media coverage. On Thursday 20th September, our General Assembly unanimously approved plans to launch a new Europlanet Society for individual and institutional members. The Society will provide a sustainable structure for Europlanet to support planetary science in Europe for decades to come. In November, we signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the European Science Foundation (ESF) who will host the Europlanet Society Executive Office. Treat yourself to membership of the Society in the new year and get reduced rates for the joint EPSC meeting with the American Astronomical Society’s Division of Planetary Sciences (DPS) from 15-19 September 2019!

August – Summer Schools

At the beginning of August, we returned to the Molėtai Astronomical Observatory  in Lithuania for the Europlanet Summer School 2018. The school was attended by 21 students from 9 countries, including young researchers, amateur astronomers and teachers. The programme combined hands-on experience of making observations of stellar variability and exoplanet transits with theoretical and practical modules in science communication. At the end of August, Europlanet 2020 RI supported a summer school on “Basics of Astrobiology“, attended by more than 80 participants, as part of the IAU Symposium 345.

July – Evaluation Toolkit

How do you measure the impact of your activities? In 2018 Europlanet launched an Evaluation Toolkit to help outreach and workshop providers evaluate the responses of participants to activities. The Europlanet Evaluation Toolkit aims to provide advice and resources that can be simply and easily integrated into outreach and education activities for a variety of audiences and formats. At the beginning of July, we successfully trialled the Toolkit in a workshop of 18 amateur astronomers, teachers, early career researchers and outreach providers, and presented the final version of the Toolkit in September at EPSC 2018 in Berlin.

June – Europlanet Early Careers (EPEC) Annual Week

The first EPEC (EuroPlanet Early Career network) Annual Week took place from 10-15 June 2018 at the International Space University in Strasbourg, France. Around 40 early career scientists from 19 different countries gathered for stimulating discussions on topics from science policy to the future of space research and brainstorming sessions on how to provide effective early careers support. EPEC was launched at EPSC 2017 in Riga and has developed into a thriving network to support young professionals working in fields connected to planetary science. EPEC is now a standing Committee of the new Europlanet Society. Find out more.

May – New Views of Jupiter Workshop

Nearly 50 of the world’s leading observers of Jupiter, members of NASA’s Juno mission team, and citizen scientists from across the globe took part in a workshop in London on 10-11 May. ‘New Views of Jupiter: Pro-Am Collaborations during and beyond the NASA Juno Mission’, was supported through Europlanet 2020 RI’s NA1 networking activity. Participants presented new observations and imagery from JunoCam and ground-based facilities, updates on the Juno mission and plans for future observing campaigns. The workshop is one of over 45 science and technology workshops organised by Europlanet 2020 RI since the project started in September 2015.

April – Planetary Science Dinner Debate in the European Parliament

Europlanet 2020 RI organised a dinner debate on ‘Planetary exploration inspiring European innovation‘ in the European Parliament on 24th April 2018. The debate was hosted by Marian-Jean Marinescu MEP and attended by Clare Moody MEP, Flavio Zanonato MEP, representatives of Members of the European Parliament, representatives of the European Commission, European space industry and the European planetary science community. The dinner debate was part of Europlanet’s ongoing policy engagement programme, which has included co-convening policy sessions at the European Week of Astronomy and Space Science, coordinated input into the EU’s Multiannual Financial Framework consultation and a series of one-to-one briefings with policy-makers.

March – VESPA Virtual Observatory Selects New Data Services

The main goal of Europlanet’s VESPA Virtual Observatory (VO) is to increase the accessibility and standardisation of planetary data. VESPA will provide over 50 data services by the end of the Europlanet 2020 RI project in August 2019.  In March, VESPA evaluated submissions to its third call for new services to be incorporated into the VO and selected four new teams to deliver seven different data services. In April, VESPA organised a workshop hosted by the Institute of Atmospheric Physics of the Czech Academy of Science to help the selected participants design and set up their projects and to open them to the user communities. An additional 12 services are available through the Planetary Space Weather Service (PSWS) virtual access facility, which provides novel toolkits for tracking planetary or solar events through the Solar System to assist researchers and industry planning for space missions.

February – Venus Simulation Chamber Completed at Planetary Spectroscopy Laboratory

In February, Europlanet announced completion of a new facility at the Planetary Spectroscopy Laboratory (PSL) of the German Aerospace Center (Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt; DLR) that can analyse rock samples similar to those found on the surface of Venus at temperatures up to 1000 degrees Celsius. The new Venus chamber uses state-of-the art detectors and electronics, and innovative ceramic enclosures to block out background radiation that can drown out the spectral signals from samples at high temperatures. The PSL facility will enable researchers to interpret accurately data acquired by space missions and ground-based observations. The expanded capabilities are part of a number of upgrades to facilities enabled through Europlanet 2020 RI, including new high-speed imaging techniques, air cooling system and a UV LED solar simulator to the Aarhus University Planetary Simulator Facility that have enabled the quantitative study of planetary dust and sand transport processes, and extended spectral coverage and greater sensitivity of instrumentation at the CNRS Institut de Planétologie et d’Astrophysique de Grenoble to increase the capability to analyse small sample sizes at low temperatures, i.e. samples from space such as meteorites, analogues of cometary and asteroid material and interplanetary dust particles.

January – First Transnational Access Trip to the Danakil Depression Field Site

From 20-28 January 2018, five teams of researchers and more than 30 support staff visited two locations in the Danakil Depression of Ethiopia to study the microbiology, geology and chemistry at the Dallol hydrothermal outcrop and the saline Lake Afrera. The field trip was the first Transnational Access visit to the site following its characterisation by Europlanet 2020 RI as a planetary analogue in 2016-2017. Over the past year, Europlanet has also funded trips to Lake Tirez in Spain (where a newly-discovered extremophile strain of algae was named Dunaliella salina EP-1 after Europlanet), the Mars like environments of Ibn Battuta in Morocco and sites in Iceland that resemble the icy moons of the giant planets.

Europlanet 2020 RI Featured as H2020 Success Story by European Commission

The Europlanet 2020 Research Infrastructure (RI) has been selected by the European Commission as a Horizon 2020 success story and featured in an article in Horizon, the EU Research and Innovation Magazine. Links to the article have been promoted through the official Horizon 2020 and DG Research & Innovation Twitter channels.

‘Infrastructure boost for planetary science in Europe‘ includes an interview with Europlanet 2020 RI Coordinator, Prof Nigel Mason of the Open University/University of Kent. As well as describing our current activities, Nigel looks ahead to what’s next for Europlanet. Find out more

Teacher training in Ethiopia: SPACE I – EARTH’S SPHERES workshop

This report is by Barbara Cavalazzi of the University of Bologna.

The SPACE I – EARTH’S SPHERES workshop was held in Mekelle on 17th-18th November 2018, organised by Europlanet 2020 RI. It was attended by 46 science teachers from schools in the Tigray and Afar regions of Ethiopia, with the aims of developing their teaching skills, in addition to providing an opportunity to meet scientists and other teachers to share ideas and experiences on planetary sciences education.

The five trainers were from the University of Mekelle (Tsehaye Gebrelibanos, Henok Shiferaw, Hagos Weldegebriel), University of Bologna (Barbara Cavalazzi) and the Open University (Karen Olsson-Francis) and local organisational support was provided by the Institute of Climate and Society (Kelali A. Tekle and Solomon Hishe). Over the course of the training, topics discussed included the interactions of the geosphere, hydrosphere, atmosphere, biosphere and cosmospheres. The idea of using the local school system (especially in rural areas) to develop an educational programme promoting awareness of the local environment in harmony with the needs of the local communities.

The attendees were very enthusiastic about this opportunity and reported  that the workshop was well-delivered and eye-opening. Despite the fact that some of the lectures were in topics previously unknown to them, they found the teaching to be very accessible and rewarding. They congraulated the trainers and emphasised that they would very much like this opportunity to be continued into the future with further workshops (e.g. SPACE II).

European contributions to the InSight mission to Mars

NASA’s InSight (Interior Exploration using Seismic Investigations, Geodesy and Heat Transport) mission will land on Mars on Monday 26th November at 19:53 GMT. Two of the mission’s three instruments are European-led:

• The SEIS seismometer is led by Philippe Lognonné of the Institute of Earth Physics of Paris (IPGP), University Paris Diderot Paris, France.
• The HP³ heat probe is led by Tilman Spohn of the German Aerospace Center (Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt, or DLR), Berlin.

The third instrument, the Radio Science Experiment (RISE) is led by William Folkner of NASA JPL and Veronique Dehant of the Royal Observatory of Belgium is a Co-Investigator.

SEIS

SEIS will measure seismic vibrations caused by Marsquakes and meteorite impacts. The instrument was developed under the supervision of the French Space Agency (CNES) and IPGP and the team includes multiple European institutions:

• France (the Institut Supérieur de l’Aéronautique et de l’Espace (ISAE), Toulouse; the Research Institute in Astrophysics and Planetology (IRAP), Toulouse; Institut de Minéralogie, de Physique des Matériaux et de Cosmochimie (IMPMC), Paris; the Navier Laboratory, Paris; Laboratory of Planetology and Geodynamics (LPG), Nantes; GéoAzur/Côte d’Azur Observatory, Nice and the Laboratoire de Métrologie Dynamique, Paris)
• Germany (the Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research, Göttingen)
• Switzerland (ETH Zurich)
• UK (Imperial College London and the University of Oxford, with support from STFC RAL Space) as well as the USA (NASA JPL, Marshall Space Flight Center and Princeton University).

Industrial contributors include the French space instrumentation company Sodern and several international partners.

SEIS team website: https://www.seis-insight.eu/en/

HP³

HP³ will measure heat flow and physical properties by sending down a probe to 5 metres below the surface. As well as DLR, the team involves researchers from Austria (Austrian Academy of Sciences, Graz), France (Côte d’Azur Observatory, Nice) and Poland (Astronika, Warsaw).

DLR HP³ page: https://www.dlr.de/dlr/en/desktopdefault.aspx/tabid-11038/1865_read-27097/

Find out more

If you want to know more, there are some great resources on InSight around the web:

Cartoon guide to InSight from The Oatmeal

BBC InSight Diary by Prof Tom Pike of Imperial College London

BBC Guide to InSight: Mission to the Heart of Mars

ETH Zurich InSight page: http://www.insight.ethz.ch/en/home/

MPS InSight page: https://www.mps.mpg.de/planetary-science/insight-seis

CNRS news InSight article: https://news.cnrs.fr/articles/monitoring-quakes-on-mars

Europlanet Webinar: Working the Magic of Visual Effects on Raw Space Data

Tuesday, 27 November 2018, 13:00 GMT / 14:00 CET

There are decades of raw planetary science data available for free download online, through services such as the Planetary Data System, and individual mission outreach websites like UAHiRISE and MissionJuno. However much of this data exists in rather obscure formats, sometimes requiring a high level of processing to view successfully.

Matt Brealey is a freelancer living in Bristol in the UK, who is using tools and techniques from the Visual Effects Industry to process raw space data. His goal is to make entire mission datasets accessible to those without technical knowledge of the projects involved.

In this webinar, Matt will talk about how he approached processing 2D and 3D data from the above sources in order to create two web-based applications (Areo Browser & Juno Observer) which allow users to explore the HiRISE DTM and Junocam datasets in full 3D. He’ll also discuss the tools used in an upcoming open-source visualisation of the Kepler exoplanet dataset which will be accompanied by an online tutorial series.

Webinar link: https://zoom.us/j/695014580

Registration link: https://goo.gl/forms/He7OPieoInNGfxTM2

Teacher training workshop: SPACE I – Earth’s SPHERES interactions

17-18 November 2018, Mekelle

SPACE I — Earth’s SPHERES interactions is the first workshop organized by Europlanet 2020 Research Infrastructure (RI) in the framework “SPACE – Speaking Planet to Teachers Community in Ethiopian“, which aims to bring new life into classes.

SPACE workshops will be a great way to develop skills as well as an opportunity to meet scientists and other teachers to share ideas and experiences on teaching planetary sciences.

At the SPACE I workshop, participants will:

• Participate in 5 ready-to-use planetary science activities
• Learn how to develop activities to stimulate exploration and strengthen critical thinking skills
• Explore great science activities for children
• Gain a better understanding of the science concepts behind the fun activities, making students excited to learn
• Reinforce scientific concepts in a frontier research field
• Share ideas with other teachers and trainers, and learn from each other’s experiences

The goal of SPACE Workshops is to show educators how to use proven teaching strategies to make space science more exciting, more engaging, more interactive, and more meaningful in their classroom.

For full details, download the workshop programme.

Spotlight on Outreach – HABIT Tour of Sweden

This “Spotlight on Outreach” feature showcases how the Group of Atmospheric Science (GAS) from Luleå Tekniska Universitet is spreading the excitement of their involvement in ExoMars 2020’s HABIT instrument through a new touring exhibition around Sweden .

The 2020 mission of the ExoMars Programe will deliver a European rover and a Russian surface platform to the surface of Mars in 2020. ExoMars will be the first mission to combine the capability to move across the martian surface to search for signs of life and to study Mars at depth by drilling for samples. HABIT, designed by Group of Atmospheric Science (GAS) from Luleå Tekniska Universitet, is one of the main scientific instruments on the Surface Platform module. HABIT will provide environmental information at the landing site, investigate liquid water formation on Mars, and test an “In-Situ Resource Utilization” technology for future Mars exploration.

The outreach team at GAS has created an exhibit about HABIT that will tour around Sweden during 2018-2019 to raise awareness of the instrument and inspire different audiences with the dream of space exploration. The tour aims to involve communities across the country and share the values involved in creating HABIT, such as innovation, creativity, curiosity, and cutting-edge technology.

The HABIT Tour provides a new and fresh kind of learning experience to improve engagement with space and STEM subjects for the general public, and in particular to encourage young people to consider scientific and technological careers.

The HABIT Tour launches on 15th November 2018 and will visit the following locations over the next 12 months: