International science communicators in Cape Town

More than a 150 international astronomers and science communicators, including representatives from 14 African countries, have descended on Cape Town for the period of 15 to 19 March to discuss the success of the International Year of Astronomy 2009 (IYA2009) and the valuable lessons learned.The Communicating Astronomy to the Public 2010 (CAP 2010) conference delegates, shared the numerous public activities hosted in their respective countries. These activities included stargazing, school visits, music shows, art exhibitions, games, dark sky awareness campaigns, etc. Mariana Espinosa from the Instituto de Astronomia in Mexico laid down the gauntlet, when talking about Mexico's World Guinness Record for the largest stargazing event. People all across Mexico had an opportunity to look at the night sky through about 1 100 telescopes on the 24th of October 2009. This Noche de las Estrellas (“Night of the Stars”) event was the most successful IYA2009 event in Mexico.Astronomy is recognised the world over, because of its universal appeal, as an excellent way to bring the wonder and excitement of science to the public. Besides discussing the latest digital technologies now available for doing science outreach, a number of the delegates talked on new and innovative ways on how to communicate astronomy to various disadvantaged groups. Sivuyile Manxoyi from the South African Astronomical Observatory in Cape Town, talked about the Langa Project implemented during IYA2009 and how it can be used a science communication  model for the developing world. Megan Watzke and Kimberley Arcand from the Chandra X-ray Centre in the USA presented materials for the visually impaired, part of their IYA award winning “From Earth to the Universe” project (fromearthtotheuniverse.org).In total about 100 international astronomical and space science institutions are represented at the CAP conference this year. For more information contact:Ms. Thembela MantungwaCAP 2010 Local Organising CommitteeCell: 071 105 0109Email: tm(at)saao.ac.zaAlso see the official CAP2010 website: www.communicatingastronomy.org/cap2010/index.html