Connecting the world through Astronomy and the Internet
A rare astronomical event in the form of a total lunar eclipse will take place on Saturday night (3rd March 2007). This event will be visible from all of Africa and Europe and has sparked an internet link-up project between the Northern and Southern hemispheres using the freely available internet chat programme Skype (www.skype.com).
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Kids in Sutherland, South Africa, at a viewing of comet McNaught in February 2007. Photo: Shaaron Leverment.
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The plan is to link learners and astronomers from Germany and South Africa. There will be a "Public chat" and a "Skypecast" open to anyone in the world using Skype. The goal is to allow learners to chat to each other and to astronomers about what they observe in both the Northern and Southern hemispheres.
This event provides a great opportunity to share our unique sky across a network of schools worldwide. Even in case of cloudy weather, the learners will have a chance to interact with each other and with the astronomers. They will be able to ask and discuss any questions they may have about astronomy. It is foreseen that these types of links will be used extensively in the future for many astronomy related projects at school level.
Connections at 3 boarding schools in South Africa are being set up and German learners will be online from their homes. In South Africa astronomers from the South African Astronomical Observatory will be in attendance at the schools. The hosts of the Skypecast will join live from the ESO headquarters in Munich, Germany, where an international meeting regarding the International Year of Astronomy 2009 (www.astronomy2009.org) is taking place. There will be astronomers and astronomy education specialists available to answer questions and interact with the learners who are online. During the link, discussions could include amongst others, topics such as:
- Eclipses (lunar and solar)
- How the moon appears from each hemisphere (angle, orientation and
colour)
- Other stars or interesting objects in the sky at the time
- Phases of the moon
- Tides
- Seasons (difference between Northern and Southern Hemispheres)
- What direction is "up"
- Myths, stories and legends about eclipses and other Astronomical topics.
The website for this project which has all the instructions for joining in is www.unawe.org/eclipse2007. Stories, myths and legends shared by the participants will be collected on a special webpage on the Universe Awareness website www.unawe.org.
We look forward to seeing you online during this landmark astronomy link-up. Listen out for similar projects in the future. If you would like to be kept informed of future such projects involving Skype and Astronomy, send an email to Kevin.
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