Cosmic Diary Logo

Meet the astronomers. See where they work. Know what they know.


The Project:

The Cosmic Diary is not just about astronomy. It's more about what it is like to be an astronomer.

The Cosmic Diary aims to put a human face on astronomy: professional scientists will blog in text and images about their lives, families, friends, hobbies and interests, as well as their work, their latest research findings and the challenges that face them. The bloggers represent a vibrant cross-section of female and male working astronomers from around the world, coming from five different continents. Outside the observatories, labs and offices they are musicians, mothers, photographers, athletes, amateur astronomers. At work, they are managers, observers, graduate students, grant proposers, instrument builders and data analysts.

Throughout this project, all the bloggers will be asked to explain one particular aspect of their work to the public. In a true exercise of science communication, these scientists will use easy-to-understand language to translate the nuts and bolts of their scientific research into a popular science article. This will be their challenge.

Task Group:

Mariana Barrosa (Portugal, ESO ePOD)
Nuno Marques (Portugal, Web Developer)
Lee Pullen (UK, Freelance Science Communicator)
André Roquette (Portugal, ESO ePOD)

Jack Oughton (UK, Freelance Science Communicator)
Alice Enevoldsen (USA, Pacific Science Center)
Alberto Krone Martins (Brazil, Uni. S. Paulo / Uni. Bordeaux)
Kevin Govender (South Africa, S. A. A. O.)
Avivah Yamani (Indonesia, Rigel Kentaurus)
Henri Boffin (Belgium, ESO ePOD)

Astronomy in Pecha-Kucha Night #7 Bandung

Hala Na Godang story

Hala Na Godang story

Some times ago, on the 6th of November, i went to the Pecha-Kucha Night #7 in Bandung, in Gedung Merdeka, Asian African Conference Museum. Such an interesting activity, to share idea in a 20×20 format (20 slides x 20 seconds/slide) for each presentation. But, maybe what makes this Pecha-Kucha interesting (at least for me), because of there were subjects of astronomy presented in the Pecha-Kucha. My friends gave presentation about our work in ‘archaeo-astronomy’ (Astronomy & Borobudur) by Irma Hariawang & ‘etno-astronomy’ (star-lore of Indonesia) by Yatny Yulianty.

Well, i hope this would enlight general public, that astronomy is not only about ’space above & beyond’, but also part of the culture, heritage & the way we are. Afterall, this is IYA 2009, what else that we expect from astronomy, but to enrich our life in the universe?

The crowd inside

The crowd inside

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This entry was posted on Saturday, November 21st, 2009 at 10:18 pm and is filed under Astronomy, Daily Activities, Humanity, Indonesia. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.