European Association for Astronomy Education

Held at Burlington House the home of the Royal Astronomical Society, EAAE's 2oth Summer School was moment for sharing didactic material and personal experiences for all teachers present.

Josep Colomines presented two  workshops about planetary atmospheres with more than 10 simple demonstrations.

Visit to Greenwich Observatory was high moment as was the lecture given by the Astronomer Royal Sir Martin Rees.

Sir Martin Rees talked about the importance of Astronomy in the deveolpment of Science
along History and future perspectives in Astronomy and Space Exploration.

The teachers that attended the meeting said the what they appreciated more was:

• The learning atmosphere
• The enthusiasm of instructors
• Visit to astronomical institutions

Bellow are presented some moments of the Summers School:

 
Building a simple paper spectrometer in the workshop about light and light technology in Astronomy.

Parallel Earth demonstration.

Seasons and sunlight demonstrator.

Workshop about Astronomical Imaging in the Classroom.

Source: ESO Science Release eso1530

ALMA witnesses assembly of galaxy in early Universe.
Image credits: ESO/R. Maiolino.

The Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) has been used to detect the most distant clouds of star-forming gas yet found in normal galaxies in the early Universe. The new observations allow astronomers to start to see how the first galaxies were built up and how they cleared the cosmic fog during the era of reionisation. This is the first time that such galaxies are seen as more than just faint blobs.(learn more)

Source: ESO Organisation Release eso1528

Image credits: Kilo-Degree Survey Collaboration/A. Tudorica & C. Heymans/ESO.

The first results have been released from a major new dark matter survey of the southern skies using ESO’s VLT Survey Telescope (VST) at the Paranal Observatory in Chile. The VST KiDS survey will allow astronomers to make precise measurements of dark matter, the structure of galaxy halos, and the evolution of galaxies and clusters. The first KiDS results show how the characteristics of the observed galaxies are determined by the invisible vast clumps of dark matter surrounding them.(learn more)

Source: ESO Science Release eso1529

Artist’s Impression of a Jupiter twin orbiting HIP 11915.
Image credits: ESO/L. Benassi.

An international group of astronomers has used the ESO 3.6-metre telescope to identify a planet just like Jupiter orbiting at the same distance from a Sun-like star, HIP 11915. According to current theories, the formation of Jupiter-mass planets plays an important role in shaping the architecture of planetary systems. The existence of a Jupiter-mass planet in a Jupiter-like orbit around a Sun-like star opens the possibility that the system of planets around this star may be similar to our own Solar System. HIP 11915 is about the same age as the Sun and, furthermore, its Sun-like composition suggests that there may also be rocky planets orbiting closer to the star. (learn more)

The EAAE has announced the winners of Catch a Star.

The juri of the contest considered that "the level of the works presented by the students was very high" and this was an opportunity to see how well some schools are working all around Europe.

The list of the winners and their works can be found here.