European Association for Astronomy Education

Space Art Contest 2016 is  open and teachers can present their students works until june 15th 2016, so you only have two more weeks to submit your students' works.

Space Art is a project that aims to stimulate very young students (6 to 12 years old) to discover the universe and its beauty. Art is a perfect way to achieve this.

Students should make an image (picture, drawing or painting) and submit it at Space Art's website.

The goal of the European Astronomy Contest Space Art  is to stimulate the creativity and independent work of students from European secondary schools, to strengthen and expand their astronomical knowledge and skills, and to help the spread of information technologies in the educational process.

The idea of the Space Art program is to encourage very young students to imagine about the Universe, to learn about astronomy and discover things for themselves by researching information on an astronomical object.

They just have to look for it in the sky, books or the internet and then draw it or make a picture of it using photography or combined techniques.

Space Art is organised jointly by the European Association for Astronomy Education (EAAE) and Universe Awareness (UNAWE). Its aim is to encourage creativity and independent work amongst young students, and to strengthen and expand their astronomical knowledge and creativity. (learn more)

Source: ESA/Hubble Science Release heic1610

Artist’s impression of supermassive black hole seed.
Image credits: NASA/CXC/M. Weiss.

Astrophysicists have taken a major step forward in understanding how supermassive black holes formed. Using data from Hubble and two other space telescopes, Italian researchers have found the best evidence yet for the seeds that ultimately grow into these cosmic giants.(learn more)

Source:ESA/Hubble heic1609

During May 2016 the Earth and Mars get closer to each other than at any time in the last ten years. The NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope has exploited this special configuration to catch a new image of our red neighbour, showing some of its famous surface features. This image supplements previous Hubble observations of Mars and allows astronomers to study large-scale changes on its surface. (learn more)

Source: ESO Photo Release eso1616

The glowing gas cloud LHA 120-N55 in the Large Magellanic Cloud .
Credits: ESO.

In this image from ESO’s Very Large Telescope (VLT), light from blazing blue stars energises the gas left over from the stars’ recent formation. The result is a strikingly colourful emission nebula, called LHA 120-N55, in which the stars are adorned with a mantle of glowing gas. Astronomers study these beautiful displays to learn about the conditions in places where new stars develop.(learn more)

On May 9th, 2016, Mercury made a transit in front of the Sun for the first time since 2006. The transit or passage of a planet across the face of the Sun is a relatively rare occurrence. As seen from Earth, only transits of Mercury and Venus are possible. There are approximately 13 transits of Mercury each century. In comparison, transits of Venus occur in pairs with more than a century separating each pair.

Mercury Transit 2016. Image credits and copyright: Sakari Ekko.

Sakari Ekko an astrophotographer and member of EAAE has made the fantastic image above, as he captured Mercury's transit in Turku, Finland, taking a photo every 20 minutes. Only the last 7 minutes of the transit were lost because the Sun was so low (altitude < 1º) and bad seeing washed out Mercury.

Registrations at a reduced fee for the EAAE Summer School 2016 in Algarve, Portugal end on May 15th, 2016.

Also the call for papers ends on the same date.

After that, between the May 15th and June 15th, 2016 registration fee will be 150 euros. After this date registration fee will be 200 euros.

Registration should be made using the form at the following link

http://goo.gl/forms/Hq3ttl1Du6

The Summer School includes 12 hands-on workshops covering all of the most important astronomical areas, visits and lectures.

Highlights include an expedition to the Almendres Cromelech, near Évora, and to Lisbon Astronomical Observatory.

Astronomical observations are also programmed (if the weather conditions allow them). Astronomical lectures will be presented by lecturers from Universities and research centers. (read the whole program here)

Learn more about the Summer School here.

Space Art Contest 2016 is now open and teachers can present their students works until june 15th 2016.

Space Art is a project whose aim is to stimulate students to discover the universe and its beauty. Art is a perfect way to achieve this.

Students should make an image (picture, drawing or painting) and submit it at Space Art's website.

The goal of the European Astronomy Contest Space Art  is to stimulate the creativity and independent work of students from European secondary schools, to strengthen and expand their astronomical knowledge and skills, and to help the spread of information technologies in the educational process.

The idea of the Space Art program is to encourage very young students to imagine about the Universe, to learn about astronomy and discover things for themselves by researching information on an astronomical object.

They just have to look for it in the sky, books or the internet and then draw it or make a picture of it using photography or combined techniques.

Space Art is organised jointly by theEuropean Association for Astronomy Education (EAAE) and Universe Awareness (UNAWE). Its aim is to encourage creativity and independent work amongst young students, and to strengthen and expand their astronomical knowledge and creativity. (learn more)