100 Hours of Astronomy - 100 Hours Under One Sky
Weds 2 - Sun 5 October 2024
100 Hours of Astronomy
100 Hours of Astronomy is a global, mass-participation event led by the International Astronomical Union’s Office of Astronomy Outreach (IAU OAO) with the goal of making astronomy accessible to everyone. Every year, people in over 60 countries all around the world participate by doing astronomy activities during the event.
We are offering new, beginner-level 100 Hours astronomy activities that can be integrated into stargazing events with near-zero effort, and/or be offered to audiences as an at-home activity.
Our vision
We in the IAU OAO National Outreach Coordinator Team (NOC) for the UK wanted to do something to increase the profile of 100 Hours in the UK, while reaching new audiences. And rather than the usual model of branding up events that probably would have happened anyway, we wanted to do something genuinely innovative and new.
We have strong project parters in the Royal Astronomical Society and Go Stargazing!, and funding from the Federation of Astronomical Societies. So let’s do this thing!
Our aims
To give beginner stargazers feelings of personal success and achievement in astronomy
To reach people in their own territory - on social media and on their mobile phones
To give people the feeling of being part of a community of participants across the UK
To offer stargazing event organisers a cheap, simple way to take advantage of our activities
To create activities that can be incorporated into World Space Week celebrations (World Space Week is 4-10 October)
Our target audiences
Primary audience: adults aged 18 - 35 years who are not particularly into science and have not previously participated in astronomy activities
Secondary audience: any children of the above
We are keen to reach people who experience barriers in attending outreach events and activities due to their location, accessibility, or other factors
Other audiences: people attending stargazing events run by amateur astronomical societies, science centres, and other science communicators
So What Are We Actually Doing?
Our new project is called 100 Hours Under One Sky. The core element is a website optimised for mobile phones which offers simple, low-barrier astronomy challenges. These will mostly involve spotting bright objects and asterisms in the night sky. It will have a simple user interface with nice graphics, there won't be a lot of reading required, and we’ll include TikTok-style video explanations of each challenge.
User data is saved in a local cookie. The user will be in complete control of choosing whether to share data with us, and shared data will not include identifying information.
Completing each challenge will win the user a special animation and an attractive virtual badge designed to be shared on social media. Users are also encouraged to submit their achievement and (approximate) location to a dynamic UK map, which will light up with dots during the 100-hour period as people participate in the project.
The website will include absolute-beginners’ stargazing advice to help anyone who isn’t sure where to start, with links to further information. It will also take the opportunity to gently point users toward local/regional astronomy events.
This website will be marketed through:
Social media, especially Instagram and TikTok, working with non-science partners
Science communication partner organisations (could this be you?)
Community project partners (funding pending)
We are applying for funding to extend the project to include Ireland in 2025 (collaborating with the Irish IAU OAO NOC), and then to grow internationally through collaboration with other NOCs. Our long-term vision is to connect everyone involved in 100 Hours in one worldwide community.
CALLING UK Event organisers
If you are running a stargazing event, it’s easy to link up to our 100 Hours activities . All you need to do it to display our specially-designed events webpage. This will be an attractive, dynamic page with a map showing the growing participation. Zoom in on your area to see the your event marker and the dots from your attendees!
The events webpage will include a QR-code/url for your attendees to direct them to our website, where they can do the self-led activities. It is expected also to include social media posts that will be posted by our team during the event. All you need do is to project or display this webpage for your attendees to participate and feel part of something bigger. Together we can create a community of people enjoying our shared night sky.
We will also offer printable materials for event organisers, at least one simple hands-on activity, and if I can get funding I would love to offer you things like stickers too.
Public event organisers are encouraged to register their events at Go Stargazing! and flag it as a 100 Hours event (nb this functionality is not yet live). This will make your event visible on our map, and also to the large numbers of people who use Go Stargazing!'s popular site to search for things to do.
Who are we?
This project has been developed by the IAU Office of Astronomy Outreach National Outreach Coordinator team (all volunteers), partnered with the Royal Astronomical Society and Go Stargazing! (who are providing the technical wizardry), supported by funding from the Federation of Astronomical Societies.
Further details
More news soon! The above information is just to let you know what we are planning so that you can think about how this project might help support your own events and projects. If you would like to partner with us, or have any other ideas for ways in which you could support 100 Hours Under One Sky, we'd love to hear from you.
Dr Jenny Shipway - IAU OAO National Outreach Coordinator
Gemma Kerr - IAU OAO Assistant National Outreach Coordinator
James Fawcett - IAU OAO Assistant National Outreach Coordinator
