Author: Yvette Cendes

Like many at the Dunlap Institute, I share a firm belief that it is a key part of being an astronomer to communicate what we do with the public. Explaining science is a vital task in our increasingly technological world, and on a more personal level, I love astronomy and feel that when you’re in love you want to shout it from the rooftops. And it’s the same for finding effective techniques in science communication- over the years, as I have become increasingly involved in science outreach I have become curious how other astronomers around the globe do various outreach initiatives. So when I heard about the International Astronomical Union’s Communicating Astronomy conference, held every two years, I knew I wanted to attend! (The fact that it was in Japan during cherry blossom season didn’t hurt…)

This is the group picture for the 2018 CAP conference- about 450 people from 53 countries attended! It was wonderful to meet people from all over the world who love astronomy and want to share their love of the field with others, and to learn what methods work and what doesn’t. For example, we learned during a presentation on the 2017 total solar eclipse that it’s estimated that 20 million Americans traveled to see the eclipse… but many of those people did not travel all the way to the path of totality, despite totality being the most incredible part of the spectacle. Understanding what kind of miscommunication led to this (for example, were the eclipse maps misleading for what totality looked like?) is crucial for Toronto astronomers already preparing for the April 8, 2024 eclipse. In Toronto, 99% of the sun will be covered, and it will be important to explain to the public that even 1% is literally the difference between night and day!

Besides learning what others were up to, I had a talk of my own! Over the years, I have been active on Reddit, a social media website that is the 9th most visited in the world, as “Reddit’s astronomer.” I have become successful on Reddit for posting enthusiastic comments about astronomy that begin with a cheerful “astronomer here!” and can reach literally millions of people, but Reddit is under-utilized by many astronomers who tell me they don’t understand how the site works. The aim of my talk was to explain how to use the site for outreach, and the questions I had both after the talk and in the days after lead me to believe it was well-received and there will be more astronomy-related posts on Reddit in the future.

So all told, a wonderful conference with a beautiful backdrop with springtime in Japan! I learned a lot, and it was great to meet people from all over the world interested in communicating astronomy.