Education and Outreach - AURA Astronomy

4 photos of people engaged in teaching and outreach activities. — Left: Family at AstroDay 2024 in Kailua-Kona, Hawai‘i; top right: presentation at an AAS meeting; bottom left: engaging with visitors at the STScI booth at an AAS meeting; bottom right: visitors to Kitt Peak National Observatory for the Tohono O’odham Nation Open Night.

AURA’s mission includes promoting public understanding of our universe and the benefits of scientific exploration. Our talented education and public outreach teams at each of the AURA managed Centers and projects lead this work.

NSF NOIRLab

NOIRLab’s discoveries, facilities, technology, and people are featured in outreach materials in order to strengthen the public’s appreciation of science and the science community’s awareness of NOIRLab’s work. Educational programs increase the science-literacy of K–12 and college audiences.

Over 750 photos, 40 of which are astronomical images, and 4 hours of ultra- and high-definition video, are currently published to the NOIRLab website. NOIRLab releases more than 60 web announcements, 30 press releases, 200 email newsletters, and 4700 social media posts each year.

NOIRLab’s educational programs are wide-ranging and include portable planetariums, dark skies and light pollution awareness, recent astronomical discoveries, and the technology behind telescopes. NOIRLab staff also work closely with local communities at its sites in Arizona, Hawai‘i and Chile.

STScI

Sharing Hubble’s spectacular images and discoveries for more than 25 years by connecting with wide-ranging audiences has made the communications and outreach team at STScI a world leader in astronomy communication and public outreach. They engage the public in mission discoveries at events, create educational programming, develop interactive websites, post to a variety of social media channels, and provide press packages for journalists who publish articles that reach wide audiences. STScI creates authentic science experiences, multimedia resources, scientific visualizations, exhibits, and programming resources for community-based and after-school programs, all of which are based on NASA mission data and discoveries.

NASA’s Universe of Learning provides professional development to strengthen informal educators’ capacities to use astrophysics content to support the needs of their audiences and programs.

3 photos of people engaged in outreach and education activities — *Top left: filming at Rubin Observatory; bottom left: NSO outreach in Eagle Pass, Texas before the 2024 Solar Eclipse; right: NSO outreach – viewing the Sun through a solar telescope.*

NSF NSO

The NSO Education, Public Outreach & Communications team shares the many stories of solar research, NSO facilities, and the NSO staff and users who make these possible. The team brings the Sun’s invaluable significance to life, inspiring public curiosity while amplifying the scientific results enabled by NSO facilities. Its efforts ensure that knowledge of solar physics reaches a broad and diverse audience—including scientists, engineers, policy makers, educators, and the public—while also strengthening NSO’s engagement with its user community to extend the reach and impact of its resources.

The team’s work includes education, by supporting formal and informal learning from elementary school through college; engagement, by strengthening connections with those outside the organization; and communication, by sharing information through both traditional and social media, tailored to the needs of different audiences.

NSF-DOE Rubin Observatory

The Rubin Observatory education program provides engaging online astronomy investigations that incorporate authentic Vera C. Rubin Observatory data. These investigations are designed for classrooms from advanced middle school through introductory college levels.

Rubin investigations and support materials are available at no cost, and require only access to the internet and a modern browser. Each investigation is designed to be classroom-ready. The goal is to get students engaged in learning with all of the tools to explore and analyze data contained in the investigation.