http://arxiv.org/abs/2304.02545

Funded by a $3M Department of Defense (DoD) National Defense Education Program (NDEP) award, we are developing and deploying on a national scale a follow-up curriculum to “Our Place In Space!”, or OPIS!, in which approx. 3,500 survey-level astronomy students are using our global network of “Skynet” robotic telescopes each year. The goal of this new curriculum, called “Astrophotography of the Multi-Wavelength Universe!”, or MWU!, is to boost the number of these students who choose STEM majors. During Y1, our participating educators have developed MWU!’s (now renumbered) 2nd and 4th modules, and are in the process of developing its 3rd and 7th modules (out of 7). Solid progress has also been made on the software front, (1) where we have developed new graphing/analysis/modeling interfaces in support of Modules 2 and 4, and in response to feedback from the participating educators; and (2) where we are in the process of developing and adding astrophotography capabilities to Afterglow Access (AgA), our student-level, web-based, image processing and analysis application, in support of Modules 1 – 3 and 5 – 7. On the hardware front, development of our first four signal-processing units proceeds on schedule; these are key to Skynet’s integration of a global network of radio telescopes, capable of exploring the invisible universe. Preparations have also been made on the evaluation and accessibility fronts, for when the first MWU! modules are deployed in Spring 2023.

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D. Reichart, J. Haislip, V. Kouprianov, et. al.
Thu, 6 Apr 23
29/76

Comments: 10 pages, 9 figures, ASP2022 Conference Proceedings, December 2022

http://arxiv.org/abs/2212.01456

We present a procedure designed to standardize input received during faculty searches with the goal of amplifying student voices. The framework was originally used to collect feedback from graduate students, but it can be adapted easily to collect feedback from undergraduate students, faculty, staff or other stakeholders. Implementing this framework requires agreement across participating parties and minimal organization prior to the start of faculty candidate visits.

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Y. Asali, K. Gerbig, A. Ghosh, et. al.
Tue, 6 Dec 22
3/87

Comments: 9 Pages, 6 Figures, Posted on Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society (BAAS)

http://arxiv.org/abs/2211.12725

The Audible Universe project aims at making dialogue between two scientific domains investigating two distinct research objects, briefly said, Stars and Sound. It has been instantiated within a collaborative workshop that started to mutually acculturate both communities, by sharing and transmitting respective knowledge, skills and practices. One main outcome of this exchange was a global view on the astronomical data sonification paradigm that allowed to observe either the diversity of tools, uses and users (including visually-impaired people), but also the current limitations and potential ways of improvement. From this perspective, the current paper presents basic elements gathered and contextualised by sound experts in their respective fields (sound perception / cognition, sound design, psychoacoustics, experimental psychology), in order to anchor sonification for astronomy in a more well-informed, methodological and creative process.

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N. Misdariis, E. Özcan, M. Grassi, et. al.
Thu, 24 Nov 22
64/71

Comments: 14 pages, 1 Table

http://arxiv.org/abs/2211.12725

The Audible Universe project aims at making dialogue between two scientific domains investigating two distinct research objects, briefly said, Stars and Sound. It has been instantiated within a collaborative workshop that started to mutually acculturate both communities, by sharing and transmitting respective knowledge, skills and practices. One main outcome of this exchange was a global view on the astronomical data sonification paradigm that allowed to observe either the diversity of tools, uses and users (including visually-impaired people), but also the current limitations and potential ways of improvement. From this perspective, the current paper presents basic elements gathered and contextualised by sound experts in their respective fields (sound perception / cognition, sound design, psychoacoustics, experimental psychology), in order to anchor sonification for astronomy in a more well-informed, methodological and creative process.

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N. Misdariis, E. Özcan, M. Grassi, et. al.
Thu, 24 Nov 22
32/71

Comments: 14 pages, 1 Table

http://arxiv.org/abs/2211.11707

Astroaccesible is an outreach project hosted by the Instituto de Astrof\'{\i}sica de Andaluc\'{\i}a – CSIC aimed at the teaching and popularisation of the astronomy among all publics independently of their capabilities and abilities, paying special attention to the collective of blind and visually impaired (BVI). Among the different strategies and resources using in our project, we have developed new 3D models representing in relief some of the stars, constellations and deep sky objects that can be observed during night from the Northern hemisphere in spring and summer. These models can be used by BVI to transmit to them the spatial configuration of the sky during night, but can be also used as an additional resource for all kind of publics to complement their sensorial experience. We also describe additional resources based on sounds that can also be employed to get deeper into this multisensorial experience. Finally, we summarize some of the activities and the context in which this new material has been used in the last 2 years.

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E. Pérez-Montero, M. Lanzara, A. Ortiz-Gil, et. al.
Tue, 22 Nov 22
12/83

Comments: 6 pages, 2 figures. To appear as proceeding of the 15th Scientific Meeting of the Spanish Astronomical Society

http://arxiv.org/abs/2208.10740

Many forefront observatories are located in remote areas and are difficult to visit, and the global pandemic made visits even harder. Several virtual tours have been executed on YouTube or Facebook Live, however, it is difficult to feel a sense of immersion and these are far from the actual experience of visiting a site. To solve this problem, we pursued an astronomy outreach event on the virtual reality social platform VRChat. To provide an experience similar to visiting the site, we performed a virtual tour of the ALMA Observatory in VRChat guided by an ALMA staff member. 47 guests participated in the tour. The post-event survey showed that the overall lecture and guided tour were very positively accepted by the participants. Respondents answered that the communication in the VRChat was more intensive than in other online outreach events or on-site public talks. The ratio of respondents who answered that they were able to communicate well with the guide was higher for those who used head mounted displays than for those who participated in other ways. 40 answered that the tour increased their interest in astronomy, and this did not show a clear difference depending on how they participated. In the free descriptions in the responses, there were noticeable mentions of the physical sensations received from the realistic 3D space, which left a positive and strong impression on the participants. The responses show that VRChat has the potential to be a strong tool for astronomy communication in the pandemic and post-pandemic eras.

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M. Hiramatsu, S. S_Asagiri, S. Amano, et. al.
Wed, 24 Aug 22
18/67

Comments: 16 pages, 7 figures

http://arxiv.org/abs/2208.06070

We have designed a low-cost radio telescope system named the Bose Horn Antenna Radio Telescope (BHARAT) to detect the 21 cm hydrogen line emission from our Galaxy. The system is being used at the Radio Physics Laboratory (RPL), Inter-University Centre for Astronomy and Astrophysics (IUCAA), India, for laboratory sessions and training students and teachers. It is also a part of the laboratory curriculum at several universities and colleges. Here, we present the design of a highly efficient, easy to build, and cost-effective dual-mode conical horn used as a radio telescope and describe the calibration procedure. We also present some model observation data acquired using the telescope for facilitating easy incorporation of this experiment in the laboratory curriculum of undergraduate or post-graduate programs. We have named the antenna after Acharya Jagadish Chandra Bose, honoring a pioneer in radio-wave science and an outstanding teacher, who inspired several world renowned scientists.

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A. Mhaske, J. Bagchi, B. Joshi, et. al.
Mon, 15 Aug 22
16/54

Comments: Accepted for publication in American Journal of Physics. 22 pages, 16 figures, and 1 table. Comments are welcome

http://arxiv.org/abs/2202.11130

Capitalizing on the enthusiasm about space science in the general public, our goal as an interdisciplinary group of scholars is to design and teach a new team-taught interdisciplinary course, “Philosophy and Science of Space Exploration (PoSE)” at the University of Texas at San Antonio (UTSA) where we currently teach. We believe that this course will not only help overcome disciplinary silos to advance our understanding of space and critically examine its ethical ramifications, but also will better educate the public on how science works and help overcome the science skepticism that has unfortunately become more prominent in recent years. In what follows, we first juxtapose two seemingly contradictory trends: increased interest in space science on the one hand and increased skepticism about and distrust in science on the other. We then turn to how our anticipated Philosophy and Science of Space Exploration (PoSE) course will develop tools that could dismantle distrust in science while also enhancing the scientific and philosophical understandings of space science. We explain the content and the questions we will examine in POSE and conclude with how we will measure our success and progress.

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S. Tekin, C. Fies and C. Packham
Thu, 24 Feb 22
28/52

Comments: 6 pages, PASP conference proceedings

http://arxiv.org/abs/2202.11129

The San Antonio Teacher Training Astronomy Academy (SATTAA) completed its fourth annual iteration in June 2021 . While the program began as a face-to-face professional development opportunity for future and current school teachers, it transitioned to a fully online opportunity in 2020. In our efforts to offer an astronomy education program that is inclusive and particularly attentive to highly diverse populations, the transition to online programming became a core aspect of scaling up the program. The 2021 iteration featured an international facilitation team, and, for the first time, supported teachers from across the State of Texas. In this paper, we share data on how the facilitation team transitioned from a local to an international group, and on how the participant pool expanded from local to state-wide.

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C. Fies and C. Packham
Thu, 24 Feb 22
40/52

Comments: 6 pages

http://arxiv.org/abs/2111.08783

Professional astronomy is historically not an environment of diverse identities. In recognizing that public outreach efforts affect career outcomes for young people, it is important to assess the demographics of those being reached and continually consider strategies for successfully engaging underrepresented groups. One such outreach event, the International Astronomical Youth Camp (IAYC), has a 50-year history and has reached ~1700 participants from around the world. We find that the IAYC is doing well in terms of gender (59% female, 4.7% non-binary at the most recent camp) and LGBT+ representation, whereas black and ethnic minorities are lacking. In this proceeding, we report the current landscape of demographics applying to and attending the IAYC; the efforts we are making to increase diversity amongst participants; the challenges we face; and our future plans to bridge these gaps, not only for the benefit of the camp but for society overall.

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M. Archipley, H. Dalgleish, E. Ahrer, et. al.
Thu, 18 Nov 21
63/92

Comments: 6 pages, 2 figures, included in conference proceedings “ASP2020: Embracing the Future: Astronomy Teaching and Public Engagement”

http://arxiv.org/abs/2110.05503

Writing is a vital component of a modern career in astronomical research. Very few researchers, however, receive any training in how to produce high-quality written work in an efficient manner. We present a step-by-step guide to writing in astronomy. We concentrate on how to write scientific papers, and address various aspects including how to crystallise the ideas that underlie the research project, and how the paper is constructed considering the audience and the chosen journal. We also describe a number of grammar and spelling issues that often cause trouble to writers, including some that are particularly hard to master for non-native English speakers. This paper is aimed primarily at Master’s and PhD level students who are presented with the daunting task of writing their first scientific paper, but more senior researchers or writing instructors may well find the ideas presented here useful.

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J. Knapen, N. Chamba and D. Black
Wed, 13 Oct 21
50/80

Comments: 13 pages, submitted to the Astronomy Education Journal

http://arxiv.org/abs/2109.08568

This paper compares two cases of a Teacher Professional Development (TPD) focused on astronomy education: the San Antonio Teacher Training Astronomy Academy (SATTAA). The central question here is: How do in-service teachers’ perceptions of the logistics and key benefits of SATTAA compare across two cases: the 2019 fully face-to-face (f2f) iteration in 2019, and the fully online iteration in 2020. Participants in both iterations equally indicated that they thought of their experiences as valuable and the program effective with two exceptions: (1) field trips that took place f2f were ranked higher than virtual options; and (2) technology was highlighted as benefit in the 2020 online iteration, but not in the 2019 f2f program.

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C. Fies and C. Packham
Mon, 20 Sep 21
48/53

Comments: 6 pages, 1 figure, SITE conference proceedings

http://arxiv.org/abs/2108.08032

In our epoch, images are a powerful way to convey a message to a large audience. Through the use of amazing astronomical photographs, science can be communicated effectively at different levels, to a very diverse audience of all ages. In fact, astrophotography combines aesthetic appeal with the illustration of the science behind astronomical phenomena. This is the aim of the exhibit “A che Punto `e la NOTTE – A scientific exhibition of astrophotography” organized by us in Italy, in October 2020, with the partnership of the cultural association PhysicalPub. Many different authors, both single individuals and professional or amateur observatories, were asked to send their best pictures. The 54 astronomical images chosen by a scientific committee, categorised in three different topics (night landscape, deep sky, instrumentation), were seen by more than 2000 visitors and 11 school groups (despite the difficult period due to the COVID pandemic). A free audio-guide, available on-line through a web-application developed on purpose, delivered scientific explanations of images for self-guided tours. Conferences and guided tours were also organized. The highlight of the exhibit were four mirrors from the MAGIC telescope and an ASTRI scale-model that allowed an in-depth description of how an Imaging Atmospheric Cherenkov Telescope (IACT) works, introducing the science of VHE cosmic radiation. We will summarize the main difficulties in organizing this event and the feedback we had from the visitors. The exhibit is still available online, visiting the website mostrascientifica.it or via the web audio-guide (english and italian) at guida.mostrascientifica.it.

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S. Iovenitti, C. Righi, S. Orsenigo, et. al.
Thu, 19 Aug 21
49/54

Comments: 8 pages, 5 figures, Proceedings of the 37th International Cosmic Ray Conference (ICRC 2021), Berlin, Germany

http://arxiv.org/abs/2108.01379

Astronomy plays a major role in the scientific landscape of Namibia. Because of its excellent sky conditions, Namibia is home to ground-based observatories like the High Energy Spectroscopic System (H.E.S.S.), in operation since 2002. Located near the Gamsberg mountain, H.E.S.S. performs groundbreaking science by detecting very-high-energy gamma rays from astronomical objects. The fascinating stories behind many of them are featured regularly in the “Source of the Month”, a blog-like format intended for the general public with more than 170 features to date. In addition to other online communication via social media, H.E.S.S. outreach activities have been covered locally, e.g. through `open days’ and guided tours on the H.E.S.S. site itself. An overview of the H.E.S.S. outreach activities are presented in this contribution, along with discussions relating to the current landscape of astronomy outreach and education in Namibia. There has also been significant activity in the country in recent months, whereby astronomy is being used to further sustainable development via human capacity-building. Finally, as we take into account the future prospects of radio astronomy in the country, momentum for a wider range of astrophysics research is clearly building — this presents a great opportunity for the astronomy community to come together to capitalise on this movement and support astronomy outreach, with the overarching aim to advance sustainable development in Namibia.

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H. Dalgleish, H. Prokoph, S. Zhu, et. al.
Wed, 4 Aug 21
9/66

Comments: ICRC 2021 conference proceedings, 9 pages, 1 figure, 1 table

http://arxiv.org/abs/2107.02781

Everything we know about the environment around us is thanks to light, a kind of electromagnetic radiation. Astronomy takes advantage of it and all the electromagnetic spectrum with the help of many devices to record them and determine from which places in our Universe they come. These signals must be processed to obtain the images that are will be then exposed to the public. Astronomers know that these images will inspire and generate curiosity in each person who sees them. This Science is inclusive and wants to transmit the knowledge and the beautiful events that happen in the universe to all people. We try to do that by developing and showing other forms of teaching, taking advantage of new technologies that are available today to bring this knowledge closer to the minorities in our country like visually impaired people.
Because of this problem, the AstroBVI project arrived in Peru for the first time, thanks to the distribution of tactile images of 3D galaxies that were delivered to us from the Centro de Astronom\’ia de la Universidad de Antofagasta of the and financed by the International Astronomical Union Office of Astronomy for Development (IAU-OAD). This allowed the holding of seven workshops during 2019, visiting various institutions and benefiting more than 160 participants with blindness and low vision, identifying in them a lot of interest, which shows the enormous potential presented by these 3D tactile materials.

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A. Quiroz, K. Céspedes and M. Argudo-Fernández
Wed, 7 Jul 21
29/58

Comments: 6 pages, 8 figures

http://arxiv.org/abs/2106.02580

The International Astronomical Youth Camp (IAYC) is an astronomy education outreach event with more than 50 years of history and over 1,700 unique participants from 81 nationalities. The International Workshop for Astronomy e.V. (IWA) is the non-profit organization behind the IAYC, established in 1979 and based in Germany. The IAYC’s unprecedented longevity in a rapidly globalizing world has meant that financial inequities decreases the reach of the camp to people from the Global South compared to Global North countries. Though nationalities represented per camp has increased steadily since its inception, the share of participants from eastern Europe and Africa has dropped, while those from western Europe and North America have increased. This note examines how camp cost, location, and leadership affects nationality diversity amongst participants, and how astronomy outreach events must reckon with funding for less privileged participants with limited access to resources.

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M. Archipley and H. Dalgleish
Mon, 7 Jun 21
13/52

Comments: 4 pages, 1 figure, included as conference proceedings in Focus on AAS 237

http://arxiv.org/abs/2106.01688

As recent advancements in physics and astronomy rapidly rewrite textbooks, there is a growing need in keeping abreast of the latest knowledge in these fields. Reading preprints is one of the effective ways to do this. By having journal clubs where people can read and discuss journals together, the benefits of reading journals become more prevalent. We present an investigative study of understanding the factors that affect the success of preprint journal clubs in astronomy, more commonly known as Astro-ph/Astro-Coffee (hereafter called AC). A survey was disseminated to understand how institutions from different countries implement AC. We interviewed 9 survey respondents and from their responses we identified four important factors that make AC successful: commitment (how the organizer and attendees participate in AC), environment (how conducive and comfortable AC is conducted), content (the discussed topics in AC and how they are presented), and objective (the main goal/s of conducting AC). We also present the format of our AC, an elective class which was evaluated during the Spring Semester 2020 (March 2020 – June 2020). Our evaluation with the attendees showed that enrollees (those who are enrolled and are required to present papers regularly) tend to be more committed in attending compared to audiences (those who are not enrolled and are not required to present papers regularly). In addition, participants tend to find papers outside their research field harder to read. Finally, we showed an improvement in the weekly number of papers read after attending AC of those who present papers regularly, and a high satisfaction rating of our AC. We summarize the areas of improvement in our AC implementation, and we encourage other institutions to evaluate their own AC in accordance with the four aforementioned factors to assess the effectiveness of their AC in reaching their goals.

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D. Santos, T. Goto, T. Lu, et. al.
Fri, 4 Jun 21
67/71

Comments: Accepted for publication in PRPER. A summary video is available at this http URL&ab_channel=NthuCosmology

http://arxiv.org/abs/2102.04717

Africa has amazing potential due to natural (such as dark sky) and human resources for scientific research in astronomy and space science. At the same time, the continent is still facing many difficulties, and its countries are now recognising the importance of astronomy, space science and satellite technologies for improving some of their principal socio-economic challenges. The development of astronomy in Africa (including Ethiopia) has grown significantly over the past few years, and never before it was more possible to use astronomy for education, outreach, and development as it is now. However, much still remains to be done. This paper will summarise the recent developments in astronomy research and education in Africa and Ethiopia and will focus on how working together on the development of science and education can we fight poverty in the long term and increase our possibilities of attaining the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals in future for benefit of all.

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M. Pović
Wed, 10 Feb 21
11/64

Comments: Proceedings paper of the International Astronomical Union Symposium 367: Education and Heritage in the Era of Big Data in Astronomy

http://arxiv.org/abs/2009.10920

The modern astrophysics is moving towards the enlarging of experiments and combining the channels for detecting the highest energy processes in the Universe. To obtain reliable data, the experiments should operate within several decades, which means that the data will be obtained and analyzed by several generations of physicists. Thus, for the stability of the experiments, it is necessary to properly maintain not only the data life cycle, but also the human aspects, for example, attracting, learning and continuity. To this end, an educational and outreach resource has been deployed in the framework of German-Russian Astroparticle Data Life Cycle Initiative (GRADLCI).

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Y. Kazarina, V. Khristyuk, A. Kruykov, et. al.
Thu, 24 Sep 2020
56/61

Comments: Proceedings of the 4th International Workshop on Data Life Cycle in Physics, Moscow, Russia, June 8-10, 2020

http://arxiv.org/abs/2006.12566

Welcome to the wonderful world of scientific inquiry! On this journey you’ll be reading many$\times 10^N$ papers in your discipline. Therefore, efficiency in digesting and relaying this information is paramount. In this guide, we’ll review how you can participate in your local astronomy seminars. Participation takes many forms, from contributing a recently discovered article to the discussion of a published paper. In this guide, we’ll begin by providing some suggested introductory activities for beginner scientists. Then we discuss how to locate papers and assimilate their results. Finally we conclude with a discussion on paper presentation and note storage. This guide is intended for an undergraduate and graduate student audience, and we encourage faculty to read and distribute this guide to students.

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K. Cooke, J. Connelly, K. Jones, et. al.
Wed, 24 Jun 20
60/77

Comments: 5 pages, 0 figures

http://arxiv.org/abs/2003.14186

The SunPy Project developed a 13-question survey to understand the software and hardware usage of the solar physics community. 364 members of the solar physics community, across 35 countries, responded to our survey. We found that 99$\pm$0.5% of respondents use software in their research and 66% use the Python scientific software stack. Students are twice as likely as faculty, staff scientists, and researchers to use Python rather than Interactive Data Language (IDL). In this respect, the astrophysics and solar physics communities differ widely: 78% of solar physics faculty, staff scientists, and researchers in our sample uses IDL, compared with 44% of astrophysics faculty and scientists sampled by Momcheva and Tollerud (2015). 63$\pm$4% of respondents have not taken any computer-science courses at an undergraduate or graduate level. We also found that most respondents utilize consumer hardware to run software for solar-physics research. Although 82% of respondents work with data from space-based or ground-based missions, some of which (e.g. the Solar Dynamics Observatory and Daniel K. Inouye Solar Telescope) produce terabytes of data a day, 14% use a regional or national cluster, 5% use a commercial cloud provider, and 29% use exclusively a laptop or desktop. Finally, we found that 73$\pm$4% of respondents cite scientific software in their research, although only 42$\pm$3% do so routinely.

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M. Bobra, S. Mumford, R. Hewett, et. al.
Wed, 1 Apr 20
8/83

Comments: N/A

http://arxiv.org/abs/1907.09496

Support for early career astronomers who are just beginning to explore astronomy research is imperative to increase retention of diverse practitioners in the field. Since 2010, Astrobites has played an instrumental role in engaging members of the community — particularly undergraduate and graduate students — in research. In this white paper, the Astrobites collaboration outlines our multi-faceted online education platform that both eases the transition into astronomy research and promotes inclusive professional development opportunities. We additionally offer recommendations for how the astronomy community can reduce barriers to entry to astronomy research in the coming decade.

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G. Khullar, S. Kohler, T. Konchady, et. al.
Wed, 24 Jul 19
22/60

Comments: 14 pages, 5 figures (including cover page and list of endorsers); Submitted as an Astro2020 Decadal Survey State of the Profession White Paper. Access the Astrobites in the Classroom lesson plans here: this https URL

http://arxiv.org/abs/1907.08043

This White Paper is a call to action for astronomers to respond to climate change with a large structural transition within our profession. Many astronomers are deeply concerned about climate change and act upon it in their personal and professional lives, and many organizations within astronomy have incorporated incremental changes. We need a collective impact model to better network and grow our efforts so that we can achieve results that are on the scale appropriate to address climate change at the necessary level indicated by scientific research; e.g., becoming carbon neutral by 2050. We need to implement strategies within two primary drivers of our field: (1) Education and Outreach, and (2) Research Practices and Infrastructure. (1) In the classroom and through public talks, astronomers reach a large audience. Astronomy is closely connected to the science of climate change, and it is arguably the most important topic we include in our curriculum. Due to misinformation and disinformation, climate change communication is different than for other areas of science. We therefore need to expand our communication and implement effective strategies, for which there is now a considerable body of research. (2) On a per-person basis astronomers have an outsized carbon impact. There are numerous ways we can reduce our footprint; e.g., in the design and operation of telescope facilities and in the optimization and reduction of travel. Fortunately, many of these solutions are win-win scenarios, e.g., increasing the online presence of conferences will reduce the carbon footprint while increasing participation, especially for astronomers working with fewer financial resources. Astronomers have an obligation to act on climate change in every way possible, and we need to do it now. In this White Paper, we outline a plan for collective impact using a Networked Improvement Community (NIC) approach.

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K. Williamson, T. Rector and J. Lowenthal
Fri, 19 Jul 19
38/78

Comments: Submitted as a State of the Profession White Paper for the Astro2020 Decadal Survey (10 pages, 1 figure)

http://arxiv.org/abs/1907.06769

The purpose of this white paper is to provide guidance to funding agencies, leaders in the discipline, and its constituent departments about strategies for (1) improving access to advanced education for people from populations that have long been underrepresented and (2) improving the climates of departments where students enroll. The twin goals of improving access to increase diversity and improving climate to enhance inclusiveness are mutually reinforcing, and they are both predicated on a fundamental problem of inequality in participation. This white paper has been endorsed by the Board of Trustees of the AAS.

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A. Rudolph, G. Basri, M. Agüeros, et. al.
Wed, 17 Jul 19
44/75

Comments: 10 pages

http://arxiv.org/abs/1905.13242

We designed and built a do-it-yourself spectrograph assembly to demonstrate the concept of spectroscopy, an indispensable tool for exploring the cosmos. This spectrograph is designed for optical band (400-750 nm). It uses a transmission grating to disperse the light and a webcam to measure the spectrum. This spectrograph provides a resolving power ($\lambda/\delta\lambda$) of about 1000. This demonstration involves off-the-shelf materials costing less than \$500, thus making it an easy to build demonstration kit for a school or public setting. The kit is well-suited for performing various science experiments and acquiring hands-on experience for students to learn the concepts such as coherence, spectral orders, resolving power, absorption and emission spectra. All of these concepts are an integral part of modern astronomical observations as well as various other fields in STEM such as biomedical engineering, chemical analysis, food and water quality, etc. This kit is portable and fully modular, making it apt for outreach purposes.

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P. Gatkine, G. Zimerman and E. Warner
Mon, 3 Jun 19
10/59

Comments: 7 pages, 7 figures. Manuscript presented at SPIE Optics and Photonics 2018, San Diego, California

http://arxiv.org/abs/1905.13189

This elementary review covers the basics of working with astronomical data, notably with images, spectra and higher-level (catalog) data. The basic concepts and tools are presented using both application software (DS9 and TOPCAT) and Python. The level of presentation is suitable for undergraduate students, but should also be accessible to advanced high school students.

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M. Pössel
Fri, 31 May 19
12/58

Comments: 143 pages, 109 figures