Transcript TALK - Communicating Astronomy With The Public

In the Spanish TV program “The Comedy Club”,
different actors and actresses on the stage, just
with a high stool and maybe a drink, perform a
(usually very good) monologue.
Welcome to
“The Comedy Club” (*)
(*) Please, remember I’m not an actress
and my mother language is not English…
Communicating Astronomy With the Public
ESO- Garching, June 2005
Plenary Session 7: Challenges and New Ideas
Inés Rodríguez Hidalgo
Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias
Museo de la Ciencia y el Cosmos
Depto. de Astrofísica, Universidad de La Laguna
As you’ve seen and heard I’ve explained
• the ecliptic
• the planets’ orbits and their inclinations
• the Zodiac, the concept of angular extent
• the constellations, the Zodiac ones
• the rise of the Sun at different points
of the horizon
• the equinox
• the North (other cardinal) points
• the precession of equinoxes
• some simple statistical facts…
CAP, Garching, June 2005
Inés Rodríguez Hidalgo
Challenges and New Ideas
For introducing astronomical concepts I suggest…
• to use a ‘co-lateral’ story with catches the public’s attention
• better if it’s doesn’t sound exactly to science
(people still fears science…)
• better if it’s a topic of wide popular interest
• better if it includes bits of humour and magic
CAP, Garching, June 2005
Inés Rodríguez Hidalgo
Astrology is a good example
• mixing up astrological statements and astronomical
facts, you invade the personal space, going deep into
the individual expectations and wishes
• astrology it’s not a science, but a pseudo-science…
• …so, you can “kill two birds with one stone”:
- communicating astronomy with the public
- fighting against irrational beliefs that are often presented
as scientific knowledge: helping to spread the critical sense,
in danger of extinction these days…
CAP, Garching, June 2005
Inés Rodríguez Hidalgo
Astrology is a good example
• show the ranking of the gravitational attraction
and tidal forces exerted by different bodies at
the birth’s moment
• ranking of electromagnetic radiation
• ranking of particle emission
• ranking of magnetism
• more statistical examples of clamorous astrological
failures…
CAP, Garching, June 2005
Inés Rodríguez Hidalgo
Of course, these contents of basic Astronomy
(also important!!!) can be presented in a very
sophisticated documentary based essentially on
spectacular images, with an explanatory text in off…
I suggest this other type of communication,
less usual nowadays, but quite straightforward,
appealing people’s “heart” and mind,
and also effective
Let’s try: It works…
CAP, Garching, June 2005
Inés Rodríguez Hidalgo