Communicating Astronomy with the Public (CAP)

I have just returned to the UK after attending the amazing CAP2010 conference in Cape Town. This five day meeting of science communicators and astronomers from all over the world was an incredible opportunity to swap ideas and discuss what went well during IYA2009, and what we need to build on.

The conference was blogged by many, but nowhere more thoroughly than the psychohistorian’s blog

For me highlights of the conference include:

Dr Chris Engelbrecht discussing his SkyRanger training programme for African park rangers and safari guides

Amelia Ortiz-Gil describing planetarium activities for the blind an partially sighted, “The Sky is in Your Hands”

Sze-leung Cheung covering the Dark Skies Awareness switch-off programme “Dim It!” in Hong Kong

All in all an amazing time.

The true star of the show though was Cape Town itself. It’s a stunning city, towered over by Table Mountain, which I spent a day climbing on the last Saturday of the conference, with Marek Kukula and Carolina Odman.

Carolina Odman in the Hely-Hutchison Reservoir on Table Mountain