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OAE Review Topic:
Naked-Eye Astronomy

About

Naked-eye astronomy invites us to enjoy and learn about the night sky without any optical aid or a telescope. In theory it might seem easy to simply look up and dive into the world of stars, but in practice is often difficult to achieve. Some of the contributing difficulties include: light pollution, night sky observations cannot be carried out during regular school lessons, and our modern world provides us with many distractions preventing us from looking up at all. As such, this is one of the main tasks of educators & practitioners, to encourage and motivate students to overcome this first step. In addition, observing the night sky with no tools is an activity that many professional astronomers have little experience in. However, learning about the night sky can help overcome fears of the night, and unlock the wonders of the sky. This resources provide a guide to transition from theory to practice and application of various aspects that enable planning projects related to Naked-eye astronomy. Various possibilities are presented to provide students as well as the public, with different backgrounds and interests an invitation to the night sky. This can be via the use of a mobile phone app to get started until the use of a planisphere is learned, night sky observations at observatory or historical sites or even in a café in a city.


Mini-review document

This review was the topic of a session at the 3rd Shaw-IAU Workshop. The proceedings from this session have been adapted into a mini-review (PDF file 5.70 MB) f .

Conference presentation topics and additional resources

Talks

Poster Presentations

Selected Images




Selected Videos


Big Dipper and Comet Neowise C2020 F3
Big Dipper and Comet Neowise C2020 F3
Credit: Giorgia Hofer/IAU OAE (CC BY 4.0)
License: Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) icons
Southern Sky Over La Silla
Southern Sky Over La Silla
Credit: José Rodrigues/IAU OAE (CC BY 4.0)
License: Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) icons
Beautiful Night in the Atacama Desert
Beautiful Night in the Atacama Desert
Credit: Uwe Reichert/IAU OAE (CC BY 4.0)
License: Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) icons
The Big Dipper in the Polar Night
The Big Dipper in the Polar Night
Credit: Stephanie Ziyi Ye/IAU OAE (CC BY 4.0)
License: Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) icons
The Big Dipper with the Sardinia Radio Telescope SRT
The Big Dipper with the Sardinia Radio Telescope SRT
Credit: Antonio Finazzi/IAU OAE (CC BY 4.0)
License: Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) icons
Big Dipper Over the Mono Lake
Big Dipper Over the Mono Lake
Credit: Fabrizio Melandri/IAU OAE (CC BY 4.0)
License: Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) icons