ePOD: education and Public Outreach Department – quick introduction and updates Richard Hook, ePOD Deputy Head

Overview About ePOD and its mission. What do we do? Some highlights of current and recent ePOD activities. What will the future hold?

ePOD Mission To increase awareness of ESO and ESO’s projects through production of excellent EPO materials targeted towards the community of media, educators, decision-makers, the scientific community, local communities and the public. Also: European Space Agency/Hubble and International Astronomical Union, astronomy in Europe, general astronomy communication (and previously, IYA2009). To promote astronomy and the scientific process as a fundamental part of our cultural and heritage.

Who are we? Head of Department:  Lars Lindberg Christensen Public Information Officers (PIOs):  Richard Hook ESO, Deputy);  Georgia Bladon Three staff in Chile Many contractors all around the world Web: Intranet:

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Press releases (“Science”, “Organisation”, and “Photo”), Announcements, Pictures of the Week:  ESO: 41 releases, 93 announcements, 52 PotWs in  ESA/Hubble: 25 releases, 19 announcements, 52 PotWs in  IAU: 7 releases in Supported by images, illustrations, and HD/UHD video. News releases

Dedicated work producing stunning astronomical images:  Scouting and acquisition of data from archives.  Astronomical image processing.  Conversion from FITS (“Liberation”) to bring out the best in the data.  Combination of multiple datasets.  Further cleaning, colours, and processing in Photoshop, using colour calibrated monitors. These are often the best available outreach images of the astronomical target. Astronomical images

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See our products online.our products online Books: e.g. Europe to the Stars, The Jewel on the Mountaintop, Eyes on the Skies, Hidden Universe, Cosmic Collisions. Brochures, postcards, stickers, handouts, technical documents, other merchandise. Periodicals: ESO Messenger, CAPjournal, Annual Report. Print products, merchandise

Video podcasts: ESOcasts, Hubblecasts. ESOcasts now subtitled in multiple languages. Video visualisations. Europe to the Stars movie. Virtual toursVirtual tours. Image galleryImage gallery. Video galleryVideo gallery. Audiovisual products

VISTA and the VST are well into their surveys Great scope for outreach Many science results The ESO Survey Telescopes

Inauguration in March 2013 First science results coming thick and fast Last antenna accepted in September 2013 Long baseline campaign completed in late 2014 ALMA

A vital outreach link to our host country. Marked 50 years of ESO in Chile in late Media visits to sites: IMAX Hidden Universe, National Geographic World’s Toughest Fixes, Monster Moves, Quantum of Solace, etc. VIP visits to sites: Summit of the Pacific Alliance, King of Spain, etc. Permanent ESO exhibitions at MIM Interactive Museum (Santiago, around visitors/year), Antofagasta Ruinas de Huanchaca Museum etc. More than 7000 public visitors/year to La Silla- Paranal. ePOD Chile

Representatives at national level in Member States and other countries. Press releases (and many other items) are now available in all languages of Member States and some non-member states. ESON “mini sites” available from with translated press releases and contact details. ESO Science Outreach Network (ESON)

Reach  33 mini-sites, 30 with original content 3 in English  29 countries  21 languages Česky Dansk Deutsch Español Français Íslenska Italiano Latviešu Magyar Nederlands Norsk Polski Português Br Português Pt Română Shqip Suomi Svenska Türkçe Русский українська + kids! Press releases in 1+17 languages  Reaching * people in their language *: ok, they might not all have internet. Yet.

ESA/Hubble press releases receive extensive coverage in some of the biggest news outlets in the world. Such as: Discovery News, Nature World News, The Guardian, Le Monde, and the BBC.Discovery NewsNature World NewsThe GuardianLe Mondethe BBC. ESA/Hubble

Hubble3i.hq.eso.org

VLT 8-metre mirror E-ELT 39-metre mirror Sited on Cerro Armazones (20 km from Paranal) Construction given green light in December 2014 Operations to start about ten years later

The ESO Supernova Visitor Centre At Garching: construction starting now, complete in Summer 2017