September 27-29, 2015
Large Seminar Room at
National Astronomical Observatory of Japan (NAOJ),
Mitaka, Tokyo, JAPAN
ABSTRACTS 2
Day 2 : Monday, September 28
Session 3: Collaboration between a Science Museum and a Research Institute
Considerations For Making Your Museum More Welcoming and Accessible For Visitors With Disabilities (remote presentation)
Noreen Grice (You Can Do Astronomy LLC)
Who is about to enter your museum? Is it a person who uses a walker, wheelchair or electric scooter? Does he or she have a communication disability and speaks non-verbally through a communication device or with sign language? Can visitors with hearing aids hear well enough to understand you? Are there visually impaired people in line? Does your audience include service animals such as guide dogs for the blind or dogs for the deaf? Is your museum prepared to welcome a person who has a disability?
Noreen Grice, author of the award-winning book Everyone’s Universe, will discuss strategies that museums should consider for making their institutions more welcoming and accessible for visitors of all abilities.
Rethinking the Concept of the Planetarium
Carter Emmart (American Museum of Natural History)
While the planetarium has traditionally been a demonstration of immersive 2D data visualization by optical mechanical means, computer graphic full dome display enabled 3D data immersion to demonstrate the true layout of the universe and its behavior in context to our planet and ourselves.
At American Museum of Natural History (AMNH), the Rose Center for Earth and Space which encloses the rebuilt Hayden Planetarium embraced this concept of demonstrating the universe by these new means as a central concept to bring the universe to its very international audience. While natural history museums display physical artifacts, the artifact of astronomy is light itself. At AMNH, we strive to make sense for the public what light tells us about our place in the universe.
In planning the Rose Center that surrounds the planetarium theater, it was decided to work with the architecture itself in coordination with models to emphasize the scales of the universe, proceeding to a short projected program describing the Big Bang, followed by a spiral walk of time into a hall categorizing the taxonomy of the astronomical realm. Because of the pace of new discovery, and Astro Bulletins video wall was included to keep visitors informed of latest discovery with curated commentary and pointers. As a research institution, AMNH created a department of astrophysics staffed by three full time curators, adjunct positions for associated researchers and students. This vibrant research environment keeps AMNH active in the science and informs space show production about fundamental topics in astrophysics.
Central to both production and interactive demonstration, has been the creation at AMNH of the Digital Universe 3D Atlas (DU) from a collection of astronomical catalogs of objects with distances. Digital Universe is maintained by AMNH and licensed for commercial use to vendors. Augmenting DU, NASA’s NAIF SPICE system is used to describe planetary positions and space missions, along with Web Map Service (WMS) distributed planetary surface globe browsing resources. Specific astrophysical simulations are recruited for visualization in space show production. Similar concurrent efforts in Japan have lead to ongoing collaboration, specifically with NAOJ on four AMNH space show productions to date.
A History and Activities of Sendai Astronomical Observatory
Makoto TOSA (Sendai Astronomical Observatory)
Sendai Astronomical Observatory (SAO) was established in 1955 as a social educational facility near the Sendai City Center, and celebrates 60th anniversary this year. During this period, it was moved in the suburbs away from the city center for renovation and privatization in 2008. I will present a brief history and activities of SAO, in particular after the removal.
Shanghai Planetarium: Introduction to an Ambitious Planetarium Project
Lin Qing (Shanghai Science & Technology Museum)
Shanghai Planetarium (SHP) Project has been approved by Shanghai Municipal Government in January, 2014. Shanghai Science & Technology Museum (SSTM) was entrusted by the government to take charge of such a big project and the SHP will be SSTM's second branch. Four yeas later, a brand new comprehensive planetarium will appeare in the southeast of Shanghai, a new area named "Lingan New City". It will become second comprehensive planetarium in China and as a building area of 38,000 square meters, it will be one of the biggest and most advanced planetariums in the world. This talk will report the background of such an exciting project, it's ambitious goal, creative designing concept and newest information of constructing progress. Some preliminary designing example will also be presented in the report. In order to contribute a top rank new educational venue for astronomy, we need various helps from all astronomers. We wish to share and discuss designing ideas with everyone who is concerning of its growth.
Session 4: Diverse Approaches at a Museum/Research Institute
The Concept of “Universal Museum” - The Significance and Possibility of Exhibiting Tactile Culture -
Kojiro Hirose (National Museum of Ethnology)
*Presentation in Japanese
Modernization/civilization can be defined as “an effort to visualize the invisible.” We live in a modern world where we can find 24-hour convenience stores everywhere and can watch various types of TV programs anytime we want just by pressing buttons of a remote control. Our daily lives are surrounded by lights and moving images, which have estranged us from “darkness.” Museums may symbolize these aspects of modernization/civilization. The purposes of the exhibits in museums are to “visually” introduce rare things in foreign countries that we cannot visit frequently, achievements that our predecessors have made, or phenomena happening inside our body or in space that are invisible to the naked eye. Through the exhibits in museums, we can fully experience the joy of visiting museums where we can freely move in time and space. The basic premise of museums has been that visitors are supposed to “look at the exhibits,” which is a reflection of our modern civilization that puts more significance on vision. In order to fundamentally question such a stereotypical assumption that has embraced the exhibits of museums, the Concept of “Universal Museum” will be presented in this lecture.
A Universal Museum means a museum that has incorporated universal design (UD), namely, a museum anyone can enjoy. Since the 1990s, it has become the norm to incorporate UD into the design process of public facilities. The museum that anyone can enjoy requires to be designed a variety of visitors in mind such as children, elderly people, the persons with disabilities and foreigners, as well as the development in tangible aspects like equipment and facilities. Some of the efforts the Universal Museum include brochures in braille, training staff that can use sign language, organizing workshops for children, multilingual captions for exhibits, etc.
The Universal Museum, however, is meant not just to take physically impaired minorities into consideration. The ultimate goal of the Universal Museum activity is to re-evaluate the properties of “the invisible,” which have been forgotten during the course of modernization/civilization, or in other words, to reinstate “darkness.” This presentation will first focus on the history of the visually impaired in order to explain the theory of the Universal Museum and some of the practical examples. The purpose of this presentation is not to prove the fact that taking good care of “the visually impaired” will embody a museum anyone can enjoy. I firmly believe that their unique way of life “without vision” will give us an important clue for new ways of displaying exhibits in a museum in the 21st century.
Museums of Astronomy in Japan
Atsushi Matsuo (Yamaguchi Museum)
*Presentation in Japanese
I will introduce several museums of astronomy in Japan which have a collection of historical materials of astronomy.
Planetarium and Exhibition of astronomy in Nagoya City Science Museum
Katsuhiro Mouri (Nagoya City Science Museum)
*Presentation in Japanese
Nagoya City Science Museum was opened in 1962 and renewed in 2011. I will introduce about our planetarium and exhibition of astronomy.
Activity of the Osaka Science Museum
Yoshiya Watanabe (Osaka Science Museum)
*Presentation in Japanese
Osaka Science Museum is the first science center & planetarium in Japan, opened in 1937. Every year we attract over 700,000 visitors. I introduce the educational activity of the Osaka Science Museum, especially in astronomy.
Planetarium and OAO
Sze-leung Cheung (International Astronomical Union Office for Astronomy Outreach)
The IAU Office for Astronomy Outreach (OAO) was established since 2012, one of its major goals is to build an huge network that could reach out to connect all astronomical organizations in the world and make a two-way communication channels. Museums are very important element in astronomy communication and therefore play an important role. The speaker will discuss about these.
Session 5: Museum Activities at each Research Institute/Museum (2)
Open Standards for Science Centres and Museums
Pedro Russo (Leiden University, the Netherlands)
Open Standards have the potential to revolutionise fields such as education, technology, science, culture, design and architecture.
Open Standards are standards made available to the general public and are developed, approved and maintained via a collaborative and consensus-driven process. The development of Open Standards is a balanced, collaborative process, ensuring sufficient quality and on-going support. Open standards are becoming a reference in Science (Open Access, Open Labs), Education (Open Educational Resources), Technology (Open Software and Hardware), Culture (Creative Commons) and Design & Architecture (Open Making, Open Furniture). During this talk I will explore some ideas to use Open Standards for Science Centres and Museums.
How research in public astronomy communication can inform practice and policy
Marta Entradas (London School of Economics and ISCTE-IUL)
The main purpose of this talk is to discuss how research in science communication can inform both practice and policy in public engagement with astronomy. In particular, I will discuss how survey findings concerning audiences attending astronomy and space science outreach events could help scientific institutions such as planetariums and astronomy museums to foster public interest and participation in space activities among larger audiences. The talk draws on findings from a large survey carried out in the UK, based on the responses of 744 respondents attending astronomy and space outreach events. The results of this survey, including attendees’ interests, preferred means of exploration and government funding, beliefs and rationales for exploration, and the relationship with age and gender, can help practitioners reach new audiences who are not often targeted by conventional outreach efforts. In addition, these findings can inform policies in public engagement at scientific institutions and museums as well as national policies for space research and national funding for space activities.
An Introduction of the Korean Astronomical History Museum of KASI
Kim Sang Hyuk and Mihn Byeong-Hee (Korea Astronomy and Space Science)
Korea has a very rich astronomical history form cup-marks on the dolmen (B.C. 10th ~ A.D. 2th Century) and has an astronomical monuments such as mural painting about stars in the Goguryeo Tombs (4th~6th Century), and Cheomseongdae (瞻星臺, an observational platform for astronomy, 7th Century). Korea Astronomy and Space Science (hereafter KASI) has collected the astronomical records such as the almanacs and restored the astronomical instruments such as the armillary spheres for preservation of Korean astronomical heritages. KASI also has exhibited the collected records and restored instrument in the indoor and outdoor hall of KASI headquarters.
KASI, to be precise, the historical astronomy research group has been researching the collection method of Korean astronomical heritages for establish a historical museum since 2014. The Korean Astronomical History Museum (韓國天文史料館) of KASI is aiming at securement and collection of Korean astronomical heritages, securement of Korean scientific culture based on the study of Korean astronomical heritages and contribution to the popularization of science through exhibition and education. With all these early achievements, KASI is building the database regarding the studies and records last 40 years since the latter half of the 2015.
We, the historical astronomy research group of KASI, investigated the basic elements of domestic and foreign science history museum and studied the data collection and classification method. We expect that the Korean Astronomical History Museum of KASI will be performing as a comprehensive and systematic control tower in the field of astronomy based on collection, preservation, research, exhibition, education of whole field of Korean astronomical heritages.
From Exhibition Room to Pavilion: Promotion of ISAS's Outreach Activities
Chisato Ikuta and Takuya Ohkawa (ISAS/JAXA)
We summarize Institute of Space and Astronautical Science (ISAS)'s outreach activities related to our exhibition room and would like to share our current problems with audience. An ISAS's plan to build a new pavilion is also presented.
The Record of 3 Million Visitors and the NINS PR Center in the NAOJ Nobeyama Campus
Kenzo Kinugasa, Makiko Nishioka, Hiroshi Mikoshiba, Kazuhiko Miyazawa Noriyuki Shinohara, Hidemi Ide, and Masao Saito (Nobeyama Radio Observatory, NAOJ)
Nobeyama has made the campus accessible to the public at all times since the inauguration of the Nobeyama Radio Observatory (NRO) in 1982. Since the opening to the general public, the cumulative total of visitors reached 3 million on October 2013. Now, the campus has about 60 thousands visitors for a year.
The cool highland climate, beautiful starry sky may attract the visitors, but, our unique outreach activities as an advanced research institute such as Open House Day, Thanks Day for the locals, are also the main factor which brings such a lot of visitors to Nobeyama.
For many visitors, we have an improvement plan of the building of the Nobeyama Millimeter Array to install the exhibition area of the NINS, in order to establish a PR center not only for astronomy but also for the natural science.
We will report the PR activities of the NRO mainly for visitors.
Collaboration of Kimura Hisashi Memorial Museum and Oshu Space and Astronomy Museum in NAOJ Mizusawa Campus
Osamu Kameya and Hiroshi Funayama (Mizusawa VLBI Observaotory, NAOJ)
Mizusawa VLBI Observatory, NAOJ has a history of 116 years and has many historical buildings and instruments including optical telescopes and radio telescopes. In this campus there is a small museum, named Kimura Hisashi Memorial Museum, which displays history and activity of Hisashi Kimura. Kimura was the first director of the Mizusawa International Latitude Observatory which was established in 1899 and was renamed to Mizusawa VLBI Observatory. We will show telescopes and the results of the observations, and some related items. Recently, a 94 years old building of the Mizusawa International Latitude Observatory was delegated to Oshu city and it has become a science museum named Oshu Space and Astronomy Museum (OSAM; “Yugakukan” in Japanese) run by Oshu city. We will show you how two museums are collaborate each other in the Mizusawa campus.
Nearly 120 Years of Science History in Danger: The Collections in the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan, Mizusawa
Yukie Baba (Ochanomizu University) and Toshiaki Ishikawa (Mizukawa VLBI Observatory, NAOJ)
The collections of science history in the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan (NAOJ), Mizusawa date from the late 19th century. They were inherited from the International Latitude Observatory, founded in Mizusawa in 1899, which had merged with the Tokyo Astronomical Observatory and a part of Nagoya University into the current NAOJ in 1988. The collections reflect nearly 120 years of scientific efforts in Japan, ranging from 19th century astronomy, chronometry, seismology and meteorology to the latest radio astrometry and laser altimetry. Fortunately, the collections are almost intact, whereas the Tokyo Astronomical Observatory lost a substantial part of its observational instruments and records during the Great Kanto Earthquake in 1923 and a fire that burnt down the main building of the observatory in 1945.
These collections, however, are now in danger of deterioration, dispersion, and possibly permanent loss. Most of them have been crammed into the dusty rooms of the old buildings and forgotten, covered with mold, spider webs, and insect excrement. To save the collections from such perils and make them accessible to the public, we began to catalogue them, relocate them to safer places, and interview the former employees to identify each material. Our struggle to save the collections and build a new science museum/archives has just begun.
See the abstracts of Day 1
See the abstracts of Day 3 and the poster presentations
National Astronomical Observatory of Japan
2-21-1 Osawa Mitaka, Tokyo, 181-8588 JAPAN
Mitaka Campus Map
The Large Seminar Room is located on the 1st floor of the Subaru Building (W1).
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