The Department of Science & Technology is hosting National Science Week again this year, from 2014 August 02 – 09. Some 70 activities are planned nation-wide, and several include astronomy as a key component. Some of these events are listed below.
Northern Limpopo
In Northern Limpopo, Kos Coronaios and the Soutpansberg Astronomy Club (SAC) have outreach events as follows:
Thu, Jul 31 – Makhado Show, Makhado 12:00 – 21:00
Fri, Aug 01 – Makhado Show, Makhado 12:00 – 21:00
Sat, Aug 02 – Mall of the North, Polokwane 12:00 – 21:00
Sun, Aug 03 – Savannah Mall, Polokwane 09:00 – 13:00
Mon, Aug 04 – St Brendans School, Matoks 08:00 – 13:00
Tue, Aug 05 – Lemana High School, Elim 08:00 – 13:00
Wed, Aug 06 – School tba, Vhembe District 08:00 – 13:00
Thu, Aug 07 – Letaba Show,Tzaneen 12:00 – 21:00
Fri, Aug 08 – Letaba Show,Tzaneen 12:00 – 21:00
Sat, Aug 09 – Makhado Crossing, Makhado 12:00 – 21:00
Kos writes: “The SAC will focus on Astronomy, Space Technology and Mathematics during NSW 2014 at the following venues below, starting two days earlier on the 31st July to coincide with the Makhado Show. Various activities will be run including the opportunity of looking at the Sun, Moon, Saturn, stars and deepsky objects through a telescope, discussions and demonstrations, and handout material including posters and career information will be available. For further information contact Kos Coronaios at 079 148 4934.”
Western Cape
In the Cape, the StarPeople – Edward and Lynnette Foster and Auke Slotegraaf – are doing outreach in the Clanwilliam district, concentrating on smaller rural areas that miss the buzz and excitement of science promotion more readily available in the big city:
Mon, Aug 04 – Clanwilliam (Sederberg Primêr) 10:00 – 21:30
Tue, Aug 05 – Klawer (Klawer Laerskool) 10:00 – 21:30
Wed, Aug 06 – Vredendal (Vredendal Laerskool) 10:00 – 21:30
Thu, Aug 07 – Graafwater (Graafwater Primêr) 10:00 – 21:30
Fri, Aug 08 – Leipoldtville (Sandveld Winkel) 10:00 – 21:30
Sat, Aug 09 – Clanwilliam (Clanwilliam Tourism) 10:00 – 21:30
Pretoria area
Johan Smit writes that the ASSA Pretoria Centre have two events on during this time:
Fri, Aug 01 – Star gazing at the Lifestyle Shopping Centre, Centurion
Thu, Aug 07 – whole-day event at Wagpos School, Brits
Garden Route
Case Rijsdijk writes that GRASSA (the Garden Route Centre of ASSA) are hosting the following events at the Botanical Gardens:
Fri, Aug 01 – talk – “Life and Death of Stars” followed by Skywatching
Sat, Aug 02 – lecture – “Fingerprinting the Universe”; talk – “Life and Death of Stars” followed by Skywatching
Mon, Aug 04 – workshop – Lunar Phases and the Sun
Wed, Aug 06 – workshop – Lunar Phases and the Sun
Fri, Aug 08 – workshop – Lunar Phases and the Sun
Hermanus Astronomy Centre
In Hermanus, Lynette Geldenhuys and her team from the Hermanus Centre are offering:
Fri, Aug 01 – Gearings Point, Hermanus – Stargazing and identification of constellations with naked eye, binoculars and telescopes (6.30 – 8.30pm)
Sat, Aug 02 – Gearings Point, Hermanus – Stargazing and identification of constellations with naked eye, binoculars and telescopes (6.30 – 8.30pm)
Mon, Aug 04 – Municipal Auditorium – International Space Station DVD by US astronaut Sunita Williams, facilitated by Johan Retief; Space Tourism talk by Johan Retief; Patterns in numbers, patterns in Nature & in our Lives – talk by Jenny Morris; Handing out of NSW & SAAO posters and pamphlets. (5.30 – 7.30pm)
Fri, Aug 08 – Lukhanyo Primary school – Same talk as for the Auditorium except that the Patterns in numbers will be interactive with the children, to include measurements; Handing out of pamphlets and posters (12 – 2pm)
Fri, Aug 08 – Wine Village Food & Wine Fair at the Hemel-en-Aarde Village, cnr R43 & R320/Sandbaai Main Rd, Hermanus Identifying geographic features on the moon, using naked eye, binoculars and telescopes. Handing out of NSW pamphlets and posters (weather dependent) (5.30 – 8pm)
Sat, Aug 09 – Wine Village Food & Wine Fair at the Hemel-en-Aarde Village, cnr R43 & R320/Sandbaai Main Rd, Hermanus Identifying geographic features on the moon, using naked eye, binoculars and telescopes. Handing out of NSW pamphlets and posters (weather dependent) (5.30 – 8pm)
Other venues
Other venues where astronomy-related outreach will be done in this time include SAAO (Cape Town), SAAO (Sutherland), HartRAO, and SKA (Carnarvon). The SAAO is also running workshops along the Garden Route, from Plettenberg Bay to Mossel Bay.
Footnote: National Science Week 2014 is organised by The South African Agency for Science and Technology Advancement (SAASTA), under the auspices of the Department of Science and Technology (DST). It is billed as a countrywide celebration of science involving various stakeholders and role players conducting science-based activities during the week. The aim of SAASTA is to advance public awareness, appreciation and engagement of science, engineering and technology in South Africa. SAASTA is a business unit of the National Research Foundation (NRF). National Science Week is run in all nine provinces simultaneously at
multiple sites per province. The theme for NSW 2014 is “Today’s science, tomorrow’s world”.