What we do

We are a Center for Astronomy Education and Outreach. Our mission: to share the fascination of astronomy and astrophysics with a broad audience and, in particular, with schoolchildren; to foster the exchange of knowledge between scientists; and to communicate the results of astronomical research to the media and to the public.

Nobel laureate Brian Schmidt gives career advice during an event for young astronomers.

Image: HdA/M. Pössel

Nobel laureate Brian Schmidt gives career advice during an event for young astronomers.

Image: HdA/M. Pössel

To that end, we help create various kinds of astronomical content - from German translations of existing materials (e.g. the press releases of the European Southern Observatory) to creating original content (e.g. videos).

We're also involved in education and teaching - with workshops for students from kindergarten to university, and with teacher training courses here and abroad. And don't forget our various teaching materials. For instance, Universe in a box was developed here in Heidelberg.

The events we organize and/or host span the range from public lectures to conferences such as .astronomy 2012 - Astronomy and New Media.

Last but not least, we help to forge connections between those interested in astronomy, and also between those interested in astronomy outreach. For instance, we're the German node of EU-UNAWE, an international project dedicated to astronomy outreach for children.