ESO Annual Report 2004

Public Outreach
ESO’s public outreach activities comprise
communication and media activities,
educational projects and targeted events,
addressing selected audiences. However,
in 2004, one major activity stands out
both in terms of visibility and in covering all
of the above areas: the Venus Transit 2004
Public Science Discovery Programme.
The objective was to use the 2004 Transit
as a vehicle for disseminating knowledge
about the Solar System, for raising the
awareness of method of transit-based observations
of exoplanets, to enable the
public to re-enact a historical scientific exercise,
to raise public appreciation of the
scientific method and to collectively obtain
a scientific result based on geographically
distributed observations.
Organised in collaboration with the Paris
Observatory (Institut de Mécanique Céleste
et de Calcul des Éphémérides),
the Astronomical Institute of the Academy
of Sciences of the Czech Republic and the
European Association for Astronomy
Education (EAAE) and with heavy financial
support by the European Commission, it
also involved so-called “national nodes” in
25 European countries.
The programme comprised the development
of an extensive set of teaching
materials for schools, a web-based information
and reporting system, observational
activities on the day of the transit
(8 June) as well as a video contest and a
final event held in Paris in November. In
the course of the programme, the dedicated
VT-2004.org website registered more
than 75 million webhits, with 55 million hits
occurring on the day of the transit. More
than 2 700 observing teams reported their
results to the central website. In addition,
the site featured a gallery with a total
of about 400 childrens’ drawings and as
many photos. Indeed, the programme developed
to become a global activity, with
participants from 240 “regions” on all continents.
The European Commission found
the VT-2004 Programme to be one of the
most successful public science discovery
programmes carried out in Europe and it
was made the subject of a key-note presentation
at a major science communication
conference in Brussels in early 2005.
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ESO Annual Report 2004
Media
In April, the EPR Department organised a
meeting between media representatives
and the ESO Science Outreach Network.
Although the primary purpose was to
sensitize the media to the VT-2004 Programme,
the meeting provided a very
useful forum for discussion of ESO’s media
policy and practice.
Press release highlights were the 5-year
VLT Science Operations, marked by several
press releases, a VLT Collection Video
Tape, distributed to broadcasters and
a DVD with the “Top 20 VLT Science Photos”.
High-impact news releases described
the first discovery of a rocky exoplanet,
based on HARPS observations,
and the possible first direct image ever of
another exoplanet drew a lot of interest
and coverage by the media. Further to the
The VT 2004 gallery
received about
400 childrens’ drawings
of this exciting astronomical
event.