Let's discuss news sources, and how they affect public perception of science and astronomy.

Educators can probably agree that the recent articles calling the Jupiter & Saturn conjunction a "once in a lifetime" or "hasn't happened in 800 years" is extremely misleading. (1/)
As someone who interacts with dozens of people on the street each day at #SidewalkScienceCenter, you can expect most people don't spend nearly as much time familiarizing themselves with the night sky.

So when people see headlines with these misleading claims, I find myself (2/)
...explaining over and over again that Jupiter & Saturn do in fact pass each other in the sky every 19-20 years.

As a communicator, you have to take every interaction as a teachable moment, and maintain a civil, level discourse, where both parties have a chance to speak. (3/)
As the days dwindle down to the conjunction, I will create a poster, or handouts, with clear explanations more-or-less fact checking the headlines people see on social media and the news.

Address the misinformation, then showcase what actually happens... (4/)
For the case of the conjunction, it's important to have a visual. Geometric alignments make much more sense to people when the info is expressed visually.

Take, for instance, this poster I created for the Opposition of Mars in October: (5/)
Presenting a quick, easy-to-read visual draws in people's attention and gives them a boosted experience with a basic concept that is easy to understand, and allows them to guide their own questions from the material.

This particular visual isn't filled with paragraphs... (6/)
....or information, but relatable facts and scaled drawings help clarify the differences of physical properties.

Hence, creating a visual guide for participants or passerby who likely do not have familiarity with celestial geometry can be useful for quick or extended engagement!

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More from @People_Of_Space

14 Dec
Hosting #SidewalkScienceCenter 3-5 days a week provides an incredible chance to interact with my local community in truly impactful ways.

I want to share an email and a Facebook response from some people who have visited SSC:
Experience Daliona @ExpDalScience is the name of my company, through which I run #SidewalkScienceCenter.

Responses and stories like this are why I have continued to host SSC for 2.5 years, nearly every single week. My goal is to hire paid educators and create thousands....
....of SSCs all around the world. In fact, over the weekend, I reached a Patreon goal that will allow me to hire my first educator by March 2021! It's exciting to know I'll have a regular teammate alongside me.

(read the milestone here! patreon.com/posts/45026007)
Read 6 tweets
13 Dec
Look up in the sky! Jupiter and Saturn are adorning the western sky for an hour and a half after sunset!

The two gas giants are approaching a conjunction, the geometrical point where they appear to cross paths in the sky relative to the Earth's position space.
These two planets last conjoined in 2000, then spread apart, and have been moving noticeably closer for the past several years!

Here is a series of pictures showing them in September 2019, then April 2020, and now. The change in location is extremely visible!l
Last year, Jupiter slid past the constellation of Scorpius, beginning Summer 2019 above the reddish star Antares on its way through the core of the Milky Way.

Saturn began Summer 2019 above the handle of Sagittarius, to the left of the Milky Way's core.
Read 5 tweets
23 Nov
I'm wasn't really sure at first how to start this, but I wanted to start to speak a bit about mental health. As this is a #space page, I decided to start with some research. In #spacepscyhology researchers consider #mentalhealth. (1/9) #MentalHealthAwareness
#space #pscyhologists look to studies in Antarctica (an extreme, isolated environment) to essentially have a larger population to study due to the small sample size of our astronauts currently. In addition to speaking with current & former astronauts. (2/9) #AcademicMentalHealth
I hope though, I can encourage others to have that conversation informally. I've seen the benefit of starting this conversation in practice. Especially in my classmates while I study at university, and even colleagues at a conference. (3/9) #AcademicMentalHealth
Read 12 tweets
21 Nov
As a budding science communicator, I follow #science & #space info campaigns not only for entertainment, I follow to learn. One of the campaigns that have been a masterclass in comms of the #CopernicusEU #Sentinel6 project. (My thread on the launch campaign ⬇️)#scicomm #sentinerd
I also enjoyed #NASAHalloween campaign, this year they not only released some amazing posters (see below) but they also had a playlist of amazing spooky space music➡️ soundcloud.com/nasa/sets/sini…

#scicomm #poweringspace #space

📷@NASAJPL/@Caltech

@NASAJPL @Caltech I'm also learning a lot from the amazing media team at the @AusAntarctic. Their account is so much fun, they share the phenomenal work being done in #Antarctica! And interesting highlights from the animal life there, like this⬇️

#scicomm #space #STEM

Read 7 tweets
21 Nov
The launch of the @CopernicusEU #Sentinel6 is getting closer!!! 🎉🥳 (A #Sentinerd Thread 🛰️🛰️🛰️)

Where will you be watching?

#seeingtheseas #Space4Climate #SociallyDistantSentinerds

Later tonight is the launch of #Sentinel6 (3:47 AM my local time). I've been learning so much following the lead up of this amazing multi-agency project, so excited!

#seeingtheseas #Sentinerd #Space4Climate

Some accounts to follow (this one) & the ⬇️

Want to catch up? Here are a few resources! Like this article about the top ten must-know facts about the @CopernicusEU #Sentinel6➡️ esa.int/Applications/O…

#seeingtheseas #Sentinerd

and a thread with a few interviews about the project⬇️
Read 27 tweets
21 Nov
(a #spaceevents thread)

A wonderful thing about the world of space is that we are all connected virtually during this time. I've got to take part in some amazing initiatives over the past few months and I look forward to seeing what's coming up!

#spaceagenda #ISUNET
The #SASpaceForum that was going to be in COVID safe conditions and virtually is now fully online. I look forward to live-tweeting the event from home! If you want to join, you can from anywhere in the world check out the link below⬇️

#ausspace #space

The #Sentinel6 is to be launched in T-10 hours! You can follow the event through Facebook, Twitter and have the links shared with you through Eventbrite.

Eventbrite➡️ eventbrite.com/e/sentinel-6-m…
Facebook➡️ fb.me/e/fww7cn5jI

#Space4Climate #seeingtheseas #sentinerd
Read 8 tweets

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