.Astronomy 2

Leiden, Netherlands

30 November – 4 December 2009 Lorentz Centre, Leiden University

The second .Astronomy conference was hosted at the Lorentz Center, Leiden University. It was the first to follow the full ".Astronomy format", introducing both a Hack Day and unconference sessions, which became defining features of the series. The conference brought together researchers, educators, and technologists to discuss how a new era of surveys, web technologies, and citizen science was transforming astronomy. The Lorentz Centre's offices-and-desks setup, and its supply of bicycles, were a big hit with attendees. The five-day marathon was the longest .Astronomy ever held. Chromoscope, a web-based sky visualisation service, was launched during the event and received significant press coverage.

// organisers

Organisers

Organising committee also included Alasdair Allan, Chris Lintott, Stuart Lowe, and Robert Simpson.

// talks

Talks

Invited Speakers

Themes and Topics

Citizen Science: Galaxy Zoo, web-based platforms for citizen science, future citizen science projects.

New Media for Outreach and Communication: IYA 2009 and the web including 100 Hours of Astronomy, The World at Night, Cosmic Diary, UNAWE, and Portal to the Universe. Podcasting and blogging. Microblogging.

Networked Technologies for Research: Virtual observatory, literature tools, data mining.

Visualisation: Google Sky, Microsoft Worldwide Telescope, visualisation as a research aid.

Notable Moments

This was the first .Astronomy to introduce unconference sessions and a Hack Day, both of which became defining features of the series. The Chromoscope web-based sky visualisation service was launched during the event.

// participants

Participants

Approximately 50 people attended .Astronomy 2 in Leiden, November–December 2009.

// links

Sponsors

.Astronomy 2 was generously supported by the Lorentz Center, Astron, the Royal Astronomical Society (RAS), the British Council, NWO, RadioNet, and the Platform Beta Techniek.

// want to add something?
Know something missing? Add a hack Add a talk Add a participant