Project Bases:
“Ruta de las Estrellas 2016 – STAR4ALL”
Coordinators:
Dr. Miquel Serra-Ricart
Astronomer Instituto de Astrofisica de Canarias (IAC).
Sra. Lucía García Sánchez-Carnerero
Physicist Universidad Complutense de Madrid (UCM).
Dr. Alejandro Sánchez de Miguel
Astronomer Instituto de Astrofísica de Andalucía (IAA).
Sr. Esteban González Guardia
Universidad Politécnica de Madrid (UPM).
Sr. Miguel Rodríguez Alarcón
First-year Physics student (UAM).
These bases have to be considered as the rules of the project, which must be respected by all participants. The official language of the project is English.
1.- Objetives.
STARS4ALL is a project funded by the European Union H2020 Programme under agreement number 688135. STARS4ALL is composed of 8 institutions (UPM, CEFRIEL, SOTON, ECN, ESCP Europe, IAC, IGB-Berlin, UCM) from 6 countries. STARS4ALL project will develop a collective awareness platform -composed by Light Pollution Initiatives (LPIs)- to encourage citizens to care for and preserve the natural darkness of European nightscapes. LPIs are local or global working groups who fight against the negative impacts of artificial light at night. In order to motivate young students to participate in LPI initiatives a competition among them will be organized. The prize will be double:
1) Students will visit Teide Observatory (Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias). The selected students will participate in theoretical/practical sessions led by STARS4ALL astronomers using professional telescopes sited at the Teide Observatory. Students will understand the need of unpolluted skies for observing the Cosmos.
2) Students will participate in one BAE (Broadcasting of Astronomical Events). During the expedition they will develop the educational activity related with the astronomical event.
STARS4ALL students will join Ruta de las Estrellas project.
The innovative proposal Ruta de las Estrellas 2016 – STARS4ALL (RES2016) will allow young students from the European Union to participate in astronomy experiences, living in this context a program of development of scientific vocations and personal and entrepreneurial skills. Both the selection process and the active participation of students in the project, will contribute to broaden their scientific knowledge with the following priorities:
1.- To notably change the perception young people have about science as a difficult subject to understand (the main cause of dropping out).
2.- To provide the necessary human and technical support to undergo a scientific experience.
3.- To stimulate a passion for knowledge and develop personal and entrepreneurial skills.
4.-To strengthen respect for the environment in fragile ecosystems on the planet preserving natural darkness of nightscapes.
5.- To improve respect for different cultures: teaching to live together.
6.- To influence the decision to follow the path of science.
2.- Participants.
RES2016 is open to students of both sexes born in 1995 and 1996, who are pursuing academic studies in some EU educational center in the academic year 2015-2016.
3.- Inscriptions.
Individuals who can prove their student status in any EU educational center. Participants must provide their personal data as well as those of the Educational Center for the registration to be effective. Inscriptions will be done at two sites.
site1) First participants will register at crowcrafting project where the application Lost at Night is hosted.
site2) Participants will register in Ruta de las Estrellas site using the same user name and e-mail adress provided on site1.
4.- Structure.
Open Competition process will take place during the month of June, 2016. Students will identify cities at night in pictures taken from the ISS (International Space Station) using the Lost at Night application. If an image is classified correctly the participant will receive 1 point, a wrong classification will mean -1 point and no-classification 0 points.
According to the score of Lost at Nights classification on 2016 June 30th at 12:00 GMT the organization will select the top two students, who cannot belong to the same educational center. In case of a tie, the organization will consider the date of registration of each student, the oldest being in first position.
-Deadlines-
It will be possible to register and participate from the 1st June, 2016 to 30th June, 2016 at 12:00 GMT. After this time the registration will be closed.
Phase 1.- Stay at the Teide Observatory.
The first astronomical experience will be held at the Teide Observatory (IAC, Tenerife, Canary Islands, Spain). The selected students will participate in theoretical/practical sessions led by astronomers of the STARS4ALL project.
These sessions at the Teide Observatory will take place from 15-18 July, 2016.
Phase 2.- Astronomical Expedition.
The second phase will consist in the participation of the 2 students in a real observational astronomy experience within the Astronomical Expedition Shelios 2016 (August 2016). The aim of the expedition is to study & broadcast (in the web sky-live.tv) Northern Lights -aurora- in the Arctic region (Greenland/Iceland). During the expedition students will calculate aurora altitude formation using parallax (educational activity).
5.- Finalist requirements.
To be eligible for the award the winners must present a medical certificate of good health. The prize is a place in the Shelios 2016 expedition, including all international flights, boards and meals (in the same regime as the rest of the expedition) plus travel insurance. Personal expenses are not included. Non-acceptance or breach of these terms will mean that the prize will automatically proceed to the next participant on the list of finalists.
6.- Organization and Web.
The organization, design, content and maintenance of the RES2016 project website will be carried out by Dr. Miquel Serra-Ricart, Sra. Lucía García Sánchez-Carnerero, Dr. Alejandro Sánchez de Miguel, Sr. Esteban González Guardia and Sr. Miguel Rodríguez Alarcón whose first-degree relatives cannot participate in the competition. They will also be part of the jury.
The names of selected participants will be published for general knowledge.
The jury’s decision will be final and it will be responsible for resolving any doubts which may arise in the interpretation of these rules. Participating in the project implies the acceptance of all and each of these rules.
Dr. Miquel Serra-Ricart (Astronomer Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias and President of Shelios).
In 1989 he received his Bachelor of Sciences in Physics from the University of Barcelona. The same year he was awarded a contract as «Resident Astronomer» at the Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias (IAC, Tenerife). In 1993 he received his doctorate in Astrophysics at the University of La Laguna (Tenerife) with the thesis «Aplicaciones de Redes de Neuronas Artificiales en Astronomía», which provided new analytical techniques to astronomy. His main fields of research have been on minor bodies of the solar system (comets and asteroids) and gravitational lenses. Since 1994 he holds the position of administrator of the Teide Observatory, at which moment he also began an important work in astronomy communication. In 1998, he creates the Shelios Association with the main objective of «capturing» the great celestial spectacles of our planet. With the collaboration of prestigious astrophotographer Juan Carlos Casado he devised, in 2001, the photographic project tierrayestrellas.com. In 2002 he founded the educational website astroaula.net and in 2004 created the cultural project «La Ruta de las Estrellas» where young students have the opportunity to take part in scientific expeditions with professional astronomers. More than 150 scientific articles, the direction of an astronomical observatory and 30 expeditions are guarantees of the professional compromise with Astronomy and the «good work» of Miquel Serra-Ricart. Detailed CV.
Sra. Lucía García Sánchez-Carnerero (Physicist at Universidad Complutense de Madrid).
Received her Physics degree in the UCM where she got a collaboration scholarship to work for the Astrophysics department. For 5 years she designed experiments and actions of visual impact for the TV show «El Hormiguero». She has designed advertisement actions involving science and hosted a science spreading section during «the show with no name» radio show for Vaughan. Nowadays she is Cities at Night project manager, spreads science on Cienciaxplora website and has recently joined the Astrophysics department of the UCM as research assistant to work on Stars4all project. Online CV.
Dr. Alejandro Sánchez de Miguel
Astronomer Instituto de Astrofísica de Andalucía (IAA).
Project leader of Cities at Night (www.citiesatnight.org), received his doctorship in Astrophysis on 2015 by the Universidad Complutense de Madrid. On 2014, he was awarded with the pieza Dark sky defender of the International Dark Sky association. He has been part of light pollution activist and researchers groups since 1997, Dark sky Group of the Agrupación Astronómica de Madrid, Grupo de Protección del Cielo, Celfosc, Loss of the Night Network and Red Española de Estudios de Contaminación Lumínica. Also, he has long experience on the PRO-AM collaboration, as he has been part of the board of the Agrupación Astronómica de Madrid, AstroHenares and Asociación de Astrónomos Aficionados de la Universidad Complutense de Madrid. He had been president of this last association on 2001 and 2003. Also he as part of the PRO-AM comisión of the Sociedad Española de Astronomía on 2010-2011. Also has promoted several PRO-AM collaborations as participant on the PARTNeR project, or creation as in the AstroInova-UCM collaboration, NIXNOX project or Historical Fireballs project. Most of his research has been realized on the Dep. Astrofísica y CC. de la Atmósfera UCM, were he has been involved on broadcasting events and teaching activities. His main research interests are light pollution, fireball detection and physical properties of star forming galaxies. Currently is part of the project ORISON for the development of an stabilized platform for stratospheric observations, leaded by the Instituto de Astrofísica de Andalucía. Detailed CV.
Sr. Esteban González Guardia
Esteban González Guardia is an engineer in computer science by the Universidad Politécnica de Madrid (UPM). Before starting to work in the Ontology Engineering Group (OEG), he had an internship in EADS and worked in DEIMOS-SPACE as software deliver. Before, he participated in the european project GLORIA (http://www.gloria-project.eu), an open robotic telescope network teleoperate by citizens. At present, he works in the european project STARS4ALL, a collective awareness platform for fighting against light pollution problem. His research topics are citizen science, gamification and social networks.
Sr. Miguel Rodríguez Alarcón
First-year Physics student (UAM).
7.- Contact and social networks.
Any questions regarding the project can be directed to our social networks.
Facebook: STARS4ALL, La Ruta de las Estrellas, Shelios, sky-live.tv
Twitter: @stars4all_eu, @rutaestrellas, @sky_live.tv
or contact with Dr. Miquel Serra-Ricart mserra@iac.es .
RT