ABOUT

The Communicating Astronomy with the Public (CAP) Conference is the only large-scale, international conference for astronomy communication. The conference is targeted towards professionals from science communication, informal education, planetaria and science centres, as well as professional and amateur astronomers, journalists and creative personalities.
 
CAP 2024 will be the 11^th in the series of conferences organised by the International Astronomical Union (IAU), through Commission C2 Communicating Astronomy with the Public, and the IAU Office for Astronomy Outreach (OAO). Since 2003, CAP conferences have facilitated the exchange of ideas and best practices. The conference helps strengthen the local community of professionals by connecting them to the global network. In 2024, the 11^th will be hosted by La Cité de l'espace, Toulouse, France.
 

International Astronomical Union  / Commission C2 — Communicating Astronomy with the Public (CAP)
Founded in 1919, the International Astronomical Union (IAU) is the world’s largest professional body for astronomers. It is an international astronomical organisation that brings together more than 10,000 professional astronomers from almost 100 countries. Its mission is to promote and safeguard the science of astronomy in all its aspects through international cooperation. The IAU also serves as the internationally recognised authority for assigning designations to celestial bodies and the surface features on them.
The IAU Commission C2 aims to encourage and enable a much larger fraction of the astronomical community to take an active role in explaining what astronomers do (and why) to our fellow citizens. It encourages international collaborations, endorses standards, best practices and requirements, and furthers the recognition of outreach and public communication of all levels of astronomy.
 
IAU Office for Astronomy Outreach
The IAU Office for Astronomy Outreach (OAO) is a joint project of the International Astronomical Union (IAU) and the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan (NAOJ). The mission of the OAO is to engage the public in astronomy through access to astronomical information and communication of the science of astronomy. This is implemented through a network of IAU National Outreach Coordinators (NOCs) and the IAU’s public engagement initiatives. The work of the OAO is about building bridges between the IAU and the global astronomy community of amateur astronomers, outreach professionals, educators, communicators, and the general public, and through international collaboration, to make the science of astronomy accessible to all.