Paul Breitenstein, who took part in the StAnD Summer School 2024 in Marathon, Greece, has been awarded a Citizen Science prize. Every year, the Foundation of the University of Münster/Germany awards prizes in the Citizen Science competition to projects that transfer science to society. This year, the initiator of the regional educational initiative AiM (Astronomy and Internet in Münster), Paul Breitenstein, together with cooperation partners, was delighted to receive the 7500 € prize.
The core objective of the award-winning project is to make Electronically Assisted Astronomy (EAA) techniques accessible, particularly in schools. To achieve this goal, AiM has teamed up with the Institute of Planetology, Sternfreunde Münster e.V. and various schools in the Münsterland.
The impetus came from the FTP-Europlanet, which gave AiM access to the 25 robotically controlled research telescopes of the Las Cumbres Observatory, in particular the RTI (Real Time Interface) slots of the two 2.0m Faulkes Telescopes in Australia and Hawaii. This enabled practical STEM camps for pupils and training courses for teachers, among other things.
An “Astronomical Workshop Münster” was founded to provide various schools in different subjects (mathematics, physics, computer science, etc) with their own, inexpensive astronomical equipment in addition to what FTP-Europlanet offers. This includes not only larger Dobsonian telescopes, but also smart backpacks with fully automatic small telescopes for school trips. The prize money gives AiM and its cooperation partners the opportunity and the courage to expand their work.
Congratulations, Paul Breitenstein and AiM! We look forward to following in your footsteps with the StAnD project in Germany and to further cooperation with teachers from other European countries, strengthening international cooperation.
On the occasion of the award ceremony a short video was produced, which you can watch here.
(Set automatic subtitles and translation.)