Rigel Kentaurus, INDONESIA A. Yamani, Aldino. A.B, Dewi Pramesti Langit Selatan (southern sky) Blog, a Window for Popularizing Astronomy a Window for Popularizing Astronomy in Indonesia Communicating Astronomy with the Public 2007, Athens, Greece October 2007

 Latitude : 6° 57' S. Longitude : 107° 34' W  Indonesia is a tropical country with 17,508 island  With a population over 234 million people Communicating Astronomy with the Public 2007, Athens, Greece October 2007

Background  Lack of astronomy information and media in Indonesia language  False conception about certain celestial issued  False information among the people about certain events Communicating Astronomy with the Public 2007, Athens, Greece October 2007

History  2004, five young astronomer start their dream about astronomy media in Indonesian language and they start a group name Rigel Kentaurus  At the same year, Rigel kentaurus start it first online media name  2007, we change our service into blogging and change our name to langitselatan (southern sky). Communicating Astronomy with the Public 2007, Athens, Greece October 2007

Vision  Being an astronomy media in Indonesia.  Giving astronomy education to Indonesia public.  Building awareness of astronomy in Indonesia. Communicating Astronomy with the Public 2007, Athens, Greece October 2007

langitselatan.com langitselatan forum Communicating Astronomy with the Public 2007, Athens, Greece October 2007

 Sharing resources and information with the public  Facilitate collaboration and sharing between users  Interactive communication with the readers  Building communities Why blog?Advantage  Reach all the people throughout the country with low cost for the users (Indonesia is the largest archipelagic state) ‏ Communicating Astronomy with the Public 2007, Athens, Greece October 2007

Statistic of Internet users in Indonesia UsersYear source : Communicating Astronomy with the Public 2007, Athens, Greece October 2007

Statistic of blogs in Indonesia 4408 Total 3.65 %161Education / Career 1.84 %81Kitchen 2.63 %116Popular Science 9.01 %397Opinion 1.54 %68Travel 2.75 %121Entertainment 1.79 %79News 1.32 %58Photo Blog 5.74 %253IT %3108Personal Number of Blog per Category Total of registered blog in blog - indonesia.com/ : 4408 Unregistered blog : more than Source : October 4 th 2007http:// Communicating Astronomy with the Public 2007, Athens, Greece October 2007

Astronomy online media  30 weblog (registered and unregistered) about astronomy in specifics topic : 20 private blogs 4 community blogs 6 institution web 1 media and forum (langitselatan.com)  0.68% of all registered blog Communicating Astronomy with the Public 2007, Athens, Greece October 2007

October 10 th 2007 Impacts to langitselatan.com Communicating Astronomy with the Public 2007, Athens, Greece October 2007

With top post :  Heliocentric vs Geocentric  Mars Hoax  Total moon Eclipse  Star Party  Moon Hoax  Lunar Calendar  Habitable Planet  Pluto In Indonesia, astronomy is the most search topic on the internet for false exposition in some particular event, e.g. Mars Hoax, or conundrum of heliocentric/geocentric, which are still hot topics until recent time. Communicating Astronomy with the Public 2007, Athens, Greece October 2007

Social Impacts from the blog….  Science Camp Salman ITB (Moeslem Mosque Children Group in Bandung Institute of Technology) ‏  Rooftop Star Party at Mitra Hotel (7/7/07) ‏ From langitselatan blog, rigel kentaurus also grow as an event organizer of : Communicating Astronomy with the Public 2007, Athens, Greece October 2007

 Astronomical Gathering : Southern Sky Star Party 2007 cooperate with student body of Astronomy ITB and Indonesian National Institute of Aeronautics and Space (LAPAN). ( ‏ Communicating Astronomy with the Public 2007, Athens, Greece October 2007

 Birthday star party  Star party goes to school and Aidil Fitri camp cooperate with Indonesia UNAWE Communicating Astronomy with the Public 2007, Athens, Greece October 2007

Langitselatan on media Communicating Astronomy with the Public 2007, Athens, Greece October 2007

Challenge and problem  Funding  Human Resource  Instruments  Find the best methods to share knowledge to the children.  Make all fields and topics of astronomy as an interesting topic for the people Communicating Astronomy with the Public 2007, Athens, Greece October 2007

Result  Langitselatan.com adjust misconception and hoax (heliocentric vs geocentric, mars hoax) ‏  A reference for beginner.  A resource of astronomy news and public education to the public.  An aggregator for astronomy blog and resources. ( ‏  Since April 2007, forum langitselatan.com become a community with 84 members. (October 3 rd )  Give inspiration to build community in several province.  Being astronomy educator Communicating Astronomy with the Public 2007, Athens, Greece October 2007

Future Work  Astrokids Club  Mobile Planetarium  Community builder in all province throughout the country  Astronomy Magazine and Newsletter in Indonesia  Collaboration with Indonesia Universe Awareness  Telescope training  Annual Astronomical Gathering : Southern Sky Star Party  IYA2009 Star Party cooperate with Bosscha Observatory Communicating Astronomy with the Public 2007, Athens, Greece October 2007

Thank you To organizers who for giving me chance to come to this meeting to present my paper To the audience for your participation our RSS : Communicating Astronomy with the Public 2007, Athens, Greece October 2007