Abstract:

Since the very beginning of the information technology era, astronomers all over the world were fascinated by the idea that software could contribute to the spreading of science knowledge among the general public. Astronomical events (like solar eclipses or northern lights) and their explanations have always been well received by media and public alike.

Nowadays, several improvements in broadcasting solutions over the Internet were made to set up a suitable infrastructure for the audience. For instance, NASA deploys specific websites giving information about astronomical events, including multimedia content, data analysis and scientific commentary.

As part of this initiative live broadcasting of several astronomical events were included in the GLORIA project (GLObal Robotic telescopes Intelligent Array for e-Science is a project funded by the European Union Seventh Framework Programme [FP7/2007-2012] under grant agreement number 283783, more information gloria-project.eu) with the following main goals:

1) Broadcast the event live over the Internet.
2) Promote related educational activities.
3) Advertise the GLORIA project as a social tool to perform citizen science.

During 2012 year three webcastings were done: 1) June 6th: a Venus Transit from Australia, 2) August 25th – 28th : Northern Lights from Greenland and 3) November 14th: a Total Solar Eclipse from Australia. In the talk we will show the main results (astronomical infrastructure & technical aspects) of the broadcastings and related educational activities.