The NOVA Information Center (NIC) is led by outreach officer Marieke Baan, and is located at the Sterrenkundig Instituut ‘Anton Pannekoek’, University of Amsterdam. NIC collaborates with outreach officers at universities and at astronomical institutes and organizations in the Netherlands as well as abroad. NIC operates the Astronomische Persdienst, an electronic ‘press agency’ that distributes the latest Dutch astronomical news (in Dutch). The popular scientific NIC website offers news, information about NOVA and about upcoming events, and ‘ask a question’ service. Promotional and educational material (posters, CD-roms, brochures, exercises) is also available. We organize, or help organize, media events and outreach activities that put Dutch astronomy and science in general in the public mind. Public interest in astronomy is immense. Popularization of astronomy is an excellent vehicle for stimulating interest in the natural sciences in general, which is of great importance at a time when the interest in university studies in some of these disciplines is declining. NOVA endorses the IAU Charter for Communicating Astronomy with the Public.
Contact: NOVA Informatie Centrum
