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Press Releases

Canadian Astronomical Society
 

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Guidelines for Authors of Press Releases

  1. PRESENTATION GUIDELINES for Press Releases to be Distributed at the CASCA Annual Meeting

  2. Consider Whether...
    ... the results are in a paper which has been accepted for publication. This isn't necessary but it helps the journalist if there is material that journalist can reference and can read for background.
    ... is it news or information? While amateur magazines don't mind information, newspapers, weekly magazines, radio and television tend to want news. The following are the criteria used by Office of Public Outreach at Space Telescope Science Institute to determine whether the general public would deem something newsworthy.
    1. Represent a major discovery of a new phenomenon or class of object.
    2. Decisively settle an area of controversy in astronomy.
    3. Present a new mystery or unexpected new complexity to some known phenomenon (e.g., the rings around supernova 1987A).
    4. Represent a significant step forward in a specific research area (e.g., a refined value for the Hubble constant).
    5. Represent an incremental yet important knowledge gain in a given area (e.g., detection of a white dwarf sequence in globular clusters).
    6. Set a new astronomical record or benchmark, or possess an element of novelty (e.g., the most distant galaxy or hottest star).
    7. Provide images that are visually striking and have aesthetic appeal, even though there is no new science (e.g., the interior of the Orion nebula).
    8. Deal with unpredicted, transient events (e.g., nearby comets, a nova, or changing weather on a planet).
    9. Provide new insight into one of the following popular astronomical topics: cosmology, extrasolar planets, black holes, dark matter, solar system objects, distant galaxies, Earth's evolution, fate of the Sun, or the possibility of extraterrestrial life.
  3. Magazines' Guidelines for Submission of Articles:

See our press page for more news topics.

If you are a Member of the Press and wish to learn more about a certain topic, please see our list of CASCA Contacts.

The CASCA press officer is Robert Lamontagne who can be contacted at the following address:

lamont@astro.umontreal.ca