Publications of the Korean Astronomical Society pISSN: 1225-1534 30: 719 ∼ 720, 2015 September eISSN: 2287-6936 c 2015. The Korean Astronomical Society. All rights reserved. http://dx.doi.org/10.5303/PKAS.2015.30.2.719 LANGITSELATAN AS AN ASTRONOMY LEARNING BASE FOR CITIZEN PROJECTS IN INDONESIA Ajeng Tri Handini 1 , Aldino Baskoro 1,2 , Avivah Yamani 1 , and Emanuel Sungging Mumpuni 1,3 1 langitselatan; ajeng@langitselatan.org 2 Sekolah Alam Bandung 3 Indonesian National Institute of Aeronautics and Space E-mail: ajeng@langitselatan.org (Received November 30, 2014; Reviced May 31, 2015; Aaccepted June 30, 2015) ABSTRACT These days, advanced technologies provide an easy way for the public to obtain information about anything, including astronomy. Most people know astronomy for its sky events and scientific results. In Indonesia, the public has a high interest not only in astronomy information but also in participating in astronomy events, but it is limited to those who has access to a club nearby. Otherwise, for those who live in remote areas or simply don’t have any access, they depend on information from newspapers, magazines, books or word of mouth. They usually think that astronomy is a difficult subject to learn, while in fact it is something doable and fun. Key words: journals: citizen projects, Indonesia 1. INTRODUCTION Astronomy, as the oldest science, is becoming more pop- ular now. Many people know what Astronomy is and all of the information about planet or sky events. Why are people becoming more aware of astronomy? Because it is an interesting science. Some astronomy events look amazing and amusing so a lot of people want to see and become a part of those events. Besides this interest, astronomy is close to us. When you look at the sky, Moon, stars or Sun, these are the astronomical objects that you can look at every day. From these things come folklore or star lore in many different cultures. All of this makes people curious about astronomy. As- tronomy is not a special study for students from ele- mentary to senior high school. It is included in natural science study. Astronomy is a study which is interest- ing, fun, rich in art and culture, close to us, and sim- ple. Therefore, we should improve methods for teaching and learning astronomy with fun and simple methods. Starting off with a story about the ancient myths of sky and stars in Indonesia, we make something simple and easier for citizens, especially teachers, to teach about astronomy. An example is the puppet show method. An increasing interest in participating in the Olympiad of astronomy at the high school level in In- donesia also helps to attract more students to astron- omy. However, because the Olympiad is a competi- tion based activity, this kind of activity is not sufficent enough to accommodate their interest, and therefore there is a need for broader activities that can cater to the interests of the public. Therefore we build and pro- http://pkas.kas.org vide simple methods for the public, and especially for schools, to engage their students with astronomy con- tent in a fun and easy way. The method we propose in this project is the Shadow Puppet Show, something close to the Indonesian public, especially the Javanese who use shadow-puppet show or wayang to deliver sto- ries to the public. We will also use another method to improve this project. As a result, we expect an active participation from the public not only to use and im- prove the method but also provide more stories from their local culture. 2. THE PROBLEMS OF ASTRONOMY METHODS IN INDONESIA The advance of technology make it easy for people to ob- tain information about anything, including astronomy. Many people know about astronomy events. In Indone- sia, much of the information and events for astronomy are interesting, and for citizens who have access or con- nections, they can explore and easily participate in as- tronomy events. Otherwise, for people with restricted access, they still use information from books or mouth to mouth. They think astronomy is a difficult study without fun or a simple method. Therefore, we want to make a simple method so people can get the material locally. With this method, we want people to get the same information and advantages for astronomy, even though they have use different way to access it. 3. THE CITIZEN PROJECT’S METHODS • The Shadow Puppet Show The shadow puppet show is one of methods which 719