astronomers communicate all the time, with colleagues of course, but also with managers and administrators, with decision makers and takers, with social representatives, with the news media, and with society at large. education is naturally part of the process. astronomy communication must take into account several specifics: the astronomy community is rather compact and well organized world-wide; astronomy has penetrated the general public remarkably well with an extensive network of associations and organizations of aficionados all over the world. also, as a result of the huge amount of data accumulated and by necessity for their extensive international collaborations, astronomers have pioneered the development of distributed resources, electronic communications and networks coupled to advanced methodologies and technologies, often long before they become commonly used world-wide. this book is filling a gap in the astronomy-related literature by providing a set of chapters not only of direct interest to astronomy communication, but also well beyond it. the experts contributing to this book have done their best to write in a way understandable to readers not necessarily hyperspecialized in astronomy nor in communication techniques while providing specific detailed information, as well as plenty of pointers and bibliographic elements. this book will be very useful for researchers, teachers, editors, publishers, librarians, computer scientists, sociologists of science, research planners and strategists, project managers, public-relations officers, plus those in charge of astronomy-related organizations, as well as for students aiming at a career in astronomy or related space science.
