The National Research Foundation (NRF) has highlighted the doubly historic nature of next year’s General Assembly (GA) of the International Astronomical Union (IAU), which would be held in Cape Town, in August. Held triennially, not only would the 2024 GA be the first ever to be held in Africa, in the more than 100-year history of the IAU, but it would also be the first to have an open-access format. Registration for the GA opened on October 30. Delegates could attend in person or participate virtually. The open access aspect was that people, worldwide, would be able to remotely access the talks being given at the assembly, while they were being delivered. However, only paying delegates would be able to deliver papers, pose questions in real time, actually meet and interact with the other delegates and speakers, and participate in related activities.
