First astronomy festival in the Ñuble region was carried out successfully

Macarena Berrios, director of the Municipal Cultural Center of Chillán indicated that “we are very happy to have presented the first Astronomy Festival in our region. It was an instance, where children and adults got to know various spatial phenomena in a dynamic and entertaining way, participating in various free activities”.

The activities were carried out in a first block from 10:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. together with girls and boys from the JUNJI and INTEGRA gardens who, in the company of their collaborators, participated in various workshops related to the universe. While, Activities open to the public began at 3:00 p.m.time in which monitors from the Department of Astronomy UdeC developed a mini-fair and five workshops on a rotating basis in the CCMCh offices related to stars, galaxies, comets, nebulae and Mapuche astronomy.

“The Astronomical Disclosure Team, EDA, is made up of undergraduate and postgraduate students; They are in charge of leading workshops, talks and an astronomy fair aimed at both children and families. It should be noted that all the activities are linked to the curriculum of the Ministry of Education, therefore, they are not only entertaining and playful activities, but also reinforce, in the case of boys and girls, educational knowledge. On the other hand, during the activities the public participates actively, in such a way that they learn and learn about all the wonders that this science presents to us”, specified Marllory Fuentes, head of UdeC Astronomy Communications and in charge of CATA dissemination.

Finally, at 7:00 p.m., the film with music “A trip to the Moon” was presented, a French short film from 1902 directed by Georges Mélies; and after the performance, the talk “Space Eruptions” was given by the astronomer Leidy Peña, which led the public to find out what is happening in our “cosmic neighborhood”: are there active volcanoes in the Universe? What about the planets of our Solar System? Do they break out?

The day had a great impact on the community of Chillán and surroundings, who enjoyed, both adults and children, the fun activities and talks carried out, bringing together more than 500 people at the facilities of the Municipal Cultural Center of Chillán.

It is expected that the Astronomical Outreach Team can continue to outreach not only in large cities, but also in communities far from urban centers, taking science and astronomy to all corners of Chile.