School Astronomical Congress celebrates its tenth version at the UdeC with face-to-face activities

The University of Concepción will be the stage for the celebration of the 10th anniversary of the School Astronomical Congress, an activity that promotes astronomical research in young people of basic and secondary education. The meeting is organized by the TITANS Millennium Nucleus, made up of astronomers from the Universities of Valparaíso, Concepción, Universidad Católica de Chile and Chile, in conjunction with the Center for Astrophysics and Related Technologies (CATA), together with the ALMA 2021 Fund.

The astronomer from the UdeC Department of Astronomy and researcher associated with the TITANS Millennium Nucleus and CATA and organizer of this national meeting, Dr Rodrigo Herrera, He stressed that “our purpose is that this Congress be as inclusive as possible and that we invite the greatest diversity of students throughout Chile. We as the organizing group, the advisors and our jury will take care of giving them all the tools that the groups of students need to develop their projects and their scientific skills”.

Applications to participate in the scientific contest are open until July 29. The prize for the best project, by category, consists of a trip to professional astronomical observatoriesin the North of Chile, where during a weekend the winners will be able to visit the facilities, interact with astronomers from all over the world and witness professional observations during one night.

Regarding the return to attendance, the general coordinator of the Congress, Pamela Henriquez pointed out that “we have a panorama that shows us a high level of vaccination in our country which, added to the high sanitary standards, gives us greater confidence to return to the original idea of ​​this congress: that the students ‘live’ a scientific meeting of high level. The wonderful thing is that this time they are the protagonists again! In addition, the experience of being on the campus of the University of Concepción is especially motivating for the boys. Immersing yourself in this study and research environment, generating links with your peers, showing your work is definitely a unique experience. We’re sure they’re going to enjoy it a lot.”

With professional support

For 4 months, the students who participate will have the opportunity to carry out research on some astronomical topic with the support of a scientific advisor who will guide the entire process. The results of this work will be presented in front of the other participants and a jury of leading astronomers and astronomers.

In a first instance, the groups are made up of pairs together with their science teacher, or related curriculum, presenting an astronomy topic to be investigated. Subsequently, the organizing committee selects and announces the list of accepted teams for the next stage of “Development of proposals and presentation in Congress”.

In this part of the contest, each team is assigned scientific advice from an astronomer who accompanies the research process by providing virtual support. There will be 10 teams the finalists, in each cycle, that will be able to compete in the 10th Astronomical Congress through a final report, an oral presentation of their research in audiovisual format and the delivery of an infographic-type graphic poster to share their research with the public. that will be disseminated on the social networks of the TITANS Nucleus and Cata. Likewise, the winning group will obtain a valuable prize that will support the continuity of the scientific interest of the participants.

Peter Gonzalez, winner of the Congress of the year 2017, recounted the decisive experience that participation in this congress resulted for him, so much so that today he studies astronomy.

“It is clear the impact that being able to obtain second place in the middle category in the third version, and first place in the middle category in the fourth version of the congress, had on me: Deciding to take the initial step for my professional career as an astronomer and enter the career of astronomy from the Universidad de Concepción, where I am now in my fourth year,” he said.

“The experience of school research and later traveling to the Cerro Tololo and Las Campanas observatories allowed me to live more closely the reality of an astronomer, demolishing the romantic myths that consist of simply looking at the sky through a telescope and delighting in its beauty” , he added.

For more information regarding the congress, those interested can visit the contest website.