Students from various schools in the region have actively participated in the initiatives.

The first activities that seek to bring astronomy closer to schoolchildren in the region have been developed with great success, through conferences given by professionals from the Astronomy Group of the University of La Serena (GAULS). Two conferences and an astrophotography exhibition have managed to convene more than 300 people in just two weeks of exhibition. 

From October 6 to 30, the exhibition "Alaxpacha Jayri: Our night sky" will be open, a collective exhibition that exhibits different images of the night sky, taken at different astronomical observatories and nearby sites in the Coquimbo and Atacama regions, and that It is open free of charge to the public from Monday to Thursday from 11:00 a.m. to 14:00 p.m. and from 16:00 p.m. to 18:30 p.m. and Friday from 11:00 a.m. to 14:00 p.m. and from 16:00 p.m. to 17:30 p.m., in the ULS Exhibition Hall, located at Benavente 950, La Serena.

On the other hand, the first of the conferences had around 120 attendees, students from the Gerónimo Rendic, San Martín de Porres and Liceo Mistraliano de Paihuano schools, who participated in the conference “And once they asked me: how many stars are there in the universe'”, by postdoctoral researcher José Luis Nilo. The second talk was just as well attended, with more than 100 people and was entitled “Massive Stars: Journey to the Rock Stars of the Universe” and was given by postdoctoral researcher Carolina Sabín . Those attending this second activity were students from the Andrés Bello School (Center) and a new group from the San Martín de Porres School. 

In this regard, Carolina Sabín commented that “it is important to bring astronomy closer from a very young age, so that they also know what it is, what research consists of and that they also see that it is a very beautiful part of science (…). Many times it is thought that astronomy is something very distant, for some privileged people, but what we want to do is motivate them to study it and that they like it”. Likewise, José Luis Nilo, highlighted that "we are seeing that people like it and that students are committed, I did not think that more than 100 people were going to be silent paying attention, so we were right it seems, people like the astronomy and likes to know more. It's nice that these things work out and that there's community engagement." 

Finally, among the attendees there was a lot of agreement regarding the contents of the activities, which resolved and generated new doubts. “Personally, I found it a quite interesting exhibition and talk. From my point of view, I find that the universe is something wonderful, interesting, about which little is still known and that has a lot of future in research”, emphasized Fabián Aguirre, a fourth-year student at the Andrés Bello School. 

Source: Press Extension Direction