The initiative will bring astronomy closer to schoolchildren in the region, through workshops, conferences and visits to observatories.

With a ceremony that brought together the organizers and collaborators of the activity, the official programming of “Journey to the Universe 2014” was inaugurated, an event where there was also recognition of the schools that have participated since the beginning of the activity organized by the Observatory. Gemini South. The program for this year includes a varied program where schoolchildren in the region will be able to receive astronomers, engineers and professionals related to astronomy in their schools, to participate in talks, workshops, scientific discussion panels and, as a novelty for this year , you can also visit the region's observatories.

In its fourth version, “Journey to the Universe” began its activities with the official inauguration held at the Central House of the University of La Serena. The event was attended by university authorities, led by the Rector, Dr. Nibaldo Avilés, the mayor of La Serena, Roberto Jacob, and the representative of Sernatur Region of Coquimbo, Pamela Duarte, among other regional authorities.

The “Journey to the Universe” activities will take place in the different educational establishments in the region and nearby observatories until Friday, October 24, and have the active participation of the ULS Physics Department, with the research astronomers of the Astronomy Group ( GAULS), and the Extension Directorate of the University of La Serena. 

In this regard, the Rector of the house of higher education, highlighted that "this activity denotes the commitment that the University of La Serena has with its region in a topic as important as astronomy and, more than all, an astronomy that wants to reach the children and all people who are interested in understanding this science, I believe that this alliance with the Municipality, with Sernatur, led by Gemini and with our support, leaves us very satisfied; We want to continue strengthening teaching and the transmission of knowledge through this alliance and we hope as a University to continue supporting it, we are proud to be able to participate in this work,” stated the DR. Nibaldo Aviles. 

The organizer, for 4 years now, is the Gemini South Observatory, who through its director, Nancy Levenson, expressed the importance of generating this type of activities. “This is the fourth year that this program offers a full week of activities throughout the region to stimulate astronomy and share its beauty with our community. "It is an important reflection of the Gemini Observatory's purpose statement, 'Exploring the universe, sharing its wonders.'"

On the occasion, the director of Gemini Sur, the Rector of the University of La Serena, the mayor of La Serena and the representative of Sernatur, presented recognition to the teachers and the schools San José, Christ School, Germán Riesco, San Joaquín, Cardenal Caro de Coquimbo, Español de Coquimbo, Form-Arte and Saint Mary School, establishments that have always supported Gemini initiatives, which have not only been supported by their directors, but have known how to motivate their respective students in The science. 

First activities in schools 

Throughout this week, various activities will be carried out in the already coordinated schools, among them are various conferences that will be given by professionals from the University of La Serena.

The one who started these talks was Dr. Amelia Ramírez, with “How different is our Milky Way galaxy from other galaxies?”, presented at the Germán Riesco school, where the students were impressed and interested in the different galaxies and the Various ways of looking at the sky. 

“I talked about how different our galaxy is from other galaxies, in reality with that I allowed them to know the classification of galaxies and then identify what our galaxy is like within that countless number of galaxies that there are, but that we have been able to classify. throughout the time of astronomy,” commented Ramírez.  

Source: Press Extension Direction