ann24032 — Announcement

Viaje al Universo 2024 Brings Astronomy to Chile Classrooms

The Viaje program led students in La Serena and Vicuña through a week of fun science education

5 November 2024

More than 1300 students and 80 teachers participated in the activities of Viaje al Universo 2024, which took place from 21–25 October in La Serena and Vicuña in Chile. Viaje is one of NSF NOIRLab’s core educational programs, whose main goal is to bring astronomers, scientists, engineers and the staff of our observatories into the local classrooms.

This year’s program included 41 activities implemented in 5 schools of La Serena and Vicuña by a group of 26 volunteers. All the activities of Viaje are aligned with the Chilean educational curriculum in order to provide a tangible contribution to the teaching and learning of science, physics and astronomy in Chile.

Teachers and students were excited by all of the engaging activities, which included solar telescope observations, dark sky awareness experience, as well as workshops to learn about the Solar System, the life cycle of stars, galaxies, robotics, and much more. These activities were led by NOIRLab education and engagement staff along with the support of technical staff from the telescopes that AURA/NOIRLab operates in Chile. This year, the program included an activity about Dark Sky awareness named ‘Astrobox,’ which was led by the Dark Skies Protection group in Chile.

As in years previous, NOIRLab invited its partners in Chile to participate in Viaje. PhD students from the Astronomy Department of the Universidad de La Serena participated actively in this program and a teacher from the Department of Educations of the Municipality of La Serena offered several workshops on one of the days of the event. Both partners provided valuable support that allowed Viaje to reach as many students as possible.

“The Viaje al Universo activities are the perfect way for my School of Altovalsol community to get closer to the understanding of the Universe in a fun and motivating way,” said Lorena Cortés, teacher and School Coordinator at the Colegio Intercultural Altovalsol, in La Serena. “The workshops and talks are an invitation to discovery and curiosity, leaving the student with an experience they will always remember. We are incredibly grateful.”

More information

NSF NOIRLab (U.S. National Science Foundation National Optical-Infrared Astronomy Research Laboratory), the U.S. center for ground-based optical-infrared astronomy, operates the International Gemini Observatory (a facility of NSF, NRC–Canada, ANID–Chile, MCTIC–Brazil, MINCyT–Argentina, and KASI–Republic of Korea), Kitt Peak National Observatory (KPNO), Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory (CTIO), the Community Science and Data Center (CSDC), and Vera C. Rubin Observatory (operated in cooperation with the Department of Energy’s SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory). It is managed by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy (AURA) under a cooperative agreement with NSF and is headquartered in Tucson, Arizona. The astronomical community is honored to have the opportunity to conduct astronomical research on I’oligam Du’ag (Kitt Peak) in Arizona, on Maunakea in Hawai‘i, and on Cerro Tololo and Cerro Pachón in Chile. We recognize and acknowledge the very significant cultural role and reverence that these sites have to the Tohono O’odham Nation, to the Native Hawaiian community, and to the local communities in Chile, respectively.