Carnegie's Las Campanas Observatory celebrates astronomy in Chile

La Serena, Chile—Last week, scientists and staff from Carnegie’s Las Campanas Observatory volunteered for Astroday 2018 at a 170-year-old school in the nearby city of Las Serena, the Colegio Seminario Conciliar.

Organized by the Gemini Observatory, the daylong outreach event features activities including a planetarium, science projects, a 3-D movie, and night sky viewing. Several Chile-based astronomy facilities participated, both from the research and tourist sectors, all sharing the wonders of the universe with the community.

Since its inception in 2006, thousands of La Serena residents have participated in Astroday.

Led by Roberto Bermúdez, the Las Campanas volunteers—Abdo Campillay, Nahir Muñoz, Konstantina Boutsia, Sergio Castellon, Francesco Di Mille, Hernan Nuñez, and Andres Almeida—shared astronomy comics, a hologram of the Giant Magellan Telescope being constructed at the observatory, and talked about the APOGEE spectrograph on Carnegie’s du Pont telescope.

This week has been a week of celebrating astronomy in Chile, leading up to the national Day of Astronomy, which occurs every year on the Friday closest to the spring equinox. Chile is an astronomer’s paradise—thanks to its tall mountains, clear skies, dry air, and location in the Southern Hemiphere—and the country takes great pride in its ongoing tradition of scientific discovery.

Photo provided by Roberto Bermúdez.