Cultural Heritage Day with ALMA
23 May, 2013 / Read time: 2 minutes
Models of an antenna and a transporter made of LEGO® pieces will be just one of the attractions provided by the ALMA observatory on Cultural Heritage Day, which takes place this Sunday, May 26. At the event at the National Astronomical Observatory (Observatorio Astronómico Nacional, or OAN) located on Cerro Calán, visitors will be able to see first-hand a professional observatory and its telescopes without leaving Santiago. They can even observe the Sun and track sunspots using the recently inaugurated Coronado SolarMax90 telescope.
The observatory will be open to the public from 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. and access to the facility, located at Camino el Observatorio 1515 (Las Condes), will be on foot. However, the Municipality of Las Condes is providing a free shuttle for visitors from metro station Los Dominicos to the Cerro Calán observatory.
The observatory, founded in 1852, was one of the first observatories in Latin America and perhaps the most active in the 19th century. It was initially located on Cerro Santa Lucía, but was eventually moved due to the need for better conditions. It is now part of the Astronomy Department of the Universidad de Chile and houses two historic telescopes: Heyde, a German refractor from 1912, and Gautier, a French photographic refractor that was brought to Chile in 1893 to contribute to the first photographic map of the sky. Both telescopes will be accessible to the community and part of the guided tours led by astronomy graduate students from the Universidad de Chile.
Please note that in the event of rain, the activity will be CANCELED.
Contact:
Valeria Foncea
Education and Public Outreach Officer,
Joint ALMA Observatory
Santiago, Chile
Tel: +56 2 2467 6258
Cell: +56 9 7587 1963
Email: [email protected]
