ExpoALMA goes to Antofagasta

28 October, 2016 / Read time: 3 minutes

“The Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) exhibition has arrived to the capital of the region where some of the most powerful observatories in the world are located,” said Observatory Director Pierre Cox to inaugurate ExpoALMA in the city of Antofagasta in the north of Chile.

Starting Friday, October 28th and lasting for two months, the exhibition and a series of talks will be taking place at Estacion Antofagasta. “It's a didactic exhibit that is very clear and attractive, which is not just aimed at adults but also children and families in general,” added Cox.

The exposition has an illustration area dedicated children, a section that is reserved for ALMA's history and construction, photographs of the main discoveries that have been made, and a space to find out about the interpretations that the ancient inhabitants of the place in which ALMA has been inserted, the Atacameño people, held about the Universe.

At the same time, visitors will have the opportunity to experiment with an augmented reality module where they will be able to take photographs together with the antenna using their cellular phones.

ExpoALMA will also have two scale-model antennas, built by students from the University of Antofagasta, that will show how the Observatory’s 66 antennas work in unison by means of interferometry.

“In the context of the exposition, there will also be talks and workshop held by professionals at ALMA and the University of Antofagasta with the purpose of bringing science closer to the community via several different media: Astrophotography, high-altitude medicine, astroengineering, artistic activities, etc.” explained Carla Julio, Estación Antofagasta Coodinator.

The talks being given are:

- Friday, November 11th at 7 pm: Astrophotography Workshop held by Pablo Carrillo, ALMA astrophotographer and engineer.

- Tuesday, November 15th at 11 am: a Talk for design and journalism students on “Art and Creativity: an artistic installation at ALMA” held by artist Dagmara Wyskiel.

- Friday, November 18th at 7 pm: a Talk on High-Altitude Medicine held by ALMA Paramedic Coodinator Daniel Soza.

- Wednesday, November 23rd at 11 am: a Talk for industrial school students on “Technical and Technological challenges that make it possible for the observatory to operate in an extreme location” held by Pablo Carrillo.

- Monday, November 28th at 11 am: A Talk for children on “What is it like to work at ALMA?” held by Raul Aguilar.

- Tuesday, November 29th at 10 am: a Workshop for high school students called “EduALMA: the eyes of the invisible” held by the Astronomy unit at the University of Antofagasta.

- Friday, December 2nd at 11 am: a Talk for students on “Work Opportunities for the region at the astronomical observatories” held by Joaquin Collao, Head of the Japanese Site at the ALMA Observatory.

Additional information

ALMA is a partnership of ESO (representing its member states), NSF (USA) and NINS (Japan), together with NRC (Canada), NSC and ASIAA (Taiwan), and KASI (Republic of South Korea), in cooperation with the Republic of Chile. The Joint ALMA Observatory is operated by ESO, AUI/NRAO and NAOJ.