Last March 23, 2024, close to a thousand people visited the offices of Las Campanas Observatory (LCO) in La Serena to celebrate Astronomy Day in Chile. This event was organized by LCO, with the collaboration of the Universidad Central, the Giant Magellan Telescope (GMTO), the Fundación Cielos de Chile, the Navegantes Estelares project and NothOptics.
The activity, completely free of charge and aimed at all family members, included workshops, exhibitions, experiments and projections. From 5 pm to 9 pm, the LabMovil Conciencia Astronomía - operated jointly by LCO, GMTO and the Ecoscience Foundation - conducted experiments on light and optics, while in parallel there were inclusive workshops with tactile materials, experiments with homemade spectroscopes, an exhibition on scales and distances in the Solar System and solar observation with telescopes. In addition, there were stands of the Fundación Cielos de Chile on light pollution, of the Universidad Central on drawing and painting astronomical objects, and of North Optics on telescopes.
In the evening, for the first time in the region, the documentary "Navigators of Time" -about the history of the first observatory in Chile, installed in Valparaíso- was screened, and the Stellar Navigators project was shown on the façade of the building.
The celebration of Astronomy Day has been held in Chile since 2014, near the autumn equinox in the southern hemisphere. The purpose of this celebration is to highlight the value of the Chilean skies, which are dark and of great value for the development of astronomy.
