On December 12 and 13, "Congreso Futuro en tu Comuna" was held in the Atacama Region, a scientific-cultural event that brings together people of all ages and whose purpose is to disseminate and teach about science through experiments, exhibitions and lectures. For the first time, Las Campanas Observatory was part of this event, participating together with the LabMóvil "Conciencia Astronomía", operated jointly with GMTO and Ecoscience.
The event was held in the municipalities of El Salado and Diego de Almagro, in the Province of Chañaral, thanks to a joint initiative of the Regional Paleontology Corporation, the Regional Government, the University of Atacama, the Senate of the Republic and the Gold Fields Mining Company, with the support of the Municipalities of Chañaral and Diego de Almagro.
About 200 people of various ages conducted experiments on light and optics in the LabMobile, experimenting with the properties of light and the way it is collected by telescopes.
"The Congress of the Future has become the main scientific and popular science event in Latin America. For Las Campanas Observatory, whose objective is to unveil the universe, it is very significant since it is held in the same area as our telescopes. We want the people of this region to learn about what the observatory discovers and make science cease to be an unattainable mystery for them", emphasizes astronomer Leopoldo Infante, Director of Las Campanas Observatory.
The program of activities included a science camp with the participation of outstanding national and regional scientific institutions. In addition to the Las Campanas Observatory, the Mirador Interactive Museum (MIM Móvil), the National Museum of Natural History, the Mathematics Festival of the Chilean Mathematics Society and USACH, the Mobile Renewable Energy Laboratory, a Robotics Workshop, the Solar Car and the Mobile Planetarium of the Universidad de Atacama, the Paleontological Museum of Caldera and the Andromeda Astronomical Center participated.