ALMA Observatory launches web site for children
27 May, 2014 / Read time: 2 minutes
Familiarizing children with astronomy so they understand what we know about the Universe and the contribution of the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) is the objective of "ALMA Kids" (https://kids.alma.cl), a mini-site created especially for students. The content of this new ALMA educational space includes comics, discoveries explained in simple words, videos, and games, all within a playful design.
Today, May 27, this colorful virtual platform was launched at Constitution Plaza as part of the Santiago Student Science and Technology Fair. At the fair, boys and girls of all ages, from preschool to high school, exhibited the scientific projects they have completed in public schools in the district of Santiago, in Chile.
At the ALMA Observatory’s booth at the fair, visitors were able to learn about astronomy and the functioning of the largest radio telescope in the world. The telescope is made up of 66 antennas located at an altitude of 5,000 meters on the Chajnantor Plateau, near San Pedro de Atacama, Chile. The ALMA booth also provided visitors with the opportunity to take pictures with Talma, the main character in the virtual tour on the ALMA Kids web site.
"Children are the future of society. It is very important for us to reach out to them and motivate them with science, as those children will soon amaze us with their discoveries," said Pierre Cox, director of ALMA.
More Information
The Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA), an international astronomy facility, is a partnership of Europe, North America and East Asia in cooperation with the Republic of Chile. ALMA is funded in Europe by the European Southern Observatory (ESO), in North America by the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) in cooperation with the National Research Council of Canada (NRC), and in East Asia by the National Institutes of Natural Sciences (NINS) of Japan in cooperation with the Academia Sinica (AS) in Taiwan.
ALMA construction and operations are led on behalf of Europe by ESO, on behalf of North America by the National Radio Astronomy Observatory (NRAO), which is managed by Associated Universities, Inc. (AUI), and on behalf of East Asia by the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan (NAOJ).
Links:
Contact:
Valeria Foncea
Education and Public Outreach Officer
Joint ALMA Observatory
Santiago, Chile
Tel: +56 2 467 6258
Cell: +56 9 75871963
Email: [email protected]
