Astronomy Day 2017
2017 February 20

The University of Porto and the Instituto de Astrofísica e Ciências do Espaço¹ (IA) are preparing the next generation of Portuguese astrophysicists, by providing training and guidance of projects, from high school to PhD levels.

On Saturday February 25th, Centro de Astrofísica da Universidade do Porto (CAUP) invite students to spend the afternoon in CAUP/Porto Planetarium for a public session about training opportunities in astronomy at Instituto de Astrofísica e Ciências do Espaço (IA) and U.Porto and examples of ongoing research projects. These presentations are done in Portuguese.

The session also includes the public presentation of the 2017 edition of the AstroCamp. This presentation will be done by the AstroCamp scientific director and by one of the students of the 2016 edition, and will be done in English.

AstroCamp’s objective is to provide participants high-level and inspiring training, rest and recreation in a secluded and tranquil setting away from the stresses of urban centers. The program is intended for secondary school students from European Union countries, to be selected according to their motivation and academic merit.

This year the European Southern Observatory (ESO2) will provide a grant to a student, from any of its member-states, to be attend AstroCamp for free.

If you'd be interested in watching a live webcast of this session, please send an e-mail to astronomia@astro.up.pt by February 23rd at the latest. Note that the webcast will only be available if there is sufficient demand.

The programme for Astronomy Day is available here.


NOTES

1. The Instituto de Astrofísica e Ciências do Espaço (Institute of Astrophysics and Space Sciences – IA) is the largest Portuguese research unit of space sciences, which integrates researchers from University of Porto and University of Lisbon, and encompasses most of the field’s national scientific output. It was evaluated as Excellent in the last evaluation from the European Science Foundation (ESF). IA’s activity is funded by national and international funds, including Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (UID/FIS/04434/2013), POPH/FSE and FEDER through COMPETE 2020.
2. The European Southern Observatory (ESO) is the pre-eminent intergovernmental science and technology organisation in astronomy. It carries out an ambitious programme focused on the design, construction and operation of powerful ground-based observing facilities for astronomy to enable important scientific discoveries. ESO also plays a leading role in promoting and organising cooperation in astronomical research. ESO operates three unique world-class observing sites in the Atacama Desert region of Chile: La Silla, Paranal (home of the VLT) and Chajnantor.

Contacts

• Carlos Martins

Science Communication Group

• Ricardo Cardoso Reis
• Sérgio Pereira
• Daniel Folha (Coordenação, Porto)
• João Retrê (Coordenação, Lisboa)