The event, dedicated to popularising science, will take place from 30 June to 4 July at the IES Alonso Pérez Díaz.
The Cabildo de La Palma, through the public company Sodepal and the Department of Culture, is promoting the celebration of the 15th Meetings of the Association for the Teaching of Astronomy, which will take place on the island from 30 June to 4 July at the IES Alonso Pérez Díaz in Santa Cruz de La Palma. This initiative, dedicated to scientific dissemination, is part of the actions carried out in the AstroFest La Palma 2024 programme.
The CEO of Sodepal, Miriam Perestelo, stresses that this project seeks to continue promoting interest in scientific professions, which are closely linked to the opportunities that exist on the island, among the students of La Palma and the general public.
For his part, the Councillor for Culture, Pablo Díaz Cobiella, emphasises that it is important to support this type of congress, as it is an opportunity for the image of La Palma to continue to be strengthened. "It is also to be welcomed that they have left three talks on different themes of the event open to all audiences", he says.
The Association for the Teaching of Astronomy (ApEA) decided at its last meeting in Seville that La Palma would be the next venue for this meeting, with the aim of positioning the island after the volcano that affected it in 2021.
As part of the programme on the Isla Bonita, the participants will not only present their projects, but will also have time to visit the new volcano, the Roque de Los Muchachos Observatory and Santa Cruz de La Palma.
The project has the collaboration of the tourist centres Caños de Fuego and Centro de Visitantes del Roque de Los Muchachos, as well as the Gran Telescopio Canarias, the Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias, the Ayuntamiento de Santa Cruz de La Palma, the magazine Astronomía and the Federación de Asociaciones Astronómicas de España.
The Association for Astronomy Education (ApEA)
ApEA is an association of people dedicated to the teaching of astronomy, either in the field of education, planetariums, science museums or other public or private entities dedicated to the popularisation of this science.
Talks open to all audiences
The programme of activities will include three talks open to the general public until full capacity is reached, which will take place on Monday, 1 July, at 9:30 a.m., on extraterrestrial volcanism, given by Jesús Martínez Frías, president of the Spanish Network of Planetology and Astrobiology and member of NASA and ESA missions.
On the same day, at 18:00, Casiana Muñoz Tuñón, deputy director of the Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias, astronomer and responsible for the characterisation of the observatories, will give a talk on the impact of astronomy on society.
On Thursday, 4 July, at 10:00 am, it will be the turn of Antonio Eff-Darwich, Doctor in Astrophysics and professor of Didactics of Experimental Sciences at the University of La Laguna, who will give a talk entitled The Voyager missions: exploring the Solar System and the educational curriculum.