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Historical Telescopes and Astronomy Outreach

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 April 2019

Patrícia Figueiró Spinelli  and
Alice Ribeiro
Patrícia Figueiró Spinelli
Affiliation:
Coordenação de Educação em Ciências, Museu de Astronomia e Ciências Afins, Rua General, Bruce 586, Rio de Janeiro, CEP: 20.921-030, Brazil email: historicaltelescopes@mast.br
Alice Ribeiro
Affiliation:
Coordenação de Educação em Ciências, Museu de Astronomia e Ciências Afins, Rua General, Bruce 586, Rio de Janeiro, CEP: 20.921-030, Brazil email: historicaltelescopes@mast.br
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Abstract

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The Night-Sky Observation Program (POC, acronym in Portuguese for Programa de Observação do Céu) is the most traditional education activity run by the Museum of Astronomy and Related Sciences (MAST), located in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The activity starts with a brief talk about the astronomical objects available for visibility and is followed by the sky observation with MAST’s telescopes, one of them being over a century old. A study conducted in 2015 pointed out that its participants perceive the historical value of the old refractor and declare that the activity brings them feelings of wonderment. These perceptions and declarations have motivated us to conduct a new study to identify and exchange experiences with institutions worldwide that also use historically valuable telescopes in their night-sky observation activities with the public. With the goal of gathering information from these institutions and making it into a guide, an online survey with open and close-ended questions was launched in late 2017. Nearly eighty institutions from all continents answered our questionnaire. The data collected are vast and rich and not only tell about the passion of those mediating such activities, but also the history of astronomy itself.

Keywords

public observatorieshistorical telescopeshistory of astronomyastronomy outreach
Type
Contributed Papers
Information
Proceedings of the International Astronomical Union , Volume 13 , Symposium S349: Under One Sky: The IAU Centenary Symposium , December 2018 , pp. 464 - 469
Copyright
Copyright © International Astronomical Union 2019 

References

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