The Venus Transit, the Mayan Calendar and Astronomy Education in Guanajuato, Mexico

Extract

In this work we present two aspects of the Astronomy education activities carried out in 2012 by a multidisciplinary group at Universidad de Guanajuato, including specialists in Astronomy, Social Sciences and Environmental Engineering. The first program linked the Venus Transit, occurred in June 2012, with a national campaign of vulgarization of both modern and ancient (Mayan) Astronomy. Professional astronomers all around the country took advantage of the recent myth linked to the end of a large Mayan calendar cycle (13 baktuns, or some 5125 years) happening, after certain authors, in December 2012. In Guanajuato, the Astronomy Department organized live observations of the Venus Transit at two different locations, and complemented with conferences about astronomical events and the fake predictions of disasters linked to the “end“ of the Mayan calendar. This program was very successful not only in Guanajuato but throughout the country, with several thousands of people attending live observations, conferences, expositions, etc.