Breaking Barriers: Inspiring the Next Generation |
This 3 day school will cover topics related to improving inclusion in the science process, how this leads to better science, and more impactful science. In the school the MW-Gaia community will discuss, with the help of professionals from several scientific and social disciplines, current best practice in inclusion and impact and learn about possible new initiatives and solutions. Speakers will show how their Equality/Diversity/Inclusion commitment is fundamental in underpinning their research. Topics for the School include:
The meeting is part of the project “Revealing the Milky Way with Gaia” (MW-Gaia) funded by a COST (European Cooperation in Science and Technology) Union action. MW-Gaia’s main purpose is to provide a better understanding of the Galaxy, its stars and planets, to enhance the potential of the community in its scientific exploitation of the observations of more than a billion stars with the European Space Agency's Gaia satellite, and to enhance the development of the next steps in astrometry and space astrometry missions. The meeting is especially aimed at WG5 members of the project, who will discuss the current state of their work and discuss the future decisions to be taken. Participants are mainly expected from countries that are part of the COST MW-Gaia Action, but the workshop is open to scientists from all over the world, an international participation that we want to encourage. Researchers who are in the early stages of their careers and those from underrepresented countries will play a key role. The presence of some of the leads of the MW Gaia project, scientists of recognized international prestige, is also expected; as well as high-level astronomers as guest speakers. In order to enable participation by people who might be unable to attend physically due to travel or time zone constraints or through a wish to reduce the carbon footprint of the event, the meeting will happen in hybrid format. Invited 30 min (25+5) Contributed 15 min (12+3) Very limited financial support is available for Early Carrier researchers and researchers from ITC countries coming to the event with the talk (abstract should be submitted during registration). Link to Registration.
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Venue |
The workshop will take place at Santiago de Compostela, a lively university town with some 100 000 inhabitants in Galicia (north west of Spain). The University of Santiago de Compostela was founded in 1495 and with more than 500 years of history maintains one of the most important academic traditions in Europe The meeting will be held at the Faculty of Optics and Optometry, located in the South Campus (Campus Vida) of the University.
Address: Monte da Condesa Building, s/n, Campus Vida, 15782, Santiago de Compostela This area lies within walking distance of the city centre and a range of comfortable hotels. Accommodation at Campus Housing sited in the Campus is also possible. Santiago de Compostela is better known as the destination of the Way of Saint James , one of the oldest pilgrimage routes in Europe. The end of the Way is the cathedral of Santiago de Compostela, a magnificent building built between the XI and XIII centuries, and where the tradition claims that the tomb of the apostle Saint James the Great is located. The Jacobean holy year (Xacobeo) is a celebration that takes place in Santiago de Compostela in the years in which July 25, the feast of the Apostle Santiago (St. James), falls on a Sunday. This happened for the last time in 2021, and due to the special circumstances of the covid-19 pandemic, it was extended to 2022. Several routes coming from different parts of Europe converge in Santiago, and nowadays hundreds of thousands of people walk the Way of Saint James each year, many for religious purposes, and others to enjoy the beautiful landscape or to meet many people from different backgrounds.
Accomodation: There are 20 rooms reserved for participants in the workshop in the Eurostars Gran Hotel Santiago. The price is 74 euros/night (single) and 83 euros/night (double), breakfast included. The reservations must be confirmed before April 22, and they can be canceled until 7 days before the check-in. To confirm the reservation write to: This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it (a valid credit card is needed). It must be indicated in the reservation that you are participant in the "Gaia WG5 Workshop (USC)" There are also several rooms reserved in the University of Santiago de Compostela service of dormitories. We have available 13 single and 7 double rooms. The prices are 33 euros/night (individual) and 53 euros/night (double). In order to apply for the reservation write to This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it indicating: name and surname, ID number (passport or ID card), e-mail and billing address. The rooms are in the following dormitories:
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Map |
Programme |
*Titles may be modified
The accreted Galaxy: An overview of TESS metal-poor accreted stars candidates
There is enough evidence that the Milky Way experienced mergers and accretion events in the past. Since the first evidence of stellar populations in the Galaxy with multiple origins, a large effort has been done to characterize accreted stars and to map the impact that accretion events had in the evolution of the Milky Way. In this work I will show detailed chemical abundances, dynamics and ages of accreted stars candidates for which TESS data are available. Combining TESS catalog with Gaia EDR3 data, we selected metal-poor counter-rotating stars in TESS that are not published in spectroscopic surveys and we observed them with MIKE spectrograph at Las Campanas Observatory obtaining very high resolution and signal to noise optical spectra of 30 stars. In this talk I will present our results about detailed chemical abundances, ages and kinematics of these TESS-accreted candidates. From our analysis, we concluded that the stars are old, metal-poor, Eu-rich and have orbits with high eccentricity, making them likely members of Gaia-Enceladus. Our work illustrates the potential of using bright stars with seismology from TESS for galactic archeology studies. I will discuss the properties of these accreted stars candidates, what we can learn from the progenitor galaxies and explore our findings in the light of spectroscopic surveys. Close Abstract
Gaia, stellar models, and asteroseismology
Using photometric, high-precision long (months) photometric time series, one can detect solar-like oscillations in dwarfs (few, nearby) and giants (tens of thousands). The detected modes can be combined with spectroscopic data to infer radii as precise as a few percent (also masses and, hence, ages). Coupling radius and effective temperature together, we get a luminosity that does not rely on any assumption on the mass-luminosity relation. With the addition of information on unreddened apparent brightness, the asteroseismic distance is straightforwardly obtained. Since tests of stellar evolution theory rely on the accuracy of asteroseismic constraints, it is important to check for any possible bias in the asteroseismically-inferred stellar properties. One possible way to address this issue is to compare with independent measurements, such as those provided by the Gaia mission. The successive Gaia data releases have provided unprecedented data that generate a lot of interest in the astrophysical community, including stellar modellers and asteroseismologists as can be seen from the publications following each data release. In this talk, I will discuss the important synergies resulting from the combination of Gaia and asteroseismology, and how one can benefit from the other. Gaia can help better constrain nearby stars with large parallaxes; while asteroseismology provides parallaxes to distant red-giant stars where the Gaia parallax zero-point becomes significant. I will review the progress that has been made since the first intermediate data release, and describe the current status with Gaia EDR3. Finally, I will mention a few examples of how one can further test stellar models, thanks to the promising advances reached with Gaia and beyond what one can do with asteroseismology alone. Close Abstract
Unveil the Sagittarius dwarf galaxy with the Pristine survey
The Sagittarius system is a compelling example of an ongoing tidal disruption of a dwarf galaxy caused by the gravitational interaction with the Milky Way. Although many stars have been stripped away from the dwarf galaxy in long tidal streams, the core is still visible. It has however been challenging to study, since on the sky it is close to the Galactic bulge. Particularly, its more metal-poor stars remain objects that require more investigation. They are extremely important as they trace the early history of the dwarf galaxy. I will present results of the photometric metallicity analysis of the Sagittarius galaxy, carried out thanks to the Pristine metallicity-sensitive Ca H&K photometry. We select ~45000 Sagittarius members using Gaia EDR3 astrometry and derive photometric metallicities for the full sample, which have been calibrated using spectroscopic Sagittarius samples from the Pristine Inner Galaxy Survey (PIGS) and APOGEE and a training sample in the main halo Pristine survey. Using photometric metallicities instead of spectroscopic metallicities allows us to investigate the global metallicity structure of the Sagittarius dwarf galaxy, with little selection effects. This allows us to investigate the distributions and structural properties of the metal-poor and metal-rich stellar populations hosted in the galaxy. We reveal a metallicity gradient in Sagittarius extending to ~20℃ from the centre, much further out than reported in previous investigations. We also built an unprecedented selection of ~1100 new very metal-poor candidates, which can provide crucial insights into the early star formation processes in Sagittarius. I will discuss what the results from the largest photometric study of the core of the Sagittarius galaxy can teach us about its (early) evolution. Close Abstract
Exploiting the abundances of neutron capture elements from the latest Gaia-ESO Survey (GES) data release.
Neutron capture elements are among the most versatile in astrophysics, due to their origin in different astrophysical sites and their special nucleosynthesis, which involves two well-differentiated processes (called s- and r-). Thus, neutron capture elements are often used as a link between observational astrophysics, chemical evolution models, and nuclear astrophysics. The s-process is of interest in the physics of low-mass AGB stars, while the r-process is valuable for the study of neutron stars and gravitational waves. Among the most appreciated applications of neutron capture elements is their direct use as cosmic clocks. Its value increases considerably if we take its abundances from the open clusters, the most reliable tracers of the chemical evolution of the Galaxy. From the above, we can look at this combination as an astroarchaeological "treasure". Taking advantage of the latest Gaia-ESO Survey (GES) data release, and relying on one of the largest samples of open clusters used for this purpose, we present the most recent results on neutron capture elements. This work is the result of an STSM and collaboration at the Arcetri Astrophysical Observatory in Italy in the framework of the MW-Gaia Cost project. Close Abstract
The Chemical link between stars and their rocky planets
Because of their common origin, it is expected (or assumed) that the composition of planet building blocks should (to a first order) correlate with stellar atmospheric composition, especially for refractory elements. In fact, information on the relative abundance of refractory and major rock-forming elements such as Fe, Mg, Si are commonly used to improve interior estimates for terrestrial planets (e.g. Dorn et al. 2015; Unterborn et al. 2016) and has even been used to estimate planet composition in different galactic populations (Santos et al. 2017). However, there is no direct observational evidence for the aforementioned expectation/assumption and was even recently questioned by Plotnykov & Valencia (2020). By using the largest possible sample of precisely characterized low-mass planets and their host stars, we show that the composition of the planet building blocks indeed correlates with the properties of the rocky planets. We also find that on average the iron-mass fraction of planets is higher than that of the primordial values, owing to the disk-chemistry and planet formation processes. This result can bring important implications for the future modelling of exoplanet composition. Close Abstract
Exploring near-UV region for primitive asteroids using ground-based observations and Gaia
Primitive asteroids (PAs) are characterized by dark surfaces (albedo < 10%) dominated by carbon compounds. Their reflectance spectra are similar to those of carbonaceous chondrites (CCs), the most pristine meteorites in our records, that are abundant in hydrated minerals and organics. Studying these life-forming materials in PAs and CCs is important to answer how water and life appeared on Earth. PAs present rather featureless spectra in visible and near-infrared wavelengths (from 0.5 to 2.5 microns). The most diagnostic and reliable region to study hydrated mineralogies and organics is the 3 microns region. However, observing at those wavelengths is extremely complicated using ground-based telescopes due to Earth's atmosphere, and so, the 3-microns feature can only be properly studied using space telescopes (e.g. AKARI). As part of our current work, we have found a very promising correlation between the drop in reflectance observed for PAs below 0.5 microns (associated with the presence of an absorption band in the UV) and the shape and depth of the OH-band at 2.7 microns in the AKARI data. Therefore, this drop in reflectance in the so-called near-UV or NUV (0.35 - 0.5 microns) can be used as a proxy for the OH-band to measure the hydration degree of asteroids. In its DR3, Gaia will provide thousands of low-resolution slit-less spectra of asteroids in the range 0.35 - 0.90 microns. This will constitute the largest dataset of asteroid spectra down to the NUV and we must be ready for its full exploitation. In addition, we attempt to observe the NUV region with ground-based telescopes. So far we have obtained more than 50 reflectance spectra of PAs with a high signal-to-noise ratio in NUV. We describe our current work in the exploration of the NUV region as a potential diagnosis of hydration in PAs and how the Gaia data will expand our knowledge on these very particular and interesting types of minor bodies. Close Abstract
Gravitational Astrometry & Fundamental Physics to test the dynamical evolution of our Galaxy and its place in cosmology
Gaia directly measures the kinematics of the stellar component of the Galaxy with the goal to create the largest, most precise three-dimensional map of the Milky Way (MW). High accurate measurements in space force fundamental astronomy to move from the "classical" paradigm, responding to Newton's gravity, to that of Einstein's General Relativity (GR). Then, GR must be at the very core of the Gaia data reduction to guarantee the quality of the scientific products that span from the fraction-of-a-parsec scale of the Solar System to the two tens of kpc of that of the MW to comprise also GR tests. Indeed, any reconstruction of our Galaxy should be consistent with the relativistic-compliant astrometry delivered by Gaia to assure a coherent local cosmological laboratory for the predictions of the Lambda-CDM model at z=0. In this respect, a first attempt to investigate a relativistic Galactic rotation curve (RC) was done with DR2 products. Although based on a GR model for the equatorial plane, the test showed that the relativistic RC is statistically indistinguishable from its state-of-the-art DM-based analogue and supports the ansatz that a gravitational dragging effect could drive the stellar velocities in the plane of our Galaxy far away from its center without a dark halo. In the context of Local Cosmology, these findings push on the fully use of Einstein's theory. In this talk, we will present progress towards developing a more complex GR Galaxy to fit the upcoming DR3 data and establish to what extent the Milky Way can be described by GR. Close Abstract
Galactic hierarchy of clustered stellar formation
The accuracy in the determination of the spatio-kinematical parameters of open clusters makes them ideal tracers of the Galactic structure. In this work we study the hierarchical structure of clustered star formation within a 3.5 kpc radius around the Sun using a sample of Gaia Young Open Clusters (G-YOCs) from the literature. We apply the OPTICS density-based algorithm to obtain a hierachy of G-YOC complexes with different spatial scales and densities. Our results show a rich hierarchical structure of the G-YOC distribution, displaying complexes embedded within each other. Their spatial scales range from a few hundreds to thousands pc, with the most intrincate layout appearing in the solar closest neighbourhood. Close Abstract
The dynamical interaction of the Coma Berenices open cluster and the GroupX moving group.
Thanks to Gaia data, several interacting open cluster pairs have been recently found. These pairs pose exciting questions, for example, Were they formed together? Are their populations mixing due to dynamical interactions? Recent studies show that the Coma Berenices (~700 Myr, 86 pc) open cluster and the Group X (~400 Myr, 98pc ) moving group are interacting, have unrelated origins, and will experience a flyby in 13 to 16 Myr. Given their proximity and the extension of the Coma Berenices tidal tails, this pair offers an excellent opportunity to analyse the effects of dynamical interactions in mixing stellar populations. Using Gaia EDR3 we reassess the membership of these two groups extending the search to one half of the northern Galactic hemisphere. We identify members of the Coma Berenices as far as 60 pc from the cluster centre. We derive the mass functions of the systems and their 3D and velocity structures by combining Gaia data with public archives and our radial velocity measurements. With these precise velocities, we trace forward the present member's positions and further constrain the time of the flyby. Finally, we discuss the implications of this type of encounter in enriching the stellar populations of open clusters. Close Abstract
Mentorship platform for early career researchers
In August 2020, Europlanet launched Mentorship platform with the aim to support early career researchers. The Europlanet Society promotes the advancement of European planetary science and related fields for the benefit of the community and is open to individual and organisational members. The Europlanet Mentorship platform is built to help early career scientists to develop expertise, ask questions and discuss career plans with the support of more established members of the planetary community. On behalf of mentoring team, I will present the Europlanet mentorship platform and the current status of the programme. Close Abstract
An astronomy exhibition, inclusive also for blind and visually impaired people and other INAF inclusive activities
The INAF Arcetri Astrophysical Observatory hosts a permanent exhibition designed so to be inclusive also for blind and visually impaired people. The project builds on many previous activities at local, national and international levels and on newly designed exhibits, like the touchable planetarium dome. The exhibits, designed and tested with blind people, also proved to be attractive and useful for the general public visiting the observatory. We will also present other inclusive activities under development by the Working Group for inclusion at INAF, aiming at engaging a wide diversity of audiences. Close Abstract
"AstronomAs" A journey through the Universe by hand of hundreds of women.
The Spanish online exhibition "AstrónomAs" focuses on nearly 300 women astronomers from different ethnic groups, geographic areas, professional categories, and functional diversity. There is complemented by downloadable educational brochures, interactive games, podcasts, videos, an original soundtrack, and a physical version of 16 explanatory panels. The aim is to encourage vocations, especially among teenage girls, and disseminate research carried out by women in astronomy and astrophysics. Close Abstract
Outreach and community resources for Gaia
Title: Outreach and community resources for Gaia I coordinate the outreach for the Gaia community and the Gaia consortium from the Gaia team at ESA. I can run through the various ways of getting Gaia science exposed to the community, how to reach out using the Gaia Cosmos web portal (home of the Gaia scientific community) and give an overview of the available outreach material for Gaia, already currently available. I can give an overview of where to go to get informed on Gaia mission news. Where to go for which information on the Gaia mission. Which websites exist, what is their targeting public, how to get in touch to make a chance to be featured there. Close Abstract
Astronomical outreach in the Ramón María Aller Astronomical Observatory
The Ramón María Aller Astronomical Observatory (OARMA) is an international reference center in the field of binary star research located at the University of Santiago de Compostela. In addition to the research and teaching activities of the center, the OARMA has developed many outreach programs promoted by its current director, José Ángel Docobo. These programs include different activities, such as conferences, workshops, and public astronomical observations, which are highly demanded by the public. The year 2021 was a Jacobean year, which was extended to 2022 due to the pandemic, and it has allowed us to focus our programs on the Milky Way (and highlight the role of Gaia in its study) due to the relationship between our Galaxy and the Way of Saint James. Close Abstract
A website dedicated to the nearby young open clusters as seen by Gaia
Open clusters are among the most captivating objects in the night sky. Many of them are visible to the naked-eye observers and had an important role in the folklore around the world for millennia. Their value in modern astronomy is unprecedented as they offer a direct insight into fundamental astrophysical processes, such as star formation and evolution. In order to bring the latest scientific results to the public, we are building a website dedicated to the nearby (<=1 kpc) young (<=500 Myr) open clusters as seen by Gaia. We provide updated cluster membership analysis along with catalogues and interactive plots from the latest Gaia release cross-matched with other public catalogues. Interactive plots portraying all clusters will enable the professional and amateur communities to visualise quick and easily each member. We hope to inspire new student and citizen science projects locally in the Canary Islands but also world-wide. Close Abstract
CoAstro: @an Astronomy Condo-a new possible path for GAIA's dissemination strategy
The citizen science (CS) concept is now summarized in a simple common idea: the public engagement in different stages of scientific processes. If the view of CS as a scientific technique is very consensual, its use as an open science mechanism and as a science communication and education (SCE) method is not. However, accomplishing science communication and open science goals are two of the most common purposes of CS, highlighted by both scientists and CS project managers alike. Indeed, the advantages of associating science communication and science education have long been known, namely through CS projects, helping to bridge the gap between scientific research and science education. Thus, engaging teachers in CS processes is a natural path, enhanced by the "school effect" and the "teacher effect" in students, but also in the effect these have in students' families and the surrounding school community. This "multiplier effect" of influences, provided by schools, is unique and highly positive.
So, in this talk we will share the codesign model of the CS projeto "CoAstro: @n Astronomy Condo". It, starting from the framework already presented, reached more than one thousand participants, with lasting and wide-public-ranging science communication effects. Therefore, we will show how the CoAstro model can break barriers and be used as a dissemination strategy, using Gaia's mission data releases. Following this strategy we will see how, using Gaia's data, we can change attitudes and beliefs towards science, increase astronomy knowledge and really engage astronomers, science communicators and the lay public.
Light pollution data from Galicia (Spain): measurements from the Earth.
The scientific outreach group Calidade do Ceo Nocturno has been collecting night sky brightness measurements since 2016 in Galicia (Spain) with three SQM model LU-DL. In this presentation we want to make the measurements available to the scientific community to make visible the work carried out by non-professionals and for their use in research such as the comparison of these measurements with others obtained with other instrumentation, for example Gaia. In addition, these data will be useful for different discussions related to astronomical observation from Earth and the evolution of light pollution. Close Abstract
Modelling the natural sky brightness with Gaia data
E. Masana, S. Bará, J.M. Carrasco, S. J. Ribas, M. Mateiga, C. Dafonte, A. Ulla, A. Silvelo Gaia data is providing a huge number of astonishing results, even in some areas of the astrophysics not a priori considered as targets of the mission. In this work we present one of these unexpected uses of the Gaia archive: the modelling of the natural night sky brightness. The Gaia photometry allows to compute the contribution of the integrated star light to the night sky brightness. By considering the other natural light sources (zodiacal light, the galactic and extragalactic background light, and the airglow), together with a model of the atmosphere extinction and scattering, we can obtain a realistic image of the night sky for a given place and time. The model can be used as a reference value of the natural sky brightness (in cloudless nights), an essential requirement to obtain reliable measurements of the light pollution levels; or to know the expected natural levels of sky brightness at pristine areas. This work is part of the Gaia4Sustainability project. The aim of the project is to develop a robust, reliable, and straightforward framework for estimating the natural sky brightness. This framework consists in a set of implementations (web service, stand-alone program and open-source measurement device) devised for any stakeholder working on environmental activities, to accurately evaluate the impact of light pollution. The framework includes the design and construction of a cheap and easy-to-build photometer (FreeDSm), based on open hardware and software, with several connectivity options and the ability to collect positioning information, that will help to widely spread the acquisition of measures and achieve a greater engagement of the social agents involved in the light pollution problem. In the current version, FreeDSm is based on a Raspberry Pi Zero and on an Adafruit TSL2591 module, at a very low cost, although it will have other additional and optional modules. The integration of device data is done through the Fiware framework for IoT environments. Close Abstract
Visualizing the Gaia enabled Milky Way for Science and Education
On April 25, 2018, the European space agency (ESA) released the second catalog of the Gaia mission. Contained in these data are nearly 1.4 billion parallaxes and proper motions, over 7 million radial velocities, photometric data in Gaia's three bands (G, R, and B), variability information, and effective temperatures for a subset of objects. On December 3, 2020 that catalog was refined and updated in the Gaia early data release 3 and further releases will take us deeper into a precise astrometric understanding of the Milky Way. The Gaia results provide a unique opportunity for astronomers and data visualizers. Stellar positions and velocities enable us to map the Milky Way and examine the dynamics of stellar streams, co-moving companions, hypervelocity stars, nearby moving groups, and solar system encounters. From a visualization perspective, real time rendering of the Gaia enabled Milky Way is an opportunity to provide scientists with a "field site" visit akin to how paleontologists, anthropologists, marine scientists, etc get to visit their scientific sites across the planet. In this talk, I will show the results of our visualization efforts with the Gaia catalog at the American Museum of Natural History. The visuals generated for this talk isolate scientifically rich data and stories, which lead to scientific discovery and illuminate the Gaia enabled Milky Way for the general public. Close Abstract
NASE, Astronomy for everybody
Beatriz García, Rosa M. Ros, Ricardo Moreno and Ederlinda Viñuales NASE is an ambitious program of teaching astronomy for everybody. We have reached 4 continents, translated the materials into 10 of the most widely spoken languages in the world and partially translated in 15 languages more. We have more than 800 volunteers, we have trained more than 9000 teachers and through them we estimate that between 1 or 2 million of students have worked with the NASE materials. At present (March 15th 2022), we have been organized 285 courses. About 40 members of the IAU participate in the program, who collaborate mainly with the preparation of the texts and contents of workshops and conferences. Not even the pandemic has stopped us, what's more, the online courses are very successful (46 courses in 2020, 63 courses in 2021 and 20 courses in 2022). Thanks to the courses online, we have taken the program to remote places that we would never have been able to reach, as Venezuela, the jungle in Guatemala and Ecuador and cities in India, China and several African countries. We have trained for events such as eclipses, cultural astronomy workshops and we promote local actions. The courses continue on their own once we light the fuse... they have been maintained in many countries for the 10 years of the program. NASE local Working Groups are integrated in different institutions: planetariums, science clubs beyond the Ministries of Education and Science, Universities, Teachers Associations and in some occasions, Amateurs Societies. We have unbeatable relationships with all of them (www.naseprogram.org). NASE is working mainly by means of practical workshop pointed in many experiments and activities. All NASE materials are Low-Tech, and teachers and students themselves can prepare their instruments to take numerical observations and make models in order to explain observations. Part of our materials are useful for blind people in the same line. There are several activities adapted them, for instance: 1) we determine the power of the Sun with normal and blind people and the last ones were obtained results more accurate. 2) we compare parameters of celestial bodies such as planets and exoplanets. 3) we prepare demonstrators of stars movements adapted to them too. Close Abstract
NASE: Using Demonstrators for Easier Training of Future Teachers
Ederlinda Viñuales, Rosa M. Ros, Beatriz García y Ricardo Moreno The main objective of NASE is to train teachers in new ways of teaching sciences to facilitate their students its understanding through astronomy. The idea is that teachers, by mean of workshop and demonstrators, to promote new science vocations to students. NASE introduces Astronomy in an innovative way and the program is based on practical activities with simple and cheap resources and tools, without sacrificing good work in the transmission of contents, promoting more inclusive scientific education and communication. Since its inception, NASE has delivered more than 280 courses for teachers from all over the world, regardless of where the course was held, regardless of the conditions in which we had to work, or the race, age or gender of the participants in these courses. With the arrival of the Covid-19 pandemic, in 2020, and given the impossibility of teaching face-to-face courses, the modality of teaching them online was offered. The reception of this modality has been surprising. The online approach offers the opportunity to increase the personal contact with the participants, as well as the number of women teachers who participate in our courses. This increase in women in online courses is undoubtedly due to the fact that it facilitates family reconciliation, being able to have children running around the house while they attend the workshop. To improve our courses, NASE continually seeks to introduce new models, materials, methods, etc. In this presentation we want to show you a model that allows us to study the shape of the Moon in any part of the Earth on a given day. For this we have built a demonstrator where we consider latitudes from 90 ℃N to 90 ℃S, that is, both hemispheres: H North and H South. With this demonstrator it is very easy to show that for a fixed day, and the Moon being in a specific phase in the sky, its shape looks different depending on the latitude of the place where the observer is and the hemisphere. Close Abstract
EAAE's Catch a Star Competition: helping teachers and students
The European Catch a Star Competition is one of the most popular competitions among the European natural sciences teachers. It is organised by the European Association of Astronomy Education and ESO, the European Southern Observatory. In the presentation I am going to present an overview of the history of the Catch a Star competition since 2002 to 2021. in order to help teachers, the presentation gives information about the organisation and carrying out of the competition, about the requirements towards the presented works, the preparation and presentation of the projects. Special attention is paid to the curated library with awarded projects from the Catch a Star competition. This is an online educational space of great pedagogical value. It encompasses all best awarded projects which many European teachers use directly in their teaching practise. We also point to the work of the students which leads to strong motivation and provokes deep interest ini astronomy as a science. The methodical analysis and the presentation of EAAE's Catch a Star competition gives the possibility to natural science teacjers to expand their pedagogical possibilities in the process of teaching astronomy Close Abstract
Female contribution to the Gaia DPAC consortium
For the women in science day, I have created a new overview of the gender distribution of the Gaia Consortium (focusing only on an estimation of female contribution). The story can be found here: https://www.cosmos.esa.int/web/gaia/iow_20220211. I will explain the approach, and provide an overview of the numbers. The former contribution of women in DPAC story of 2018 was also created by me, in the same way, making it possible to do a comparison. Close Abstract
Two STEMBACH projects based on Gaia data: introducing Big Data Astronomy in Spanish High Schools
Authors: Raúl Gómez Santoveña, Marco A. Álvarez-González, Guillermo Torralba Elipe, Iker González Santamaría, Carlos Dafonte and Minia Manteiga Gaia ESA mission archives offer excellent opportunities for sparking early science vocations in school, and they are an engaging resource for getting students started on data science. During the 2020-2021 and 2021-2022 academic years, our research group has directed two projects within the STEMbach program (Excellent Bachelor in Science and Technology). Our goal was to encourage high school students' creative thinking and interest in research, technology and innovation through different methods of investigation and analysis. Our first project took place during course 2020-2021, and it made use of Gaia EDR3 precise astrometric and photometric parameters. Our students studied the stellar components of two bright and close by galactic open clusters: Praesepe (M44) and Pleyades (M45). They searched EDR3 archive selecting those objects contained in the neighbourhood of each cluster with similar parallax and proper motion values (in RA and Dec directions) to those reported in the literature for each cluster, taking into account measurement errors. Then, they located the selected stars in a colour-magnitude diagram (G-RP vs M(G)) with the aim of studying their evolutionary state using suited isochrone models. By interpolation, they calculated masses, luminosities, effective temperatures and radii of the sequences of stars. All the steps for the selection of the populations have been carried out using Python programming language and the interactive Jupyter Notebook tool. Using these tools, different 3D views of the clusters have also been implemented, representing different radii such as the tidal or the half-mass radius, as well as some astrophysical parameters of the stars such as their size, mass or temperature. Finally, using those stars which have information about their radial velocities in EDR3, an animation of how the cluster would move over hundreds of thousands of years was also implemented. During the 2021-2022 academic year, a work based on machine learning (ML) was developed. ML techniques are becoming a useful and fast tool to make inferences where there is no known analytic relationship between observables and variables, that are hidden in the physical processes that produce these observables. In this work the students were guided to develop a Multi-layer perceptron neural network model able to estimate the stellar effective temperature, gravity and metallicity from RAVE survey stellar spectra in Gaia RVS instrument spectral region. The networks were trained with synthetic spectra that were obtained using a public spectral synthesis code. They tested several network architectures and configuration parameters, and chose the optimum one by analysing convergence and internal errors. Finally, the network that best inferences gave during the training phase was applied to a subset of real spectra measured by the RAVE experiment and the results analysed in comparison with literature values. Close Abstract
Extracurricular activities for school students with special interest in astronomy
Due to the significant reduction of the physics and astronomy classes in the school curriculum during the recent decades, important phenomena and laws of nature for most of the students remain a mystery, which has a negative impact on their general knowledge and understanding. Extracurricular activities which take place in the public astronomical observatories of our country are an additional, and sometimes main source of information, especially for motivated students who are interested in science, but not only for them. Our observatory has a history of nearly 60 years (it was founded in 1963) and a very rich experience in this field. We organize free astronomy classes which are attended by students of grades 5-12 on a regular base throughout the whole school year. During the vacations the students participate in observing camps and expeditions. In addition to studying theory, a wide variety of experiments and observations of space objects are made. We present some of our ideas for extracurricular activities during the astronomy classes at the observatory. We have selected four lessons with which the students can point out or understand the concepts related to the main properties of light, determine the scale of various astronomical images and find the parameters of the objects or the size of features within the image. They can investigate the diurnal path of the Sun changing with the seasons. Last but not least we present an idea for observational exercise to determine Jupiter's mass using Kepler's third law. Close Abstract
Star Analyser Spectroscopic Data Base. OAG-SVO Pro-Am project
SASDABA (OAG-SVO Pro-Am project 2018-2023) aims to create a database containing raw spectroscopic images (not processed spectra) of some 2,000 bright stars (V<5) from the northern and southern hemispheres. The spectroscopic images are obtained with Star Analyzer 100-200 L / mm diffraction gratings to which a 3.8℃ prism can be added, as well as with various spectrographs (Alpy 600, LHIRES-III, DADOS or similar). The dispersions are of the order of 1Å to 20Å / pix and resolutions of R100 to R5000. The instruments used have an aperture range between 80mm to 400mm. Currently, a total of 20 observers spread over various stations in the Northern and Southern hemispheres. SADABA last updated (April,2022) contains more than 5,000 images about 1,900 stars, the sky coverage has reached 70%. Close Abstract
STELLAR :an EU twinning project on LOFAR data analysis and knowledge transfer
Co- authors: K. Kozarev(1), A. Avramova-Boncheva(1), R. Miteva(1), M. Dechev(1), P. Zucca(2), E. Carley(3), S. Maloney(3), P. Petkov(4) Affiliations: (1) Institute of Astronomy and National Astronomical Observatory, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, Bulgaria; (2) ASTRON, the Netherlands; (3) DIAS, Ireland; (4) Technical University of Sofia, Bulgaria The Scientific and Technological Excellence by Leveraging LOFAR Advancements in Radio Astronomy (STELLAR) is a project of mutual collaboration and know-how transfer in the field of radio astronomy, solar physics and space weather using the LOFAR instrument and data. Two institutions from Bulgaria, benefit from technical and scientific know-how exchange from world-leading RA institutions - ASTRON (the Netherlands) and DIAS (Ireland) via a series of training hands-on sessions, workshops, seminars and project-focused schools for both students and senior staff. The poster presents the activities so far and future plans. All results, links to videos and outreach activities are hosted at a dedicated web-site. The STELLAR project is funded by the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 952439. It is coordinated by the Institute of Astronomy, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences. Close Abstract
Disseminating the rotation curve of our Galaxy and its implication on the Dark Matter content
We present a scheme for a flexible and adaptable activity aimed to introduce High School students to the concept of rotation curves applied to the Milky Way and the constraints it provides to the Dark Matter halo of our own Galaxy. The scheme can be adjusted to different levels of depth and complexity by combining several options: 1) input variables to work with, 2) methodology and tools applied, 3) tracers used to describe the rotation curve and 4) posterior analysis of results and overall perspective. We want to include a gender perspective and motivate girls by offering female references as well, both classical and contemporary, such as Vera Rubin or Henrietta S. Leavitt as well as many other names from the exhibition 'AstrónomAs'. Besides, we aim to promote teamwork by implementing a dynamic webpage collecting the historical background, teaching material, current rotation curves and student results, together with active discussions. Moreover, it may include some public interactive application to try to fit as close as possible different data sets, which could allow users to explore the highly-degenerated parameter space of Galactic components (e.g. the disk, the bulge or the Dark Matter halo) and their masses. Close Abstract
"The Museum of Lalin "Ramon Maria Aller Ulloa", the first astronomical observatory in Galicia"
In this poster we present what is considered the first astronomical observatory in Galicia. Located in Lalin, a beautiful town in the heart of Galicia, it is the house where lived the wise astronomer and priest Ramón María Aller Ulloa (1878-1966), a pioneer of astronomy in Galicia and Spain. This 19th century building was converted into a museum in 1989, and where his office and astronomical instruments are preserved, as well as his personal library. There, in the galleries of his house, would be his first place of astronomical observation. The second, two square towers that he began to build in 1912 and had them completed in 1917. One of them housed a telescope and the other a theodolite that his benefactor María Lajosa had given him in 1903. After the death of his uncle Saturno Aller in 1923 and with the use of his property, he built what would be his third observatory, Mr. Ramón being the one who carried out the project and directed the work, completed in August 1924. In April of the following year he acquired a 12 cm refractor of 180 cms focal length to the Steinel house in Munich. Mr. Ramón Aller Ulloa carried out several investigations from this particular observatory, which was the first in Galicia and collaborated with the main directors of the observatories in Spain. In 1943 a new observatory was built at the University of Santiago, in the capital of Galicia, where the instruments of the Lalin Observatory were moved. Close Abstract |
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