Following the solar eclipse of April 8, Mazatlán has become a destination that can offer more than just sun and beach. The Mazatlan Astronomical Society sees the possibility of promoting more activities related to the science that studies the celestial bodies of the universe, by creating an Astronomical Outreach Center.
The president of SAMAZ, David Esquivel Hernández, mentioned that they have been working on this project for some time, since they currently meet at the Manuel Bonilla library, where there are some complications due to the schedules and accessibility of the area due to the lack of parking.
He reported that the Mazatlan City Council opened the possibility of occupying a space in the Central Park.
“Our goal is to create an Astronomy Outreach Center there so that children from Mazatlán, schools, can go there and we plan a series of activities related to astronomy. We will keep our telescopes there, we will make a small Astronomy Museum, children will be able to enter for free and they will be able to use it, the idea is to give life to those spaces,” he said.
Esquivel added that the goal is to be able to create a Planetarium, although these spaces are very expensive, from the architecture to the equipment, however, there is the possibility of creating smaller models with spaces similar to those found in the old City Forest.
He reported that for the installation of the museum they have had talks with the Mexican Space Agency, even with NASA to receive donations of pieces that will be exhibited.
“We want to consolidate those scientific outreach activities, we had a very good experience because we made ties with astronomical societies from all over the world and they want to support, NASA personnel say they will return so that we can work, festivals of robotics in which students participate, simulating small robots that go over the surface of a planet, and that brings children closer to astronomy, engineering, they offered us to work with that,” he said.
Date
Esquivel mentioned that probably by October they will already be installed in the new headquarters in Parque Central and it would be the first scientific outreach center of its kind in Mazatlán.
He also added that each week they have an audience of 15 to 40 people, depending on the activities to be carried out, with the astronomy workshops for children being the most successful.
Source: elsoldemazatlan
