• In the 15th edition, more than two thousand people observed the simulation of planets and constellations in the SECTEI planetarium • Dedicated to the 60th anniversary of the first woman space flight by Soviet cosmonaut Valentina Vladimirovna Tereshkova • 40 thousand people attended the CU for the islands and 200 telescopes were installed
Under the motto “60 years of women in space”, this Saturday, November 25, the 15th edition of the Night of the Stars 2023 took place on the islands of Ciudad Universitaria; The event is organized by the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM), through the Institute of Astronomy, in collaboration with the Secretariats of Education, Science, Technology and Innovation (SECTEI) and Culture of Mexico City.
In celebration, SECTEI installed its mobile planetarium where more than two thousand people observed simulations of planets, constellations and audiovisual astronomical content. Film capsules addressing these themes were also screened.
The respective activities were coordinated by SECTEI’s Director of Dissemination and Promotion, Alejandro Rodríguez Torres, and Eduardo Contreras Sánchez, Head of the Sectoral Dissemination and Promotion Unit.
According to official data, CU islands were attended by 40 thousand people and 200 telescopes were installed, in addition to 250 workshops and 150 conferences. There were experiments, musical and theatrical events and observations.
On this occasion, six decades ago, a woman named Valentina Vladimirovna Tereshkova, a Soviet cosmonaut, orbited the Earth 48 times in almost three days on June 16, 1963 in the Vostok capsule.
Noosfera, an organization with more than ten years of experience in disseminating science, presented the documentary Women in Space and Science: A Look at Their Legacy and Eclipses in Mexico. It deals with nine women’s scientific development and spatial contribution, with the aim of encouraging girls and young women to get closer to science.
The program included various artistic activities with the presentation of the multimedia project “Women in Space and Science: A Look at Their Legacy and Eclipses in Mexico”; “That Love of Romeo and Juliet” play from UNAM Comedy Car, which questions romantic love; and the contemporary dance performance “Intersecciones,” which combines sound, light and physical movement.
On the music front, there were performances by the all-female trio The Swing Sisters, who entertained the audience with 1940s and 1950s tunes, and a jazz trio that rounded out the great event. Little ones also discover the secrets of the universe through storytelling, experiments, games and audiovisual models.
The Night of the Stars is organized by the Mexican Academy of Sciences, the UNAM Institute of Astronomy, the National Polytechnic Institute (IPN), the National Institute of Astrophysics, Optics and Electronics (INAOE), and the Mexican Association of Planetariums (AMPAC). , the Mexican Space Agency (AEM) and the Stellar Night Astronomical Associations (SANDE).
Likewise, the French Embassy in Mexico and the Consortium of French Alliances collaborated, and nationally it was sponsored by Cosmos Scientific, Celestron (Victorinox México) and Somos Al Air.
