Newsletter – April 2019 – Observatório do Lago Alqueva

Newsletter April 2019



News

	OLA is in the Lonely Planet
	It is with satisfaction that we see that Lonely Planet classifies OLA has number one of the top sights in Monsaraz.

	FCUL students visited OLA
	A group of six physics students from the Faculty of Sciences of the University of Lisbon, led by prof. João Lin-Yun visited OLA last month. They had the opportunity to work with the observatory’s main telescope and acquire deep sky images.

In April and May the Lake Alqueva Observatory awaits you!

	From Tuesday to Saturday at 21:30 Stargazing sessions
	A guided tour of the magnificent sky of Monsaraz, where one can learn the orientation by the Northern Star, identify constellations and their legends, relate colours of stars with their ages, observe star clusters, nebulas and distant galaxies with the help of telescopes. The explanations are provided in simple language by the OLA’s guides.

	Saturdays at 16:30 Astronomical Saturdays
	Every Saturday afternoon, OLA offers activities for children where the young astronomers learn more about science and astronomy in an entertaining and relaxed way. Consult here our calendar of activities.

	6 Apr – Amateur Astronomers Meeting and Messier Marathon
	In partnership with the Portuguese Association of Amateur Astronomers, we seek to observe in a single night the largest possible number of galaxies, nebulas and open and globular clusters in a total of 110 objects cataloged by the French astronomer of the 18th Century, Charles Messier. The event has the participation of the Institute of Astrophysics and Space Sciences.

	13 Apr – Graphic diaries course, Sky Sketchers
	Drawing workshop with astronomy and the night sky in Alentejo as thematic for who thinks that drawing is as difficult as traveling to the Moon. The participants may draw not only the building, equipment and the surrounding landscape but also the craters on the Moon, nebulas, and stellar clusters with the help of OLA’s telescopes.

	13 Apr at 21:30 – Science Café: Light, the mediator to the cosmos
	Professor José Rebordão (IA/FCUL) will seek to give meaning to concepts such as spectrum, coherence and polarization of light and discuss how measuring these quantities it opens a new window to understand the Universe.

	27 & 28 Apr – Astronomy course IV: From the Big Bang to the Galaxies
	This is the module coordinated by Dr Nelson Nunes (IA/U. Lisbon and OLA). This session will be focused on Cosmology, the evolution of the Universe and the formation of structure.

	4 May at 23:45 – Astronomer for one night
	A three hour session where the participants can follow and experiment the regular process of acquiring deep sky images and learn how to process them. The participants use the observatory’s main telescope and become, for one night, the astronomers on duty.

	11 May – Open Day
	On this date, OLA celebrates the anniversary of the conclusion of the main building and the official start of the observatory’s activities. On this day we have many activities for children, music, science café and many astronomical observations.

	11 May at 21:30 – Science Café: The dark side of the force
	Dr. Tiago Barreiro (IA e U. Lusófona) will show us that more than 90% of our Universe belongs to the dark side of which little is known. Let us discover how come we know so little and illuminate the Dark Universe.

	18 May – Astronomy course II – Galaxies, the buiding blocks of our Universe
	In this course, Dr. Buitrago (IA) will introduce concepts such as the classification of galaxies, their formation and evolution and their spacial distribution.

	25 May at 23:45 – Astrophotographer for one night
	Initiative for those who wish to start doing landscape astrophotography. During two hours the participants will learn the basic camera definitions that will allow them to acquire night photos. The session will start with a brief theoretical introduction followed by exercises in OLA’s field.