Today, Friday 18th August, the annual Open Day of the Roque Observatory was held for the town of Garafía, which, at this time of year and as part of its Patron Saint's Day in honour of the Virgen de La Luz, brings together more than a hundred local residents at the facilities of the Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias (IAC).
The IAC and the scientific institutions installed at the Observatory, in collaboration with the Town Council of Villa de Garafía and its Culture and Festivities Department, are organising this community gathering. The objectives of the event are to raise awareness of the scientific activity carried out by the telescopes and to foster the relationship between the people of Garafía and the scientific, technical and working staff who work regularly at the ORM.
Organised in different groups, each with a "starlight" guide, the more than one hundred people living in the Garaffian town visited the Visitor Centre, the Gran Telescopio Canarias (GTC or Grantecan), the MAGIC and CTA/LST (Cherenkov Telescope Array) telescopes, the William Herschel Telescope (WHT) of the Isaac Newton Group of Telescopes, and the Telescopio Nazionale Galileo (TNG). In all cases, the staff of these infrastructures also participated with scientific explanations.
To conclude, a collective lunch was held outside the Observatory Residence, in which both visitors and telescope and organisation staff took part.
The IAC Observatories are part of the Spanish network of Singular Scientific and Technical Infrastructures (ICTS) and are qualified as those with the best conditions for astrophysical research in the northern hemisphere.
