Entry 5 euros, free for members and children under 11 years old.

In May, you can look forward to a rich program at the “Giuliano Vanin” Astronomical Center in Arson!

Saturday, May 3: an evening dedicated to the Moon. It will be quite an exceptional moment, because to the best of the writer’s memory, there has never been an opportunity in over forty years of public access to our observatories to admire the Apollo 11 landing area with the Moon this high. In addition to the entire Sea of Tranquility, the eastern shore of the Sea of Serenity with the craters Posidonius and Plinius, the wonderful complex on the western edge of the Sea of Nectar formed by the craters Teophilus, Cyrillus, and Catharina, and further south the complex of the craters Pitiscus, Hommel, and Vlacq will also be visible. Through the telescope, the blue star Regulus and the beautiful double stars Iota Cancri and Algieba will also be showcased. In case of bad weather, the best moon landscape videos collected by the members corresponding to that evening’s phase will be projected in the planetarium, in addition to showing the sky of the month and full-dome videos about the Moon.

Saturday, May 10: an evening dedicated to the little ones at the planetarium. Children will have various types of metal marbles, tennis balls, and balloons at their disposal to represent the sizes of the different planets. Then, they will build a model together with the sun at the center and eight concentric circles representing the orbits of the planets. The planets will be made to move simulating their different speeds. Then, with the help of the planetarium, they will be able to see directly in the sky how the planets move in reality, how they appear when viewed up close in space, and have a very realistic view of their relative sizes, even in relation to the Sun. If the weather is nice, the Moon will still be observable in the sky. In its waxing phase, with the craters John Herschel, Anaximander, and Pythagoras prominently displayed, Mount Rumkor, full of lunar domes, and the craters Cavalerius, Hevelius, Schickard, Wargentin, and Phocylides will also be visible. Additionally, two extraordinarily bright passes of the International Space Station will be observable.

Saturday, May 17: the explosion of the recurring nova T Coronae Borealis, which will be visible to the naked eye. To prepare for the event, there will be extensive discussions on this type of phenomenon, which involves very tight double stars with very turbulent lives. From an observational point of view, the spring galaxies will be particularly admired, such as Bode and the Cigarette in Ursa Major, the Needle and the Black Eye in Coma Berenices, and the Sombrero in Virgo. There will be two more brilliant passes of the ISS.

Saturday, May 24: Dr. Gianluigi Zanola will speak on a highly topical scientific subject, namely how much we truly know about the minds of animals and how we can speak of their consciousness, an aspect that is intimately connected with the search for other forms of life in the universe. If the sky is clear, the spring galaxies will again be observable, along with the beautiful globular cluster M 3. Two more passes of the ISS will delight the evening.

Finally, on Saturday, May 31, the second of the evenings, with free admission, will take place for those, members and non-members, who want to learn to use the instruments of the Center or even bring their own and have it explained how to use it. In case of bad weather, visitors can still ask, indoors, for insights about the functioning of their own instruments, and the sky of the month will be presented in the planetarium, with slides and videos.

May at the Astronomical Center