Like all important things, observing the sky takes time and patience

You can't expect to see at first glance. Observing is in some ways an art that must be learned

Education and Public Outreach

The cultural offer that GAL Hassin provides to the general public is organized in different ways, each of which includes several types of activities all aimed at stimulating and motivating our visitors to discover and understand many scientific topics.

The “standard” visit to GAL Hassin for the public consists of two and a half hours of activities. In the summer, in addition to the standard visit, the full day visit is organized. It includes the afternoon activities and the sky observations.
You can book your visit now or get more information if needed.

The programme of activities for the general public

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Friday 30 June, Saturday 1 and Sunday 2 July 2023: Asteroid Day event.

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Friday 7 July, 4 August and 1 September activities for children with the construction of a model to take home.

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Explore the Moon on 20-21 and 22 July on the occasion of the historic first landing on the Moon by the Americans to learn how the Apollo missions changed our perception of the universe and our daily habits. In Italian.

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28-29-30 July 2023.  A great impact. A very large asteroid. The cause of the fifth great mass extinction in the history of life on Earth. In Italian.

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9-10-11-12-13 August 2023: the annual event of the most famous falling stars, The Perseids. In Italian.

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Our activities

Given the large number of sections available and, therefore, of topics that can be covered, the visits are thematic and developed in the various sections: Planetarium, Space and Time Park, Observatory Terrace, Museum. To know in detail how the visit is organized, we suggest to consult the schedule.

1

In the Planetarium, where reality exceeds imagination, explore the incredibly remote and bizarre places of the cosmos: enter the interstellar gas or a black hole, travel among the stars and dust of our Galaxy, walk on the Moon and cross the rings of Saturn. Towards infinity and beyond. Get excited. It is your Universe.

2

In the Space and Time Park you understand the apparent motion of the Sun and stars, the rotation of our Earth and its inclination. A journey into the past following the steps of the History of Ancient Astronomy between exhibits and sundials to learn how the ancients measured the passing of time. An open-air laboratory on how the immutable sky of the ancients is anything but immutable, the Earth is not at the center of the Universe and the stars are not fixed.

3

At the GAL Hassin Museum, become the protagonist of a great era -our own- between meteorites and cosmic events. Travel to the Moon, and much further away. Here you will meet the women and men who have made the History of Astrophysics. From their stories you will know the thrill of living Science in its multiplicity and complexity, but also in its infinite beauty. Your journey thus begins in the mines of Sicily and will end at the edge of the visible universe.

4

After an introduction about solar activity and the characteristics of our star, the Observations of the Sun are made through telescopes equipped with appropriate filters. The description is also accompanied by a visit to the telescopic instrumentation. In the Observation Terrace.

5

In the Observation Terrace explore the most interesting regions of our Sky through the most powerful telescopes, going where our eyes cannot go. Asteroids and comets also dangerous for the Earth, new worlds around distant stars, merging galaxies hundreds of light years away, our Galaxy observed with new methods, double or triple stars, planetary nebulae, the formation of new stars and the observation of our Sun: do not miss your appointment with the Universe. Discover the Universe together with us.

A bull. A zither. A hunter. A sea monster. We have inherited the constellations of the ancients and made them our own. We don’t know anything precise about their genesis, but today we can make some reasonable conjectures.
Corrado Lamberti