Free Astronomy Talk: Chile's Giant Observatories (Randall Museum)

The San Francisco Amateur Astronomers invite you to this free public event. Chile is home to many of the largest and most advanced observatories on Earth, due to high altitudes, dry deserts, and low light pollution. Chile has become a center of cutting edge astronomical research, but this has been made possible by the collaborative efforts of multiple countries and the work of scientists and engineers from around the globe. This past summer I had the opportunity to participate in the Astronomy in Chile Educator Ambassadors Program (ACEAP). The program took me to the major observatories (ALMA, Vera Rubin, Gemini South, and more) and met many of the people who keep the observatories running. I’ll be sharing my insights into Chile, international astronomical collaborations, and the southern skies. Brian “Astro” Castro is an amateur astronomer in San Francisco known for his pop-up sidewalk astronomy events in The Mission, around SF, and occasionally around the world. From 4” travel scopes that fit in a carry-on with room to spare, to 16” Dobsonians, he has shown the cosmos to over 15,000 people. He has organized for the local chapter of The Planetary Society, solo traveled to Guatemala to personally donate telescopes to schools and instruct in their use, and even strapped a large telescope to a bicycle trailer and biked around showing Saturn to festival goers at Burning Man in the Black Rock Desert. He is a 2025 ACEAP Ambassador Disclaimer: Please double check event information with the event organizer as events can be canceled, details can change after they are added to our calendar, and errors do occur.