“Easy-to-Understand Astronomy Class” for elementary school children was held at the Tamarokuto Science Center in Tokyo on December 4. At the event, Masaaki Hiramatsu, assistant professor and EPO officer at the NAOJ ALMA-J Project Office, talked on the ALMA Telescope that has just come into operation, in a lecture titled “Mysteries of the Universe Explored by ALMA -What can be observed with radio waves-“. Children listened attentively to his talk while taking notes. They seemed to be surprised to learn that the ALMA Telescope has “an extremely good eye” with the ability to recognize one yen coin (2cm in diameter) on a street in Osaka from Tokyo (about 400 km away).

After the lecture, children made their own telescope using telescope kits. They enjoyed seeing the Moon and Jupiter through their new telescope.

The picture shows the children listening to the lecture.
[Photo provided by Tamarokuto Science Center]