The Santiago Japanese School held its annual TANABATA lecture on July 7. This year’s lecture was given by Jin Koda, an associate professor at Stony Brook University and a visiting associate professor at the NAOJ Chile Observatory.

Koda talked about a vast number of stars composing our Milky Way Galaxy, and the immensity of the universe from nearby galaxies, distant galaxies to the farthest reaches of the cosmic space. The lecture also covered the birth of the universe which was inversely calculated from the expansion of the universe, and the cosmic history leading to the birth of the Milky Way Galaxy. His extensive astronomical knowledge intrigued the audience, including students from the 1st to 9th grades as well as their parents and teachers.

In a question and answer session after the lecture, Koda was asked a lot of questions varying from questions that are simple but difficult to answer to quite academic ones. Students wrote about what they learnt from the lecture and gave it to the lecturer. The Santiago Japanese School began its winter holiday from July 13.
(Text and photo provided by Yuji Okumura)