On July 4, the Santiago Japanese School (with 35 students) held a lecture to celebrate TANABATA Festival, a Japanese star festival originating from the Chinese Qixi Festival to celebrate the meeting of the deities Orihime (Vega) and Hikoboshi (Altair) on the 7th day of the 7th month of the year.

The lecture was held as a special session after lunch, inviting parents’ participation. This year’s lecture was given by Seiji Kameno, a professor at the NAOJ Chile Observatory. He explained the expansion of the universe using a balloon, the interferometer technique with ALMA Telescope showing a miniature model, and the formation of a black hole showing a movie. In the question-and-answer session, students and teachers asked questions one after another showing their abundant curiosity in astronomy. It was a cloudy and slightly cold day, but the fervor of the audience and the Kameno’s enthusiastic presentation warmed up the event, and it was ended by a word of thanks from a boy who wish to be an ALMA astronomer in the future. [Text and photo provided by Satomi Tsukano]