EDUCATIONAL ACTIVITIES AND OUTREACH

“M. Ceccarelli” Visitors’ Center

The Visitor Center of the Istituto di Radioastronomia is hosted in a building of the LA.C.ME. Agriculture Cooperative situated near the Medicina radio telescopes. The structure receives the growing flux of school children and adults visiting the Medicina Radio Astronomy Station and, with time, it turned out to be a popular addition to scholastic programs in Italy.

The building was formerly a rice warehouse, built in the early 1900's, and it was renovated in 2005 to host a restaurant on the ground floor and the 400 sq-meters of halls of the Visitor Center on the first floor.

The Center has a lecture hall with 98 seats, and also a 2D and 3D movie projection system on 3 screens, for a "full immersion" experience. The adjacent hall hosts a permanent exhibition on the research activities of the Institute, and interactive exhibits and video stations with scientific apparatus from radio telescopes. The entire ensemble is designed for a varied audience, and it is meant to illustrate the basis of modern astrophysics and of research techniques with particular respect to the study of the non-visible radio waves, thus entertaining and personally involving the public. The Visitor Center is open every Sunday (except holidays) to the general public, who can visit the center either by self-guiding or by taking advantage of the guided tours that include a 3D short movie presentation and a tour of the radiotelescopes grounds. The visits of schools and groups (of at least 15 people) are by reservation only.

THE NORTHERN CROSS

An introduction to the largest Italian Radiotelescope ( /Medicinaweb/Nc/ )

UNIVERSO 2000

Open House: March 2000 Edition ( /visitorc/settimana2000/poster1_indice.htm )

KIDSLINK

First project for the Bologna schools to use Internet ( kidslink.bo.cnr.it )

SCUOLAN

Networks for the schools in Open Source (in It.) ( www.scuolan.it )