Astronomy event at Scienceworks, Melbourne


Last Saturday 28th April we had a very special event at Scienceworks (Melbourne, Victoria): a Astronomy talk and a special projection of the planetary show “Una estrella para Cervantes” (A star for Cervantes). The event was hosted by astrophysicist and science communicator Ángel R. López-Sánchez (AAO/MQU), who was in charge of giving a talk about the techniques that astronomers use for detecting planets around other stars and how they survey the sky. Our Chair, Sergio León-Saval (University of Sydney) also provided an overview of our association. The event was organized by Elena López Varela, Ángel R. López-Sánchez and Kate Bernard.

Astronomer Ángel López-Sánchez during his talk. Credit: SRAP.

 

Sergio León-Saval (left) and Ángel López-Sánchez (second left) with the Kate Bernard, director of Sciencework (second right) and Elena López Varela (righe). Credit: SRAP.

 

Sergio León-Saval during his talk about SRAP-IEAP. Credit: SRAP.

We really thank the very friendly staff of Sciencework, who really helped to get this event happening, and to the support of the Consulado General de España en Melbourne. We also thank staff at the Planetarium of Pamplona, specially to Javier Armentia, for their help providing on time the high-resolution files of the movie.


Angel.Lopez-Sanchez

About Angel.Lopez-Sanchez

A/Prof Ángel R. López-Sánchez is an astrophysicist and science communicator working at the School of Mathematical and Physical Sciences, Macquarie University (MQ). He is a recognised expert in the study of how the gas is converted into stars in galaxies and how this affects galaxy evolution. He graduated in Theoretical Physics at the University of Granada (2000) and completed his PhD Thesis in Astrophysics at the prestigious “Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias” (IAC, Spain) and the University of La Laguna (Spain) in 2006. He moved to Australia in 2007, joining CSIRO “Astronomy and Space Science” to perform radio-interferometric observations of gas-rich galaxies at the Australian Telescope Compact Array. In 2011 he joined the Australian Astronomical Observatory and Macquarie University combining instrumentation support, research, lecturing, and outreach. He was appointed as a full-time research academic at the School of Mathematical and Physical Sciences at Macquarie University in May 2023. He is the president of the association of Spanish Researchers in Australia-Pacific (SRAP), the vice-president of the Astronomical Association of Córdoba (AAC, Spain), representative in the Andalusian Astronomy Network (RAdA), and member of the International Astronomical Union (IAU), the Spanish Astronomy Society (SEA), and the Australian Astronomy Society (ASA). He is a globally-recognised science communicator, with visibility in Spanish and Australian printed, broadcast, and social media. He is also a passionate amateur astronomer that uses his own equipment for capturing the beauty of the Cosmos. His stunning astronomy time-lapse videos and photos have received +1/2 million views in YouTube and have been seen in TV channels in USA, Australia and Spain, science museums worldwide, and textbooks.