Amparo has the largest telescope open to the public in Brazil – 01/08/2023 – Science

The Astronomical Pole of Amparo completes eight years of activities in 2023. Equipped with state-of-the-art telescopes and a planetarium, the space receives thousands of visitors each season. It is located in the municipality of Amparo, 138 kilometers from the capital of São Paulo.

In this complex is installed the largest reflecting telescope in Brazil, which is regularly open to the public. The instrument has a 650 mm aperture. Other telescopes of this size existing in the country are exclusively dedicated to research, without visitors being able to use them to observe the sky.

The director of the Astronomical Pole, Carlos Eduardo Mariano, explains that the equipment is the differential that consolidates the astronomical unit in the interior of São Paulo as one of the best infrastructures in Brazil for visitation.

“Telescopes are basically equipment that collect light and provide enlarged images of distant objects. Some use only lenses, such as refractors or astronomical telescopes. Others work by combining lenses and special mirrors, they are reflector telescopes, as is the case of the new instrument in operation at the Polo de Amparo”, explained Mariano to the press office of the Polo Astronomico de Amparo.

The equipment has as its main optical component a parabolic mirror capable of collecting about 14,000 times more light than the human eye. “This qualifies it for the observation of millions of very dim celestial objects, such as stars, nebulae and galaxies, which are not visible to the naked eye”, observed the professor.

The parabolic mirror works as the “telescope’s eye”, which offers a resolving power far superior to that of our vision. “The larger the main mirror of a reflecting telescope, the greater its ability to separate points close to each other. This is important for observing details on the surface of the Moon and planets, for example,” he added.

observatory structure

In addition to the 650 mm aperture telescope, the complex has other equipment, all available during public sessions on Saturdays and previously scheduled school visits.

The astronomical unit is equipped with three reflector telescopes of 360 mm, 340 mm and 200 mm aperture, a 150 mm refractor and two instruments for solar observation. Also part of the astronomical cluster is a modern digital planetarium, set up in a large projection room with an eight-meter dome. The site is used for starry sky simulations and hemispheric projections with a high degree of immersion.

The Astronomical Pole, with an area of ​​60,000 square meters, on the banks of the Serra da Mantiqueira, was inaugurated in September 2015, at an altitude of approximately 1,000 meters.

The observatory is located 15 minutes from the urban perimeter of Amparo, with access at km 29 of Rodovia Benevenuto Moretto (SP-095), which connects Amparo to Bragança Paulista, in the Sertãozinho neighborhood. Public sessions take place every Saturday at 7:00 pm and 9:15 pm, lasting two hours each.

During the week, special sessions are held for school groups and other previously scheduled segments. More information www.poloastronomicoamparo.com.br/.