A journey to the beginning of the Universe and back

Our Universe is a factory of mysterious and sometimes inexplicable phenomena. Since the dawn of human kind, astronomers have wondered about the nature of the cosmos, first looking at close and bright planets and comets in our solar neighborhood, up to the faintest and more distant galaxies at the beginning of time.
In the last century, we experienced a revolution in the study of the Universe thanks to the joint efforts of worldwide organizations which gathered astronomers, engineers, and physicists together to build and develop new tools and techniques for the exploration of the outer space in all its aspects. Starting from Galileo Galilei’s “spyglass”, we designed and built increasingly powerful telescopes to observe not only the visible light emitted by distant stars and galaxies, but also a wide range of frequencies invisible to our eyes, opening a new window on the dark side of the cosmos. Sometimes these instruments are set in very wild environments and extreme conditions, like in the arid and desert lands of Chile, in the coldest and icy region of Antarctica, or even outside the earth’s atmosphere. Astronomers try to put together the different pieces of information from each of these telescopes, with the common aim of obtaining a comprehensive understanding of how the Universe began and evolved.
We will unveil the secrets of galaxies in the early Universe and show how they grew and died. You will interactively learn how to classify the shape of previously unseen galaxies, and to use the principles of physics to magnify the light emitted from them. You will also have the unique chance to personally meet professional astronomers, asking them questions about their life and work in a friendly and informal environment.