We took a lightning tour through southern France to visit some of the most famous scientific sites in the world. These included the 2m telescope at the Observatoire de Haute Provence (OHP) near Marseille that Mayor and Queloz used 20 years ago to discover the first exoplanet; the CEA and major ITER project at Cadarache; and finally the facilities at the Observatoire de la Cote d’Azur (OCA) near Nice on the plateau of Calern. The latter is where laser firing experiments to the moon take place to determine its distance from Earth. This was the prize of the three winners of the Cirta 7 Science Competition, which is organised annually by Sirius Association of Astronomy for high school students. Read More
A scientific caravan consisting of 12 high school students, university students and lecturers returned home after a seven days journey to Switzerland where they visited some of the most prestigious scientific institutions in the world, including CERN in Geneva and the Paul Scherrer Institute in Zurich. The caravan was organised by Sirius Astronomy Association with support from the Municipal Council of Constantine. It was part of the Cirta-Science Competition, which is held every year across 51 high schools in the Wilaya and rewards the top 3 students with trips to various destinations with scientific significance. Read More