O caso de Cariclo: Refletindo sobre o papel dos astrônomos na Educação em Astronomia

Abstract

The interaction with amateur astronomers and professionals is a worldwide trend, with many discoveries and contributions from amateurs to the scientific community. A successful example of this collaboration was the discovery of the first ring system around a smaller body of the Solar System, the Centaur named Chariklo, which orbits the Sun in a region between Saturn and Uranus. Some amateur astronomers from Brazil participated in the international work team whose observations were essential for this discovery. However, Cariclo's case leads us to reflect more closely on the expansion of this relationship of amateurs and professionals to another sphere: the School. In this sense, the union of astronomers (professionals and amateurs) and the education has resulted in benefits to the education of some countries and the teachers formation about contents and methodologies of Astronomy teaching. In Brazil, one of these examples is the International Year of Astronomy, which left as a legacy important reflections about the role of astronomers in Astronomy Education, which we also discussed in this article, ending with a list of challenges and possibilities for our country.