An exhibition of the TAO project was held in Antofagasta, core city in northern Chile. It was held approximately one month and many people visited the exhibition. In order to let public know in Chile about our TAO project, some events are also held; lectures of the project, a stargazing party and a workshop of astronomy and Japanese culture.

The venue where the TAO exhibition was held, Centro Cultural Estacion Antofagasta where introducing the railway history of Chile as a permanent exhibition. It is a place for citizens to casually drop in with school groups on weekdays, and with friends and families on weekends. On the opening ceremony, held on June 2, Professor Marcelo Oliva, Graduate School Vice President of Universidad de Antofagasta, Professor Eduardo Unda-Sanzana, Department head of astronomy of Universidad de Antofagasta and Mr. Solange Medina, Manager of public relations/sustainable of railroad company FCAB group, visited the exhibition as the guests of honor. Furthermore, from the TAO project, Dr. Hidenori Takahashi, Project assistant professor of IoA, the University of Tokyo, introduced the project and future prospects, and explained about the exhibition, etc. to the visitors.

Professor Eduardo Unda-Sanzana(left end), Professor/Graduate School Vice President Marcelo Oliva（center), Project assistant professor Takahashi（the third person from the right), Mr. Solange Medina（right end).

In the exhibition hall, there are about 20 posters; descriptions the trace of TAO telescope construction, an appearance of the project staffs climbing up to the summit, a view of the summit from Co. Chajnantor in the Atacama Desert where is the construction site of TAO telescope, and images of galaxies taken with miniTAO 1m telescope which is a pilot facility of 6.5m telescope. In addition, at a corner of the exhibition hall, there were the movies about the staffs who were climbing to the summit and installing a telescope, and a the state of the miniTAO telescope observing the galaxy center of our Galaxy for the first time.

Students viewing the history of the project	Visitors viewing the movies

As an experience (type) exhibit, the goggle type virtual reality (VR) was provided to visitors, as if they were actually at the summit of Co. Chajnantor. They wore goggles and enjoyed the view of the wilderness in desert on altitude of 5,640 m, where the TAO telescope is located.
Also, in order to introduce the infrared observation the infrared observation which is one of the characteristics of the TAO telescope, we took pictures using an infrared camera, and made them into Purikura stickers and presented it to the visitors. By comparing the image taken with "visible light" that we can see, and the image of "infrared", the heat that human beings emit which is invisible, we could introduce the characteristic of "infrared observation" of the TAO telescope comprehensibly. This was well received among the visitors.

Special events during the exhibition

TAO Project Lecture

During the exhibition, we held some TAO project lectures with the cooperation of a local university so that the visitors could be more familiar with astronomy. Project assistant professor Takahashi and Associate Professor Keiichi Oonaka of Universidad Catolica del Norte explained visitors with Spanish and English, why we have visited Chile from Japan which is far away (opposite side of the earth!), and have built a telescope to observe the universe. Also, they introduced the distance between the Earth and the other planets in the solar system by replacing them to familiar objects, like balls of different size, to make the lecture more understandable.

Project assistant professor, Hidenori Takahashi (the University of Tokyo)	Associate Professor, Keiichi Oonaka (Universidad Catolica del Norte)

Introduction of Japanese culture and a workshop

During this exhibition, we also exhibited the Japanese cultures, like "Japanese toys, replicas of Japanese foods and folk crafts of Japan" etc. to introduce cultures of Japan except for the TAO project with the cooperation of the Embassy of Japan in Chile. Especially, replicas of Japanese foods surprised many people by their high quality, and there were many questions about the original foods.

On one weekend, a workshop was held by Ms. Hayashida from Antofagasta Japanese community. She introduced Japanese climates, cultures, and simple Japanese languages to people attending the workshop. Participants seemed very stimulated to encounter “Japanese” which is completely different language from Spanish.

In this exhibition, we were supported by a lot of cooperation in Antofagasta. As a result, many peoples visited the exhibition, and we were able to provide a chance where participants could be familiar with both astronomy and Japanese culture with pleasures.
We would like to continue to introduce our TAO project to more peoples both in Japan and overseas through such outreach activities in the future!

Antofagasta is a port town which is located about 1,100 km north of Santiago, the capital of Chile. It takes about two hours from Santiago by plane. San Pedro de Atacama, where TAO research building facility is located, belongs to Antofagasta Province. Since astronomy is popular in the province, there is active exchange academically between San Pedro de Atacama and the state capital, Antofagasta. It takes about 5 hours from San Pedro de Atacama to Antofagasta by bus. As we continue driving steep and rugged dry ground, suddenly, deep blue Pacific Ocean expands in front of us. Sea breeze of Antofagasta with moisture makes us feel relieved.