Two months of activities to get to know the universe

I'm sure you often look at the night sky and, as everyone does or doesn't do, you ask questions. No, there are still no satisfactory answers to all these questions you ask, but science continues to investigate the universe of which you are a part. Are you interested in knowing where I am or, at the very least, in having the latest discoveries explained to you? You are invited to the series of activities Cartographies of the Universe, which, from 12 February to 26 March, is organising activities both in the Forum Park and in the Ciutadella and the Fabra Observatory.

Here you will find experts who will lead lectures, give conferences, organise workshops or present books. These are activities open to the public that sometimes take place in the Edifici Blau, sometimes in the new Martorell Exhibition Centre or sometimes in the Hivernacle. Among the proposals, there is also cinema.

Everything starts on Sunday, 12th, with the lecture led by the journalist Roger Escapa Geopolitics of space. The battle for the cosmos, in which Joan Anton Català, astrophysicist, quantum chemist and science populariser, will show us the implications of human presence in the cosmos and the need to set limits to our colonising zeal. This is the first of many conversations on topics such as the moons in our solar system (20 February), the possibility of life beyond Earth (6 March) and the characteristics of the meteorites that create space above our heads (20 March).

On Thursday, the 13th, at the Martorell Exhibition Centre, a series of film forums will begin, led by Jordi Serrallonga, archaeologist, naturalist and filmmaker, who will lead a short debate after the screening of each film. The first of all, which forms part of the Cartographies of the Universe programme, is Silent Running (on the picure, 1971), a film by Douglas Trumbull. Don't you know who he is? In fact, this is almost the only film he made as a director, but he was responsible for the special effects in 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968), Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977)Star Trek: The Motion Picture (1979), and was the visual effects supervisor for Blade Runner (1982). Silent Running is an ecological science-fiction fable with music by Joan Baez that will make you fall in love, if you haven't already fallen in love with Bruce Dern, the main character, or the three small and energetic robots that help him preserve a space garden.

Remember that, in addition to films and conferences and lectures, the Cartographies of the Universe series includes such interesting events as the presentation of the book Instructions for Finding Aliens, by the National Geographic journalist Eva Van Der Berg (15 March) or a cultural visit, once again with the astrophysicist Joan Antoni Català, to the Fabra Observatory (26 March; 11,50 €), a facility that has been studying the cosmos, climate and earthquakes for over a hundred years.

If you want to know everything about the universe in which you live (or everything we know) don't miss the series Cartographies of the Universe, but before you come check out all the information on the website of the Science Museum.