| Sociedad Meteoritica Argentina |
| Meteorites |
| Pizarro 5674 (1440) Buenos Aires Argentina Telefax ++5411 4642 3799 E-mail: oaturone@hotmail.com |
| The Sociedad Meteoritica Argentina is a non-profit institution established since 1986 in Buenos Aires. Its object is the preservation of our meteoritic heritage, together with research and information in the field of meteoritics. The existence of such an association in our country is not accidental, since Argentina has one of the most important deposits in the world: Campo del Cielo, located in the SW of the province of Chaco and part of the department of Moreno in the province of Santiago del Estero. The association presently owns the country's principal collection of meteorites and an important specialized library. ASTROMOVIL |
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| The knowledge and study of meteorites needs people's help. Any person, regardless of cultural or social condition may at any time observe or find something which will increase, modify or improve our knowledge of Space. The science of meteoritics, unlike others, depends exclusively on people for the raw material on which its research is based. Hence the importance of spreading information. For a long time we were thinking about the most adequate way to make our message reach the remotest places of our country. As only few have the possibility of visiting the great museums to enjoy a collection of meteorites, why not take our collection and specialists to the many who can't?. This query led to the creation of our ASTROMOVIL. It is a traveling exhibition now crossing the country, composed of an inflatable planetarium which can hold 50 children (onto which an audiovisual on meteorites is projected) and the exhibit of part of our collection. The exhibition is complemented by an electronic panel, computers, metal detectors, archaeological pieces made out of meteorites, etc. The usual place chosen for exhibits is the village or town school which is the only available structure to organize and support this type of activity and which is in general, the meeting place for people of all ages. Our units have their own generator for rural zones lacking electrical power, and transportation is done through our own specially adapted utilitarian vehicles. Up to now, more than 120,000 people have seen our exhibit, ranging from primary school teens to senior citizens in retirement homes, from the handicapped to native indians, from Patagonia and Tierra del Fuego to Jujuy bordering with Bolivia in the north. We are proud to say, that with our ASTROMOVIL, 120,000 more Argentines know what a meteorite is. MUSEO DEL CIELO |
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| We opened the Museo del Cielo on the 16th of January, 1996. It is located on the top of a mountain in Villa Carlos Paz, a tourist city in the province of Cordoba (800 km north of Buenos Aires). The museum can be reached on a chair lift running 450 m distance. It is probably the only museum in the world that you can reach by such means of transportation. Throught its wide windows one can see the mountains of Sierra Chica and downwards the lake of San Roque and the city of Villa Carlos Paz. The landscape is marvelous. We exhibit part of our collection of meteorites and everything concerning meteoritics, with electronic screens, computers, metal detectors, etc. The spirit of Nininger hovers like a condor over the mountains of Cordoba!!! |
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