‘Can the Sun go out?’ ‘How was gravity created?’ ‘Could we have two stars together?’ These are just a few examples of the questions, a daily test, that researchers at the Centro de Estudios de Física del Cosmos de Aragón (CEFCA) have had to overcome during the activities organised for Science Week. The authors were the more than three hundred children who visited the headquarters of this scientific institution in the Plaza de San Juan in Teruel. The schoolchildren, aged between 9 and 12, got to know astrophysicists who are also their neighbours. They have discovered how science is done in their city, they have been surprised to learn that telescope operators sleep during the day or that the colour of the light they emit gives enormous clues about the distance or the evolution of a star.

Even so, the star was the Solar Observing Workshop that allowed most of them to get their first glimpse of the Sun a little closer. A Sun Gun telescope allowed them to discover the photosphere and, therefore, to understand phenomena such as sunspots. At the same time, another telescope, an H-Alpha loaned for the activity by the Astronomical Grou of Teruel ACTUEL, showed them the chromosphere, where they have also been able to see filaments and protuberances. Previously, the schoolchildren understood these solar phenomena and curiosities about the distance, the importance and the parts of the Sun.

Another component of these informative days, which involved four schools in the city, was awareness-raising. Pupils were taught about the dangers of looking directly at the Sun. All this, as part of the promotion of one of the most spectacular phenomena in the short term: the solar eclipse of 2026, which will also have Teruel as one of the areas of the peninsula where it will be best view.

The students were able to understand how the Observatorio Astrofísico de Javalambre operates and the scientific projects developed at CEFCA from the scientists who work in them. They learned about the academic training required or how to get to work in science. All this within the framework and context of the objectives of the Science Week. The activities filled every seat. During the hour and a half hours of the event, more than 300 children have approached the Sun, and science.