From Teruel, participants were able to discover the famous “Pillars of Creation”: tall columns of gas shaped by newborn stars in the Eagle Nebula, located some 6,500 light years from Earth. A little closer, the guided cosmic journey stopped at the Ring Nebula (M57), more than 2,000 light years away. The trip also reached the spectacular Whirlpool Galaxy (M51), at a distance of 31 million light years.

Attendees experienced first-hand what nightly work at an observatory is like: keeping an eye on the clouds, patiently waiting for the right conditions to capture an image, and then seeing the raw data arrive in real time. They also learned how the observation process continues with the careful treatment of astronomical images — a task that can take weeks before it is ready for scientific analysis. A simple mobile phone camera served as an example to explain how the sophisticated cameras on large telescopes capture light from distant objects.

The evening was also enriched by the presence of CEFCA scientists, who shared curiosities, explained their work, and answered questions from the audience. Among them were Raúl Infante, who described CEFCA’s contribution to the ARRAKIHS space mission, currently gathering data and images from Pico del Buitre, as well as Juan Antonio Fernández Ontiveros, Sepideh Eskandarlou, David Fernández Gil, Adrián Hidalgo, Javier Saez and Rahna Payyasseri.

The high demand for the event — with the venue already full 15 minutes before the start — has encouraged CEFCA to repeat “The Cosmos Live” in the coming months, offering new opportunities to explore further wonders of the night sky.