A JOURNEY TO SPACE

Astronomy Activities
IKARIA ISLAND – SUMMER 2024

Summer 2024 events will be announced soon!

For more information contact as and follow our instagram page: @nostos_space

Nostos: A journey to space, a journey to home

We are literaly made of stardust!

Our mission is to return to our roots, hidden in the heart of the stars, through a journey of exploring nature. Like many heroes in mythology, this journey will bring us a deeper understanding of ourselves and our position within the Cosmos, to finally meet our better self.

We are physically very small, and the more we reach the sky beyond our limits, the more we realise how limited our senses and skills are. We are filled with awe every time we observe the stars, the Earth, the sea… because they are so perfectly created. And every time, we learn something new for the natural world and ourselves.

As trained scientists and nature lovers we appreciated early on that there is a lot more beyond ourselves and what our senses can grasp. We use experience-based learning, where observations stimulate our imagination to gain a wider understanding of the natural world.

For us, observing and studying the natural world is a truly active relationship, where one must be respectful to gain the benefits of this experience.

The holistic perspective requires several tools, including science, philosophy, and meditation to reach the goals of better self-understanding within the Universe.

Under the Ikarian sky

Explore with us the wonders of the Universe!

Open Stargazing Events

Join our open stargazing events to discover the amazing night sky of Ikaria and its mysteries!

Each open stargazing event will start with a presentation and a discussion on one of the following topics:
– A journey to space: exploring the wonders of the Universe
– The Sky: our clock and compass above
– The Cosmos: birth and future of the Universe
– Stars: from dust to back holes
– Planets: exploring worlds beyond Earth
– The Earth: how special is our planet?

After a short break we will continue with a tour of the dark sky with our eyes and the assist of a laser pointer to discover the constellations of the Northern hemisphere and learn how to orientate during the night.

As our eyes will adapt to darkness, we will use our telescopes to observe the Moon (if visible), the planets of our Solar System (if visible) and other exotic objects of the night sky!

Suitable for everyone above 6 years old.
Duration: ~2.5 hours.
Date, venue, topic of discussion, language (english or greek) and admission fee will be announced for each event individually.

Workshops

Our workshops include both a presentation and a hands-on part, where you can experience astronomy in practice. They have a duration of 2.5-3 hours and can be on one of the following topics:

  • Navigation: mapping and measuring the sky.
  • Telescopes: how to set up and use a telescope?
  • Moonwalk: Explore our only natural satellite, it’s seas, mountains and rocks.
  • Planet tour: Explore the planets of our Solar System.
  • Deep sky tour: Explore the unseen, most exotic objects of the night sky.
  • Astrophotography: learn how to take photos of night sky objects or just learn how to process space images

Please contact us for prices and available dates.

Private Events

For small groups (5-10 participants) and businesses, we can organise customised stargazing events, starwalks or workshops, based on your interests. These will take place at one of the suitable remote locations on Ikaria that we have chosen, or at your own venue, provided that you have access to an open space.

Please contact us for prices and available dates.

About us

Anastasia Kokori

Anastasia is passionate about life, learning, and sharing this knowledge with others!

Anastasia is now a PhD candidate at UCL, London, with a Research Excellence Scholarship. She has studied and got certified in a wide range of subjects: Primary education, Science communication, Journalism, Space studies, Planetary science, Astronomy, Yoga teaching, Perfume making. She also enjoys scuba diving (ADIP 3 star diver), singing, and any type of sports.

Anastasia has worked in several observatories among which are the historical Royal Observatory Greenwich in London, UK, and also in the Blackrock Castle Observatory in Cork, Ireland.

During the previous years, Anastasia has been traveling a lot, meeting with several diverse communities. One of her main challenges is always to make things as easy to understand as possible and bridge the gap between science and society, between the natural and the theoretical studies. Overall, she tries to bring together communities from different backgrounds, so that everyone can see that all things are based on the same roots. By connecting small dots from different fields together, Anastasia strongly believes that humanity can gain a better understanding of itself.

ANASTASIA’S FULL CV

Angelos Tsiaras, Dr

Angelos is passionate about studing the natural world, nearby or very far away!

Angelos has a PhD in Astronomy from UCL, UK, and is a Physicist graduated from the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki in Greece. He was working as a researcher at UCL and at the Arcetri Observatory in Florence or the last six years.

He is an expert in astronomical data analysis, both with ground-based and spaced-based telescopes, like the Hubble Space Telescope and the James Webb Space Telescope. His field of rearch is Exoplanets – planets that orbit other stars, not the Sun, and he is an active member of the Ariel space mission, develped by the European Space Agency.

One of Angelos’ goals is to bring science closer to the society. In his vision, scientists will have a more active role in society, and, on the other hand, citizens will have a more active role in science. In this context, he dedicates a lot of time on engaging the public, students, and amateur astronomers, with research.

ANGELOS’ FULL CV

Our newest telescope: A Celestron 9.25” starbright xlt.

And the smaller cousin, a Celestron 6”.

From Angelos’s discovery of an atmosphere around K2-18b, that was covered by the media worldwide in 2019.

From our event in Afianes Wines, in August 2022.

A snapshot of the first full moon of August 2023!