Virtual tours and exhibits: an innovative tool for education and public outreach in INAF

This critical period we are living worldwide forced us to rearrange our way of engaging general public and students to talk about science. Internet and computers are the most used tools for education and public outreach. INAF (National Institute for Astrophysics) has embraced this new way of interacting with the public by developing virtual tours and exhibits of its museums and telescopes spread all over Italy. In this years, INAF’s researchers, thanks to “Polvere di stelle”, the cultural heritage for Italian astronomy, and the editorial staff of EduINAF, the official INAF online magazine for education, have collected and developed a series of virtual tours of the INAF observatories, telescopes and museums managed by the institute. By staying comfortable at home, general public, students and professors can easily access guided tours, which will fully immerse the users to admire the whole scientific and historic INAF’s heritage. During the presentation, some examples will be displayed to the audience.