The museu de astronomia e ciências afins is profoundly dedicated to the spread of scientific knowledge about the apparently simple act of looking at the sky - what might seem as a contemplative and somewhat philosophical act to us has once been a matter of survival for our ancestors - People lost in the open sea, field, desert or mountain in the past could not use the eyes of a GPS to look into the deep sky in search of answers, They had to rely on their senses, knowledge and experience to interpret the signs of the sky about the earth.

And while for some this is fortunately just a long gone inconvenience, others still study the techniques and instruments applied to that endeavor in search of answers that could even improve our technological eyes in the sky - Being or not an astronomical fanatic, a visit to the MAST includes much more than formal education - it is a fun and immersive way to visually learn about the past of astronomy and the contributions it made to mankind.