Announcement

ESO Supernova April–June programme springs online

April–June 2019 activities can now be booked

26 February 2019

Over the past few months, the ESO Supernova team has been preparing the latest programme of exciting events and shows for the ESO Supernova Planetarium & Visitor Centre. We are delighted to announce that our April–June 2019 programme is now available for booking online.

Since its official inauguration on 26 April 2018, the ESO Supernova Planetarium & Visitor Centre has entertained and educated visitors with a range of captivating planetarium shows, guided tours, educational workshops, and special events. The April–June programme features new additions to the exciting range of shows in the ESO Supernova’s state-of-the-art digital planetarium, as well as a wonderful array of special events. The new programme is now available online and bookings can be made for all public events. Tickets are available either online or at the ESO Supernova reception.

The ESO Supernova offers a captivating variety of planetarium shows in both German and English which explore a range of topics. Translation headsets are available at the reception, allowing shows to be enjoyed in either German or English. For the Easter and Pentecost school holidays we are delighted to be showing our partner Softmachine’s film “Kaluoka'hina — The Enchanted Reef”, an entertaining and informative show perfect for younger visitors. In our Spring programme the shows “From Earth to the Universe” and “Hidden Universe” are both back by popular demand. We also have a selection of evening events to look forward to, including a concert by the local band Ark Noir and a public talk about infrared astronomy.

In addition to these events, you can visit our exhibitions, which are free of charge! Our permanent astronomical exhibition allows visitors to explore, touch, and use real astronomical artefacts and conduct experiments to get an idea of what it means to be an astronomer discovering the mysteries of the Universe. In addition, the interactive temporary exhibition Lasers, Light, Life, is still on display, providing insights into laser technology from its very beginnings to the present day, and highlighting visionary possibilities for its application.

More Information

The ESO Supernova Planetarium & Visitor Centre

The ESO Supernova Planetarium & Visitor Centre is a cutting-edge astronomy centre for the public and an educational facility, located at the site of the ESO Headquarters in Garching bei München. The centre hosts the largest tilted planetarium in Germany, Austria and Switzerland and an interactive exhibition, sharing the fascinating world of astronomy and ESO to inspire coming generations to appreciate and understand the Universe around us. All content is provided in English and German and entrance is free, but requires prior booking. For more details visit: supernova.eso.org

The ESO Supernova Planetarium & Visitor Centre is a cooperation between the European Southern Observatory (ESO) and the Heidelberg Institute for Theoretical Studies (HITS). The building is a donation from the Klaus Tschira Stiftung (KTS), a German foundation, and ESO runs the facility.

ESO Supernova is proudly supported by: LOR Foundation, Evans & Sutherland, Sky-Skan and Energie-Wende-Garching.

KTS

The Klaus Tschira Stiftung (KTS) was created in 1995 by the physicist and SAP co-founder Klaus Tschira (1940-2015). It is one of Europe’s largest privately funded non-profit foundations. The Foundation promotes the advancement of the natural sciences, mathematics, and computer science, and strives to raise appreciation for these fields. The Foundation’s commitment begins in kindergarten and continues in schools, universities, and research facilities. The Foundation champions new methods of scientific knowledge transfer, and supports both development and intelligible presentation of research findings.

HITS

The Heidelberg Institute for Theoretical Studies (HITS gGmbH) was established in 2010 by the physicist and SAP co-founder Klaus Tschira (1940-2015) and the Klaus Tschira Foundation as a private, non-profit research institute. HITS conducts basic research in the natural sciences, mathematics, and computer science, with a focus on the processing, structuring, and analyzing large amounts of data. The research fields range from molecular biology to astrophysics. The shareholders of HITS are the HITS Stiftung, which is a subsidiary of the Klaus Tschira Foundation, Heidelberg University and the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT). HITS also cooperates with other universities and research institutes and with industrial partners. The base funding of HITS is provided by the HITS Stiftung with funds received from the Klaus Tschira Foundation. The primary external funding agencies are the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF), the German Research Foundation (DFG), and the European Union.

ESO

ESO is the foremost intergovernmental astronomy organisation in Europe and the world’s most productive ground-based astronomical observatory by far. It has 16 Member States: Austria, Belgium, Czechia, Denmark, France, Finland, Germany, Ireland, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom, along with the host state of Chile and with Australia as a Strategic Partner. ESO carries out an ambitious programme focused on the design, construction and operation of powerful ground-based observing facilities enabling astronomers to make important scientific discoveries. ESO also plays a leading role in promoting and organising cooperation in astronomical research. ESO operates three unique world-class observing sites in Chile: La Silla, Paranal and Chajnantor. At Paranal, ESO operates the Very Large Telescope and its world-leading Very Large Telescope Interferometer as well as two survey telescopes, VISTA working in the infrared and the visible-light VLT Survey Telescope. Also at Paranal ESO will host and operate the Cherenkov Telescope Array South, the world’s largest and most sensitive gamma-ray observatory. ESO is also a major partner in two facilities on Chajnantor, APEX and ALMA, the largest astronomical project in existence. And on Cerro Armazones, close to Paranal, ESO is building the 39-metre Extremely Large Telescope, the ELT, which will become “the world’s biggest eye on the sky”.