ESO Supernova Planetarium & Visitor Center

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ESO Supernova Planetarium
& Visitor Center
ESO Supernova opening.jpg

ESO Supernova Planetarium
& Visitor Center
Data
place Garching near Munich Coordinates: 48 ° 15 ′ 32.7 ″  N , 11 ° 40 ′ 19.2 ″  EWorld icon
Art
Planetarium ,
exhibition center
architect Bernhardt + Partner
opening April 28, 2018
Number of visitors (annually) up to 200,000 (planned)
operator
management
Tania Johnston
Website

The ESO Supernova Planetarium & Visitor Center is an astronomical center right next to the headquarters of the European Southern Observatory (ESO) in Garching near Munich . In addition to exhibitions and guided tours, the Supernova offers planetarium shows, in which the latest observation results from ESO telescopes are presented.

ESO Supernova is a not-for-profit educational institution that does not receive any separate government grants other than funds from ESO's normal operating budget. Entry to and participation in all of the center's activities is free in 2018. From 2019, tickets for activities such as planetarium shows, tours and other events will be sold. Entry to the exhibition and all educational activities will continue to be free.

organization

The building is a donation from the Klaus Tschira Foundation (KTS) and the Heidelberg Institute for Theoretical Studies (HITS), which ESO accepted in December 2013. It is operated and managed by ESO. The director is Tania Johnston.

Garching research campus

The ESO Supernova Planetarium & Visitor Center is located at the University and Research Center Garching . The campus houses the Ludwig Maximilians University of Munich and the Technical University of Munich, as well as more than 80 research institutes and international technology companies with more than 6,000 employees and around 15,000 students. Her areas of work range from basic research to the development of promising high - tech applications.

Architecture

The visitor center was designed by the architects Bernhardt + Partner, who already designed the House of Astronomy , a center for public relations and didactics of astronomy. The building resembles a binary star system in which mass is transferred from one star to another. This constellation ultimately leads to the heavier star exploding as a supernova , whereby its brief, bright glow is as bright as the light of all the stars in the Milky Way together.

  • Exterior view of the
    ESO Supernova Planetarium
    & Visitor Center (draft)

  • Aerial view of the ESO headquarters. The Supernova Planetarium & Visitor Center is on the lower right, 2015

  • Interior view of the
    ESO Supernova Planetarium
    & Visitor Center (draft)

planetarium

The visitor center has a sloping planetarium dome 14 meters in diameter that can accommodate up to 109 visitors. The planetarium is equipped with five velvet projectors with a total resolution of around 4500 × 4500 pixels, corresponding to 20 megapixels. The software packages Digistar 6, Uniview, Powerdome, World Wide Telescope and Resolume and Space Engine are used.

Planetarium shows will be shown by both external producers and ESO's own productions. All material developed for the ESO Supernova is also available to other planetariums free of charge under the Creative Commons 4.0 license. It is available in various languages, including subtitles and spoken commentary.

Exhibitions

Permanent and special exhibitions are shown in the ESO Supernova visitor center on 2,200 m². Concept and design of the first permanent exhibition, The Living Universe, originate from the company "design und mehr". The Supernova project group at the Heidelberg Institute for Theoretical Studies contributed the scientific expertise of the institute to the elaboration of the exhibition contents. To this end, the group at HITS designed and developed more than twenty interactive exhibits especially for the ESO Supernova, where visitors can immerse themselves in the diverse world of astronomy thanks to computer simulations, virtual reality and state-of-the-art computer graphics.

The 13 themes of the exhibition present concepts of general astronomy, life in the universe and how celestial bodies are examined with modern telescopes and technologies.

Using exhibits that can be touched, interactive media, and video and audio installations, visitors can examine all scientific aspects of modern astrophysics . At each individual station they can choose how deep they want to immerse themselves in astronomical knowledge, with special explanations for children also being available.
The exhibition is also aimed at teachers and educators as it incorporates different concepts from the curriculum. Teachers can use parts of the exhibition to support and expand their lessons.
There is also a small, modern 3D cinema in the exhibition , where 3D and 2D films are shown in both German and English.

Guided tours

The ESO Supernova organizes several guided tours daily in German and English on various topics of astronomy, the history of ESO and the architecture of the ESO buildings. Three of the regular tours are listed at, but a number of special tours on specific themes are also available.

  • ESO Supernova exhibition tour: A professional astronomer or engineer leads visitors through the many highlights of the exhibition and answers questions about astronomy.
  • House tour : A tour of the main ESO building, which is normally not open to visitors, takes you through the history and future of ESO.
  • ESO ArchitecTour: The visitors see and experience the architecture of the ESO Supernova and the ESO main building.

Training events

ESO Supernova offers training events for students aged 4-18 years. Full-time trainers use astronomy as an example to bring young people closer to scientific procedures and technology; this takes place in interactive workshops, planetarium shows and guided tours. The topics are adapted to the respective age group of the student group.

Two special planetarium shows for the students have been developed with particular attention to the curriculum: The Sky Above Uses is for students ages 4-7 and A Journey through the Universe is for 8-11 year olds.

Six different practical workshops are available, each tailored to specific levels in the Bavarian curriculum, from kindergarten age to the 13th grade. Each workshop uses an astronomical background to show how a variety of topics from the curriculum can be taught and links them in an interdisciplinary way.

ESO Supernova offers special teacher seminars for teachers and coordinates a network of teachers in Bavaria, Germany and Europe.

See also

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Klaus Tschira Foundation donates a spectacular building to the ESO Press release on the ESO website from December 3, 2013. Accessed December 9, 2017
  2. ↑ ESO education and Public Outreach Department (ePOD) On the ESO website (in English). Retrieved December 9, 2017
  3. ↑ Research and learning on the Garching campus on the Garching research campus website. Retrieved December 9, 2017
  4. ↑ Bernhardt + Partner on the Bernhardt + Partner website. Retrieved December 9, 2017
  5. ↑ Haus der Astronomie on the website of the Haus der Astronomie. Retrieved March 9, 2018
  6. ↑ Planetarium shows on the ESO Supernova website. Retrieved December 9, 2017
  7. ↑ World premiere of the IMAX® 3D film "Hidden Universe" Press release on the ESO website on July 3, 2013. Accessed on December 9, 2017
  8. ↑ From Earth to Universe on the ESO Supernova website. Retrieved December 9, 2017
  9. ^ The first freely downloadable planetarium show press release on ESO's website on July 9, 2015. Accessed December 9, 2017
  10. ↑ Film "Europe to the Stars" now available. Press release on the ESO website of October 4, 2012. Accessed December 9, 2017
  11. ↑ For planetariums - Free material on the ESO Supernova website. Retrieved December 9, 2017
  12. ↑ Permanent exhibition in the ESO Supernova on the website of “design und mehr”. Retrieved December 9, 2017
  13. ↑ "The Supernova Project Group at HITS" on the website of the Heidelberg Institute for Theoretical Studies. Retrieved June 24, 2020
  14. ↑ Interactive astronomical exhibition on the ESO Supernova website. Retrieved December 9, 2017
  15. ↑ guided tours. In: On the ESO Supernova website. Retrieved March 9, 2018 .
  16. ↑ Workshops on the ESO website
  17. ↑ Teacher training on the ESO Supernova website