Tickets for Viewing the 2019 Total Solar Eclipse from ESO’s La Silla Observatory On Sale Soon

On 2 July 2019 a total solar eclipse will shroud ESO’s La Silla Observatory in Chile in darkness. To celebrate this momentous event, ESO is inviting the general public to witness it at the observatory!

Only 700 tickets will be available in the ESOshop from 22 November 2017 on a first-come, first-served basis. The tickets will be 200 euros each, and will include transportation from the base of the mountain to ESO’s La Silla Observatory and a guided visit of the observatory. More information on tickets and the event will be released on the first day of ticket sales. To be one of the first to learn when tickets are available, sign up for the ESOnews here.

This will be the only total solar eclipse visible from an ESO observatory for the next 212 years — making the eclipse in 2019 an exciting opportunity.

In addition to the solar eclipse, 2019 marks 50 years since the La Silla Observatory began operations. The La Silla Observatory is located at the outskirts of the Chilean Atacama Desert, 600 km north of Santiago de Chile and at an altitude of 2400 metres. Today, ESO operates two of the most productive 4-metre class telescopes in the world at La Silla: the 3.58-metre New Technology Telescope (NTT) and the ESO 3.6-metre telescope.

2019 is also an important year for the field of astronomy as it is the 100th anniversary of both the International Astronomical Union (IAU) and the Eddington expedition, a scientific mission during another total solar eclipse that confirmed Einstein’s general theory of relativity.

Courtesy of European Southern Observatory