Planetarium shows available for booking until the end of 2019

The ESO Supernova team has published the schedule of planetarium shows through the end of the year 2019. Visitors interested in coming to our centre in the next seven months can now book their planetarium tickets online.

The heart of the ESO Supernova is a digital planetarium which offers a unique experience through the use of state-of-the-art visualisation techniques. The shows are displayed on a 360-degree dome 14 metres in diameter. The clear, digital projection and three-dimensional astronomical database ensure a unique and immersive experience. These are just a few of the reasons why our visitors are keen to attend one of our planetarium shows.

Due to the ever increasing demand from our visitors, planetarium shows are now open for booking until the end of 2019. You can check the available shows online (planetarium shows are displayed in blue; language is indicated by a flag icon), then make your reservation by selecting the desired show and seats before paying for the tickets.

Among the shows you can now book are:

• Europe to the Stars tells you the story of European ground-based astronomy and ESO, acting as the perfect movie introduction to our permanent exhibition, The Living Universe.
• The Sun, Our Living Star reveals the secrets of our planet’s powerhouse, the source of the energy that drives our winds, our weather and all life.
• The Planets — Expedition into the Solar System takes you on a trip to discover the wonders of our cosmic neighbours through the eyes of space voyagers.
• Kaluoka’hina — The Enchanted Reef is a humorous adventure story for families with small children and it runs at our centre only in June!
• The Amazing Adventures of Rosetta and Philae is another show perfect for families, inviting you to join Rosetta and her lander Philae on a wonderful adventure to the comet Chur.

Information on more of our shows for a variety of all ages is available on our website.

Sign up for our newsletter to stay informed about new shows we add to the programme and special events.

The ticket for a planetarium show costs €5/person. We recommend buying tickets online in advance of your visit as our shows tend to book fast, especially at the weekend. However, it’s worth checking for tickets, even at the last minute, as there are sometimes some still available, especially during the week. Even if there aren’t any planetarium tickets left you are still welcome to visit our astronomical exhibition for free.

If you would like to visit us Wednesday to Friday with a group of 20+ people or a school class and cannot see a planetarium show at a time which suits you, please email us as it may still be possible for us to schedule an extra show. Our standard show times are at 10:00, 11:30, 14:00 and 15:30.

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. Entrance to the exhibition is free, and requires no prior booking. For planetarium shows, guided tours and other activities, visitors need to book and pay for their tickets online. 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 processing, structuring, and analysing 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, the Czech Republic, 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”.

Courtesy of European Southern Observatory