Media Advisory: Groundbreaking Ceremony for the ESO Supernova

On 24 February 2015, at 12:30, a groundbreaking ceremony will be held at ESO’s Headquarters in Garching bei München, Germany, to mark the start of construction work for the ESO Supernova Planetarium and Visitor Centre. The centre will be a magnificent showcase for astronomy and will be open to the public free of charge. It is made possible by a collaboration between the Heidelberg Institute for Theoretical Studies (HITS), the research institute of the Klaus Tschira Stiftung, and ESO. The Klaus Tschira Stiftung offered to fully fund the construction and ESO will run the facility.

This new facility will provide visitors with an immersive experience of astronomy in general, along with ESO’s scientific results, projects, and technological breakthroughs. It will include a fulldome planetarium and more than 2000 square metres of permanent and temporary exhibitions. Further rooms housing conference facilities will also host a programme of lectures, workshops and conferences. All content will be provided in both English and German.

The new building’s unique design will resemble the form of a binary star system transferring mass from one component to the other, which will lead to a supernova. This is also reflected in the name of the facility: ESO Supernova.

Members of the media are welcome to attend the groundbreaking event. Please register by filling out this form by 18 February 2015. Interviews will be available with the ESO Director General, Tim de Zeeuw, representatives of the Klaus Tschira Stiftung, the mayor of Garching, Dietmar Gruchmann, the ESO Supernova Project Coordinator, Fabian Reckmann and the architect Manfred Bernhardt.

Registered media representatives will be welcomed at ESO from 11:30. At 12:30, the ESO Director General will open the event and, after speeches from Klaus Tschira, Dietmar Gruchmann and Manfred Bernhardt, guests will go outside for a short groundbreaking ceremony, followed by press interviews and photographs.

On the day of the ceremony the ESO Supernova logo will be unveiled and the website and social media accounts will open to the public. Details of the programme planned for the ESO Supernova, including exhibition themes, guided tours and educational activities are available in the fact sheet below.

Courtesy of European Southern Observatory