The planetarium
Digital projection built on real observational data.
European Southern Observatory โ CC BY 2.0 ยท ESO/P. Horalek โ CC BY 4.0 ยท ESO/P. Horalek โ CC BY 4.0 ยท ESO/C. Malin โ CC BY 4.0
The European Southern Observatory, an intergovernmental organisation of sixteen European states, operating observatories in northern Chile where the skies are among the clearest on earth. Its scientific and administrative headquarters are at Garching because Germany is a founding member and because Garching is a large research campus holding Max Planck institutes and the technical university โ so researchers here analyse data from telescopes thousands of kilometres away.
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The ESO Supernova is a visitor centre and planetarium belonging to the European Southern Observatory at Garching north of Munich โ and the institution itself is what makes the place notable: ESO is a European organisation operating the largest ground-based telescopes in the world from the Atacama Desert in Chile, and its scientific headquarters are here. The building is designed in the form of two binary star systems, and its planetarium is among the most technically advanced in Europe: high-resolution digital projection onto a tilted dome seating over a hundred, showing astronomical films built on real observational data rather than imagined animation. The permanent exhibition explains what the observatory actually does: how giant telescopes work, how planets outside the solar system are detected, and what observation reveals about how stars form. Entry to the exhibition is usually free with the dome ticketed, and advance booking is required. Access is by metro then bus, about forty minutes.
Digital projection built on real observational data.
Giant telescopes and exoplanet detection explained.
Karl-Schwarzschild-Strasse 2, 85748 Garching