INAUGURATION OF THE EXHIBITION “¡ECLIPSES SOLARES EN ARGENTINA!”
IN BUENOS AIRES
The Buenos Aires Planetarium and its circular glass facade on which IAP produced eclipse films are screened.
On the occasion of the two total solar eclipses observable in Argentina and Chile in 2019 and 2020, the Institut d'astrophysique de Paris contributed to an exhibition devoted to these phenomena. It is inaugurated on 12 May 2019 at the Buenos Aires Planetarium and is intended to circulate through Argentina until 2020.
A total solar eclipse is one of the most spectacular natural phenomena that can be seen. When the Moon passes in front of the Sun and precisely covers the solar disk, the light of our star is masked and the night falls abruptly for several minutes, in the middle of the day. It is then possible to observe the solar corona and to see some stars and planets. While a total solar eclipse is a rare event at a given location on Earth, two events will be observable from Argentina and Chile on July 2, 2019 and December 14, 2020. These two South American eclipses will be major astronomical and popular events, accessible to millions of people.
On this occasion, an exhibition entitled “¡Eclipses solares en Argentina!” presents images of eclipses to the public as well as information to understand and observe these phenomena. It was produced by the Institut d'astrophysique de Paris (IAP), the Institut Français d’Argentine, the Instituto de Astronomía y Física del Espacios and the Délégation générale de l’Alliance Françaises en Argentine, with the assistance of the French Embassy in Argentina and the Observatoire de Paris. The exhibition is inaugurated on 12 May 2019 at the Buenos Aires Planetarium, where eclipse videos produced by the IAP are also shown. The exhibition will be presented in various locations in Argentina until 2020.
Since its creation, IAP has conducted many eclipse observation missions around the world, as well as outreach activities. The exhibition “¡Eclipses solares en Argentina!” is part of this story, including pictures of observations of the eclipses of 1945 in Sweden, of 1973 aboard the “Concorde” supersonic aircraft, or 2017 in Angola. The content of the exhibition was designed by members of the Institut d'astrophysique de Paris and their Argentinian colleagues from the Instituto de Astronomía y Física del Espacio. These teams jointly carry out exoplanet research projects as part of a collaboration supported by the CNRS.
Visitors and panelsof the exhibition at the Buenos Aires Planetarium.
© Guillaume Hébrard /IAP-CNRS-Sorbonne Université
Links
The exhibition website (in Spanish)
The booklet on 2019-2020 eclipses made from the exhibition
Virtual version of the exhibition
The movie
« Un moment d'obscurité » (in French)
The movie
« Our own private eclipse »
A
public lecture about eclipses (in French)
The solar annular eclipse
of 26 February 2017 in Angola
The solar partial eclipse
of 20 March 2015 in France
The solar total eclipse
of 29 March 2006 in Egypte (in French)
The solar total eclipse
of 4 December 2002 in Angola (in French)
The solar total eclipse
of 21 June 2001 in Angola (in French)
The solar total eclipse
of 11 August 1999 in Iran (in French)
Writing and contact
- Guillaume Hébrard
Institut d’astrophysique de Paris, CNRS, UPMC
hebrard [at] iap [dot] fr
Layout: Jean Mouette
May 2019