Total Solar Eclipse Over La Silla - ESO
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Astronomical News DOI: 10.18727/0722-6691/5152
Total Solar Eclipse Over La Silla
Laura Ventura 1 The solar eclipse of 2 July 2019, whose outline of the eclipse project was drafted
Claudio Melo 1 path of totality included La Silla Obser in 2013, and a project plan for a big
Lars Lindberg Christensen 1 vatory, provided a stunning culmination public event was prepared and approved
Mariya Lyubenova 1 to the celebrations of the 50th anniver- by the ESO Directors Team in June 2018,
Fernando Comerón 1 sary of La Silla, ESO’s first observatory, one year before the event.
which was inaugurated on 25 March 1969.
The thousands of visitors who came to The La Silla site provides a stunning
1
ESO La Silla for the eclipse were only a small setting, combining an astronomical obser-
fraction of the hundreds of thousands vatory and a beautiful landscape; in
of people who travelled from all over the addition, given the high likelihood of good
On Tuesday 2 July 2019, in the late world to the narrow strip of land that observing conditions during the event,
afternoon, a total solar eclipse took place would find itself under the shadow of the it became a desirable location to enjoy
over ESO’s La Silla Observatory; totality Moon for almost two minutes. the eclipse. For that reason, ESO decided
lasted 1 minute and 52 seconds. For to open the observatory to as many visi-
this very special event, ESO decided to By 2011, ESO’s education and Public tors as the infrastructure and logistics
open the doors of the observatory to Outreach Department had already would allow.
the public, providing over one thousand received the first requests from the public
visitors with a unique vantage point to come to La Silla to witness the 2019 Figure 1. La Silla during the total solar eclipse,
from which to witness this spectacular eclipse and/or to take pictures, videos which resulted in almost two minutes of totality at
natural phenomenon. and make precise measurements. An 20:39 UT.
ESO/R. Lucchesi
The Messenger 177 – Quarter 3 | 2019 43
Astronomical News Ventura L. et al., Total Solar Eclipse Over La Silla
Figure 2. The President
ESO/M. Zamani
of the Republic of
Chile, Sebastián Piñera,
pictured with Chilean
high school students
while visiting La Silla.
In addition to the general public, La Silla past 50 years, ESO had the pleasure of is difficult even from space-based probes.
was honoured to welcome the President inviting a large group of students and La Silla hosted an array of scientific and
of the Republic of Chile, Sebastián Piñera senior citizens from the municipalities of outreach observations carried out by
and his wife, Cecilia Morel. They were La Higuera, La Serena, and Coquimbo teams that used dedicated equipment to
accompanied by the Ministers of Science, to witness the eclipse from La Silla. The perform a variety of observations,
Technology, Knowledge and Innovation, group, who had a special meeting with described in Christensen et al. on p. 47.
Andrés Couve, and of Education, Marcela President Piñera and the First Lady, Notably, even the NTT was used to obtain
Cubillos, as well as by the Undersecret engaged in a lively conversation with them. spectroscopy of the solar corona, an
aries of Foreign Affairs, Carolina Valdivia, In addition to the students from the observation that critically depended on
and of Tourism, Mónica Zalaquett, along Coquimbo Region, La Silla also hosted the perfect synchronisation — a miscalcula-
with other authorities from the Ministries sixteen winners of a contest organised tion could have resulted in direct expo-
of Science and Foreign Affairs and by CONICYT, the National Council of Sci- sure to the radiation of the solar surface
members of the National Congress. ence and Technology of Chile, among and severe damage to the telescope
Although the President and the First Lady children selected from schools across the optics and instrument. The experience of
could not stay at La Silla for the eclipse, country. the telescope operators ensured that this
they had the opportunity of visiting the was expertly avoided (see Dennefeld
3.6-metre telescope, where they were Most of the members of the ESO Science et al., p. 54). Another notable experiment
received by the Director General of ESO, Outreach Network (ESON), ESO’s network included the use of the Rapid Action
the President of the ESO Council, and of outreach representatives in the Member Telescope for Transient Objects (TAROT)
other members of the ESO management. States and beyond, were present at to reproduce the famous Eddington
After this visit, both the President of La Silla as well. For them, the eclipse was experiment during the historical eclipse of
Chile and the ESO Director General gave the highlight of a tour of the ESO facilities 1919, when the deflection of the light
speeches at a tent set up to host over in Chile that included Paranal and the from stars near the line of sight of the
60 media representatives — both national Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Sun was used to verify the predictions of
and international — who had registered Array (ALMA). Other members of this tour Einstein’s general theory of relativity.
to provide live coverage of the event. group included eight social media influ-
They then moved to the VIP area, by the encers selected from 300 participants in Aside from the special guests mentioned
New Technology Telescope (NTT), where a #MeetESO social media competition 1 above, over 700 people travelled to
they met with diplomatic representatives including the winner of the La Silla Total La Silla. Around a tenth of these visitors
of ESO Member States and Partners, and Eclipse Public Competition 2. came from Chile, with the rest travelling
other distinguished guests. from abroad — mostly Europe and
A total solar eclipse offers a rare possi North America. An area with a wonderful
As a symbol of the deep appreciation of bility to carry out scientific experiments view of the eclipse was prepared for the
ESO toward the local community which targeting the physical properties of the public and was equipped with a large tent
has hosted its first observatory for these lower solar corona, observation of which with seats, where snacks and beverages
44 The Messenger 177 – Quarter 3 | 2019
Figure 3. Some of the 1000 visitors to La Silla are
S. Lowery
seen here observing the eclipse from an area near
the Swedish–ESO Submillimetre Telescope (SEST),
during the performance by Steve Rothery and friends.
were served. Polyclinic services were
installed at the former control building of
the Swedish–ESO Submillimetre Tele-
scope (SEST), and two ambulances fully
equipped to provide first aid were posi-
tioned along the public viewing area. Infor-
mation on the safe viewing of the eclipse
had been given in advance to all those
attending, and glasses with filters certified
for solar viewing were distributed.
As part of the programme of activities
offered for all the visitors, solar tele-
scopes were set up for public observa-
tions before and during the partial phases along, resulting in a truly impressive dis- band, appropriately entitled “La Silla”.
of the eclipse. The visitor centre at play of telescopes, cameras and a wide The performance was a collaboration
La Silla offered a brand-new exhibition variety of imaging aids. with Rick Armstrong, who played bass
about ESO, including informative panels, guitar. It was an honour to host Rick
the simulation of an old control room and ESO made sure that the spectacle Armstrong, the elder son of astronaut
a collection of astronomical instrumenta- enjoyed at La Silla could be followed Neil Armstrong, particularly in the same
tion pieces rescued from the observatory across the rest of the world, offering a live month as the 50th anniversary of the
over the course of its 50-year history, webcast that combined high-resolution first lunar landing.
showing the evolution of detectors from images of the eclipsed Sun with views of
photographic plates to CCDs. Two itiner- the site from several vantage points, con- Despite the expectation of the cold tem-
ant exhibitions were also installed for the veying the atmosphere at the observatory peratures typical in July at La Silla, and
occasion: the already very popular audio- (see Figures 3 & 4). In addition, a team of the non-negligible probability of adverse
visual show “ALMA sounds”, created from expert photographers from ESO ensured meteorological conditions, the weather
millimetre-submillimetre signals detected that excellent images of high technical on the eclipse day was especially compli-
by ALMA; and paintings by Chilean artist and artistic quality were obtained, a sam- ant, adding to the special character of the
Silvana Zúñiga that, using luminescent ple of which are shown in this article. event. The sky remained clear and cloud-
paint, illustrate concepts like light pollu- free for the whole day, temperatures were
tion and multi-wavelength astronomy. A special treat was a concert by British mild and virtually no wind blew, making
The visitor centre also hosted public talks musician Steve Rothery (of Marillion fame) the outdoors experience even more
given by ESO experts on popular astron- and his band, who performed against the pleasant and memorable.
omy topics. Finally, public tours to the impressive backdrop of the Swedish–
NTT and the 3.6-metre telescope were ESO Submillimetre Telescope (SEST)
Figure 4. The moment worth waiting for: totality.
organised. The area reserved for public antenna. The concert ended with the pre- With the Sun only 14 degrees above the horizon, day
viewing offered ample space to set up miere of a new record by Steve R othery turns into twilight. The VIP platform at the NTT is
the equipment that many visitors brought and Riccardo Romano, a member of his seen on the right.
ESO/M. Zamani
The Messenger 177 – Quarter 3 | 2019 45
ESO/P. Horalek
Astronomical News Ventura L. et al., Total Solar Eclipse Over La Silla
Figure 5. A composite photo with exposures of Moon completely covering the disc of Contemplating one of the most majestic celestial
v arying duration showing filamentary details in the phenomena was enhanced spectacularly by excel-
the Sun. The corona appeared bright and
solar corona. lent meteorological conditions and the wonderful
compact, typical of the period near mini- landscape of ESO’s first observatory. While those
mal solar activity, and, through the tele- particular factors were beyond ESO’s control, the
As the partial eclipse phase started and scopes, a protuberance could be seen success of the experience for visitors on that day
required planning, coordination and organisation
progressed during the early afternoon, an toward the northwest of the solar disc.
and the effort of colleagues across ESO. The
atmosphere of mounting excitement built Most of those witnessing the phenome- authors would particularly like to thank the staff in
up in anticipation of the extraordinary non reacted emotionally, with abundant the Department of Communication, La Silla Logistics
moments to come. People witnessed the exclamations of wonder, hugs and tears. and operations, IT support, ESO’s Representation in
Chile, La Silla Paranal Safety, and everybody else
progress of the covering of the solar disc As the first Baily’s beads appeared, sig-
who worked hard in the preparation and execution of
with dedicated protective glasses at the nalling the end of the total eclipse phase, a unique event in ESO’s history.
beginning, but as totality approached, the the 1 minute and 52 seconds of totality
changes in illumination of the surrounding seemed to many way too short.
Links
landscape became increasingly obvious,
giving the scene an unreal appearance. The deep impressions left by totality 1
#MeetESO social media competition: https://www.
The blue of the sky became deeper and almost turned the last partial eclipse eso.org/public/announcements/ann18088/
deeper while a band of intense orange — phase — during which the solar disc pro- 2
The La Silla total eclipse public competition:
https://www.eso.org/public/norway/announce-
often seen in the middle of twilight — gressively reappeared from behind the
ments/ann18091/
encompassed the entire horizon. At the Moon — into an anti-climax, despite the 3
ESO press release for the total solar eclipse:
same time, a noticeable drop in the tem- beautiful show put on by the partially https://www.eso.org/public/news/eso1912/
perature was felt as the solar irradiation eclipsed Sun advancing toward the horizon
decreased. until the end of the eclipse near sunset.
Notes
Further impressions of the event can be
Finally, the shadow of the Moon reached seen online2. a
his is the only total solar eclipse that will be visible
T
La Silla. In a matter of seconds, the sliver from an ESO observatory for more than 212 years,
when La Silla will be close to the north of the path
of the uncovered solar disc thinned until
of totality during the total solar eclipse of 28 August
disappearing as the sky quickly dark- Acknowledgements
2231. An annular eclipse will be visible from La Silla
ened, stars became visible, and the solar The authors feel privileged to have witnessed this
next century, on 9 January 2187.
corona shone in stark contrast with the once-in-a-lifetime experience at La Silla, as the next
surrounding sky and the black disc of the total solar eclipse visible from there will be in 2231a.
46 The Messenger 177 – Quarter 3 | 2019
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