Free_Astronomy_-_SeptemberOctober_2019

18 SPACE^ CHRONICLES

most of the world’s current large tel-

escopes. The ESO 3. 6 - metre tele-

scope is now home to the world’s

foremost extrasolar planet hunter in

a ground-based observatory: the

High Accuracy Radial velocity Planet

Searcher (HARPS), a spectrograph

with unrivalled precision.

The President enjoyed a tour of La

Silla’s facilities. “We are stardust,”

exclaimed the President during the

event. “Today Chile is the world cap-

ital of astronomy and for this reason

to be at La Silla Observatory today is

very special.”The observatory’s reg-

ular astronomical inhabitants were

also on site to take advantage of ex-

isting observing infrastructure in

novel ways. Seven projects with sci-

entific or outreach goals took place

during the eclipse, with some using

pre-existing telescopes at La Silla,

such as the NTT, ExTrA, TAROT and

REM, and others using temporary se-

tups. This follows a long tradition of

using eclipses for scientific observa-

tions, such as the famous confirma-

tion of General Relativity which

took place 100 years ago.

The partial eclipse started at

15 : 23 : 50 CLT, with totality lasting 1

minute and 52 seconds from the La

Silla summit, between 16 : 39 : 23 CLT

and 16 : 41 : 15 CLT. The partial eclipse

ended at 17 : 47 : 16 CLT, shortly be-

fore sunset.

S

pectacular shot of the solar corona made by Petr

Horálek. [ESO/P. Horálek] On the right, detail of the

main protuberances visible on 2 July. [ESA–CESAR team]

I

n the background, all the phases of the eclipse

photographed by Petr Horálek. [ESO/P. Horálek]

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