Find out more about alien worlds
They regularly appear in the news: exoplanets. But what exactly are they? And what do they have to do with Switzerland? With special information pillars, which are set up at various locations in Switzerland, the scientists of the NCCR PlanetS want to show to the general public that they are a leading organisation worldwide dedicated to the study of the origin, evolution and characterisation of planets within our own solar system and beyond.
Information pillar about exoplanets. (Photo: Raumprodukt)
The pillars are an eye-catcher. On top there sits a rotating planet. A model of ESA’s space telescope CHEOPS, built under Swiss management and operated from 2018, is circling around the planet. On a screen interesting videos can be played. And two stereo viewers lure with three-dimensional views of the universe.
“We want the passers stop for a moment and devote two minutes of their time to this exciting research topic,” says Guido Schwarz, outreach professional at the NCCR PlanetS. Together with the Zurich company Raumprodukt GmbH he has developed the pillars. “We are excited to see how the audience reacts to it and are pleased about feedback,” says Schwarz.
The first pillar can be seen at the Naturama in Aarau. The Naturama will have a event on Thursday, March 10, 2016 at 18:30 h where Prof. Christoph Mordasini from the University of Bern will talk about exoplanets. Admission is free.
Later pillars can be seen at the Planetarium of the Swiss Museum of Transport in Lucerne, at the Museum FocusTerra of the ETH Zurich, at the University of Bern in the building of Exakte Wissenschaften, at the University of Zurich at Campus Irchel and at the Observatory of the University of Geneva.
For further information, see.
http://nccr-planets.ch/exoplanets/
www.naturama.ch
www.raumprodukt.ch
