Germany's largest IYA2009 exhibition celebrates its 500,000th visitor

20 February 2010

It's called "Out of this World - Wonders of the Solar System" (or "Sternstunden - Wunder des Sonnensystems"), occupies a cylinder 100 metres high, and has been visited 500,000 times in just 10 1/2 months: the largest exhibition devoted to IYA2009 in Germany in the Gasometer in Oberhausen.

A gasometer, or gas holder, is a large container where natural gas or town gas is stored near atmospheric pressure at ambient temperatures. The one in Oberhausen in the Ruhr served

that purpose for over 60 years but was turned into a giant exhibition "hall" in the 1990s. Out of this World, which opened on 2 April 2009, as one of the IYA2009 highlights in Germany, turned out to be the most successful show by far - so no wonder it has been extended for a full year until 30 December 2010, now as a key contribution to the European Capital of Culture RUHR.2010 which encompasses over 50 Ruhr cities. On 16 February 2010 the 500,000th visitor was counted.

The exhibition, a joint venture by the privately run Gasometer GmbH, the German Aerospace Centre DLR and regional astronomers, consists of three sections: on the ground floor huge prints of particularly beautiful astronomical and space images as well as scale models highlight

our present knowledge of the Solar System, the space probes that went there, and the Universe beyond. On the next level a collection of rare historical as well as contemporary astronomical and space science instruments introduces the means by which mankind has learned about the wonders of the Universe and how our view of the world has changed as a consequence of that. And finally, on top of it all a model of the Moon, with a diameter of 25 metres "the largest one on Earth", hovers

over a vast arena. It's inflated and printed on with the high-resolution albedo map from the Clementine orbiter, while lighting effects mimic the lunar phases and soft music completes a truly out-of-this-world experience that many come to enjoy again and again.

Report by Daniel Fischer.