N° 33–1999: Come to Noyon (France) and follow the solar eclipse with ESA
5 August 1999
On 11 August, the day of the eclipse, a special event is planned in Noyon, some 100 km North East of Paris. The City of Noyon and the Société Astronomique de France have organised an observation site where 4000 European amateur and professional astronomers will share the eclipse experience with over 8000 enthusiasts from the general public.
ESA will feature a special exhibition stand where the public, amateurs and press can obtain information. During the partial eclipse phases, the latest images from ESA's solar observatory SOHO and from other European eclipse sites, coming via the Internet or traditional broadcast, will be shown on a large video screen. The magic of the total eclipse in Noyon will last 2 minutes and 11 seconds. ESA has set up a multi-site eclipse imaging campaign over Europe to capture a long eclipse sequence from the Atlantic, the UK, France (Noyon and Strasbourg), Germany, Austria/ Hungary (at an international camp of young astronomers) and Romania. High-definition still and video images of the eclipse will be available live on the Internet.
Check our site http://sci.esa.int/eclipse99/
Noyon will also host a press briefing at the eclipse site Media Centre at 9h30-10h30, and again at 13h15-14h15, after the eclipse shadow has left Europe. Opportunities for interviews with ESA multi-language staff and other specialists will be possible after the eclipse.
Over the week leading up to the eclipse, ESA representatives are also participating in press and public conferences. Daily press conferences are scheduled in Strasbourg at the France 3 Auditorium from 4 to 11 August at 16:00-18:00 hrs, in Paris at the Museum d'Histoire Naturelle from 5 -12 August (except 11 August) at 10:00-12:00 hrs, and in Stuttgart at the Science Fair, where an ESA/Max Plank Institute stand has also been set up.
Links:
http://www.esa.int
http://sci.esa.int/eclipse99/
http://solarsystem.estec.esa.nl/home_page.htm
http://sohowww.estec.esa.nl/data/LATEST/index.html (latest SOHO images)
For further information please contact:
Franco Bonacina, ESA Public Relations, Paris, tel. + 33 1 5369 7713
Heidi Graf, ESA/ESTEC, Noordwijk ,the Netherlands, tel. + 31 71 565 3006
Hugo Marée, ESA Public Relations, Paris, tel + 33 1 5369 7106