March 21 - June 21, 2016

STARLIGHT. THE ORIGINS OF ASTROPHYSICS IN FLORENCE
Scientific historical exhibition at the Arcetri Astrophysical Observatory Library

Florence, February 1859.  The astronomer Giovan Battista Donati, from the tower of the Specola overlooking the Boboli Garden, takes the spectra of 15 of the most luminous stars in the sky, discovering a substantial analogy (and some subtle differences) with the spectrum of the Sun. In the same year the German physicist Kirchhoff and the chemist Bunsen show that the dark lines in the stellar and solar spectra (nowadays known as absorption lines) are due to the presence in the Sun and the stars of the same chemical elements known on the Earth.
These discoveries revolutionized our scientific knowledge of the Universe allowing astronomers for the first time to study the physical aspects of the celestial bodies (chemical composition, temperature, density, velocity), a possibility deemed impossible up to that time.  It is the birth of modern astrophysics.
The exhibition The origins of Astrophysics in Florence illustrates the first steps made by Donati in the field of the new science, from the pioneering observations of spectra of stars and comets to the construction of powerful solar spectroscopes.  In the following decades, the road opened by Donati in the new field of astrophysics flourished in the activities of the astronomical observatory founded by him in 1872 on the Arcetri hill, that in 1921 changed its name into Osservatorio Astrofisico. Today, state-of-the-art spectroscopes designed and built in the Arcetri Observatory allow to carry on forefront astrophysical research with the most powerful telescopes in the world.
The exhibition The origins of Astrophysics in Florence is one of the five sections of the national exhibition Starlight -Italian astronomers in the nineteenth century: pioneers of astrophysics, hosted by the Observatories of Arcetri, Naples, Padua, Palermo and Rome.

Scientific Committee: Simone Bianchi, Daniele Galli, Antonella Gasperini
with collaboration: Luca Carbonaro, Gilberto Falcini

Opening time:
Public:
Mon.-Fri. 9am - 5pm, free entrance (for info E-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.)

Groups and schools:
reservations e-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Phone: 055 2752280 (Mon.-Fri. 10am - 12am)

Further information: starlight.inaf.it

Catalogue: the printed catalogue of the exhibition is available: STALIGHT ( by Ileana Chinnici), Arte'm - Edizioni Prismi, Napoli, 2016 (cost: 20 euro )