Visitor Centre at Onsala Space Observatory drives engagement

Impact

The new visitor centre at Onsala Space Observatory was inaugurated in 2022. Located tens of metres from three of the observatory’s radio telescopes, the building and its exhibition are designed to provide visitors with a direct experience of the scale, impact and excitement of radio astronomy.

Staff at the centre, funded by Chalmers University of Technology, work together with researchers and students in interaction design and education to develop the centre’s exhibition, aiming in particular to maximise science capital for school students, with core target group 10-15 year olds. The exhibition has been funded by grants totalling almost 0.5 MEUR from the Hasselblad Foundation.

"The opportunity for scientists to determine the direction of their research, with their own curiosity as a compass, is something we at Chalmers value highly. The mind must be free - only then can unexpected and ground-breaking discoveries be made! I hope and believe that the visitor center will be a place for inspired meetings - here children and young people can meet scientists, and science at the cutting edge. Their level of knowledge differs, but the curiosity is the same", said Stefan Bengtsson, then president of Chalmers.

Year 6 students from Gothenburg school Lövgärdesskolan took part in the inauguration ceremony for the new visitor centre at Onsala Space Observatory in 2022. In late 2024 four students from the same school (including two pictured below) returned on a work experience week at Chalmers.