Around 1,200 scientists and engineers from over forty countries have gathered at Amare for the Europlanet Science Congress. The event marks the 21st edition of the annual meeting and the first time it has taken place in the Netherlands.
Planetary researchers Sebastiaan de Vet and Inge Loes ten Kate helped bring the congress to The Hague, choosing the location partly for its accessibility and its links to seventeenth-century astronomer Christiaan Huygens.
Huygens discovered Saturn’s largest moon, Titan, and conducted early planetary observations using self-built telescopes.
Art and music at Amare
Organisers arranged public programming alongside the conference sessions to avoid keeping the event inside an academic bubble. The hall at Amare features an exhibition of artwork inspired by planetary processes, including cosmic postcards by Emily Wong and models of space missions.
The exhibition also includes an eight-part musical work dedicated to dwarf planets, composed by astronomy professor emeritus Huib Henrichs and performed with flutist Janneke Groesz.
Visitors can also try the art installation Becoming Red Dust, a guided fifteen-minute meditation using headphones and vibration motors linked to data recorded on Mars.
A scale route to Scheveningen
Outside the venue, people can follow the Hague Planetary Path, an outdoor walking route designed by De Vet that uses a scale model of the solar system. The distance from the Sun to Earth is mapped at one hundred metres, placing Mars near Spuiplein and Pluto near the Kurhaus in Scheveningen.
The congress and the exhibition inside Amare run through Friday afternoon. The walking route to the coast will remain open for a longer period.
