If it is cloudy or nighttime: the Sun is always shining. We take the Sun for granted,
just as the ground beneath our feet and the air around us. Despite its obvious
and enduring presence, our Sun remains elusive and mysterious; the Sun still has secrets
which fascinate human beings and inspire them to know more. The exhibition, The Sun:
An Enduring Mystery, shows how, under the influence of science, the image of the Sun has
changed.

In ancient times, many cultures saw the Sun as a powerful god. The Egyptians, for
example, worshiped the Sun God Re, as the exhibition shows with a 3000-year-old
papyrus. Later, in the time of Middle Ages Christianity, there was no place anymore for
a living Sun. The Sun was reduced to a useful object that gave light and warmth to
human beings by the order of God. The Earth stood in the center of the Universe and
all other celestial bodies turned around it. On display in the exhibition is a rare
geocentric planetarium that demonstrates this outdated idea.

After the Dutch invention of the telescope, the Sun was enthusiastically examined. In
1613, the Italian scientist Galileo saw that dark spots moved over the Sun and
that the Sun turned on its axis. The rare, first published version of his sunspot
sketches are displayed in the exhibition. Two centuries later, scientists discovered the
chemical composition of the Sun from studying sunlight. Original drawings and glass
plate negatives, dating from around 1930, can be seen in the exhibition. One of the
highlights of solar research is the Sun Atlas by the Belgium-Dutch scientist Marcel
Minnaert.

These days solar researchers work with satellites to discover the secrets of the
mysterious Sun. The exhibition displays a two meter-high model of a SOHO-satellite
and spectacular satellite photos of the Sun.

The ever-changing images of the Sun form the thread through the exhibition, which
sheds light on different episodes from the history of solar research and the tools that
people used in the process. The emphasis is on Dutch contributions.

But, despite modern instruments and techniques, the Sun hasn’t given human beings all
of its secrets.

Source: Rosalie Blom, Press Information, Museum Boerhaave

Translation: Nur Kristal and SG

www.museumboerhaave.nl

Museum Boerhaave
Lange St. Agnietenstr. 10
Leiden, The Netherlands
Phone: 071-5214224

Opening times: Tues. through Sat. Sundays and holidays

10 a.m. to 5 p.m. 12 noon to 5 p.m.

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