CENTRO ASTRONÓMICO BUENAVENTURA SUÁREZ

The Buenaventura Súarez Astronomical Interpretation Centre opened its doors in 2010, thanks to the technical and academic support of Professor Blas Servín (1950-2020), an eminent figure in South American astronomy. The name of the centre pays homage to the Jesuit father, who went down in history as a pioneer of astronomy in the southern hemisphere. In addition to a stone sundial, whose guides will explain how it works, the missionary, who was also a great geographer and mathematician, made extensive observations of the celestial vault, using a telescope that he himself made, with metals and crystals from the Río Paraná. In his Lunar Calendar (Lunario de un siglo), the genius was able to predict lunar eclipses, to the minute, from January 1740 to December 1841, with an appendix allowing the lunar calendar to be extended until 1903, following "simple rules", according to its author . The guided tour (in Spanish) includes a multimedia room, for explanations about the solar system and the interpretation of the stars according to Guaraní mythology; a planetarium in the shape of a dome, where the movements of the stars are reproduced according to the seasons; an astrolabe, an ancient instrument for measuring the positions of the stars; and finally, the observatory, which has a very powerful telescope, which allows the planets of the solar system to be admired more closely at nightfall (when the sky is clear!).