It is not merely a celebration of science but also a big-time celebration of visual and performing arts. The Indo-Italian Astronomy fortnight, which is observing the International Year of Astronomy, opened in New Delhi on Monday and will be on till December 1.

The fortnight, titled “From Galileo to Modern Frontiers”, commemorates 400 years of Galileo’s contribution, who first turned a telescope toward celestial objects, made discoveries and forced the world to accept the a heliocentric view (sun is the centre of the universe) of the solar system.

Where, then, does art come into the picture? “Arts also have a big role to play during the occasion, as it is a multidisciplinary celebration. Astronomy and science have always inspired creative arts. Nature imitates arts in some of the views that we get of celestial bodies,” said Rathnasree, director of Nehru Planetarium.

Organised by the Embassy of Italy and the Italian Cultural Centre in collaboration with Nehru Planetarium, Nehru Memorial Museum and Library and Vigyan Prasar, the fortnight began with the inauguration of art and astronomy, an exhibition of digital images compiled by Toni Hildebrandt. This was followed by a music jugalbandi by Sara Michieletto of La Fenice Theatre, Venice, and Bhai Baldeep Singh.

The celebrations are different in that they are combining various diverse creative elements with science, such as listening to sounds from celestial objects such as pulsars, Jupiter, sun and viewing the images reminiscent of famous artist Vincent van Gogh’s paintings.

The multidisciplinary fortnight, a celebration of science, is also an opportunity for expanding cultural ties between India and Italy, said Antonia Grande, deputy director of the Italian embassy.

Several scientific workshops will be conducted during the fortnight. There will be special video conference sessions for children on assembling and handling Galileoscopes at Edusat centres across the country. Akshara Theatre would perform German playwright Bertolt Brecht’s play, Life of Galileo, on November 27.

On November 29, Two and Two, a film that features Nobel laureate astrophysicist S Chandrasekhar and another film directed by Enrico Agapito will be screened.

Galileo, a film made by Italian film director Liliana Cavani and recently restored by The Fondazione Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia, Rome, will be screened on the final day, December 1.