In time for the equinox, Israel’s first solar observatory opens in northern Druze town
Solaris launches in Isfiya as part of a government program to increase space research in the Arab Israeli community
Reporter at The Times of Israel
ISFIYA — A dozen 11th-grade physics students stood inside Solaris – the first national solar observatory in Israel – and watched a solar flare occurring 150 million kilometers (93 million miles) away.
On a screen connected to one of the observatory’s telescopes, the solar flares appeared like small blemishes on the sun’s surface as Solaris manager Anat Hetz-Golan explained to the high schoolers that 2025 marks the end of the sun’s 11-year active cycle when it has more sunspots, solar flares, and bursts of energy.
“There are so many things we can’t even understand yet,” student Noa Smaja told this Times of Israel reporter during the class visit on March 5, two weeks before the equinox on March 20, when the sun appears directly above the equator. “Maybe in 1,000 years, we’ll see that what we thought now was all wrong.”
The observatory, which opened on January 30, is part of an initiative of the Innovation, Science, and Technology Ministry and the Israel Space Agency to increase astronomy education in Arab communities, especially in the periphery. That’s part of the reason the new facility’s location is in Isfiya – a Druze village in northern Israel known more for its knafeh and other Druze delicacies than space research.
The fact that the observatory’s educational programs are in Arabic as well as Hebrew opens “new horizons for children, from kindergarten to twelfth grade,” Aya Kheredin, director of the Druze and Circassian Education Department in the Education Ministry, told The Times of Israel by telephone.
“Children will be able to do research, investigate, and discover new processes of thinking,” Kheredin said.
Promoting activities in space
In an interview in her — obviously — sunny office at Solaris, Dr. Marina Hetz said that when she and her husband Dr. Guy Hetz (a relative of Anat Hetz-Golan) heard about the Innovation, Science, and Technology Ministry and Israel Space Agency’s public tender to promote activities in astronomy in Arab communities in 2022, the couple suggested establishing a solar observatory.
There were already several space observatories in Israel, but none were in a Druze community and none focused specifically on the sun.
The couple, both graduates of the Remote Sensing and Planetary Imaging Laboratory at Ben-Gurion University, are co-founders of Space Valley, a company that operates a space center and planetarium, V-Planet, in Nof HaGalil, 49 kilometers (30 miles) away from Isfiya.
Their company won the bid in December 2022 and had two years to build it. But 10 months later came the October 7, 2023 attack, in which thousands of Hamas-led terrorists burst across the Gaza-Israel border, killing some 1,200 people and taking 251 hostages, amid rampant acts of brutality and sexual assault.
The following day, in solidarity with Hamas, the Iranian-backed terror group Hezbollah began firing hundreds of rockets, missiles, and drones from Lebanon into northern Israel, including Isfiya.
“People didn’t want to work amid rocket fire, with shrapnel falling on us,” Hetz said. “We couldn’t get the equipment we needed from Italy because the Houthis were bombing the Red Sea.”
Despite the difficulties, Solaris eventually opened in the Druze town atop Mount Carmel, 550 meters (1804 feet) above sea level. On its quiet, residential street, the observatory has a commanding view of the fields below and the sky above.
“Israel is always in a crisis,” continued Hetz. “We’ve lived through war, evacuations, sirens, and rockets, but even in the middle of a horrible reality, we can’t stop exploring outer space.”
A new place to study a ‘whole new world’
There are about 13,000 people living in Isfiya, whose town symbol is, serendipitously, the sun.
Most residents are Druze, a mystic sect that broke away from Shiite Islam in the 11th century. Although they speak Arabic, the Druze are distinct from mainstream Muslim and Christian Arabic communities, with a unique history, culture, and religion.
The Isfiya town council provided the building to house the observatory. Speaking to The Times of Israel by telephone, Isfiya Mayor Monib Saba shared his excitement.
“The center is a new way for students to study a whole new world,” he said.
The Innovation, Science and Technology Ministry allocated NIS 1.15 million ($420,000) for its construction. The Israel Space Agency will cover an additional NIS 600,000 ($167,000) for operations over the next three years. Space Valley has also invested its own funds.
The observatory has four telescopes that can provide valuable data on solar dynamics and energy emissions. There are also exhibits on early astronomers and a planetarium.
Hetz said some of the observatory’s research goals are improving models for predicting solar radiation and its impact on human health, integrating solar data in climate and environmental research, and further developing the field of solar energy.
For younger students, there is also a wide range of subjects, she said, including studying potential laws relating to outer space, the psychological effects on astronauts who are away from Earth for months at a time, and “even designing clothes for astronauts to wear.”
Moreover, the students’ research will be in Arabic, Hebrew and English, enabling them to foster connections “with peers worldwide, including from friendly Arab countries,” Hetz said.
Itay Levy, project manager of the Israel Space Agency, which is part of the Innovation, Science, and Technology Ministry, told The Times of Israel that he sees Solaris as a way to make “space and astronomy research accessible – and fun – for children all across Israel.”
“We want them to have opportunities to study, to advance in this field, and to pursue a career in astronomy in the future,” Levy said, adding that the ministry is also planning a space observatory in the Bedouin town of Hura in the Negev that is expected to be completed in 2026.
The Times of Israel Community.