This year celebrates 100 years of planetaria throughout the world. In celebration of this, our Sherwood Observatory member, Steven Binns has put together a short article explaining a little more about the journey of the planetaria which brought us to the place that planetarium’s are at today.
He explains:
“Since the beginning of time, we have been fascinated by the night sky and as long ago as 800 BCE, humans tried to measure the stars movements assisted by domed buildings.
It was not until October 1923 when the first planetarium projector (built by the Carl Zeiss company) was unveiled in Jena, Germany. Following this, the first planetarium opened to the public on 7th May 1925, when the Deutsches Museum opened in Munich.
Today, planetarium’s reveal fascinating secrets of the universe, and they are a gateway to space; they inform and inspire us by creating audiovisual worlds of experience.
Since 1925, planetarium’s have continued to evolve. The entire universe can now be represented accurately and realistically, allowing everyone to experience distant worlds and the wonders of the night skies. Viewing of the night skies in the past can be viewed by date selection. Allowing us to see how the constellations appeared on a specific night and maintain a record.
The dominant feature of the planetarium is the large wrap around screen and the world class projectors which means it can take you on a journey through space as never seen before.
The Planetarium’s around the world differ in size from the enormous 37 metre dome in St. Petersburg, Russia (called planetarium No 1) to mobile inflatable domes at 3 metres where just a few people are able to be seated on the floor!
The Birla Planetarium in Kolkata, India has a seating capacity of 630 and this makes it the largest by seating capacity on the planet.
In the UK there are now 17 planetarium’s, the largest being the Sir Patrick Moore Planetarium at the National Space Centre in Leicester, which has an 18-metre dome and can seat 196 people.
The latest planetarium to be built is the Planetarium & Science Centre here at Sherwood Observatory, near Mansfield in Nottinghamshire, which opened on 25th November 2024. This state-of-the-art facility, houses a near 7 metre dome and seating for 59 persons. Constructed on top of a disused Victorian reservoir with a small Science Centre within the old structure. The Sherwood Observatory is one of only a few in the UK to also have a traditional observatory on the same site which houses a 24” Newtonian telescope (which can be visited at special events).
In addition to the educational and scientific content, planetarium’s are also incredible venues for live concerts, laser shows, activity workshops and other cultural events.
Every visit to a planetarium is an opportunity to escape our busy world and stimulate the imagination like no other venue can.
Contributed by Stephen Binns, Sherwood Observatory Member