After ₹50 crore upgrades, Lucknow planetarium all set for reopening
Indira Gandhi Planetarium will reopen soon with upgraded 3D/2D technology, offering multiple shows and new content for audiences.
Indira Gandhi Planetarium is all set to open in a new avatar in the next few weeks. While earlier only one movie could be played at a time there, the renovations will allow the planetarium to play several movies using advanced digital 3D/2D 8K technology. As part of the upgrades, the overlapping seam dome has been replaced with a nano-seam dome. This will provide audience with new content from time to time, sky observations, sky mapping and actual images from space.
“The total renovation has been completed at a cost of ₹50 crore. We are still figuring out the number of shows which will run in a day and the cost of the shows. Viewers will be able to get the tickets physically and online from the official website of the planetarium once it opens for the public,” said principal secretary of the department of science and technology Pandhari Yadav.
“We are also planning special shows followed by a session on astronomy for school students. Some models related to space science will be installed on the ground and first floors,” he added.
In 2002, GOTO optomechanical planetarium system model GM-1518 was installed in the planetarium, which became operational for the public on May 8, 2003 and continued to remain functional till February 2023. It had catered for over 10 lakh people and students till the system in which optomechanical projector and slide projector was used for screening movies began asking for upgrades.
The production of such slides was discontinued years back and spare parts of the system were not available in the market. The quality of shows had deteriorated, which is why it was decided to close the planetarium temporarily and put in place a new up-to-date system. The planetarium has been closed since March 2023.
The new planetarium software can display the night sky from any location, with views of celestial bodies from both 10,000 years in the future and the past. The upgraded equipment also has the ability to show presentations not just related to space science and astronomy but also to other branches of science and arts, said secretary and Director Council of Science and Technology, Sheeldhar Singh Yadav.
The minister of science and technology, Anil Kumar said the tickets for the planetarium would also be available on e-ticketing platforms such as BookmyShow and Paytm. “As per the vision of chief minister Yogi Adityanath we are trying to install science parks and planetariums in all divisions of the state. Currently, the Council of Science and Technology is establishing science parks along with planetariums in Agra, Varanasi, Bareilly and Banda,” said Kumar.
Among the shows ready for the public are ones related to robots, black holes, ancient civilizations, the journey of dinosaurs, the history of the universe and the formation of atoms. The planetarium will also provide wide content for research purposes.