Chilean Planetary, Planetarium in Estación Central, Chile

Planetario Chile is a 4,350 m² building on the Universidad de Santiago de Chile campus in Estación Central, designed by architect Óscar MacClure Álamo and opened on 14 March 1985. Its 20-metre dome, clad in electrodeposited copper since 1997 with support from Codelco, is said to have been inspired by the Maya pyramid of Chichén Itzá. Inside, a Carl Zeiss VI star projector with 160 lenses and weighing 2,500 kg reproduces over five thousand stars of both hemispheres.

In the late 1960s, under President Eduardo Frei Montalva, Chile received a Carl Zeiss VI star projector donated by West Germany, though some sources suggest East German origin. In the mid-1970s the Ministry of Education transferred it to the Universidad Técnica del Estado, today the Universidad de Santiago de Chile. Rector Jorge O'Ryan Balbontín fixed its site in 1982; the building, designed by architect Óscar MacClure Álamo, was built 1982–1984 and opened on 14 March 1985 under rector Patricio Guada Tiffaine.

The building's dome is said to have been inspired by the Maya pyramid of Chichén Itzá, and in 1997 it was clad in electrodeposited copper with support from Codelco. The Carl Zeiss VI projector, with 160 lenses and 2,500 kilos, still reproduces over five thousand stars of both hemispheres.

The building stands on the Universidad de Santiago campus in Estación Central, with 4,350 square metres of floor space and the dome hall inside. The 20-metre dome is reached from the campus grounds, so allow time to cross the university precinct. The dome was re-clad in electrodeposited copper in 1997 with support from Codelco, a detail visible on the exterior.

The Carl Zeiss VI star projector, received by Chile in the late 1960s, still operates in the dome: 160 lenses and 2,500 kilos reproduce over five thousand stars of both hemispheres. It originally ran on a multilevel hydraulic platform, a feature still visible in its design.