Birla Planetarium, Science planetarium in Kotturpuram, Chennai, India.
Birla Planetarium is a science museum in Kotturpuram, Chennai, with an aluminum dome theater measuring 15 meters across and seating 236 visitors. Digital projection systems display astronomical programs that spread the night sky across the entire interior surface of the dome.
President R. Venkataraman opened the facility on May 11, 1988, making it the fifth B. M. Birla planetarium in India. The full-dome projection system was added later, expanding the technical capabilities of the shows considerably.
Daily presentations run in both Tamil and English, drawing school groups and families from across Chennai who come to learn about the night sky. The shows attract children who often see the planets and constellations projected overhead for the first time.
The building opens at 10 in the morning and closes around 6 in the evening, with shows scheduled at set times throughout the day. Seating is numbered, so arriving a few minutes before a show begins helps with orientation.
The facility was the first planetarium in India to install a 360-degree sky theater in 2009, using mirror projection technology. Visitors can sit completely surrounded by celestial bodies during shows, with no part of the space left unlit.
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