4/5 Debamitra P. 3 years ago on Google
The
Birla
Planetarium
in
Kolkata,
West
Bengal,
India,
is
a
single-storeyed
circular
structure
designed
in
the
typical
Indian
style,
whose
architecture
is
loosely
styled
on
the
Buddhist
Stupa
at
Sanchi.
Situated
at
Chowringhee
Road
adjacent
to
the
Victoria
Memorial,
St.
Paul's
Cathedral
and
the
Maidan
in
Central
Kolkata,
it
is
the
largest
planetarium
in
Asia
and
the
second
largest
planetarium
in
the
world.[3]
There
are
two
other
Birla
Planetariums
in
India:
B.M.
Birla
Planetarium
in
Chennai
and
the
Birla
Planetarium
in
Hyderabad.
Popularly
known
as
taramandal,
the
planetarium
was
inaugurated
on
2
July
1963[4]
by
the
then
Prime
Minister
of
India,
Jawaharlal
Nehru.
It
has
an
electronics
laboratory
for
design
and
fabrication
of
science
equipment.
It
has
an
astronomy
gallery
that
maintains
a
huge
collection
of
fine
paintings
and
celestial
models
of
renowned
astronomers.
The
Planetarium
also
has
an
astronomical
observatory
equipped
with
a
Celestron
C-14
Telescope
with
accessories
such
as
ST6
CCD
camera
and
solar
filter.
It
offers
to
the
public
and
students
more
than
100
astronomical
projects
dealing
with
various
facts
of
astronomy,
astro-physics,
Space
Science
as
well
as
myths
concerning
stars
and
planets.
It
has
a
capacity
of
6800.
Daily
programs
are
conducted
in
English,
Bengali
and
Hindi
from
12:00
to
19:00
hrs.
The
show
timing
is
as
follows:
Mon
to
Sat
-
12.30
PM
HINDI,
1.30
PM
ENGLISH,
2.30
PM
HINDI,
3.30
PM
BENGALI,
4.30
PM
HINDI,
5.30
PM
BENGALI,
6.30
PM
ENGLISH
and
two
extra
show
on
Sunday
and
Holiday
is
10.30
AM
HINDI,
11.30
AM
BENGALI
(updated
on
15.08.2017)
Programs
are
occasionally
conducted
in
Oriya,
Tamil
and
Gujarati,
as
well.[5]
Extra
shows
are
arranged
on
holidays.
The
Planetarium
was
constructed
by
ML
Dalmiya
&
Co.
which
is
owned
by
Board
of
Control
for
Cricket
in
India
former
President
late
Jagmohan
Dalmiya.
It
reopened
to
public
on
18
July
2017,
after
closing
down
for
28
months
of
renovations
work.
The
new
planetarium
system
for
the
Birla
Planetarium
is
a
so-called
ZEISS
Hybrid
Planetarium,
with
the
STARMASTER,
an
optical-mechanical
planetarium
projector
(also
called
“Starball”)
working
in
synch
with
a
dome
video
display
system.
The
Starball
presents
the
most
realistic
starfield
in
the
dome
with
superimposed
images
of
constellation
outlines,
space
objects
like
nebula
and
galaxies,
planets
and
moons
by
the
VELVET
digital
video
system,
called
fulldome
projection.
The
technical
upgrade
was
delivered
and
installed
by
the
German
company
Carl
Zeiss
AG.
1 person found this review helpful 👍