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Launceston Planetarium
(last
updated 18 November 2009)e
The Launceston Planetarium has reopened its doors at the Queen Victoria Museum and Art Gallery at Inveresk, after its move from the Museum's Royal Park Site. The new Planetarium was opened on 12 October 2009 by His Worship the Mayor of Launceston, Alderman Albert Van Zetten.
The move of the Planetarium has been in keeping with plans to refit Inveresk with a science focus and to convert the Royal Park site into a world-class Fine and Decorative Art Gallery.
The Planetarium is now equipped with a much more modern star projector — a computer-controlled Zeiss ZKP3 model — and a fulldome digital projector to show astronomical and space-related movies over the full area of the 8-metre-diameter dome.
The current show in the Planetarium is Dawn of the Space Age, a fascinating look at space history from the launch of the first artificial satellite in 1957 to the construction of the International Space Station and beyond. A special feature of each show is the use of the Zeiss Projector to show the night sky as it currently appears over Tasmania, so that our audiences learn of the features to watch for in our night sky. The projector is capable of displaying the stars visible to the unaided eye from anywhere in the world, and simulates the apparent motion of the stars as the Earth rotates. The effect is so realistic, it is like being out under the stars!
In early November 2009, the Planetarium will commence running its first in-house show entitled What Happened to Pluto?. This programme will tell the story of the discovery of Pluto and what we have learned about it — and why it was famously demoted from planetary status in 2006.
From Tuesday 27 October, the Planetarium's show times, until further
notice, will be:
Tuesday to Friday 2.15 pm and 4.15 pm
Saturday 2.15 pm and 3.15 pm
Closed Sunday, Monday and public holidays
The show schedule will change from time to time, so we advise
checking this web page for updates before your visit.
Admission prices are $5.00 for adults, $3.00 for children, and $13.00
for families of up to four people (maximum two adults per family ticket).
Please note that due to the nature of the show children under 5 are not admitted.
The Planetarium continues to respond to astronomical enquiries, and to keep the public informed of current astronomical news via Planetarium Manager Martin George’s weekly articles.
Comet McNaught, the brightest
comet for over 40 years, photographed near Launceston by Martin
George on 22 January 2007.
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