Importance Of Planetariums

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3. Planetariums Planetariums have long been playing a crucial role in refining the astronomical concepts of the people of India. The country now has fifty five planetariums. The highest number of planetariums, which is six, is in Gujarat, Maharashtra and West Bengal. Next to them are Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Uttar Pradesh having four planetariums. Bihar and Assam have three planetariums, while Andhra Pradesh, Kerala, Punjab and Telangana have two planetariums. Other states like Goa, Haryana, Manipur, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha, Rajasthan and Sikkim have one planetarium. The states which do not operate any planetarium are ten, namely, Arunachal Pradesh, Chattisgarh, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu & Kashmir, Jharkhand, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Tripura …show more content…

In 2006, Council of Science and Technology of the Govt. of Uttar Pradesh opened Veer Bahadur Singh Planetarium, a 17.5m dome with Digistar 3 projector of Evans & Sutherland, USA. In 2007, NCSM, on behalf of Council of Science and Technology of the Govt. of Haryana established Kalpana Chawla Memorial Planetarium in Kurukshetra. The 12m dome planetarium has a Spitz 1024 projector along with SciDome HB digital system. Yashwantrao Chavan Planetarium, a 10m dome planetarium with a Digistar 3 projector was opened in Nashik in 2007. Puspa Gujral Science City in Kapurthala also installed Digistar 3 along with Astrovision Ultra 70 of Goto in its 23m dome Space Theatre in 2008. Three planetariums were opened in 2009. NCSM had set up a 5m fibre glass dome planetarium in Regional Science Centre, Guwahati where a Hal-X2 Omnifocus projector manufactured by The Elumenati, USA was used. Asha Kiran Planetarium set up by Hukkeri family in Belgaum has a 12m dome with a Spherical Mirror System from Discovery Dome, USA. In 2009, Surat Municipal Corporation opened a 14.3m dome planetarium in Surat Science Centre, using the Digistar 3 projection system. In 2010, NCSM opened 8m dome planetariums in its three units – North Bengal Science Centre, Siliguri; District Science Centre, Gulbarga; and District Science Centre, Tirunelveli. While planetarium at Siliguri has a Digistar 3 system, other two centres are having SX3-MK II Full Dome systems from Immersive Display, UK. NCSM’s District Science Centre at Dharampur too installed a SX3-MK II Full Dome system in an 8m dome planetarium in 2011. In the same year Dept of Science and Technology of the Union Territory of Lakshadweep opened a 10m dome planetarium in Kavaratti using a Megastar-IIB Star Ball of Ohira Tech. Ltd., Japan, along with Definity Theater of SkySkan, USA. Two planetariums were established in 2012. Council of Science and Technology of the Govt.

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