NOD “Trip to the Planetarium. Solar system"

Equipment: a projector for showing slides, planet medals, various cereals for composing the solar system, yellow circles, cards with missing letters in the names of the planets.

Target: introduce children to the structure of the solar system.

Tasks: introduce children to the Sun and its significance, influence on climate; promote the development of children's cognitive activity.

Develop imaginative thinking, creative imagination, coherent speech.

Progress of the lesson

1. Educator. Guys, today we will take an excursion to an unusual place. In order to find out where, you must guess the riddle (2nd slide “Riddle”)

(A riddle about space is asked. The answer “space” appears on the screen. Slide 3 “Space”)

2. Guys, there are no such devices yet so that we can go on an excursion into space. But we can go with you to the planetarium. Guys, what do you think a planetarium is and what can you see there? (children’s answers. 4-5 slides “Planetarium”)

Question: Why does the planetarium building have a hemispherical roof? (children's answers)

Educator: A planetarium is a building with a domed roof. The starry sky is projected onto the dome using a device. This allows us to look at the planets and stars and study them.

And here we are in the planetarium. We look at the dome - this is the universe, the starry sky. (6 slide “Starry sky”)

Educator: Guys, what surrounds us in outer space? (stars, planets, sun, satellites, meteorites, comets) (7 slide)

3. Educator: What do you think the planets look like from Earth? (small, big, we don’t see....)

To answer this question, we will conduct an experiment.

Take all the circles.

Place it before your eyes. What do we see? (Nothing)

Start slowly moving it away from your eyes.

What happens to the circle? (It seems smaller from afar)

Conclusion: The circle appears smaller if you move it away from your eyes, but if you bring it closer to your eyes, it seems to get larger.

4. All objects seem smaller when removed. The sun is very big, but it seems small because... The sun is far away. The stars are very large, many of them are larger than the Sun, but they seem small because they are far away (slide 8)

The starry sky is so huge that we cannot study it in just one trip to the planetarium. Today we will only talk about the solar system. And what it is, we will now try to understand.

5. What is the solar system?

Children: This is the sun around which nine planets and many small planets - asteroids and comets - revolve. (9 slide “Solar system”)

The Sun is the most familiar astronomical object to all people. This is our star that gives us life. Because of it, during the day all other space objects become invisible. The sun gives off light and heat until it sets below the horizon. And only then does the sky become dark enough to see the rest of the stars. The sun is the same star as all other stars, it’s just closer to us. (Slide 10 “Sun”)

The planet we live on is called “Earth” and it is friends with the sun. What does the sun give to our planet? (warmth and light) (11 Slide “Earth”)

6. We cannot live without the sun, so people have shown respect for the sun for a long time. They composed proverbs and sayings about the sun, poems. (12 – 13 slides “Proverbs and sayings”)

The red sun in the white light warms the black earth.
What is gold to me, if only the sun would shine!

(ask how the children understood the meaning of the saying)

A child reads a poem:

Sun

The cloud is hiding behind the forest,

The sun is looking from the sky.

And so pure

Good, radiant.

If we could get him,

We would kiss him.

7. Educator: But the Earth is not the only planet in space that is “friends” with the Sun. Earth is one of the planets of the large Solar family. What planets do you know? (Slide 14 “Solar System”)

Slide 15 “Planets”

Which planet is the largest? (Jupiter)

Which planet is the hottest? (Venus)

Which star gives us heat? (Sun)

Which planet “rolls” like a ball on a saucer? (Uranus)

Which planet from the sun is our planet Earth? (Third)

Educator: Please note that the sizes of the planets are different, but they are all significantly smaller than the sun

8. PHYSICAL MINUTE (music is playing, children are standing on mats).

Over the Earth late at night, Just stretch out your hand, ……… hands stretched up

You will grab the stars: …………………………………………….. Hands up, down to the sides

They seem to be nearby………………………………………………………. clench your hands into fists

You can take a Peacock feather, …………………………………………. Hands before eyes

Touch the hands on the Clock, ………………………………………………Hands before your eyes

Ride the Dolphin, ………………………………………… legs together, arms up, swing

Swing on Libra. ………………………………….tilt down, hands waving tick-tock

Above the Earth late at night, ………………… tilting down, hands waving tick-tock

If you glance at the sky,…………………………………… sit down with your hands in front

You will see, like grapes,………… Feet shoulder-width apart, arms swinging to the sides

There the constellations hang……………………………………hands down, raise your head up

stretched up, hands up. We take the constellations with our hands

9. Educator. To imagine the size of the solar system, we compose the solar system:

Take a sheet of paper with a picture of the Solar System, a cup with objects that will replace planets for us.

The sun is a ball (10 cm), then

1. Mercury – millet

2. Venus - rice

3. Earth - rice

4. Mars is a pea

5. Jupiter - shell

6. Saturn - shell

7. Uranus - beans

8. Neptune - beans

9. Pluto - peas

The remaining bodies of the Solar System cannot be depicted, since they are negligibly small. (Slides 16-18 “Planets”)

What are the giant planets? (Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune)

What are the terrestrial planets? (Venus, Earth, Mars)

Name the smallest planet? (Mercury)

Now we can imagine the planets of the solar system.

10. Game

The orbits of different planets are depicted on the floor. Children are given paper medals with images of planets (the colors of the planets and their orbits must match). In the center of the circles is a child depicting the Sun. Invite the rest of the planetary children to take their places in their orbits. If you have any difficulties, return to the slide again. Then the children are invited to disperse in different directions and, at the command “Planets - in places!”, build a model of the Solar system. Which planet will take its place faster? Then each planet must make a circle around the Sun. At the same time, draw the children’s attention: the closer the planet is to the Sun, the faster it will pass in a circle. The Earth travels its entire path around the Sun in a year (from one New Year to the next). To clearly show this, take a large calendar and, as the child-Earth moves around the circle, turn its pages, naming the months. Thus, the child will begin to move in January and return to his place in December.

11. To study the universe, we must go into space more than once, so we must fill the spaceship with fuel. To do this we need to complete the task.

You need to fill in the missing letters in the names of the planets.

(children write in.)

VEN...RA

YUP...TER

MA...S

...LUTON

NEPT...N

12. (Slides) All planets in order

Children. Any of us can name:

One - Mercury,

Two - Venus,

Three - Earth,

Four - Mars.

Five - Jupiter,

Six - Saturn,

Seven - Uranus,

Behind him is Neptune.

He is the eighth in a row.

And after him, then,

And the ninth planet

Called Pluto.

13. Educator. Bottom line: guys, our first journey into space has come to an end, today we learned a lot, saw a lot. Tell me what new we learned (what is a planetarium, solar system, orbit, planets). And how many more interesting and unknown things await us ahead.

The idea to build a Planetarium in Moscow belongs to David Ryazanov, director of the Institute of Karl Marx and Engels under the Central Executive Committee of the USSR and the Main Science of the People's Commissariat of Education of the RSFSR. On their initiative, the presidium of the new Moscow City Council (elected in 1927) decided to create a new type of scientific and educational institution in Moscow - the Planetarium. The equipment necessary for this (the Planetarium projection apparatus) was at that time the newest world invention - it was first demonstrated in October 1923.

Construction of the Planetarium in the 20s

After this, Ryazanov went to Germany and negotiated with the Carl Zeiss company about the manufacture of equipment for the planetarium. And in Moscow, two young architects M. Barshch and M. Sinyavsky took on the development of a planetarium project. When designing, the architects used the natural shape of the egg in geometric-tectonic terms. Constructivist theorist Alexey Gan called Planetarium"optical scientific theater".

Construction of the planetarium began on the autumn equinox, September 23, 1928. The Moscow City Council allocated 250,000 gold rubles for the construction of the planetarium. This amount included the cost of constructing not only the building itself, but also its equipment, a cinema auditorium, an astronomical museum, a library, classrooms for clubs, laboratory premises, as well as the installation of an astronomical observatory on the flat roof for mass excursions.

In mid-February 1929, specialists from Germany arrived in Moscow to install an iron frame - a spherical dome - screen. Apparatus " Planetarium"at that time was already in Moscow and was stored in packed boxes in the premises of the Moscow Department of Public Education.

Moscow Planetarium during the war years

At the end of May, when the auditorium was ready, installation of the apparatus began " Planetarium"under the supervision of specialists from the Zeiss company.

On August 3, 1929, the installation of the apparatus was completely completed. An acceptance and demonstration of the planetarium’s work to the leadership of the Moscow City Council was scheduled for this day. The show completely satisfied those present, the acceptance of the equipment was completed.

Private viewings took place during August, September and October.

Officially Moscow Planetarium was opened on November 5, 1929. It became the 13th planetarium in the world - of its twelve predecessors, ten were built in Germany, one in Italy and one in Austria. For this day, Vladimir Mayakovsky wrote a poem about the planetarium, ending with the words: “Every proletarian should look at Planetarium».

During the war in Moscow Planetarium in addition to conducting regular public lectures, he provided practical assistance to soldiers and commanders of the Soviet army in the form of special military lectures for intelligence officers and military pilots. In addition to the lectures held in the Star Hall, visiting lectures on astronomy were organized. These lectures were given in hospitals, sponsored military units, in the auditoriums of the City Military Commissariat, and in air defense propaganda posts. Moscow Planetarium worked throughout the war and only once was closed for a period of two months.

Planetarium in Soviet times

In 1946, construction of the Astronomical Site began. For the first time in the history of planetariums, this complex of cognitive tools, addressed to living stars, was conceived by the author of the first Soviet school astronomy textbook, Mikhail Evgenievich Nabokov. And it was built as a publicly accessible city of the sky, through the works of Moscow astronomers and Planetarium employees K. L. Baev, R. I. Tsvetov, A. B. Polyakov, E. Z. Gindin. The astronomical site recreated the tradition of ancient star abodes, such as the temple complex in Heliopolis, Stonehenge in England, the Observatory Museum in Alexandria, the Nuremberg town of Regiomontana, Uranienborg Tycho Brahe, the Beijing Observatory, the Gdansk Observatory of John Hevelius, the celestial complex Samrat Yantra in Jaipur.

In the 1950s, from Sadovaya-Kudrinskaya Street, the view of the Planetarium was blocked by residential high-rise buildings, and currently the dome of the planetarium can only be seen through a narrow passage between the houses.

In 1977, the Planetarium was reconstructed. Instead of the old Planetarium apparatus, a new one was installed, manufactured specifically for Moscow at the Carl Zeiss Jena national enterprise (GDR). It was a new generation device with software control. Along with regular lectures and theme nights, the planetarium began to host automated audio-visual programs.

In the mid-1980s, the Planetarium was removed from direct subordination to the All-Union Society “Znanie” and transferred to the Moscow city organization of this society, from whose depths a new director was appointed. For the first time, it was a person without an astronomical education.

As of 1987, all Soviet cosmonauts had undergone navigation training at the planetarium, and some gave lectures there after returning from space.

In 1990, a public observatory was opened at the planetarium, in which the largest telescope in Moscow was installed, available for mass observations.

Abandoned Planetarium in the mid-2000s
In 1994, entrepreneur and showman Igor Mikitasov decided to create a “scientific and entertainment center” on the basis of the Moscow Planetarium and approached the director of the planetarium with this proposal. In the same year, on the initiative of the director of the planetarium, in order to attract investors and provide guarantees for invested funds, the Moscow Planetarium Joint-Stock Company was created, in the authorized capital of which the main building of the planetarium was included. The founders of AOZT were 30% the planetarium staff, 20% the Moscow city organization of the Knowledge Society, and 50% AOZT Twins Company, Mikitasov’s company, which specialized in show business.

In fact, the Twins Company became the owner of the planetarium. In the same 1994, the planetarium building was declared unsafe and the Planetarium was closed for reconstruction. however, as soon as reconstruction began. It revealed. Mikitasov doesn’t have enough money.

In the spring of 1995, Mikitasov began to look for a source of funding. He tried through an intermediary, director of the Technocom company Vyacheslav Kovalev, to get a loan from Tveruniversalbank and draw up documents at Moskomimushchestvo and Moskomzem. The bank, however, refused to issue a loan, and the paperwork with the Moscow government was suspended. A conflict arose between the mediator and Mikitasov, which resulted in a criminal case, which was handled by the Prosecutor General’s Office.

Funding was suspended due to the introduction of a new procedure for registering property in Moscow, requiring the mandatory issuance of a certificate of ownership. As a result of a four-year confrontation between the Moscow Planetarium CJSC, the Moscow government, the prosecutor's office and the Moscow Property Committee, five claims were successively considered at 18 meetings of the Arbitration Court, which did not bring victory to any of the parties.

All this time, until August 1997, programs for schoolchildren were held in the dilapidated Star Hall. On May 1, 1998, the observatory was opened to visitors.

For several years, the new owners tried to organize the reconstruction of the planetarium with funds from private investors, but the city authorities delayed the issuance of a corresponding resolution. In 1998, the owners donated a 61% stake to the Moscow government in exchange for obligations to fully pay for all design, construction and installation work. On October 1, 1998, the Moscow government received a controlling stake in CJSC Moscow Planetarium, and in March 1999 it issued a decree “On the comprehensive reconstruction, restoration and re-equipment of the Moscow Planetarium”, according to which a comprehensive reconstruction, restoration and re-equipment of the architectural monument of the Moscow Planetarium building was carried out , and the investment programs of 1999-2006 provided for financing the reconstruction of the Moscow Planetarium using funds determined by the business plan.

In 1997, the creative workshop of the State Unitary Enterprise MNIIP “Mosproekt-4”, under the leadership of Alexander Viktorovich Anisimov and Olga Sergeevna Semyonova, began developing a reconstruction project. It took almost three years for its approval and preliminary work: a lot of effort was required to justify the advantages of reconstructing the old planetarium rather than building a new one. The history of the Moscow Planetarium and world experience in designing similar buildings were studied, four scientific papers were written on foreign technologies, on the typology of the modern planetarium and the study of its architectural appearance abroad. The architects personally visited a large number of planetariums in different countries: in Germany, Spain, France, England, on the West and East coasts of America, etc.
The project for the reconstruction of the Moscow Planetarium, developed by architects Alexander Anisimov and Olga Semyonova, received a prize and a 1st degree diploma from the Union of Architects of Russia in 2000.

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This is the car at the entrance

The reconstruction itself began only in 2002. In January 2003, the allegory statues of the planets in front of the main entrance were removed for restoration. By 2003, the old observatory building was dismantled. Instead, it was planned to build two observatories, a small and a large one. The city authorities solemnly promised to open the Planetarium on its 75th anniversary. However, it was celebrated by a narrow circle of people associated with the planetarium in November 2004 in a building under construction. By this time, the planetarium building, according to the reconstruction project, had already been raised by 6 meters, two new observatory towers had been erected; The museum's area increased from 3 to 17 thousand m². Over the past years, JSC "Moscow Planetarium" was successively transformed into JSC "Moscow Planetarium" and JSC "Moscow Planetarium". However, cooperation between city authorities and private investors did not work out, and the project was delayed.

In 2006, private investors approached the city with a request to return the funds they had invested and thereby buy out their share. In 2006, when Moscow once again stopped financing and began to squeeze private investors out of the project, an agreement was reached that investors themselves would give up their 39% stake in exchange for a return on their investment. Yuri Luzhkov agreed and gave instructions to prepare a decree on the ransom.

In February 2008, the Moscow government, which owns 61% of the shares of Moscow Planetarium OJSC, stopped financing its reconstruction due to the fact that “the obligations of the partners, who own 39% of the shares, were not fully fulfilled as part of the reconstruction.” According to the deputy head of the Moscow city property department, Igor Ignatov, the city was forced to stop reconstruction when “new circumstances became known” - the Moscow Planetarium incurred a debt to the contractor Energomashconsulting in the amount of 9 million rubles.

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On March 11, an extraordinary meeting of shareholders was held, at which General Director Igor Mikitasov was removed from his position and a new management company with a 100% share of the city, Pokrovskie Vorota, was appointed.

On May 4, 2009, with the participation of the management company “Pokrovskie Vorota”, a purchase and sale transaction for the property of OJSC “Moscow Planetarium” took place. At the last auction, two lots were sold: an unfinished construction site at Sadovo-Kudrinskaya Street, building 1, as well as all the movable property of the bankrupt. The buyer of the property was JSC Planetarium, represented by the executive body of the management company Pokrovskie Vorota. 100% of the shares of OJSC Planetarium belong to the Moscow City Property Department. To purchase the property complex, the shareholder contributed additional funds to the authorized capital of the company, provided for by the city budget for 2009. On May 29, First Deputy Mayor of Moscow Vladimir Resin announced during a press conference that the capital’s Planetarium would begin operating in 2010.

On November 14, 2009, after a working meeting in the planetarium building, Moscow Mayor Yuri Luzhkov once again told reporters about the imminent opening of the Moscow Planetarium, this time in December 2010 (previously called 2001, 2004, 2005, and 2009). He added that work to open the planetarium to visitors will have two stages. The mayor called the first stage the completion of construction and installation work, which is scheduled for September 2010. The second stage involves the installation of the necessary equipment in December 2010. The design work was carried out by the Mosproekt-4 company.

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The lifting of the building without dismantling began on December 27, 2003. The operation consisted of 20 intermediate stages, after each of which the planetarium was raised by 30 cm. Workers, using 24 powerful hydraulic jacks, gradually raised the structure weighing more than 3 thousand tons, securing it with reliable piles. On February 10, 2004, the ascent was completed. As a result, the planetarium acquired two additional floors, and the area increased from 3 to 15 thousand m².

The city budget allocated 10 million euros for the purchase of equipment. These funds were used to purchase a full-dome projection system with a stereo projector and 14 dynamic chairs, as well as a 4D cinema, a projector-Planetarium “Universarium M9” from Carl Zeiss Jena, which in 2011 is the most powerful of the company’s devices for planetariums, and other equipment with with the help of which a variety of celestial phenomena can be observed on the dome of the planetarium with a diameter of 25 meters.

Moscow State University has been appointed scientific curator of the planetarium.

In April 2010, the head of the capital's city order department, Leonid Monosov, announced that the opening would be postponed to the beginning of 2011. In November 2010, it was announced that the opening would take place on April 12, 2011 and would be timed to coincide with Cosmonautics Day. However, by March 2011 the building was “technically not quite ready,” so the management postponed the opening to June 12, 2011, coinciding with Russia Day. Finally, on June 12, the opening of the planetarium took place.

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In general, the planetarium turned out to be a very “living museum”. A huge number of children. The guides are surrounded by schoolchildren and students. It's nice that such a scientific place does not go unnoticed.

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There will be more details about these units at the end of the post.

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Looks fantastic

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You can touch with your hands a “guest” from other worlds

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The children are very happy with what is happening.

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Meteorite fragments.

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Everything is very interactive and modern.

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This is the “space ladder”

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The most advanced starry sky projector to date is installed in the star hall of the planetarium with 400 seats. Universarium M9 German company Karl Zeiss, heir to Carl Zeiss Jena. It will project about nine thousand stars of the Northern and Southern Hemispheres, all types of eclipses, nebulae and galaxies onto the largest dome in Europe. The device can be lowered by two meters on the elevator so as not to block the dome for viewers. The cost of the projector is €4.8 million, and including the entire set of equipment - more than €11 million.

A new astronomical site has appeared next to the planetarium. It installed about 30 demonstration vehicles and instruments, a starry globe, models of planetariums and spaceships from different countries, sundials, models of Stonehenge and the Pyramid of Cheops, examples of which will demonstrate the operation of ancient observatories. There are also two modern observatories.

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The projector that worked in MP from 1977 to 1994 was 4th generation! True, it was a unique model with automation attached from the average Star Master device (as in Star City).
The famous "Cosmorama" was the fifth generation. The 6th almost did not appear in the world at all. And from the 7th the Starballs started. Universarium Mark IX is the ceiling. The Germans themselves say that there will not be a tenth. True, they continue to tune it. Who knows what this will lead to?

But let's find out more about this device:

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UNIVERSARIUM M IX- This is certainly a very expensive car. Not every planetarium in the world can afford one. Not every dome, even in a well-stocked planetarium, is suitable for using this projection device.

In 23 years, only 21 Planetariums in the world have received the great honor of having this device - Carl Zeiss produces his M9 Universariums per device in less than a year.

The Universarium M9 can be installed in a hall with a spherical dome screen with a diameter ranging from 18 to 35 meters. Moreover, if the horizon of the dome is “blocked” (this is practiced if the planetarium is combined with an I-MAX cinema), then the Universarium M9 allows a slope angle of up to 30 degrees and has an additional modification “UNIVERSARIUM M IX TD” corresponding to this situation. It is assumed that in the halls with the “Universarium M9” it is possible to seat from 200 to 450 people on special reclining chairs. (Previously, in the Moscow Planetarium, the chairs did not recline their backs, because of this it was uncomfortable for many to look up - the unbending Russian neck is not designed to look at the zenith - but they managed to seat up to 600 spectators. Nowadays, only 350.)

The basic package includes the so-called “StarBall” - a spherical star projector operating on the basis of fiber optics (which is much more economical than an Ilyich light bulb, which heats the ball from the inside with 99 percent of its energy), so the “StarBall” shows stars unsurpassedly brightly and pointwise. It is stated that their color is exclusively white and only the brightest stars have a unique hue - reddish, blue or yellow. The stars twinkle realistically.

In addition to the “StarBall”, an elevator can be installed (this “star ball” weighs one and a half tons), which allows you to remove the device during a full-dome projection, so that it does not cast a shadow in several directions of the hall at once. Please note that the frequent incompatibility of the work of the Universarium with a full-dome projection is emphasized, because the Universarium falls within the coverage area of all projectors, but it is difficult to place it lower - for most domes the geometric center is at the “horizon” level. Plus, in this case, additional planetary projectors will screen the projection coming from the StarBall.

The next important addition to StarBall are planet projectors. Once they were an integral part of the entire projection apparatus, but now they are located outside of it, as separate optional devices. And there may be a different number of them.

Unlike the previous technologies of the Zeiss planetariums from the 1st to the 6th generation and Cosmorama, the planetary projectors of the Universarium do not have a mechanical reduction, but are electronically controlled and allow solving many different problems based on the computer calculation of the positions of the projection of a particular planet on dome.

For example, these projectors can show the position and dynamics of the positions of the planets on the ecliptic, but also depict a view of the Solar System from the pole of the ecliptic - the Copernican Planetarium. The standard number of projectors is 8. Typically, in such a set, projectors show the following luminaries and phenomena:

1 . The sun and solar eclipses in different, dynamically changing phases, with a corona or annular.
2 . Moon with changing phases, lunar eclipses with phases and the Earth's shadow of varying intensity.
3 . Mercury
4 . Venus
5 . Mars
6 . Jupiter
7 . Saturn
8 . Planet X - this can be any planet - for example the Earth, to demonstrate the view of the sky from the Moon, but it is also possible to use this projector to image any hypothetical planet from Phaeton to Nibiru. To do this, you just need to load a slide with an image of the surface of this planet into a special place.

All planetary projectors are equipped with a significant zoom, allowing you to vary the apparent diameter of the planet from almost a point to several degrees. In this case, surface details, phases and other features, such as the ring of Saturn, become replaced. The brightness of the planets also changes, but by default it correctly correlates with the brightness of the stars created by StarBall.

The positions of the planets can be arbitrary or can be calculated absolutely precisely for any date from -10,000 years from the beginning of a new era to +10,000 years from the same time zero point. The movements of planetary projections can be accelerated.

But let's return again to StarBall.

The developers claim that the brightness of the stars created by this fiber optic system is so great that you can safely use in parallel with its work any other projection system, for example a full-dome video projection system consisting of many components, and at the same time the stars created by the Universarium will not be clogged with illumination from projectors operating simultaneously with Universarium. This is true, but we must understand that this applies to the brightest star points of the Universarium and the weak ones, of course, will fade even if the full-dome projection idly shows a black background - we will get an analogue of the Moscow sky, on which the Big Dipper, the stars of the Summer Triangle are visible, Arcturus and Cassiopeia... Alas, although the Universarium shows the stars clearly and brightly, modern full-dome projection systems still produce a lot of noise and do not provide a really dark background.

On the other hand, the brightness of the stars that the Universarium gives is fully consistent with the gorgeous picture that can be seen in reality in the mountains. For several years in a row I went to Crimea - to the Crimean Astrophysical Observatory - exactly the same picture of the starry sky, which scatters like a thousand-star fantasy over the low Crimean mountains, is exactly conveyed by the M9 Universarium. Of course, the Universarium shows many more stars than can be seen by the eye of an inexperienced observer. It is believed that in the entire sky, only 5-6 thousand are accessible to the eye of a “teapot” - an observer who has not yet become accustomed to the idea that observing stars, even with the eye, requires both concentration and relaxation, meditation and a good knowledge of the star chart, and the most important thing is deep adaptation. And every experienced observer will confirm my words - an experienced, trained eye sees much more stars: not 5 or 6, but all 8 - 9 thousand. This is exactly how many of them (and precisely for this reason) the M9 Universarium shows.

But not only stars are demonstrated by StarBall - nebulae, clusters and even the brightest galaxies that can be observed by a trained, keen eye. But the creators of the Universarium went even further and created ultra-detailed matrices for imaging nebulous, diffuse and multi-stellar objects - special glass plates coated with an ultra-thin layer of chromium, which conveys the smallest details of certain objects on the celestial sphere. For the first time, binoculars will be useful for observing the starry sky in Planetariums - looking at all these foggy objects - galaxies, nebulae and star clusters, as well as the Large and Small Magellanic clouds will bring amazing pleasure.

The same applies to the Milky Way - now it is not just a sadly stretching strip of unclear light stretching across the sky, but a detailed map of our galaxy with all the details, dark dust clouds and bright clusters of millions of stars - the Milky Way is also interesting to observe through Binoculars. Its brightness and saturation are adjustable.

Special projectors located as part of the StarBall demonstrate ancient drawings of constellations - the zodiac ones are displayed in orange, the rest - in light yellow. Shapes can be included one at a time, in groups, or all at once. Their brightness changes, but by default the images, it seemed to me, are too bright.

"StarBall" displays a significant number of coordinate systems with their inherent basic lines, circles and points. Coordinate systems can be horizontal, equatorial, ecliptic, and even the galactic coordinate system can be reflected by special marked glowing lines among the stars.

By rotating along all the axes corresponding to these coordinate systems, the Universarium M9 makes it possible to demonstrate the daily visible rotation of the celestial vault, the annual movement of the celestial vault, and even precession. At the same time, the planetary projectors, being separate and not involved in the general polysystem rotation of the StarBall, nevertheless create an accurate projection of each object moving among the stars in accordance with its calculated position on the celestial sphere. That is, all StarBall rotations in a variety of coordinate systems are programmatically linked to the operation of planetary projectors.

Also, “Universarium M9” clearly demonstrates changes in the visibility of constellations associated with changes in the observer’s latitude and can even show a perspective (parallax) change in the position of planets during an interplanetary flight. And of course, demonstrate the view of the starry sky from different planets of the Solar System.

It remains to add that the special lens on StarBall demonstrates Comet Donati, which somehow seemed to me to be somewhat faded and gray. In 1996, I saw two magnificent comets - Hyakutake-2 and Hale-Bopp. Both had bright colors and shades, but the new Zeiss comet is gray and does not produce success. In addition, the image of Halley's comet in the Copernican Planetarium was not intended. Previously, the Copernican Planetarium was a separate projection mechanism and operated independently of the main apparatus. Now it is realized, as I wrote above, by the multifunctionality of ordinary planetary projectors. But Halley's Comet fell out of his capabilities, and perhaps from the attention of the developers.

There is also a Meteor Shower projector, and it shows the shooting stars of August - the Perseids - in much the same way as the previous model transmitted star showers. As far as I understand, there has not been much improvement here.

In fact, that's all. The Universarium cannot show anything more today.

It does not include a cloud projector, aurora, dusk or dawn, no fireballs or satellites crossing the sky in any direction (although a satellite can be created from Planet X, but this is inconvenient), there is not even a pointer arrow... although... the arrow is actually there is, but it is not manually controlled - it must be programmed in advance and separately, so that, synchronously with one or another explanation, the arrow would automatically show a certain object in the sky...

Alas, the concept of the work of the “Universarium M9” is increasingly gravitating and pushes the lecturer to work on autopilot - Zeiss no longer even attaches directional arrows to the best of his planetarium. It must be said that despite the developer’s statement that everything and everyone is available for working in real time, nevertheless, a real-time remote control for the “Universarium M9” is not supplied - a system unit, a monitor, software and a small special a keyboard from which a special script is entered - a program for executing certain commands. There is no talk now of any kind of real-time work, in the understanding of MP lecturers of the 80s - 90s, when the lecturer, as a spaceship pilot, used levers and toggle switches to guide his board with five hundred passengers to another galaxy. All control comes down to the fact that the operator creates a command, saves the script and runs it from the beginning of the execution of this command on the time line. This is work in a completely different mode.

Special lamps create a stunning blue tint - this is how Planetria depicts blue skies before the start of the session, but the red, aggressive dawn in which the Sun sets is a little confusing. Obviously, here you can and should work on the flowers for quite a long time - then you will be able to achieve a realistic sunset. But while the sky is blue, the crescent of the young moon looks happy in it - how attractive.

Of course, Univesarium M9 is good in itself, but it still does not have as many possibilities as the entire arsenal of the Moscow Planetarium could demonstrate in the era of the 80s. The inclusion of additional projection means in lecture programs, such as a full-dome projection, can help out in some way and demonstrate a number of phenomena unattainable for the Universarium, but will certainly affect the overall beauty of the starry sky - it will worsen the picture. But obviously, you will have to put up with some things, improve others, or come up with new solutions.

This is such a technique.

In general, I expected the Great Hall of the Planetarium to display stars on the dome and assumed that it would be rather boring. But in fact, they show real popular science films and the effect of showing them on the dome is quite comparable to IMAX and in some ways even surpasses it. This is something new in general in the format of showing films. A huge dome overhead - you turn your head in all directions, excellent image and sound create unforgettable impressions and effects. The reclining chair... is very comfortable. I would love to watch films in this format, even feature films :-)

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But I didn’t quite understand the purpose of the ramp in front of the building. No one is allowed there, everyone passes under it. It probably opens here a couple of times a year as usual, but it occupies a huge and scarce area. Who knows and will share the secret of the idea?

The reconstruction of the Moscow Planetarium took 17 years and 4.125 billion rubles. But the planetarium believes it was worth it. After the grand opening on June 12, 2011, the restored and expanded complex at Sadovo-Kudrinskaya, 5, is visited by up to 3,000 people daily. This did not happen even in the 1960-1970s, during the era of universal fascination with astronautics. No one can predict how long this interest among the population in the stars will last.

“The facility has been closed for almost 20 years. During this time, everything changed: the country, life, technology. When the old planetarium closed, there weren’t even mobile phones yet,”- speaks Andrey Bordunov, General Director of the Pokrovskie Vorota Management Company(manages the planetarium, 100% of the shares belong to the Moscow Property Department).

High tech

Immediately after the second opening, the Moscow Planetarium received foreign colleagues from 85 countries. An international scientific conference of planetarium directors took place here. “The director of the Australian one was delighted with what he saw and admitted that the Moscow Planetarium is the best he has ever been to,”- rejoices Andrey Bordunov. Academician of the Russian Academy of Sciences Anatoly Cherepashchuk believes that the new equipment in the restored planetarium is one of the most advanced in the world.

And it's also complex. Approximately 200 km of various networks had to be laid inside the building. More than 30 engineering and 20 technological systems operate simultaneously here, all of them have a high degree of protection from overloads, external influences and other adverse factors.

No less attention is paid to the safety and comfort of visitors. The building is under constant video surveillance. The Anti-Terror system includes stationary and hand-held metal detectors and radiation monitoring. The planetarium serves almost 200 people.

The dome screen of the Moscow Planetarium is the largest in Europe(diameter - 25 m, area - 1000 sq. m). Unique lifting mechanisms were used to install perforated screen plates,”- says Chief engineer of the Moscow Planetarium Alexander Filatov. It was difficult to make the seams between the plates invisible. In a regular cinema, the screen canvas is solid, but the dome screen consists of many pieces. The required effect was achieved through precision in the manufacture and adjustment of the plates during installation, as well as with the help of special paint covering the dome fabric.

Particular attention was paid to energy-saving technologies: replaced incandescent lamps with diode and halogen ones, installed light sensors and spot brightness dimmers, etc. They also save water here - plumbing fixtures with automatic water supply sensors were installed. All systems in the building are computerized and controlled from a single control panel.

We have not forgotten about the accessibility of premises for wheelchair users. There are ramps; a visitor in a wheelchair can use a special elevator to get up to Great Star Hall , cafe, on the lift to get to interactive museum "Lunarium" . Anastasia Kazantseva, press secretary of the Moscow Planetarium, emphasized: they tried to create a complex that meets European quality standards, and in the West they always take into account the interests of people with disabilities. “Every day I see at least one person in a wheelchair among visitors and I am proud that the planetarium is one of the few places in Moscow that can accommodate disabled people”, she says.

Heavy inheritance

The history of the Moscow Planetarium has many glorious pages: many famous Soviet astronomers and cosmonauts took their first steps to the stars here. In 1994, the planetarium was closed for major renovations, which lasted for 17 years.

Management Company "Pokrovskie Vorota" came to the site in 2008. The reconstruction of the building (the metropolitan government allocated 1 billion rubles for it) has been going on for 15 years. The builders raised the historical building by 6 m, made a two-level extension where the interactive museum is now located, and erected a monumental ramp around the planetarium.

Moscow Planetarium OJSC, which at that time owned the building and supervised its reconstruction, had debts of 1.7 billion rubles. The city's share in the joint-stock company was 61%, a group of private investors, including the former general director of the planetarium Igor Mikitasov, owned 39% of the shares, but mutual understanding between the shareholders and the city authorities could not be achieved. The history of reconstruction snowballed with scandalous details: there were trials, creditors filed lawsuits, Igor Mikitasov made statements in the press about the raider takeover. In the end, at a meeting of shareholders it was decided to declare bankruptcy of Moscow Planetarium OJSC.

In 2009, with the participation of the Pokrovskie Vorota Management Company, a purchase and sale transaction of its property took place. The buyer was the new JSC Planetarium, 100% of its shares belong to the Moscow Property Department.

“We bought the property at auction for 1.8 billion rubles. how unfinished and returned the money to the main creditor - the Moscow government,- remembers Andrey Bordunov. — There were only two people at the site at that moment and not a single piece of documentation! The last builder left here at the beginning of 2006. For more than two years the building stood without heating or maintenance. In addition, it turned out that many technologies were not followed during the reconstruction process. We amounted to 180 million rubles. acts on various deficiencies, conducted an independent examination, which assessed the difference between financing and actually completed work. But the statute of limitations had passed, and there was no one to file a claim. Then we started construction, and in a year and two months the project was completed.”

At the same time, the UK studied planetariums in other countries. “At that time, no one understood what the project should be, there were no scientific specialists here, and only one person remained from the museum staff. We were the initiators of the creation of an academic council headed by Rector of Moscow State University Viktor Sadovnichy, - continues Bordunov. — Scientists treated us with caution for a long time, until at some stage of communication they believed: we are not going to set up a casino or a shopping center here, there will still be a scientific and educational center here. After that, our cooperation became much more effective.”

Who is the head in this house

The relationship between the operating company and the designers was not easy. The project for the reconstruction of the Moscow Planetarium, developed by the creative workshop “Mosproekt-4” under the leadership of architects Alexander Anisimov and Olga Semenova, received an award and a 1st degree diploma from the Union of Architects of Russia in 2000. Naturally, the architects resisted making any changes, although, according to Andrei Bordunov, almost 10 years have passed since the project was approved, during which time many decisions have become outdated.

There was one more problem: the Moscow Planetarium is a historical building(architects: M. O. Barshch and M. I. Sinyavsky), and interference with its design is prohibited by law. At the same time, a public building must comply with modern standards to ensure the safety and comfort of people.

For example, there should be wide passages so that in case of emergency evacuation people do not crush each other, it is necessary to separate entrances and exits into functional areas. The designers did not have a clear idea of how to combine these conflicting requirements. “We had to come up with everything ourselves, draw and explain what we wanted to get in the end,”- speaks Andrey Bordunov. As a result, the old concept of the complex nevertheless underwent changes.

The place of the restaurant, which was planned to open in the new extension, was taken by "Lunarium", the wardrobe took up the area intended for offices. A place has been found for a modern conference hall, and a teleconference has already been held with the Far Eastern University. In addition, now visitors do not have to go outside to get from one zone to another (this is exactly what happened in the old reconstruction project).

“The only thing we didn’t achieve was that we couldn’t demolish the ramps from the outside of the building,- regrets Bordunov. — But the old project also included their heating. We calculated that we would have to pay almost 10 million rubles for heating the street. in year". According to the old project, an aquarium was also planned in the basement of the building, the construction of which would cost $1 million and about $600,000 a year for its maintenance.

The architects really made a mistake with the ramp. In terms of its monumentality, this structure is similar to a transport overpass (or entrance to a parking lot); the planetarium building is practically invisible behind it.

The planetarium, even after reconstruction, does not have enough space, although the new complex is almost 6 times larger than the old one(it increased from 3,000 to 17,000 sq. m.). Project attendance is 1.5 million people per year. The building will not be able to accommodate such a flow even if it wants to; it is already crowded there now, when there are about 3,000 people a day, and this is 1,000 less than planned.

About capital and planetarium

The Moscow Planetarium first opened in 1929.(the building was built in a year). There were only 13 planetariums operating in the world at that time (the 13th was in Moscow), and only three of them were located outside of Germany. But the Soviet government was determined to educate the working masses and did not spare money on expensive Zeiss equipment. In total, about 250,000 rubles were spent on the construction and equipment of the planetarium. - the amount was astronomical at that time. On this occasion Vladimir Mayakovsky I even wrote a poem that ended like this: “Every proletarian should look at the planetarium.”

The opening of the planetarium in June 2011 was awaited with no less excitement than 82 years ago. This time, the Moscow government has already spent about 1 billion rubles on unique equipment, including 5 million euros for the Universarium M9. But the biggest costs come not from “smart technologies”, but from construction and installation work.

During the reconstruction process, the original frame of the building was restored, new elements were erected on its basis, and in addition, new premises were added. All alterations and redevelopments, according to the Pokrovsky Gate, cost almost 1.3 billion rubles; in total, 4.125 billion rubles were invested in the new planetarium. That is 1 sq. m of a fully equipped Moscow Planetarium cost the city budget $8,000. Bordunov believes that the figure is quite acceptable for the Garden Ring: “Price “naked” 1 sq. m in concrete here ranges from $10,000-15,000.”

“It is cheaper to dismantle the building down to the foundation, strengthen it and build a new facility, the appearance of which will correspond to the original,- argues Marina Velikoretskaya, General Director of Colliers International FM. — If restoration involves preserving the original box, the work can cost 3-5 times more than new construction.”. Investments in this complex facility, according to her estimates, will pay off no earlier than in 10 years. “We are now self-sufficient, but time will tell”, - speaks Bordunov.

“Our main goal is to awaken children’s passion for understanding the world around them and space, to raise personnel for space science,”- They say planetarium staff. They expect 80% of visitors to be children. Kids enjoy playing interactive museum "Lunarium", watch the program Small Star Hall, which is designed for young children.

By the way, visitors to the planetarium come from different. To the fact that in "Lunarium" exhibits will often fail, the staff was prepared. The principle of the museum is that everything can be touched and experienced in action. Therefore, the planetarium even has one technical day a week, when all exhibits are repaired. But no one could have foreseen that within a month the Foucault pendulum, the largest in Russia, would have to be repaired. One of the visitors decided to ride the pendulum and broke the 6-meter cable.

Will change

Anatoly Cherepashchuk, director of the State Astronomical Institute named after. P.K. Sternberg, Deputy Chairman of the Academic Council of the Moscow Planetarium:

— The Moscow Planetarium now has the most modern equipment in the world, first of all this concerns the new digital apparatus “Universarium M9”. The management of the planetarium purchased several American films to be shown in the Great Star Hall. One film costs hundreds of thousands of dollars, and after five years the license to show it needs to be renewed. Now it is important to master the new technical capabilities of the intelligent technology of the planetarium and learn how to create such computer programs and films ourselves. Until now, we have been solving the problem of how to quickly restore the planetarium; now it is important to establish work with the population. If people are bored in a historical museum, we will try to compensate for this with interesting excursions. The exhibition will also change.

Based on materials from the Vedomosti newspaper

Moscow Planetarium March 12th, 2014

Construction of the Planetarium in the 20s

Moscow Planetarium during the war years

At the end of May, when the auditorium was ready, installation of the apparatus began " Planetarium"under the supervision of specialists from the Zeiss company.

Private viewings took place during August, September and October.

Planetarium in Soviet times

As of 1987, all Soviet cosmonauts had undergone navigation training at the planetarium, and some gave lectures there after returning from space.

In 1990, a public observatory was opened at the planetarium, in which the largest telescope in Moscow was installed, available for mass observations.

Abandoned Planetarium in the mid-2000s

In 1994, entrepreneur and showman Igor Mikitasov decided to create a “scientific and entertainment center” on the basis of the Moscow Planetarium and approached the director of the planetarium with this proposal. In the same year, on the initiative of the director of the planetarium, in order to attract investors and provide guarantees for invested funds, the Moscow Planetarium Joint-Stock Company was created, in the authorized capital of which the main building of the planetarium was included. The founders of AOZT were 30% the planetarium staff, 20% the Moscow city organization of the Knowledge Society, and 50% AOZT Twins Company, Mikitasov’s company, which specialized in show business.

All this time, until August 1997, programs for schoolchildren were held in the dilapidated Star Hall. On May 1, 1998, the observatory was opened to visitors.

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This is the car at the entrance

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Moscow State University has been appointed scientific curator of the planetarium.

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There will be more details about these units at the end of the post.

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Looks fantastic :-)

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You can touch with your hands a “guest” from other worlds

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The children are very happy with what is happening.

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Meteorite fragments.

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Everything is very interactive and modern.

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This is the “space ladder”

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But let's find out more about this device:

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In 23 years, only 21 Planetariums in the world have received the great honor of having this device - Carl Zeiss produces his M9 Universariums per device in less than a year.

The basic configuration includes the so-called “StarBall” - a spherical star projector operating on the basis of fiber optics (which is much more economical than an Ilyich light bulb, which heats the ball from the inside with 99 percent of its energy), so the StarBall shows stars unsurpassedly brightly and pointwise. It is stated that their color is exclusively white and only the brightest stars have a unique hue - reddish, blue or yellow. The stars twinkle realistically.

1 . The sun and solar eclipses in different, dynamically changing phases, with a corona or annular.
2 . Moon with changing phases, lunar eclipses with phases and the Earth's shadow of varying intensity.
3 . Mercury
4 . Venus
5 . Mars
6 . Jupiter
7 . Saturn
8 . Planet X - this can be any planet - for example Earth, to demonstrate the view of the sky from the Moon, but it is also possible to use this projector to image any hypothetical planet from Phaeton to Nibiru. To do this, you just need to load a slide with an image of the surface of this planet into a special place.

But let's return again to StarBall.

The developers claim that the brightness of the stars created by this fiber optic system is so great that you can safely use in parallel with its work any other projection system, for example a full-dome video projection system consisting of many components, and at the same time the stars created by the Universarium will not be clogged with illumination from projectors operating simultaneously with Universarium. This is true, but we must understand that this applies to the brightest point-stars of the Universarium and the weak ones, of course, will fade even if the full-dome projection idly shows a black background - we will get an analogue of the Moscow sky, on which the Big Dipper, the stars of the Summer Triangle are visible, Arcturus and Cassiopeia... Alas, although the Universarium shows the stars clearly and brightly, modern full-dome projection systems still produce a lot of noise and do not provide a really dark background.

On the other hand, the brightness of the stars that the Universarium gives is fully consistent with the gorgeous picture that can be seen in reality in the mountains. For several years in a row I went to Crimea - to the Crimean Astrophysical Observatory - exactly the same picture of the starry sky, which scatters like a thousand-star fantasy over the low Crimean mountains, is exactly conveyed by the M9 Universarium. Of course, the Universarium shows many more stars than can be seen by the eye of an inexperienced observer. It is believed that in the entire sky only 5-6 thousand are accessible to the eye of a “teapot” - an observer who has not yet become accustomed to the idea that observing stars, even with the eye, requires both concentration and relaxation, meditation and a good knowledge of the star chart, and the most important thing is deep adaptation. And every experienced observer will confirm my words - an experienced, trained eye sees much more stars: not 5 or 6, but all 8 - 9 thousand. This is exactly how many of them (and precisely for this reason) the M9 Universarium shows.

It remains to add that the special lens on StarBall demonstrates Comet Donati, which somehow seemed to me to be somewhat faded and gray. I saw with my eye in 1996 two magnificent comets - Hyakutake-2 and Hale-Bopp. Both had bright colors and shades, but the new Zeiss comet is gray and does not produce success. In addition, the image of Halley's comet in the Copernican Planetarium was not intended. Previously, the Copernican Planetarium was a separate projection mechanism and operated independently of the main apparatus. Now it is realized, as I wrote above, by the multifunctionality of ordinary planetary projectors. But Halley's Comet fell out of his capabilities, and perhaps from the attention of the developers.

In fact, that's all. The Universarium cannot show anything more today.

Alas, the concept of the work of the “Universarium M9” is increasingly gravitating and pushes the lecturer to work on autopilot - Zeiss no longer even attaches directional arrows to the best of his planetarium. It must be said that despite the developer’s statement that everything and everyone is available for working in real time, nevertheless, a real-time remote control for the “Universarium M9” is not supplied - a system unit, a monitor, software and a small special a keyboard from which a special script is entered - a program for executing certain commands. There is no talk now of any real-time work, in the understanding of MP lecturers of the 80s and 90s, when the lecturer, as a spaceship pilot, used levers and toggle switches to guide his board with five hundred passengers to another galaxy. All control comes down to the fact that the operator creates a command, saves the script and runs it from the beginning of the execution of this command on the time line. This is work in a completely different mode.

Of course, Univesarium M9 is good in itself, but it still does not have as many possibilities as the entire arsenal of the Moscow Planetarium could demonstrate in the era of the 80s. The inclusion of additional projection means, such as a full-dome projection, in lecture programs can help out in some way and demonstrate a number of phenomena unattainable for the Universarium, but will certainly affect the overall beauty of the starry sky - it will worsen the picture. But obviously, you will have to put up with some things, improve others, or come up with new solutions.

This is such a technique.

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Here's something else interesting about space: or The original article is on the website InfoGlaz.rf Link to the article from which this copy was made -

Do you know what a planetarium is? Perhaps yes, but most likely not all, so read the article carefully. A planetarium is a project that is used to project images of stars, planets, the sun and other celestial bodies. At the same time, the brightness and position are maintained, and He can reproduce the picture of the sky observed from anywhere on Earth, both in the past and in the future. This is a mini time machine. This device is necessary for astronomers to conduct research, but it is also very loved by ordinary people who are interested in the mysteries of the Universe. When talking about what a planetarium is, people often mean the room itself with a hemispherical dome where this device is installed and operates, or the entire building.

History of creation

It dates back to the ancient world; the first instruments for studying the stellar galaxy date back to approximately the 6th century BC. People then did not yet know what a planetarium was, but they were already trying to create a model of the Universe and track the laws operating in it. For example, the philosopher Anaximander, who lived before Socrates, invented a celestial globe, where images of celestial bodies were applied to its surface. Later, this device was improved more than once by various scientists, but they were united by one drawback - they represented the sky viewed from the outside.

German scientists under the leadership tried to correct it in 1650. They proposed a model of a huge Gottorp globe, inside which several people could simultaneously observe the location of celestial bodies. In parallel, there was an equally rapid development of instruments that calculated their movement. Finally, in 1855, the scientific world learned what a planetarium was. O. Miller proposed using the inner surface of the sphere to project images of celestial bodies onto it. The size, brightness and position of the stars were similar to what could be seen without the use of optics (which did not yet exist) in the sky. The picture was presented in dynamics, that is, it demonstrated daily movement.

Modern realities

A lot has changed today. We have access to powerful telescopes and satellites that can constantly broadcast images of the starry sky in the immediate vicinity. It is this data that is recorded and then broadcast to the dome. This creates a powerful illusion of being in the open air. In addition, modern technologies make it possible to complement the experience with music and voiceover recordings, as well as special effects. This is how planetariums turned into real theaters that not only teach, but also give the opportunity to experience an extraordinary adventure.

Planetarium in Moscow

Russia is rightfully proud of him. It is the oldest in our country and is known all over the world due to its colossal size. His work has always been highly valued by scientists. It makes a great contribution to the training of specialists and provides the opportunity to conduct a variety of research.

The planetarium in Moscow deserves close attention not only among people associated with science. Ordinary visitors come here much more often, because nowhere else can you see the stars so close. Today, a whole series of entertaining and educational excursions has been created that will be of interest to both adults and children. The Great Star Hall, the Urania Concourse, and the interactive “Lunarium” operate here. In addition, there are two observatory towers, a 4D cinema and a Small Star Hall. This is enough to enjoy the mysterious twinkling of distant stars and gain new knowledge about our galaxy.

Urania Museum

This museum will be more interesting for adults. Essentially, these are chronicles of the development of astronomy. Devices that previously lit up the artificial sky within these walls are located under the ceiling and along the walls. It will be interesting to look at the first devices that were used to make movies about space. You will be able to see the constellation globe and the model of Venus. On the walls hang photographs of the Moon, nebulae, and constellations. There is also a stand of space stones where you can see a variety of meteorites.

Great Star Hall

It is both a cinema and an extraordinary museum. When you go inside, you see a huge dome (diameter 25 meters) and many seats. In the center is the apparatus itself, the real pride of local astronomers, the latest generation projector. It is thanks to him that you will be able to fly to unknown worlds. Next, visitors are asked to move their chairs to a horizontal position, and the stars begin to light up under the dome. The program consists of two parts, the first introduces the starry sky, the main constellations, nebulae, and comets. The second is an exciting journey into another world, one of the full-dome films: “Cosmic Impact”, “Black Holes”, “The Amazing Telescope”, “Journey to the Stars”. The image under the dome is complemented by special effects and sound.

Observatory of the Moscow Planetarium

Usually one gets here after visiting the Great Star Hall. To do this, you will have to go down to the second level of the museum and go straight to the Sky Park. This is also a kind of museum, the exhibits of which belong to the following sections: classical and ancient astronomy. On the site you can see Stonehenge, a stunningly sized globe of the earth and several models of an almost forgotten sundial.

Next, your path will lead to one of the two towers. These are the large and small observatories of the Moscow Planetarium. They are located on the territory of the astronomy site, among a replica of Stonehenge, pyramids and a sundial. These are two-story, single-dome buildings. On the second floor, in a spacious building, there is a 300 mm telescope. It is a viewing tube on a thick leg. For its operation, the dome opens slightly in the desired direction. The design allows it to open to any desired degree, so it is very convenient to conduct observations. Be sure to come here if you decide to visit the planetarium. The observatory leaves the most vivid impressions.

The last hall is “Lunarium”

More precisely, these are two halls. They clearly demonstrate what a planetarium is for children. There are instruments here that are familiar to us from physics lessons; they help us visually see various natural phenomena. Everything can be touched, twisted, rocked. For example, you can pump out air from a flask, create a vacuum and watch a ball fly in it. There are several guides working here who explain the operation of instruments and phenomena, and also talk about the features of our Solar System. There are devices here that demonstrate plasma or travel. And the main attraction is a simulator on which you can practice the skills of connecting a ship with a space station. In the lower hall you will find a huge number of interesting devices.

Studying the starry sky at home

For this purpose, today there are various devices called “home planetarium”. They come in different sizes, power and functional loads. But they have the same principle - it’s a projector that transmits an image of the starry sky to the ceiling. The simplest models are more like night lights, but an additional feature is the projection of a star image. The more expensive the model, the more images it can reproduce. Imagine how wonderful it is to lie down in the evening with your child and imagine that you are going on a journey, for example. You won’t need books with fairy tales for a long time, because you can compose your own every time, and a home planetarium will help you.

A real planetarium in your city

Not everyone is lucky enough to live in a city where there is such a wonderful facility. That's why the mobile planetarium was created. This wonderful invention will enliven boring astronomy lessons, making them visual and colorful. It is an inflatable dome that can be easily installed in the assembly hall. Inside it, children sit on mats and the magic begins. On the inner surface you will see a projection of celestial bodies. Films are shown using visual and audio effects. The information is presented in an accessible form; there are tapes adapted for children from 3 to 18 years old. Such activities are very different from a regular school lesson or reading textbook material. This is an opportunity to experience space flight live.