A new planetarium has opened in St. Petersburg. The scientific and cultural space has become the largest planetarium in the world. The volume of investment in the project is estimated at 380 million rubles.
The new planetarium is located in the historic Gas Holder building, where gas used for street lighting was stored for more than 150 years. The planetarium has the world's largest projection dome, with a diameter of 37 m. This is 2 meters more than in the planetarium Japanese city Nagoya, which is included in the Guinness Book of Records. The total exhibition area is 4500 sq. meters consists of a star hall, a museum with space exhibits, interactive rooms with virtual reality, educational classes and observatory.
The equipment in the main hall includes 40 powerful projectors connected into a single system; the content has a resolution of 8K, which is significantly more than in other projects around the world.
The planetarium program, lasting one and a half hours, will be divided into two parts. First they will tell and show about space and the Universe, about Big Bang and the galaxy. Then - about astronauts and the technology with which space is being explored.
And after viewing, visitors will be able to explore the exhibits, take pictures against the backdrop of space, and even control the planets and constellations on touch tables with their own hands.
June 12, 2011, Moscow. The renovated Planetarium opens its doors and invites visitors to amazing trip in interstellar space. The long-term reconstruction, which took place over 17 years, has been completed. Now the Moscow Planetarium is a multifunctional complex that combines scientific, educational, educational resource and a family leisure center aimed at different age groups visitors.
Appearance The building has remained almost unchanged, the main difference is that the historical building has been raised by 6 meters, and 14 thousand meters of new space have been added to it. 
There were a lot of kids at the opening. 
The Urania Museum is named after the patroness of astronomy. Hall 2. It contains relief globes of the planets and the moon, a unique collection of meteorites and interactive model"Solar system". 
Sometimes it feels like you're on the set of Star Wars! 
Vacuum stand, with a bell in the fan, the degree of vacuum is regulated by buttons, extremely entertaining! 
Projection glass screen, the picture hangs in the air. 
At the entrance there is a model of a planetarium that glows with all the colors of the rainbow. 
The plasma lamp is the invention of Nikola Tesla (1894). 
Stand with static electricity. 
Very cool thing makes with the help of air currents from steam, just like a real tornado, only a small one, 
And here, by taking the handset and placing it at certain points on the globe, you can hear the radio of the country corresponding to this point. 
Classic optical illusions and not only. 
Lunarium Hall 1, The exhibition is designed as space station with thematic sections: “Landing on Mars”, “Interplanetary Voyage”, “Birth of a Galaxy”, Journey to Infinity.” 
I clearly show magnetized balls gravitational interaction between celestial bodies. 
An optical stand, prisms and light filters are no less interesting for adults than for children. 
Here you need to guess the displayed constellations by pressing the appropriate buttons; I only obeyed my native Taurus. 
IN gift shop At the entrance you can buy pieces of meteorites, literature, telescopes, souvenirs and even real space food, albeit at astronomical prices... 
The oldest starry sky projectors of the Moscow Planetarium, creations of Carl Zeiss, are displayed in the first hall of the Urania Museum. 
The walls are interactive exhibits. 
Descent module of the Vostok 3KA-2 spacecraft. On March 23, 1961, it was launched with the dummy “Ivan Ivanovich” and the dog Zvezdochka; its successful return to earth opened the way for manned space flights. 
Evgeniy Yurchenko - on April 12, 2011, in order to return the device to its homeland, he bought it at the Sotheby's auction. 
Ilya Logutenko congratulated the planetarium on its opening. 
The grand opening took place after 17 years of renovation. 
The museum's meteorite collection contains 113 samples of extraterrestrial matter! 
Model solar system, by pressing the desired button you can obtain information on the planet of interest. 
Exhibits from the collection of the Planetarium Museum... 
The collective image of a medieval astronomer, and large collection astronomical instruments of antiquity... 
The starry sky projector operated from 1977 to 1994. 
Projector lamp and optics from 1929.
10:34 — REGNUM A new planetarium was opened in St. Petersburg without completely reducing the dome, a correspondent reports IA REGNUM. The authors of the project promise to fix everything in the near future.
November 4 at northern capital“Planetarium No. 1” in the gas tank on the Obvodny Canal embankment, 74C, in the so-called “gray belt” of St. Petersburg, will welcome its first visitors. The opening ceremony of the new facility took place yesterday with the participation of the governor Georgy Poltavchenko, but the mayor and those invited saw the unfinished dome. According to the organizers, this was the idea - they wanted to show the first visitors and journalists the dome of the gas tank from 1884, which inspired the creation of the project.
The doorways of the planetarium and the only frame of the metal detector at the entrance were clearly not ready for the massive influx of visitors, a crush formed, and we had to stand in line for about half an hour. As a result, the opening was delayed, and the program was also cut in half.
Inside, visitors were greeted by violinists, harpists and opera divas, performing works from classics like Bizet’s Carmen to soft rock, but the quality of the sound depended on the location - the speaker in the center was deafening, while the resonance at the edges of the dome made it difficult to understand the words, if they were heard at all . The situation worsened when the audience was greeted by Georgy Poltavchenko, the content of whose speech could only be guessed at.
Investor representative, CEO company "ART-Technology" Evgeniy Gudov, even hoarse from the effort, but explained that the sound quality would improve.
“Opera can be heard very well, but speech is a little difficult. We built two sets of acoustics - one for speech, the other for music. Everything will be fine with the sound, I just know because we have been working in the gas tank for a long time. Cylindrical buildings create certain problems for sound,” Goodov said.
It is worth admitting that the audio in the films that were shown to the guests was of quite high quality. In the planetarium they showed a story about St. Petersburg and the history of the gas tank itself, the creation of the planetarium, then about the main milestones in the history of astronautics, the rivalry between the USSR and the USA in this field, as well as about the Buran ship, a model of which was also exhibited in one of the niches.
However, it was noticeable that even for the first plot there were not enough projectors, as a result of which the gigantic Peter I was “beheaded”, and the film about “Buran” was, in fact, an ordinary flat image.
Evgeny Gudov claims that the dome will be closed in the coming days, after which all projectors will work at full power. An iridescent projection sphere is installed in the middle of the hall, it contains about 40 projectors, it supports a resolution of up to 16 thousand pixels.
“Now we have turned on the video capture mode, when we can show flat films, ordinary ones, in the planetarium. Above your head you can see the technical seam. The dome has been reduced. We’ll cover it with panels a little later,” - explained Evgeny Gudov.
All construction works took about two months. The first half of the period was spent insulating the floor, the second - installing the dome. All the “seams” of the images will disappear as soon as it is combined, Gudov claims.
It is expected that by January the gas tank will have a sloping floor, typical of planetariums, which will also help correct acoustic problems. Guests will lie on ottomans throughout the room.
At the end of January, a laboratory will also be opened with the participation of a certain “large high-tech company,” whose name is still being kept secret. An observatory and lecture halls are expected to open in May - one on the street, several more in an adjacent four-story building. The complex will be fully operational by September 1, 2018.
Since tickets began to be sold on November 4, the work will be carried out at night, in addition, several technological breaks are planned in November and December, so those who want to get inside the gas tank should follow the schedule on the website.
In addition to the Buran model, other exhibits will appear inside; there are plans to present the entire line of space rockets. Interactive screens allow you to learn more about space, and the holes in the floor have been converted into windows: from them, as if from a rocket flying in orbit, you can see Earth, which makes you feel like a space tourist.
The planetarium is already ready to demonstrate a 1.5-hour program to viewers, but new additions are expected.
“We were faced with the need to make content, so we decided to create our own studio. We currently have about 14 designers working for us, and every year we will present a new video for planetariums, which can be launched throughout Russia. We have also purchased several children's films, which we will broadcast in the morning. But we believe that everyone should be interested in the planetarium, both young people and adults. Therefore, the content will be diverse,” - Gudov explained.
The diameter of the dome of the star hall is 37 meters, which is 2 meters ahead of its nearest competitor from Japan. Previously, the company announced its ambitions to get into the Guinness Book of Records.
The entire project includes three Gas Plant buildings on an area of 5 thousand square meters. meters. In addition to the planetarium, the gas tank itself will house an exhibition gallery at a height of 6 meters, Observation deck under the dome, showrooms and technology area virtual reality. The second building is dedicated to scientific laboratories, which will be free to visit and organized according to the “science behind glass” principle.
Let us remind you that the company “ART-Technologies” is known for creating the exhibitions “Van Gogh. Revived canvases" and "Aivazovsky. Living canvases." Therefore, it is not surprising that the third building was allocated for a museum, where exhibitions of “Revived Canvases” will be held, and a cafe. It is planned to open in early 2019. It is expected that the planetarium will be visited by 500 thousand to 1 million people a year.
A new planetarium with the largest dome diameter in the world, 37 meters, has opened in St. Petersburg. Projections onto the dome will be carried out by 39 projectors connected into a single system, thanks to which it will be possible to obtain full-dome video in 360 o format. The planetarium equipment was tested at the Higher School of Lighting Design at ITMO University. ITMO.NEWS looked at the new planetarium, figured out how large projections work, and also found out what the technical difficulties of working with such equipment are.
Opening of Planetarium No. 1
The new Planetarium No. 1 became the largest in the world, breaking the record of the planetarium at the Nagoya Science Museum in Japan, where the diameter of the dome is 35 meters. The dome of Planetarium 1 was built inside the historical gas tank building. Gas holder up to early XIX century, it was a storage facility for illuminating gas, which was used for street lighting. The building looks like a saucepan: round, with a semicircular roof, it is located on the Obvodny Canal, in the “gray belt” of St. Petersburg.
The city governor came to the opening of Planetarium No. 1. He emphasized that such creative projects inhale new life into semi-abandoned industrial buildings that “encircle” central part Petersburg. Pilot-cosmonaut, Hero of Russia Andrey Borisenko added that the planetarium is an opportunity to look at the starry sky and study it in a city where the sky is often overcast. In addition, seeing stars in a large metropolis is not easy due to the usual light pollution.
According to the project initiator, entrepreneur Evgenia Gudova, Planetarium No. 1 should be one of the most technologically sophisticated in the world. In the center of the hall there is a sphere on which 39 powerful projectors are installed that will be able to display images on the dome with a resolution of 8K by 8K. What does it mean? Imagine taking photographs with an eight megapixel camera. They turn out quite clear and high quality. Today you can make videos with the same resolution - 4K resolution. This means that in a video in this format, each still frame will have a resolution of eight megapixels. What is the 8K video format? This means that every frame will have a resolution of 33.2 megapixels!
This resolution can be obtained, for example, by shooting video with several cameras with 4K resolution or multiple cameras with FullHD resolution. The main thing is that the total resolution gives the desired quality. In this case, the cameras must have the same settings, each of them must capture parts of the image. That is, if you need to make 4K, then, for example, four FullHD cameras need to shoot four different parts of the image. In this case, the camera focuses must be directed to certain points, so that the four resulting images do not “overlap” each other and together form the required geometric format. Then the resulting four videos are converted into one using special software. Thus, by increasing the number of cameras and varying their resolution, you can create videos with a very high total resolution.
Modern planetariums use projectors of different power, their luminous flux is measured in Lumens. The higher the Lumen, the fewer projectors you will need to brightly illuminate the dome. Planetarium No. 1 uses 39 projectors connected into a single system. This means that each projector shows part of the picture, and all these pictures are then “stitched” together to create a single image. The process of seamlessly combining images into a panoramic projection from different projectors is called blending.
« When you use several projectors to create one large image, in addition to the “stitching” itself, the problem of overexposure of adjacent areas arises. To make the image look solid, this overexposure is carefully masked. Essentially, you need to achieve uniform brightness throughout the image; to do this, each part is multiplied by the corresponding gradient. There are programs that solve both of these problems automatically using a camera, analyzing the distortions of test patterns projected onto the surface. We considered such solutions, but in the end we had to do everything manually. Besides, we had to pay attention to the synchronization of all projectors frame to frame", - explained the senior video engineer of Planetarium No. 1 Ildar Yakubov.
Equipment and content for Planetarium No. 1 were tested on site High school lighting design from ITMO University in a mobile planetarium with a diameter of 10 meters. Usually, performances are staged there together with the Hungarian laser theater Lux Aeterna at various festivals such as Geek Picnic; now the installation is located within the university building in Grivtsova Lane. According to Nikolai Matveev, Associate Professor at the Higher School of Lighting Design, the operation of eight projectors was tested in the mobile planetarium and blending was debugged on them.
« The software used to create full dome projections is much more complex than when creating flat graphics. 3D mapping technologies are also used - projections environment on physical object taking into account his geometric features, V in this case This is the dome of the planetarium. Basically, if they show any video in a planetarium, it looks like a 360° video"- commented Nikolai Matveev.
He added that to create projections in planetariums, a special dome skin is usually used, thanks to which the contrast of the image can be enhanced. For example, such cladding should be a little gray, and not completely white. Also, special acoustics are usually created in spherical-shaped spaces. So, at one edge of the dome you can easily hear what is happening at the other edge, that is, the sound travels along an unusual path. Thanks to this, audio-visual performances can be created in such domed spaces.
« In the future, of course, specialists from the School of Lighting Design would be interested in working with the capabilities of the new planetarium, because it huge space, where you can experiment with light installations"- added Nikolai Matveev.
To see the stars on a clear sunny day, you need to descend to the bottom of the well. And you can admire the picture of the starry sky on a cloudy day only by flying in an airplane above the top edge of the clouds. To see one of the most beautiful constellations - the famous South Cross, - to us, the residents northern hemisphere, it is necessary to travel to the equator. The sun and stars can be observed simultaneously only from a spacecraft...
Halley's Comet will make its next approach to Earth in 2060. Our distant descendants will be eyewitnesses of the next solar eclipse in the European part of the country - it will happen in 2126. And only in the 30th century will earthlings be able to see Comet Donati again - one of the brightest comets of the 19th century.
But all these and many more celestial phenomena can be seen any day in the artificial sky of the Moscow Planetarium. How did this become possible? The history of the Planetarium is a fascinating story about thorny path to the stars.
Preparation for construction
In mid-1927 By resolution of the Moscow Council, a Permanent Commission was created for the construction of a planetarium in Moscow. By that time, 12 planetariums had already been opened in the world - ten in Germany and two outside it, in Vienna and Rome. The Moscow planetarium became the third planetarium outside Germany and the thirteenth in the world.
By the spring of 1928, the USSR trade mission in Berlin finally agreed with the Zeiss company on the supply of the Planetarium projection apparatus (serial number 13) and with the Dikkerhof company on the construction of a fabric dome serving as a screen for demonstrating the sky.
The Moscow City Council allocated 250,000 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 an astronomical observatory on the flat roof for queuing excursions.
Meanwhile, the design of the Moscow Planetarium building was underway.
K. N. Shistovsky (first director) and architects M. O. Barshch, M. I. Sinyavsky
Young architects M.O. Barshch and M.I. were involved in the work. Sinyavsky, later - professor of Moscow architectural institute. They presented a project made in the then fashionable style - “constructivism”. This style appeared in architecture in the 20s - 30s of the twentieth century, and its task was “to design the environment by creating structures in clear external forms, formed from simple stereometric bodies and assembled on a reinforced concrete frame.” The construction of the Moscow Planetarium was a significant event at that time. The Ogonyok magazine reported on September 23, 1928: “It is remarkable that given our material poverty, with our strict import plan, we are importing and installing an expensive structure, which is not available in many capitals (...). The Moscow Planetarium, according to its organizers, will be something like people's university(...). Attracting with its external showiness, the planetarium will at the same time help workers expand their mental horizons. Therefore, its construction should be welcomed as an event of exceptional cultural importance.”
After appropriate comments, the Moscow Council approved the project, on the basis of which the main, cylindrical building of the Moscow Planetarium was built at 5 Sadovaya Kudrinskaya Street.
First stone
The foundation of the Moscow Planetarium was laid on the day of the autumn equinox - September 23, 1928.
In mid-February 1929, specialists from Germany arrived in Moscow to install an iron frame - a spherical dome - screen. The Planetarium apparatus was already in Moscow at that time and was stored in packed boxes in the premises of the Moscow Department of Public Education.
At the end of May, when the auditorium was ready, installation of the Planetarium apparatus began 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.
Selection of museum materials
Scientific and methodological work was underway at this time full swing. The main topics and selection of material were carefully thought through, strictly scientific content was taken into account, as well as the methodology and form of presentation. Several main themes were developed that satisfy not only the needs of the mass audience, but also school programs. A plan was presented for organizing an astronomical library-reading room and an astronomical observatory serving visitors and capable of conducting scientific work.
However, the most important issue was the creation of a large astronomical museum. The discussion about what a planetarium museum should be like was extremely heated, as two opinions fought: should there be a museum at the planetarium, or should there be a planetarium at the museum. The majority was in favor of the second proposal, and the museum itself was supposed to be developed on a grandiose scale, requiring a special, large extension, with laboratory rooms, with large dynamic models, classrooms, etc. The planetarium was thought of as the final and generalizing spectacle of everything seen in the museum. But the idea of creating a museum was never realized.
Grand opening of the Moscow Planetarium
The opening of the planetarium to the general public was scheduled for the October holidays. November 5, 1929 is considered the birthday of the Moscow Planetarium.
Here's what the Chronicle wrote from the journal World Studies (vol. ХVIII, no. 6):
“On November 5 in Moscow there was Grand opening Moscow Planetarium, the first in our Union and the 13th in the whole world. The opening was attended by Comrade T. Litvinov, Lunacharsky, Semashko and others.”
Mayakovsky dedicated the poem “Proletarian, proletarian, come to the planetarium” to the opening of the planetarium, which ended with the words: “Every proletarian should look at the planetarium.”
Evolution of scientific and educational programs
The device “Twinkle of Stars”, mechanic Lebedev in the photo. One of the first Soviet inventions, complementing the Planetarium apparatus, author - K. N. Shistovsky
The planetarium began its activities with a small series of lectures. However, its subject matter grew from year to year. If in 1929-1930. There were only three themes in the repertoire, then already in 1939. their number reached 40. The structure of the Universe, the origin and development of the Solar system, the structure of the Sun, the Moon and its movement, comets and meteors, eclipses - this is the range of topics covered in the Planetarium.
With the expansion of work, it became necessary to supplement technical base Planetarium with new instruments and apparatus.
The great merit of the Moscow Star House is that it was here that almost immediately after the opening, with the blessing of K.G. Paustovsky, the first design and production work to create a “living sky” and enhance the effect of presence. The group of experimenters was led by the talented designer, first director and lecturer of the planetarium for 45 years, Konstantin Nikolaevich Shistovsky.
By 1934, stars were already twinkling on the dome of the Moscow Planetarium, clouds were floating, a comet was walking across the sky, auroras, there was an August starfall, there were solar eclipses, Tsiolkovsky’s rocket flew with a fiery tail. At the end of the session, a scarlet dawn broke in the hall, and a large, bright “Soviet Sun” rose to the music of R.M. Gliere, specially arranged by him for the Planetarium. None of this existed in any planetarium in the world until the end of the 50s. So the planetarium ceased to be just optical device, but became a dome theater, where the sky is reproduced in all its diversity by all means available to modern technology.
Start of work of the astronomical circle
The year 1934 is also significant because the first astronomical circle began its work at the Moscow Planetarium. Then, on the initiative of the newspaper “Pionerskaya Pravda,” two dozen children gathered within the walls of the Planetarium for their organizational meeting. The first leader of the circle was the famous popularizer of astronomy Vitaly Alekseevich Shishakov. In those years, professors and prominent astronomers K.L. Baev, M.E. Nabokov and others spoke at the classes of the circle members, which usually took place in the Star Hall. IN astronomical circles Up to 500 schoolchildren per year attended the planetarium.
Managers in different years were I.F. Shevlyakov, F.Yu. Ziegel, R.I. Tsvetov, V.A. Bronshten, K.A. Portsevsky, S.V. Shirokov, A.V. Bolt. There was no such youth astronomy school, and no, nowhere in the world. Many graduates astronomical circles The Moscow Planetarium today constitutes the color and pride national science about the stars.
In the same year, one of the world's first amateur groups for observing variable stars was created at the Planetarium, under the leadership of Professor P.P. Parenago.
Planetarium and rocket and space technology
In 1934-1938 The Stratospheric Committee worked and met on the basis of the Moscow Planetarium. Its employees studied the upper layers of the atmosphere and dealt with problems jet propulsion. During the meeting of the Presidium of the Stratospheric Committee, one could see S.P. Korolev, V.P. Glushko, V.P. Vetchinkin, M.K. Tikhonravov, Yu.A. Pobedonostsev, G.E. Langemak here in the Small Hall.
At the Planetarium there were engineering and design courses, inherited by the Stratospheric Committee from the famous GIRD (jet propulsion research group). Lectures were given by V. P. Glushko, G. E. Langemak, M. K. Tikhonravov. Astronomical and geophysical issues were advised by Professors B. A. Vorontsov-Velyamov and P. P. Parenago. It was at the Moscow Planetarium that, for the first time in the world, a method was developed and implemented to study the dynamics of the stratosphere using stratospheric probes with smoke bombs. In the basement of the Planetarium, the first liquid rockets of designers A. I. Polyarny, L. K. Korneev, D. S. Dushkin were designed and manufactured. The first Soviet two-stage rocket designed by I. A. Merkulov was built and tested here in Ostankino. From a group of rocket scientists in the basement of the Moscow Planetarium, a world-famous design bureau (KB-7) for the development of liquid-propellant rockets grew.
Star Theater at the Planetarium
IN pre-war years The planetarium became, in the literal sense of the word, a “Star Theater.” It staged plays starring professional actors. In the domed hall with great success There were performances of “Galileo”, “Giordano Bruno” and “Copernicus”. Already in the first performance it was clearly evident character traits Planetarium Theater: the ability to create exciting performances, organically weaving scientific statements into the fabric of dialogue, as well as the ability to illustrate what has been said, making extensive use of the starry sky and other capabilities of the Planetarium apparatus.
Galileo at the Cardinal's. Galileo - artist A. I. Parkryshev, cardinal - Honored Artist of the RSFSR A. I. Bakhmetyev. Scene from the play "Galileo"
Planetarium and school
Moscow Planetarium, thanks to the resources at its disposal technical means, becomes a one-of-a-kind complex of visual teaching aids. Under starry sky Moscow school students lead the planetarium practical lessons in astronomy and geography, performing " round the world travel", "travel to North Pole", get visual evidence sphericity of the Earth, its daily and annual movement etc. High school students study spherical astronomy. Lecture series for schoolchildren are coordinated with school programs and are an excellent addition to the knowledge that students receive at school.
As you know, astronomy is an observational science. To observe celestial objects and phenomena it is necessary astronomical observatory. For these purposes, it was planned to create a special astronomical site at the Moscow Planetarium. The idea of creating it first appeared in 1939. The decision was made to build the site in the early summer of 1941. However, the beginning of the Great Patriotic War ruined these plans. Astronomical site The Moscow Planetarium was opened in 1947 for the 800th anniversary of Moscow.
During the war, in addition to holding regular mass lectures, the Moscow Planetarium provided practical help soldiers and commanders 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 by military units, in the auditoriums of the City Military Commissariat, in air defense propaganda posts.
The Moscow Planetarium worked throughout the war and was only once closed for two months.
Astronomical Site and Observatory
At the astronomical site near Nabokov's globe
In 1946, construction of the Astronomical Site began. For the first time in the history of planetariums, this complex of cognition tools, addressed to living luminaries, was conceived by the author of the first Soviet school textbook astronomy 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.
Planetarium - a center for the popularization of natural science knowledge
Since 1947, the Moscow Planetarium has been operating in the complex - Star Hall, foyer, Astronomical platform and Observatory. It becomes the country's largest center of propaganda and popularization natural science knowledge. Every year thousands of lectures on astronomy and Earth sciences are given not only at the Planetarium itself, but also at enterprises and institutions in Moscow and the region.
The Moscow Planetarium provides great scientific and methodological assistance to other planetariums. Its employees develop new demonstration devices, create a series of transparencies and annotations for them, various methodological manuals. Seminars, lecture schools, and technical consultations are held at the Planetarium. All planetariums in the country began their activities with the direct assistance and participation of the Moscow Planetarium.
Polar navigators and long-range aviation, study the starry sky southern hemisphere those who subsequently laid air routes to Antarctica.
Planetarium and astronautics
The Moscow Planetarium made a significant contribution to the development domestic cosmonautics. It was here that, starting in 1960, for 15 years, classes in celestial navigation were conducted with future cosmonauts. Pilot-cosmonaut A.A. Leonov, once speaking in the Star Hall of the planetarium, said: “The path to Baikonur began here, in the Moscow Planetarium.”
In the seventies, due to development and triumph Soviet cosmonautics There is an extreme interest in everything related to space. The Moscow Planetarium illuminates all the most interesting events in this area, new lectures are being quickly prepared that talk about space flights and results space research. The planetarium is the only place where you can get objective and reliable information on space topics.
During these years, the popularity of the Moscow Planetarium has increased unusually. It becomes the most consistently visited in the world - from 800 thousand to a million visitors per year. Always well equipped, it exchanges experience on equal terms with the capital planetariums of other countries. The history of the Planetarium reminds us that in many endeavors it was and remained the first.
The unique building of the Moscow Planetarium - a monument to the era of constructivism, the pride of Soviet architecture - becomes an integral part of architectural appearance capital - its silvery elongated dome gives it a resemblance to a fantastic interplanetary rocket heading into the sky.
Replacing the Planetarium apparatus
Planetarium apparatus No. 313
In 1977, the old Planetarium apparatus (serial number 13), installed in 1929, replaced new device"Planetarium" (serial number 313) with automated system management. The new capabilities of the device made it possible to create a fundamentally New Product for the Planetarium - an automated audiovisual program. The most interesting popular science programs, such as “About Heaven and Earth” for children, “Myths about the Great Hellenes” and “Sky of Beautiful Hellas” based on ancient greek myths, “Under the Planetarium Sky”, “Newtoniana” were created by Honored Worker of Culture of the Russian Federation Stanislav Vasilyevich Shirokov. He is rightfully considered an innovator in the development of a whole area of scientific and methodological technologies in the planetariums of our country.
To the 50th anniversary of the Moscow Planetarium awarded the Order Red Banner of Labor.
In 1987, the Moscow Planetarium hosted the 1X International Congress directors of planetariums, which was attended by 139 delegates.
The history of the Moscow Planetarium contains many glorious pages, but there are truly dramatic moments and long years oblivion.
Unfortunately, a general shadow of stagnation has fallen on the activities of the Moscow Planetarium. The installation of the new device was, perhaps, the last tangible action aimed at its development.
In 1994, the Moscow Planetarium was closed for major renovations.
In preparing the material, articles by K.N. Shistovsky, V.A. Shishakov, K.A. Portsevsky, V.N. Komarov, S.V. Shirokov were used.
