A Spanish company offering mobile planetarium experiences has made Battersea Power Station it’s first UK destination.
Planetarium GO! offers immersive science-led experiences and aims to inspire interest in space and science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM) subjects in young people and adults.
The experiences break down complex science and astronomy concepts for the general public through five different story-telling sessions using high-resolution projection technology.
Planetarium GO! CEO José Jiménez said: “There are thousands of kids who’ve never seen the Milky Way or the constellations.
“So for us it’s very important to use our planetarium to encourage kids to get engaged with science.”
The planetarium is made of a domed metal frame with a dual layered membrane suspended inside. Between the layers is kept at a low vacuum to ensure that the inner surface that has the images projected on stays nice and smooth for sharp and high quality images.
The dome is manufactured in Ukraine, a collaboration that Jiménez is proud of given the current circumstances in the country.
Jiménez hopes the planetarium will go further to encourage people’s interest in space by becoming a mini cultural hub and be able to host conferences, speeches, gigs and other events.
“If you want to get people interested in science you need to use music and art, you cannot imagine how good a DJ or a jazz party is inside the dome.
“Concerts under the stars where the music speaks to the science. It’s fun, it’s an interesting way to bring to people new ways to speak about science.” he explained.
Planetarium GO! is booked much like a cinema, where visitors choose a date, time slot and seats for the experience they want via their website.
Shows are available in Battersea Power Station from 30 January to 1 March, when the planetarium will go on the road to other cities across the UK.
Feature image: Yukdooho, CC BY-SA 4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
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