Beijing Planetarium ( Chinese р 天文馆 , Pinyin : Běijīng tiānwénguǎn ) is a national museum of natural sciences located in Beijing , China . It is the largest planetarium in the world, including several planetariums: the classic Carl Zeiss “Universarium M-IX” (in the old building), as well as new media installations (in the new building) [1] .
| Planetarium | |
| Beijing planetarium | |
|---|---|
| 北京 天文馆 (Běijīng tiānwénguǎn) | |
 Facade of a new building | |
| A country |  China |
| City | Beijing |
| Established | 1957 |
| Website | bjp.org.cn |
The main activity of the Beijing Planetarium is the popularization of astronomical knowledge among the population, various exhibitions are constantly held for this [2] .
History
For a long time, the old observatory operated in Beijing - the astronomical observatory of the pre-telescopic era. The instruments of this observatory, revolutionary for their time, were created in 1442 under the Ming Dynasty and improved under the Qing Dynasty [3] . It was used by court astronomers to provide emperor reports on the positions of stars. Being one of the oldest observatories in the world, it occupied an area of 10,000 m² [3] . Actually the astronomical site is located on a stone platform with a height of 15 meters and is a square of 40 by 40 meters. This stone tower is a surviving part of the Ming Dynasty fortress wall, which then surrounded the city. Several Chinese traditional astronomical instruments are given in the courtyard of the observatory: Armillary Sphere, made in the Ming Dynasty (1: 1, imitation), Armilla, made in the Yuan Dynasty (1: 1, imitation), Armilla, made in the Yuan Dynasty (1: 3, imitation), sundial Gnomon. Currently, the observatory is a museum operating under the auspices of the Beijing Planetarium. Opened to the world in 1983 [3] .
In 1957, the old building of the Beijing Planetarium was built. A year later, two postage stamps dedicated to the planetarium were issued by the PRC: with the image of the planetarium building ( Sc # 358) and with the image of the instrument planetarium and artificial starry sky ( Sc # 359) . In 2001-04, the equipment of the new planetarium was built and assembled. By 2008, he was fully equipped with the latest technology [4] . A new high-tech projection dome was installed at his observatory, which allows the planetarium to receive the clearest image in the world [5] .
Notes
Links
- Beijing Planetarium - an article from Baidupedia (China)