Silesian Planetarium
Encyclopedia
Planetarium
A planetarium is a theatre built primarily for presenting educational and entertaining shows about astronomy and the night sky, or for training in celestial navigation...
in Poland
Poland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
. It was founded on 4 December 1955 to commemorate the great astronomer Nicolaus Copernicus
Nicolaus Copernicus
Nicolaus Copernicus was a Renaissance astronomer and the first person to formulate a comprehensive heliocentric cosmology which displaced the Earth from the center of the universe....
. It is located in the Silesian Central Park, on the boundary between the Katowice
Katowice
Katowice is a city in Silesia in southern Poland, on the Kłodnica and Rawa rivers . Katowice is located in the Silesian Highlands, about north of the Silesian Beskids and about southeast of the Sudetes Mountains.It is the central district of the Upper Silesian Metropolis, with a population of 2...
and Chorzów
Chorzów
Chorzów is a city in Silesia in southern Poland, near Katowice. Chorzów is one of the central districts of the Upper Silesian Metropolitan Union - a metropolis with a population of 2 million...
districts of the Upper Silesian Metropolitan Union
Upper Silesian Metropolitan Union
The Metropolitan Association of Upper Silesia or Upper Silesia Metroplex, Silesia Metroplex / Silesia Metroplex is a union of 14 adjacent cities in the Polish province of Silesia....
.
Facilities
The Planetarium's 23-meter dome can seat some four hundred spectators viewing projections of the sky from both analogue and digital planetarium projectorPlanetarium projector
A planetarium projector is a device used to project images of celestial objects onto the dome in a planetarium.The first modern planetarium projectors were designed and built by the Carl Zeiss Jena company in Germany between 1923 and 1925, and have since grown more complex. Smaller projectors...
s. It hosts regular public shows on astronomical topics as well as a variety of other events. In 2011 it hosted the fifth International Olympiad on Astronomy and Astrophysics.
The Planetarium's sister astronomical observatory is equipped with a 300-mm diameter refracting telescope
Refracting telescope
A refracting or refractor telescope is a type of optical telescope that uses a lens as its objective to form an image . The refracting telescope design was originally used in spy glasses and astronomical telescopes but is also used for long focus camera lenses...
(the largest refractor in use in Poland) and a number of smaller instruments. On cloudless days, visitors can view live images of the Sun
Sun
The Sun is the star at the center of the Solar System. It is almost perfectly spherical and consists of hot plasma interwoven with magnetic fields...
and, after dusk, a range of celestial objects at a magnification of up to 750 times.
The observatory conducts research on comet
Comet
A comet is an icy small Solar System body that, when close enough to the Sun, displays a visible coma and sometimes also a tail. These phenomena are both due to the effects of solar radiation and the solar wind upon the nucleus of the comet...
s and minor planet
Minor planet
An asteroid group or minor-planet group is a population of minor planets that have a share broadly similar orbits. Members are generally unrelated to each other, unlike in an asteroid family, which often results from the break-up of a single asteroid...
s. The Planetarium has an astronomical library of some 10,000 volumes and, in the courtyard, an impressive sundial
Sundial
A sundial is a device that measures time by the position of the Sun. In common designs such as the horizontal sundial, the sun casts a shadow from its style onto a surface marked with lines indicating the hours of the day. The style is the time-telling edge of the gnomon, often a thin rod or a...
. The corridors host astronomy-related exhibits.
The Planetarium's meteorological and seismological stations conduct regular observations and host educational classes.