Galileo Galilei planetarium

The Galileo Galilei planetariumis located in Parque Tres de Febrero in the Palermo, Buenos Aires district of Buenos Aires, Argentina.

History

The idea that Buenos Aires should have a planetarium began to be formed in 1958 by the Socialist councillor José Luis Pena and the Municipal secretary of culture Dr Aldo Cocca.

Construction began under the direction of architect Enrique Jan in 1962, it was inaugurated on December 20 1966. The fist function was carried out on June 13 1967 for the students of "Escuela Comercial Nº 1" of Banfield and "Santa Unión de los Sagrados Corazones" of Capital Federal. The professor of geography and mathematics Antonio Cornejo showed them the sky over Buenos Aires, Argentine Antarctica and the South Pole. He also showed them the orientation of the southern cross. The facility was officially opened to the public on April 5 1968.

tructure

The building has five floors, six staircases and a convert|20|m|ft|0|lk=on diameter room with 360 seats. The inside of the 20m semispherical dome is covered with reflective aluminium.

The planetarium itself is located in the centre, it has over 100 projectors and is approximately convert|5|m|ft|0|lk=on in height and 2.5 tons in weight. It is comprised of a cylindrical framework with independent projectors for the Moon, the Sun and the visible planets (Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn) and two spheres in the extremes that project 8,900 stars, constellations and nebulas.

Facts

*The museum has a piece of lunar rock which was brought back to Earth by the Apollo XI mission and gifted to the planetarium by Richard Nixon.
*The museum is also home to a collection of 100 million year old sea life and amonite fossils from Neuquén Province.
*A metalic meteorite from Chaco Province is displayed on the entrance terrace.

ee also

*Buenos Aires
*List of planetariums