The Nehru Planetarium in Saddi Dilli is situated in the sprawling surroundings of the Teen Murti House, better known as the official residence of India’s first Prime Minister, Jawaharlal Nehru. Foreseeing the fact that an understanding of the spirit and method of science was crucial for children to become responsible citizens, Chacha Nehru liked every opportunity to be provided to them in this attempt. In 1964, the Jawaharlal Nehru Memorial Fund was set up to promote his ideas and after it undertook to build the Nehru Planetarium with its primary aim being the promotion of astronomy and space education.
Inaugurated by the then Prime Minister, Smt. Indira Gandhi, on 6th February, 1984, the Planetarium has come a long way in disseminating knowledge about astronomy to the public and astronomy enthusiasts and students in particular. The Planetarium building archaeologically gels with a nearby monument, the Kushak Mahal, a 13th century hunting lodge built by the Lodhi rulers. The air-conditioned sky theatre has a dome-shaped screen made of fiber glass with 26 curved segments and one million hand-drilled holes for clear acoustics.
The sky theatre with a seating capacity of 270 people is essentially meant for screening taped and live public shows on various aspects of astronomy. In the center of the theatre is a well, housing the Carl Zeiss Spaceflight Master projector placed on a hydraulic lift which enables it to come up during the shows. The gallery around the sky theatre helps in locating the slide and special effects projectors. Besides the sky theatre, the Planetarium also has an exhibit area which displays many interactive models and pictures. Visitors have the rare privilege of looking at the historic space module Soyuz T-10 which carried India’s first cosmonaut Rakesh Sharma, to space along with his space suit and mission journal. Event-based photo exhibitions are also mounted from time to time.
The Planetarium organizes taped shows on topics of interest to the public. Some of these include our cosmic heritage, the solar system, Halley’s Comet and the life story of a star. Curriculum-based shows especially designed on demand from school and college students are accompanied by a live lecture followed by an interactive question-answer session. They are a fruitful experience for the students. For more effective learning, students are also provided with activity sheets based on the shows. Story-based children’s show is another innovative form of effectively communicating with the students.
Under its outreach activities the Nehru Planetarium organizes space art contests, astronomy quiz contests, telescope making workshops, astrophotography workshops, astronomy camps, evening or night sky watch and public lectures from time to time throughout the year. The Amateur Astronomers Association, New Delhi (AAAD), a fraternal organization, closely collaborates with the Planetarium in organizing these activities. The Association also keeps in touch with its counterparts in other States by holding annual meets.
Reference : pib.nic.in
Leave a Reply