Last weekend I went to the Bangkok Planetarium on Sukhumvit Road near Ekkamai. The Planetarium was screening a film about the spectacular light phenomena called aurora, which are coloured swirls of light that can be seen in the skies of the Arctic and Antarctic regions. The film was specially made to be projected onto a domed planetarium ceiling.
It had been years since I'd visited a planetarium, so it was quite an exciting experience. The Bangkok Planetarium first opened in 1964, and the old Zeiss projector that was originally used to project the light shows is still on display in the middle of the theatre — although much more modern, computer-controlled equipment is now used to project the shows.
The theatre seats a few hundred people, and the seats tilt back to allow viewers to watch the astronomy shows projected onto the huge domed ceiling. The show I saw included an exploration of some of the famous star constellations in our galaxy, followed by the aurora film, which was visually stunning and an amazing technical achievement, especially considering that much of it was filmed in temperatures well below freezing.
Next to the planetarium is the Science Centre for Education, which is comprised of several buildings including a small aquarium and a science museum featuring displays on subjects ranging from dinosaurs to robots. Although popular with kids the day I was there, the Science Centre seemed pretty run-down and in need of some money for maintenance and updating.
The planetarium, however, was well-maintained and well worth a visit. Entry is only about 20 baht for kids and 30 baht for adults. The day I went, the aurora show was so popular that there were long queues to get in and extra shows had to be added, but I don't think it's normally that crowded. Around the planetarium there is also an astronomy exhibition which is fun to check out while waiting for the next show in the theatre.
The Bangkok Planetarium is definitely worth a visit for anybody who is interested in astronomy, as well as anybody who wants to do something fun and out of the ordinary.
Ben Edwards
Editor
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