A move has been initiated by the science enthusiasts to bring all the 30 planetaria in the country under one umbrella in a bid to promote interaction and exchange ideas between professionals and the public.
MUMBAI: A move has been initiated by the science enthusiasts to bring all the 30 planetaria in the country under one umbrella in a bid to promote interaction and exchange ideas between professionals and the public.
This was announced at the concluding session of a two-day conference on `Planetarium Through Ages, Vision 2007' organised by Nehru Planetarium last evening as part of completion of 30 years of its existence.
"We have unanimously decided to bring all the 30 planetaria under one umbrella like the science museums in the country. This will help upgrade the process of exchange of ideas among the planetaria professionals," Nehru Planetarium Director Piyush Pande said.
Although a similar proposal was made earlier also, this time the professionals are 'serious' about the matter as close interactions among the experts would help the public a lot, he said.
Speaking at the conference, professionals said there was a need to sustain planetarium culture and improve the quality of the planetaria in the country.
Fifty more planetaria are expected to come up, some of them in the remotest parts of the country, in the next few years, indicating growing interest in stars, planets and constellations, they said.
About the future of planetaria, Pande said the current advances in projection technology will make the planetarium presentation more powerful.
"All-domes immersive experience' will be cheaper. And eventually new developments will threaten the very existence of public planetarium where hundreds of people sit together and enjoy the vastness and wonders of universe," he observed.
"The planetarium equipment will resemble an aircraft pilot trainer headgear that would cover the eyes and connect to a personal computer and by changing the position of the neck, view of the universe will change automatically," Pande said.
Price of such 'spectacle' planetarium will come down to a just few thousand rupees within few years after its launch, he said.
Speaking at the meet, the brain behind India's Giant Meterwave Radio Telescope (GMRT) near Pune, Govind Swarup, lamented that although government was providing Rs 100 crore for astronomy research, only a handful of people are using GMRT for their research from the entire country.
Fifty per cent of the observation time of GMRT is reserved by the astronomers from abroad, he pointed out.
The planetarium technology companies gave presentation on three-dimensional digital shows in the planetarium.
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