A Platform for Exploring the Magnificent Universe – Sri Lanka Planetarium

A planetarium is a place where people can observe an artificial sky. In the planetarium, space objects such as the sun, moon, stars, comets, galaxies, and astronomical events such as sunrise, sunset, solar eclipse, lunar eclipse, and meteor showers are magnificently created and displayed as it happened in reality. There, we can see today’s sky as well as a thousand years’ previous or upcoming skies in any location at any time.
Sri Lanka Planetarium was established on February 1, 1965, to coincide with the opening of the Ceylon Industrial Exhibition.

This exhibition took place on the grounds of the then-race course. Despite the fact that many more buildings, including the University of Colombo, are now located on these grounds, the Sri Lanka Planetarium was the first occupant of this land.

Many creations from around the world were displayed at this industrial exhibition. The exhibition dome of the planetarium and its equipment were received from Germany, and the glorious structure that housed them was constructed by the State Engineering Corporation of Sri Lanka. The first Chairman, a prominent Sri Lankan engineer, Deshabandu Dr. A.N.S. Kulathunga guided these design and construction works. Dr. Kulathunga was the pioneer in introducing precast concrete technology to the country. Other than the planetarium, the pagodas in Kalutara and Colombo Port, the Mahaweli Maha Seya, and many more constructions were also designed according to his concepts. The Science Activity Park named for Dr. A.N.S. Kulathunga was established on the premises of the Sri Lanka Planetarium in 2019 to commemorate his 100th birth anniversary and to pay tribute to the contributions he made to the nation.

Sri Lanka Planetarium, with a 23 meter-diameter dome and 570 seating capacity, is one of the world’s largest planetariums. Its Universal Projector at the center of the dome is capable of taking us 25,000 years into the past or future in the universe. This universal projector has the capacity to redesign the sky at any time and at any place within this time frame.
In addition to this universal projector, several other projectors are operated within the dome. Eclipse projectors, meteor projectors, and star projectors are some of them. With the installation of the Digital Power Dome in 2014, the planetarium developed its capacity to show full global films on a semi-global screen.

Planetarium shows are conducted daily at 10 a.m. and 2 p.m., except on Sundays, Mondays, and public holidays, and actions have been taken to arrange extra shows when the number of visitors increases. In this planetarium, people can view a full global film, a journey through the solar system, and a complete description of the night sky of the day.
Sri Lanka Planetarium is an institute that comes under the purview of the Research and Innovation Division of the State Ministry of Skills Development and Vocational Education, Research and Innovation, Ministry of Education. The Planetarium is assigned the main responsibility for popularizing astronomy in Sri Lanka.

Accordingly, in addition to planetarium shows, other numerous services are provided to the general public and school children. Conducting an astronomy course for students from grade three to grade thirteen, conducting night sky observation camps, participating at astronomical stalls, and conducting lectures are some of them.

In addition, sky observation camps are conducted for the public to educate them on unique astronomical events when such incidents occur.

All the details pertaining to the Sri Lanka Planetarium and its services are available on the website, www.planetarium.gov.lk