If you’re curious about what’s out there beyond our planet then the Planetarium at the Royal Observatory Greenwich is the place to find out more. Opened in 2007 the Planetarium is built alongside the Observatory which was built in 1697, allowing visitors to follow astronomy from the earliest days of designing telescopes in order to view and map the stars through understanding our own galaxy to visiting the moon and developing ideas about how far the universe may spread and how it may have begun.

Inside the Observatory portions of the main house have been kept as they would have been when the Astronomers Royal lived and worked here, while part has been transformed into exhibition space. The exhibitions tell the story of the prime meridian, Greenwich Mean Time and the search for a way to measure longitude which was to transform maritime history. Several of the world's oldest clocks are on display here.

The Planetarium takes visitors to the other end of the scale with interactive displays galore. You can be part of a team launching a comet intercepting probe, touch a meteorite, investigate the gravitational pull of different astral bodies, diagnose the ages of galaxies and their stars or just watch a clever film about the beginning of the universe.

Obviously one of the highlights is the Planetarium experience. The theatre seats 120 (the astronomer leading the experience when I went said it’s best to sit at the back and away from the projector.). You don’t lie down as in other planetariums, but you’re seated and the screen covers part of the purpose built dome. The experience begins just outside the door in Greenwich Park and takes you to the beginning of time, from when there was nothing at all to a point where a sugar cube sized pieces of one astral body can weigh more than everyone on the earth and there are more stars in the universe than human heartbeats throughout history…

Obviously it would have been an excellent opportunity at the end of the experience to be able to ask questions of the astronomer - however my mind was so blown away by the scale of existence that I couldn’t formulate a question that made any sense, I was too busy saying wow…

Written by  Kat Mackintosh.

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Comments, reviews and questions

where is the best place to park if i am bringing a car full of children tomorrow ?

Car Parks near by please

 

Question posted 28th October 2009 by Michelle Miller.

1 reply...

There's a car park right near the Observatory in Greenwich Park, you get to it via the Blackheath approach.

 

Reply posted 28th October 2009 by Kat Mackintosh.

what are the opening times

What are the opening times ?. what are the addmission fees for adults and children? What is the best of of getting there?

 

Question posted 23rd July 2009 by Christina.

1 reply...

The Planetarium shows vary in price from about £3.50 - £7 for adults, but the Observatory is free - you have to get a ticket though, but you don't have to pay.

Opening hours are 10 am to 5pm.

There are buses, London Overground trains and the DLR to Greenwich station, the closest DLR station is Cutty Sark, from where you can walk up the hill. Or you can go to Blackheath and walk across the heath and enter the park that way. The nearest Tube stop at North Greenwich is quite a walk away.

 

Reply posted 23rd July 2009 by Kat Mackintosh.

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