Sofia, Nov 13 (BTA/GNA) – The first planetarium in Sofia will be unveiled at an official ceremony on November 25 in front of the Toplotsentrala Regional Contemporary Art Centre. The facility has a dome diameter of 5 m, a height of 4.6 m and a visiting capacity of up to 15 people. The planetarium will open doors for its first regular visitors on November 26.
The planetarium was created by a design of the Photonics Experimental Design Bureau whose team headed by engineer physicist Nedislav Veselinov won the Entrepreneur in Science Award of the Karoll Knowledge Foundation. Funds from the award went primarily to build the planetarium, to which was added the financial support of various foundations, investors, sponsors, donor campaigns and volunteer work.
The structure of the planetarium was developed by aviation engineers Nedislav Veselinov and Yanislav Mirkov. The manufacturing process of the planetarium was carried out in the aviation workshop of NIKI Rotor Aviation in Pravets and in the aircraft repair shops of HeliAir. The planetarium is manufactured using aviation technology with composite materials.
The planetarium will be open from 11:00 am until late in the night, with between 12 and 15 visitors entering at intervals of one hour. Popular science films about the universe, oceans and Earth will be shown, as well as animated films for the little ones in a dome format. The Star Room can be rented for lectures, presentations, trainings and even company parties. As the project is partly funded through a donation campaign the creators envisage creating a social programme with free entry for visitors with special needs.
Until now Sofia was the only European capital which lacked a planetarium.
BTA/GNA