Wikinews

London Planetarium closes to make way for celebrity-themed show

There are no reviewed versions of this page, so it may not have been checked for adherence to standards.

Sunday, April 30, 2006

London Planetarium

The London Planetarium, famous for its distinctive green dome and for being next to Madame Tussauds, will close this week to make way for a new celebrity-themed show opening in July. The Planetarium used to be an attraction in its own right, but in recent years has become simply a feature tacked onto the end of the waxworks tour, the original 45 minute show cut down to just over 10 minutes. The planetarium will be renamed 'The Auditorium' and will feature a show that "gets to the heart of celebrity", being produced in collaboration with animation house Aardman Productions.

Famous astronomer Sir Patrick Moore has called the decision "most regrettable", and many have commented that the change from space to celebrity is an unfortunate sign of our times.

To say 'farewell' to the planetarium, Tussauds have allowed free entry in its penultimate week, from 24th - 30th April. Visitors could enter through the group admissions entrance to see the show, running every twenty minutes. Unlike the queues for Madame Tussauds, which typically run right up the street, few people waited to see the planetarium show, even on the Saturday. The show, titled Journey to Infinity, was projected onto the inside of the dome using Digistar 3 digital projectors. It told the story of space, starting from Earth and zooming out to reveal the other planets in the Solar System, the Milky Way, the other galaxies and the rest of the universe. It ended with an optimistic message suggesting that humans would continue to explore space, going further than ever before.

The London Planetarium opened in 1958 on the site of an old cinema that was destroyed in the second world war. Evening laser performances called 'Laserium' were held between 1977 and 1990. A £4.5 million redevelopment saw it relaunch in 1995 with a new 'Digistar II' monochromatic 3D projection system. This was upgraded to the full-colour 'Digistar 3' system in 2004 which is currently in use.

The planetarium at the also famous Royal Observatory in Greenwich has also been closed since September 2004, however this is due to re-open in 2007 having received a £15 million redevelopment programme. It will be three times the size of the old planetarium, and has received backing from Astronomer Royal Sir Martin Rees, and the Astronomer Royal for Scotland, Professor John Brown.

noicon
Icon of loudspeaker
This audio file was created from the text revision dated 2006-05-02 and may not reflect subsequent text edits to this report. (audio help)


Sources

edit
 
Wikinews
 This article features first-hand journalism by Wikinews members. See the collaboration page for more details.
 
Wikinews
 This article features first-hand journalism by Wikinews members. See the collaboration page for more details.
 

Share this:           


  This page has been automatically archived by a robot, and is no longer publicly editable.

Got a correction? Add the template {{editprotected}} to the talk page along with your corrections, and it will be brought to the attention of the administrators.

Please note that the listed sources may no longer be available online.
Retrieved from "https://en.wikinews.org/wiki/London_Planetarium_closes_to_make_way_for_celebrity-themed_show"