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Soon a 3D view of the stars, planets at the Colombo planetarium
View(s):Visitors to the Colombo planetarium, that is undergoing a facelift, will soon have a three dimensional or 3D view of stars and planets, officials said.
The Ministry of Technology, Research and Atomic Energy has made a Rs. 200 million investment to upgrade the 49 year old planetarium, that is presently closed to the public.
Assistant Secretary of Ministry of Technology and Research Wasantha Perera- told the Sunday Times that during the past month all educational presentations of the planetarium had to be halted in view of the ongoing upgrades to the system.
Ms Perera said the current revolutionary upgrades in progress would see the installation of a new technical system with 3D projectors to improve the quality of its educational presentations.
She added staff was also engaged in upgrading current programmes and adding new presentations of new findings, dubbing new videos in Sinhala and will be adding them to the system after renovations were complete.
Plans to landscape the area were awaiting a sponsor she said.
The Assistant Secretary added: “from the air conditioner to the highly complex equipment such as the projectors that were imported from Germany had to be installed with special care. Power amplifying units needed to meet requirements of the new equipment had to be installed and this meant re-wiring the building she said.
Ms Perera said the same German company which granted the institute its previous projectors tendered and imported the new projectors. The secretary said work on upgrades and refurbishments were done in consultation with local experts including Prof. Chandananda Jayaratna due to the sensitive nature involved in the installation of the equipment.
She said students and astronomers would benefit immensely once the upgrading was complete and advised the public not to visit the planetarium till upgrades were complete. (KW)