BHUBANESWAR: Good news for sky-watchers. A renovated Pathani Samanta Planetarium is all set to be reopened. People will have a better viewing of celestial and cosmological events as the planetarium has got a long-awaited facelift. It was closed on August 23 last year.
Sources said the work was carried out in two phases. Repair of the main building and other amenities inside the planetarium was taken up in the first phase. Besides, seating and AC arrangements were changed by October-end. The planetarium can now seat 200 persons against the earlier 140 and has a screen like that in multiplexes.
In the second-phase work that began in November, Digistar 4 __ the largest-selling digital planetarium system in the world __ was installed in the theatre. The system was procured from US-based company Evans & Sutherland at a cost of around ` 7 crore. The digital projector is said to be a first in eastern India. Sources said the previous projector was installed in 1988. The equipment was going phut frequently and had become obsolete.
Previously, the planetarium was able to screen just two films a day, but with the new digital facility, any number of films can be screened with 3D-motion effects.
“On demand, the shows can also be changed immediately and even language changes done,” said Jayadev Kar, planetarium engineer.
While repair and renovation works were carried out by the IDCO at a cost of around ` 1 crore, installation of the digital planetarium system was done under the supervision of a high-level technical committee formed by the Science & Technology Department. The committee included directors of Nehru Centre, Mumbai, Birla Planetarium, Kolkata, and Indian Statistical Institute, Kolkata. The State Government funded the renovation.
The planetarium was planned to be reopened on December 13 last marking the birth anniversary of Pathani Samanta, but it could not be done for the works were not completed.
A date for reopening is yet to be fixed. The officials concerned are hopeful of a Government notification in this regard. “Although the works are over, we are looking to the State Government to allot a suitable date for inauguration,” Kar added.
