Europlanetarium Genk
The Europlanetarium Genk is a public observatory and planetarium in Genk , Belgium , founded by Lode Vanhoutte.
origin
Lode Vanhoutte from Genk started with Young Researchers for Genk by recreating the moon landing in 1969 in a popular science way. Many other topics were covered, but astronomy turned out to be the most interesting and the group around Vanhoutte found a location at the Verein für Astronomie (VFA) in Genk. The observatories in Grimbergen and Hove were long-term precursors. The VFA and mainly Armand Pien (a former weather report spokesman) suggested building a full-fledged public observatory in every Flemish province; Genk was thought of for the area around Limburg . At first there was a small observatory at ground level, but an extension was already being planned.
Concrete plans
In 1977 one began to promote a full-fledged public observatory with appropriate planning. In 1979 a course in general astronomy for beginners began, while a small group dealt with the business side of establishing the observatory.
The plans for the observatory to be built included a dome building and an exhibition room. The actual dome and telescope room should be 5 meters above the ground floor. In contrast to the classic observatories, this room is square with a ring beam embedded in the ceiling. In order to keep costs down, it was decided to build the dome in self-help.
opening
Construction work began in 1983 . In addition to the self-built dome, a large part of the interior was also done independently by active members of the observatory. The final opening was in 1984 .
planetarium
In view of the delicate economic problems of the mining area and the need to create a permanent tourist infrastructure for Genk, thought was given to adding a planetarium to the existing public observatory , which would have a positive impact on tourism in Genk. The predominantly tourist character of the planetarium project for the region is part of the fundamental restructuring of the former mining area, so the observatory can also be used during the day or when the sky is overcast.
There were three partners for the expansion: the EEC (50%), the Flemish General Commissioner for Tourism (40%) and the then Genk municipal administration (10%). The architect Jos Hanssen made a preliminary design and later a definitive design for the amount for a construction cost of € 450,000.
The final construction costs came to € 600,000, which meant that not all plans could be implemented. The upper floor was only provided as an option for the future, as were various other rooms. At the end of 1990 the most modern planetarium in the Benelux countries should be completed. A medium-sized planetarium, type SPACEMASTER from the GDR and a dome with a diameter of 12.50 m was ordered. The opening finally took place on December 20, 1991, but the technical system was not complete until 1992. By 1995 the technology was expanded and construction was completed. The Limburg Public Observatory is an institutional member of the International Planetary Society .
Web links
Coordinates: 50 ° 57 ′ 28.4 ″ N , 5 ° 32 ′ 13 ″ E