Wolfsburg Planetarium

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Wolfsburg Planetarium

The Wolfsburg Planetarium is a planetarium in Wolfsburg that was opened on December 1, 1983 and is one of the ten largest facilities of its kind in Germany. It can accommodate 140 visitors under a dome with a diameter of 15 meters. In addition to the sun, moon and planets, a central projector throws over 9000 stars under the dome roof , so that the viewer has a realistic sky impression of a starry night.

Operator and location

Wolfsburg Bürgerpark, in the background the Scharoun Theater Wolfsburg and on the right in front of it the blue dome of the planetarium

The city of Wolfsburg is the owner of the planetarium, which is operated by Planetarium gGmbH . It is located in the Stadtmitte district in the Bürgerpark at the foot of the Klieversberg . The domed hall is located on Uhlandweg 2, on the so-called “culture mile”, which is lined with the Scharoun Theater , the CongressPark , the Art Museum and the Alvar Aalto Culture House .

Emergence

The planetarium is thanks to a contract concluded in 1977 between Volkswagen AG and the GDR . In 1978, VW delivered 10,000 VW Golf Is as part of a compensation deal and received, in addition to machines, the planetarium shell and a planetarium projector from the company VEB Carl Zeiss from Jena worth 1.5 million DM . The automotive company donated the planetarium to the city of Wolfsburg in 1978 on the occasion of its 40th anniversary.

The planetarium was planned and built by a team of architects and engineers. Ulrich Müther from VEB Spezialbetonbau from Binz on Rügen, an internationally recognized specialist for shell structures made of concrete , designed the dome from a network of bars, faced with blue enameled sheets. Reinhard Hesse from Wolfsburg, Volker Kersten, Erich Martinoff and Hans Struhk from Braunschweig designed the interior and extensions. Gertrud Schille from the GDR from VEB Carl Zeiss Jena installed the projection device, which can also be sunk into the floor for other events if necessary.

After the foundation stone was laid in 1981, the shell with an outer and an inner rod net shell, the projection dome, was built by workers from the GDR. The round dome was created using a special wet spraying process without prior formwork, which was still new territory in Germany at the time. The inauguration of the facility took place in 1983. A water basin planned for the planetarium, in which the sphere of the planetarium should be reflected, has not yet been built for cost reasons.

description

The dome room with a diameter of 15 m for the starry sky demonstration offers space for 140 people. The projector throws over 9000 stars into the sky and makes the sun, moon and planets circle. This corresponds to the view of the starry sky on a clear night without disturbing light smog .

The first planetarium projector from Carl Zeiss was the Spacemaster model with a microcomputer control. Since its commissioning in 1983, it has completed around 10,000 demonstrations with 650,000 visitors. After 13 years of operation, the city of Wolfsburg modernized the demonstration facility. The Starmaster model premiered on October 16, 1996 in Wolfsburg. It was the first of a new generation of Carl Zeiss projectors, a mid-planetarium with fiber optic projectors. In addition, compared to the previous model, the system has video and slide projection systems as well as digital sound.

In the summer of 2008, the dome room was given new seating in a unidirectional seating arrangement. On this occasion, the orientation to the south in the dome was rotated for technical reasons. The presentation desk, which remained unchanged in its position, is now in the east instead of in the north, as is usual in the northern hemisphere.

In 2010 the planetarium was converted to fulldome projection technology and was the first planetarium in the world to have the corresponding technology from Carl Zeiss Jena. The six Velvet projectors can reproduce digital content that fills the dome and can be synchronized with the Starmaster that is still in use.

With the support of Wolfsburg AG, a space laboratory was set up in the foyer in summer 2012. Here visitors can access information on astronomical topics and the planetarium on five wall-mounted touchscreens and a large touch table, play a quiz and explore the solar system and planets independently. The space laboratory was designed and built by the Wolfsburg-based company Volke Communication Design.

Demonstrations and program

There are seven different categories: astronomical programs, KinderKosmos, live star shows, live concerts & readings, music shows, specials & radio plays and scientific lectures.

In the astronomical programs , the stars are depicted a thousand times and lifelike using elaborate planetarium technology and allow an insight into cosmic worlds. The starting point in most shows is the starry sky. The most important constellations are shown and the current starry sky is explained. Each astronomical program has its own main topic.

The planetarium offers KinderKosmos shows especially for young visitors from the age of four. They deal, for example, with the rainbow fish in its underwater world, with Lars, the little polar bear who saves whales, or the children travel virtually through the solar system on the "paper rocket".

In the Live Star Shows category , a scientific employee of the planetarium provides information on news from research and space travel. In addition, each month the focus is placed on a special astronomical focus, to which around 10 to 15 minutes are devoted in the show.

In the Wolfsburg Planetarium you can experience musicians, authors and artists under the starry sky every quarter (Category: Live Concerts & Readings).

The music shows are characterized by a special sound system and fulldome projection. With rock and pop music you go on “virtual journeys”.

In 2018 the second season of " ??? “In the HO3RRAUM planetarium. Stories like that of the “ Little Prince ” can also be seen in the planetarium. The fairy tale for adults was produced by the Wolfsburg Planetarium for the dome.

Scientific lectures on various astronomical topics are offered every quarter.

Others

In 2016, the planetarium had around 47,300 visitors, including 9,000 students.

Couples can get married in the dome hall of the planetarium.

See also

literature

Movie

  • Swing instead of plate - the Hypar bowl in Magdeburg. Documentary, Germany, 2019, 45:12 min., Script and director: André Strobel, production: MDR, series: Der Osten - Discover where you live , first broadcast: May 7, 2019 on MDR television, synopsis by MDR, ( Memento vom May 1, 2019 in the Internet Archive ).
    Presentation of several shell structures of Müthers, the Wolfsburg Planetarium can be seen from 33:38 min. To 37:32 min.

Web links

Commons : Planetarium Wolfsburg  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b A strong team in Wolfsburg: opto-mechanical star ball and digital VELVET projection. ( Memento of March 6, 2016 in the Internet Archive ). In: Carl Zeiss Industrial Metrology , Magazine Innovation Special Planetariums 9, July 2012, (PDF; 1.9 MB), Issue 9, pp. 28–29.
  2. ↑ Ulrike Merkel: Why a Zeiss planetarium was once exchanged for 10,000 golf. ( Memento of July 9, 2019 in the web archive archive.today ). In: Thüringer Allgemeine , June 6, 2019.
  3. ↑ Wolf-Hendrik Müllenberg: The Golf helped Wolfsburg to have a planetarium. ( Memento of March 14, 2016 in the Internet Archive ). In: NDR Kultur , November 29, 2013.
  4. ↑ Seeböck, Schwünge in Beton , 2016, ISBN 978-3-944033-02-0 , p. 370.
  5. ↑ ke: Planetarium: More visitors, more free entry for children. In: Wolfsburger Allgemeine Zeitung (WAZ), January 13, 2017.
  6. ↑ Getting married under the stars. In: planetarium-wolfsburg.de , accessed on May 9, 2019.

Coordinates: 52 ° 25 ′ 1 ″  N , 10 ° 46 ′ 54 ″  E