London Planetarium

The London Planetarium building is located on Marylebone Road, London. It is adjacent to and owned by Madame Tussauds. It previously housed a planetarium, offering shows related to space and astronomy. In 2006, it was closed as a separate attraction and became part of Madame Tussauds. Since 2010, the building that previously housed the London Planetarium had a Marvel Super Heroes 4D attraction.

History

The London Planetarium was opened by

Second World War,^[4] and seated an audience of around 330 people beneath a horizontal dome approximately 18.29 m (160 ft) in diameter. For its first five decades of operation an optomechanical star projector, a Zeiss projector Mark IV,^[5] offered the audience a show based on a view of the night sky seen from Earth. Between 1977 and 1990, evening laser performances called 'Laserium

' were held.

In 1995,

celestial coordinate system

.

In 2004, the planetarium was upgraded to a full-color

full-dome video

environment to outer space.

In January 2006, the London Evening Standard reported that the London Planetarium was being renamed the Auditorium and would replace astronomical presentations with entertainment shows. Madame Tussauds subsequently announced that in July 2006, the Auditorium would open with a show by Aardman Animations about celebrities.

Directors

Dr. Henry C. King served as Scientific Director before opening and managing the McLaughlin Planetarium in Toronto, Canada.

John Ebdon, author, broadcaster, and Grecophile, was director of the London Planetarium (b. 1923 – d. 2005).^[6]

References

^ British Pathe news coverage. Retrieved 13 May 2017.
^ Lieut.-Commander R.B. Michell, "The London Planetarium" on p. 323 Record on Cambridge Core website. Retrieved 13 May 2017.
^ The Observatory, Vol. 78, p. 91(1958). Retrieved 13 May 2017.
^ Madame Tussauds. "Key Dates - The History of Madame Tussauds" [D] (PDF). Madame Tussauds. Retrieved 8 February 2023.
^ "London Planetarium Guide" (PDF). ^{[dead link]}
^ "John Ebdon". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 2 November 2022.

External links

"Why Tussauds no longer has space for the Planetarium" – article from London Evening Standard
by Paul Sutherland
It inspired generations of children, but now the Planetarium is focusing on lesser stars Archived 10 October 2008 at the Wayback Machine Article from The Times by Joanna Bale

[1] British Pathe news coverage. Retrieved 13 May 2017.

[2] Lieut.-Commander R.B. Michell, "The London Planetarium" on p. 323 Record on Cambridge Core website. Retrieved 13 May 2017.

[3] The Observatory, Vol. 78, p. 91(1958). Retrieved 13 May 2017.

[4] Madame Tussauds. "Key Dates - The History of Madame Tussauds" [D] (PDF). Madame Tussauds. Retrieved 8 February 2023.

[5] "London Planetarium Guide" (PDF). ^{[dead link]}

[6] "John Ebdon". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 2 November 2022.

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