The Johannesburg Planetarium is a popular school outing, drawing thousands of visitors a year.

The Johannesburg planetarium on the campus of Wits University

IT'S 11 o'clock on a cloudy, windy Tuesday morning. Inside the Johannesburg Planetarium at the University of the Witwatersrand, the voices of excited children can be heard filtering through the thick darkness.

The projector in the middle of the domed theatre clicks and whirs into action, showing a stunning display of the night skies.

Built in 1960, the planetarium is one of the most popular places for school trips. Children from across Johannesburg and beyond visit frequently, to marvel at the skies recreated by the special projector.

"We get about 70 000 visitors a year; it is mostly school children who come from as far as Limpopo and KwaZulu-Natal," says director of the planetarium Dr Claire Flanagan. "Over the last two weeks we had a record of 4 000 visitors, which made it 1 200 visitors a day."

Children pay R8 each for a show, while full-time university or college students pay R15. Casual visitors and adults pay R25. Different shows are run for each age group.

Young school children are taught about the star signs, while older kids are taught the movement of the moon and how it changes in relation to the earth. University and college students are able to explore astronomy in detail.

Flanagan says the planetarium is technically owned by the University of the Witwatersrand. "But it was set up as a joint project between the City of Johannesburg and the university. A managerial committee set up by the City and the university runs the project."

It is mainly self-funding, generating its income from bookings. There are shows every day of the week, except Sundays. The university provides about a third of the project's budget and "a lot running support", Flanagan explains.

"We are located right in the university grounds but we don't pay rent, electricity or any other charges."

Although it offers educational programmes for students, the planetarium is not part of any academic faculty at the university. "But we are here to provide any academic support," Flanagan points out.

Flanagan, an academic, is a research associate at the Hartebeesthoek Radio Astronomy Observatory.

"I actually spend 20 percent of my time doing research in astronomy. Astronomy in South Africa is growing. The national government recently set up a huge telescope in Sutherland in Northern Cape. We have seen a major shift, where the government is putting more money into radio astronomy projects around the country."

She adds that the government is "finally recognising that there are very few astronomers in the country". The University of Cape Town, University of the North West, University of Durban and Wits have joined a partnership venture with some African universities to train astronomers.

Flanagan would like to see school children who visit the planetarium not merely marvelling at the magic conjured up by the sky, but realise that there is a future in astronomy.

"Astronomy is very challenging but there are institutions right here in South Africa that offer training to students who want to pursue astronomy. We have developed a whole lot of astronomy worksheets that can be used by any teacher for school children."

The planetarium works in collaboration with the Sci-Bono Discovery Centre in Newtown, a science exhibition centre, and Flanagan plans to bring Sci-Bono facilitators to help teach astronomy at the planetarium.

History
According to its website, work to set up the planetarium began in 1956. The Festival Committee, which was responsible for organising festivities for Johannesburg's seventieth birthday, decided to buy an existing Zeiss Planetarium from Europe. Sourcing a new one would have been time consuming.

The committee bought the instrument from the Hamburg city council; it had been in use in that German city since 1930. The Hamburg projector was modified and modernised in the Zeiss factory at Oberkochen.

After the Johannesburg city council took over responsibility of the planetarium from the Festival Committee, the City sold the projector to the university "for use in the formal instruction of students and as a public amenity for the citizens of Johannesburg and of South Africa in general".

Building of the planetarium began in 1959 and on 12 October 1960, the first full-sized planetarium in Africa and the second in the southern hemisphere opened its doors to the public.

For more information, go to the Johannesburg Planetarium website or call 011 717 1392.