The highly-anticipated museum, which is the largest planetarium in the world, has finally opened in China, following a five-year period of construction.
Spread across a total area of 420,000sq ft, the Shanghai Astronomy Museum (a branch of the Shanghai Science and Technology Museum) is home to more than 300 exhibits, including around 70 meteorites and a collection of 120 artefacts.
The museum also presents a new way for visitors to interact with the exhibits, with interactive exhibits occupying half of all exhibit space, and the museum employing technologies such as data visualisations, augmented reality, virtual reality and biometrics.
The museum is home to an Ultra HD dome theatre, digital sky theatre, education and research centres, and an IMAX Theatre. It also houses both permanent and temporary exhibit galleries, a solar telescope and an observatory.
The location was conceived by US firm Ennead Architects, with the design inspired by astronomical principles. Lead Designer and Partner, Thomas J Wong, commented: “We want people to understand the special nature of the Earth as a place that hosts life, unlike any other place that we know of in the universe.”
