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Planetaria

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Encyclopedia of Science Education

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A planetarium (or planetaria in the plural form) is a form of purpose-built auditorium for displaying a presentation about the night sky and astronomy. The term was formerly used for devices that demonstrated the movements of the planets and Moon and, in pre-Copernican times, the Sun. Today, these devices would be referred to as orreries, after the Earl of Orrery who had one built for him in the eighteenth century. Modern planetaria date from the development of projectors, whereby the stars and planets are projected on to the inside of a domed roof. Developments throughout the twentieth century resulted in progressively sophisticated devices, most of which were projectors situated in the center of the auditorium, displaying stars and planets on the domed roof. By the 1980s, computerized projectors were being developed, and the current generation of digital projectors (including 3D) is able to handle not only astronomy visualizations as seen from Earth but also other contents such as...

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References

  • Brazell BD, Espinoza S (2009) Meta-analysis of planetarium efficacy research. Astron Educ Rev 8:010108

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  • Riordan R (1991) Planetarium education: review of the literature. Planetarian 20:18–26

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  • Smith TV (1974) The planetarium in education: a review of the literature. Nova University

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Marang Centre for Maths and Science Education, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa

    Anthony Lelliott (Professor)

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  1. Anthony Lelliott
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Correspondence to Anthony Lelliott .

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  1. Monash University Fac. Education, Clayton, Victoria, Australia

    Richard Gunstone

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Lelliott, A. (2014). Planetaria. In: Gunstone, R. (eds) Encyclopedia of Science Education. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-6165-0_303-5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-6165-0_303-5

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  • Online ISBN: 978-94-007-6165-0

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