Stars are close at Kazan University
KFU Planetarium has recently celebrated its 3rd anniversary. Today we will speak on what interesting may be seen and learned there, and at the Engelgardt Astronomical Observatory where the Planetarium is located.
The official opening ceremony of the Planetarium was held on 23 June, 2013. However, it received its common visitors on 28 April 2014. And since then the number of people intended to join to astronomy has been growing.
Traditionally visitors start with an interactive tour "Universe Mind", followed by an excursion to the planetarium exhibition hall. The excursion is organized as a game when all the visitors go from station to station drawing step by step a figure of cancer constellation. They learn how a 3D printer works and examine the items it has produced; study the principle of operation of wireless rechargers based on the developments of Nikola Tesla, an outstanding electrical engineer of the 20th century; and dance with robot Steven (many people call him Stepan or Salavat).
A levitating model of the Earth is another attraction, the secret of its "flight" is in special magnetic field.
Star Show lecture in astronomy introduces the organization of the Universe. The format of the lecture is not usual. A special room with no light coming inside makes believe one is flying in space.
The lecture flows to fulldome movies, each of them includes a scientific story about astronomy, its mysteries, and its history. The Planetarium offers 5 movies: "Space Era Break", "Natural Selection", "Black Holes. Moon mission", "Two Glasses. Amazing Telescope", "Dark Matter".
The Planetarium with its modern technologies changes the whole perception of astronomy in the Engelgardt Observatory. It is a historical place named after a great scientist who made a great donation for the construction of this astronomical centre where important researches have been run since 1901.
Telescopes of the 19th century are available at the museum of the main Observatory's building. Ivan Simonov, Nikolay Lobachevsky, Dmitry Dubyago and other outstanding scientists used these machines to observe celestial bodies.
The exhibits here tell about the first Russian Antarctic Expedition 1819-1822, the expedition of the Kazan University experts to study the full solar eclipse in August 2014, and many other events important for the science.
An interesting thing is that a 55 ?50' 76 " meridian crosses the territory of the Observatory with its end points in southern and northern mires. The southern mire is marked with a 5.5 metres artificially created hill with a building in Byzantine style. The table tomb of the famous scientist Dmitry Dubyago is located inside it, and on the day of the Observatory's anniversary, the ashes of Vasily Engelgardt will be buried here according to the last will of the great Russian astronomer.
