Do you intend to visit Madrid, Spain in the near future and need some ideas about what to do and see during your stay? Do you have an interest in space and astronomy and a desire to get an up-close look at the planets, stars and other celestial bodies that comprise our solar system and beyond? If so, you should definitely make plans to visit the El Planetario de Madrid. To help you become more familiar with this well-loved Madrid attraction, below we have compiled a brief profile, including the planetarium’s location, facilities, screenings, and fascinating exhibits.Madrid Planetarium, photo credit
El Planetario de Madrid, or in English, the Madrid Planetarium, is a very popular attraction in Spain’s bustling capital city, offering a unique combination of education and entertainment while discovering some of the secrets and history of the vast Cosmos. El Planetario de Madrid is housed in ultra-modern facilities, in which guests are treated to exhibits that allow them to contemplate the beauty and complexity of the planets, stars and solar system, all while sitting comfortably in a dark and very realistic environment.
The Madrid Planetarium is located next to the Méndez Álvaro metro station in Madrid’s Tierno Galvan Park, which sits some 600 meters above sea level. This massive and remarkable structure was designed by the City Council of Madrid in 1986, with the goal of elevating and expanding the public’s knowledge regarding Astronomy, Astrophysics and the Universe.
Since opening some twenty-five years ago, El Planetario de Madrid has hosted hundreds of visitors a day, mostly students, and on weekends, adults and their families flock to the facility to enjoy screenings and presentations about the cosmos, to gaze through high-powered telescopes and/or to visit the planetarium’s fascinating and enlightening exhibits detailing the course of space from the beginning of time to the present day.
Things to Do and See at El Planetario de Madrid
Tourists who come to El Planetario de Madrid for one of its popular screenings are led into a cupola-like indoor stadium filled with images made possible by over 100 slide projectors, which together produce an almost eerie panoramic visual effect. At the same time, there are over 50 special effects projectors simulating the solar system, stars (and stellar explosions), black holes, and galaxies outside our own.
While the screenings at El Planetario de Madrid, in which visitors are treated to a nearly exact replica of the cosmos, are by far the most popular attractions, there are also several other exhibits guaranteed to spark the interest and imagination of space enthusiasts. The exhibit hall, for example, features a large video room, in which guests have the unique opportunity to watch live satellite feeds of the stars and planets. Additionally, the exhibit hall is home to a number of models of the earth and universe, all drawn to scale by experts astronomers and astrophysicists.
The Astronomer’s Room, another outstanding Planetarium amenity, features a number of smaller, yet equally interesting exhibits, with themes that include Halley’s Comet, the exploration of Neptune, the galaxies, and the sky, as seen in the Southern Hemisphere. Tourists can wrap up their visit to El Planetario de Madrid with a stop at the Observation Tower, where they will find a large refractory telescope for astronomic observation and a gift shop where they can purchase educational materials about Astronomy and Science.
