The Planetarium in Smolyan

The Planetarium in Smolyan is the largest in Bulgaria and one of the largest in Europe as well. It was opened on September 6, 1975 and till now it is one of the most visited tourist attractions in Bulgaria. There are a large star-room, observatory, library and conference halls in it. The Heart of the Planetarium is the round star-room, 12.5m in diameter. There, with the help of a projector-planetarium for space flights, an artificial starry sky is reproduced, an exact image of the real one and the motions of the Sun, the Moon, the planets and different astronomical objects and phenomena are re-created. There is also a 15cm’s telescope-reflector. When the sky is clear you can see the Sun and its active areas during the day and the Moon, the planets and a lot of stars during the night. Since the establishing of the Planetarium, 7 sun and 15 moon eclipses have been photographed. Some of the photos are unique for Bulgaria. Since 2005 it is in the list with the 100 tourist objects in Bulgaria.