Maximilian Hell Observatory and Planetarium

The regional observatory and planetarium of Maximilián Hell in Žiar nad Hronom is a cultural and educational facility of a natural science nature, disseminating knowledge from the field of astronomy and related natural and technical sciences. Develops interest activities and extracurricular education.

The range of programs offered by the planetarium includes thematic programs for school excursions, the general public and interest groups. They consist of the demonstration of astronomical phenomena in the artificial sky of the planetarium, popular scientific and professional lectures, discussions, screening of films and audiovisual bands, video projections or observation of celestial bodies and phenomena in the day and night sky using astronomical optics.

The main dominant feature of the premises is the planetarium or Star Hall with a capacity of 60 seats and a spherical projection surface with a diameter of 10 meters. Until recently, it was equipped with an optomechanical projection device Zeiss Klein Planetarium 2P, manufactured by the German optical concern Carl Zeiss Jena.

The hall is fully digitized and offers visitors a unique approach to events in the world sphere and the screening of films with an astronomical theme through two projectors in 4K resolution. The image on the projection surface is composed of more than 10 million pixels. The planetarium system can simulate the view of the sky from any place on Earth, the connections of the stars in the constellations and their mythology, zooming in on selected objects in the distant universe, details of the surfaces of the bodies of the solar system, and much more.

The main goal of the planetarium is the formation of scientific knowledge, the development of a positive relationship with nature, and the improvement of the general, professional and cultural education of citizens, especially children and youth. The activity of the organization is focused on the region of central Pohronia. However, many activities have a supra-regional or even national reach.

The planetarium is used not only as an experiential form of popularizing astronomy, but also as an educational tool for teaching pupils and students penetrating the secrets of orientation in the sky, the laws of the course of changes of day and night, or the specifics of the movements of bodies around the world sphere at different places on the earth's surface.

The organizational components of the regional planetarium are the Observatory in Banská Bystrica and the Observatory in Rimavská Sobota.