The Sir Thomas Brisbane Planetarium is a planetarium located on the grounds of Brisbane Botanic Gardens in the suburb of Toowong, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. The Planetarium was officially opened on 24 May 1978.
The Planetarium is named after Sir Thomas Brisbane, governor of New South Wales (1821 - 1825) and well known Scottish astronomer who established the first significant observatory in Australia for mapping the southern skies. The Planetarium is located about 5km from the Central Business District, and is administered by the Brisbane City Council.
The Planetarium features the 12.5m Cosmic Skydome (hemispherical planetarium theatre) with a recently upgraded, state of the art, digital dome projection system; an observatory containing a permanently mounted Zeiss 15cm refractor and a Meade 20cm "Go To" Schmidt-Cassegrain telescope; extensive photographic and model displays in its Foyer and Gallery including the 1969 Moon landing with a replica of Neil Armstrong's space suit, the Space Shuttle, and Mars expeditions, as well as a free mini-theatre featuring a regularly updated Space Telescope Science Institute web feed. The Planetarium runs regular shows in the Cosmic Skydome for public and school groups, observing sessions in the observatory and occasional public field nights. The original Zeiss star projector was removed from the Cosmic Skydome during the upgrade in 2010 and was placed on display in the foyer in early 2012. A replacement optical star projector will be installed in the Cosmic Skydome in early 2013.
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I cannot honour them that settes their part
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—Unknown. Thomas the Rhymer (l. 79–80)
“In a large university, there are as many deans and executive heads as there are schools and departments. Their relations to one another are intricate and periodic; in fact, “galaxy” is too loose a term: it is a planetarium of deans with the President of the University as a central sun. One can see eclipses, inner systems, and oppositions.”
—Jacques Barzun (b. 1907)