Mysuru, November 9: Prime Minister Narendra Modi will inaugurate a newly constructed Rs 115-crore planetarium in Mysuru on November 13, Mysuru-Kodagu BJP MP Yaduveer Krishnadatta Chamaraja Wadiyar announced at a press conference on Monday, IANS reported.

Source: IANS via HiIndia

The facility — the Cosmology Education and Research Training Centre (COSMOS)-Mysuru — has been built by the Bengaluru-based Indian Institute of Astrophysics (IIA) in association with the University of Mysore at the foot of Chamundi Hill. The IIA describes it as India's first LED dome planetarium and one of the world's first: a 15-metre dome tilted at 15 degrees, with true 8K resolution and around 42 million LEDs, and no projector — the dome itself is made of LED panels controlled by a computer system.

Source: Indian Institute of Astrophysics (official project page)

Wadiyar said the planetarium would feature what he claimed is the world's first curved-screen technology of its kind, noting that the planetarium in Prague, installed by Konica Minolta, uses a flat-screen system. Two to three shows are expected daily, and the facility is expected to draw around five lakh visitors a year — similar to the Bengaluru planetarium — with tickets for tourists and access for students, he said.

Source: IANS via HiIndia

The project was a dream of Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, who contributed Rs 5 crore from her MPLAD funds; it has also received funding through the Swadesh Darshan scheme and the Department of Science and Technology, Wadiyar said. The IIA adds that the Department of Atomic Energy and the Office of the Principal Scientific Adviser also support the project. The three-storey facility, spread over about 3.5 acres on university land, includes classrooms and training rooms for educational programmes and camps, and is expected to open for public operations a few weeks after the inauguration, the Deccan Herald reported.

Source: Deccan Herald

Modi will also address a gathering of around 10,000 people at the venue. As part of the same visit, after inaugurating the Pink Line of Bengaluru's Namma Metro, he will take part in a Miyawaki forest development programme at K.C. Layout in Mysuru — developed under the Bharat One project with Japanese collaboration — where he will plant a sapling, Wadiyar said.

Source: IANS via HiIndia