The Sir Thomas Brisbane Planetarium is nestled in the grounds of the Mount Coot-tha campus of the Brisbane Botanic Gardens.

The planetarium seats 125 people under the dome and it has a new digital sky projector. The observatory has a 15 cm refractor and a 20 cm Schmidt-Cassegrain telescope (note that visitors need to be 150 cm tall to be able to reach the telescope eyepieces).

The Planetarium is named after the former Governor of NSW (1821 – 1825) who established an observatory at Parramatta and conducted a sky survey. He published The Brisbane Catalogue in 1835. It contains 7385 stars of the southern sky. Sir Thomas visited Moreton Bay and the river that now bears his name in 1824.

The Planetarium is open from Tuesday to Sunday, except for public holidays. Admission fees apply and bookings are recommended.

Photo: eGuide Travel (CC BY 2.0)