Jawaharlal Nehru Planetarium, Bangalore: Timings, Entry Fee

Dedicated to making science popular among both young and old, Jawaharlal Nehru Planetarium (JNP) in Bangalore is among the Garden City’s top attractions. Sky theatre, exhibition hall, science park with 40 exhibits, stunning 3D space shows, and monthly educational activities attract lakhs of science enthusiasts to this education centre and museum every year. The administration of the planetarium is taken care by the Bangalore Association for Science Education (BASE), which is an autonomous body supported by grants from the Department of Science and Technology (DST), Karnataka.

Jawaharlal Nehru Planetarium, Bangalore Information

Main Attractions at Jawaharlal Nehru Planetarium, Bangalore

Sky Theatre: This is the best part about the planetarium. It is a centralised, air-conditioned building with a 15-metre hemispherical dome and uni-directional viewing arrangement for 210 reclining seats. It stages shows in history, science facts, anecdotes, cultural aspects, etc. The stunning visuals accompanied by matching music and narration make for compelling shows.

Within the sky theatre, there is a mini-dome theatre with a capacity of 40 seats known as the Digital Skytheatre. The dome has been specially fabricated for holding digital sky shows and for imparting astronomy education in all the academic programmes conducted by the planetarium. It is also available for use by the public or students, but on specific request.

Exhibition Hall: The exhibition hall is known for thematic exhibitions based on the shows running in the sky-theatre. You can go through posters, small video clips, running message boards about astrological facts, etc. The hall contains an intriguing work of art by Mr Ramamurthy. The work is suspended from the ceiling. It displays the sun and its family of planets where each planet is created with different metals to evoke the natural colour of the planet.

Science Park: This is a sprawling park within the planetarium where you can go through 40 different scientific exhibits. These are interactive exhibits, which help to learn different aspects of science and nature in a hands-on way.

1. Globe: There is a large globe of the earthwith continents shown on it. You can learn different geographical/astronomical concepts through this model. It also shows Bengaluru’s latitude.
2. Anti-Gravity Cottage: This is a room where one can experience strange things. In this room, the force of gravity is violated and visitors are let in for 5 minutes to experience weird things, resulting from the lack of gravitational force. The room can accommodate about six persons at a time.
3. Ames Room: This is an amusement room where if you see a person from outside, you perceive his height as changing as he walks across the room. To put it straight, there is a strong scientific connection to this amusement.
4. Illusions: There are several pictures displayed around the Ames room and anti-gravity cottage that demonstrates aspects of visual perception involving size, contour, colour, and motion.
5. Jantar Mantar: There are interactive Jantar Mantar models, which a majority of students find amusing and interesting.

Popular Shows at Jawaharlal Nehru Planetarium

3. Our Solar System at Sky Theatre

If you want to experience the beauty of the night sky, you need to attend this 40-minute sky theatre show. In this indigenously-developed 3D, audio-visual programme, while you lie reclined on the chair and face upwards towards the roof of the sky theatre dome, you will learn about prominent constellations, myths behind them, planetary motions, and stunning visuals of our solar system.

2. Celestial Fireworks at Sky Theatre 

This show reveals wonderful celestial activities that go on in the apparent quietness of the space. This includes meteors burning up and creating craters on the earth, astronomical implosions and explosions, different stages in the life cycle of stars, the formation of supernovae, pulsars, neutron stars, black holes, etc. All these events and ideas are discussed in great detail and are accompanied by very high-resolution digital images and videos.

3. Dawn of Space Age at Sky Theatre

This is a special programme conducted on every Sunday and depicts the relentless quest of mankind for space exploration. It shows the rise of space exploration through successes and failures. In this show, you can see almost all the notable achievements in space exploration such as the return of Yuri Gagarin to earth, re-entry of Alexei Leonov after the spacewalk, and more.

4. Know Your Stars

This is a sky-gazing programme, which is conducted on the first Sunday of every month in the evening. It starts with a lecture in the sky theatre where visitors are taught how to identify stars, constellations, etc. with the help of star charts, followed by observations of the night sky through binoculars and telescopes.

Attractions near Jawaharlal Nehru Planetarium

• Basavanna Statue (650 metres)
• National Military Museum (1.1 km)
• National Gallery of Modern Art (1.2 km)
• Bangalore Turf Club Race Course (1.2 km)
• Cubbon Park, Shivaji Nagar (1.2 km)
• Indira Gandhi Musical Fountain Park (1.3 km)
• Bangalore Palace (3.0 km)

The well-crafted, interactive planetarium shows, exhibits, and activities of the Jawaharlal Nehru Planetarium in Bangalore will immerse you in the world of science. So if you are visiting the city, this is definitely an attraction worth exploring, especially for youngsters.

Also Read: Places to Visit in Karnataka