The Royal Eise Eisinga Planetarium has been officially opened. In the rooms in Eisinga's historic house, visitors can view his manuscripts. These manuscripts about mathematics, astronomy and the instruction book on the operation of his planetarium can be viewed digitally.
There is also room for temporary exhibitions. The opening exhibition 'Sailing on the Stars' was created in cooperation with Museum Boerhaave from Leiden, which made an important part of their collection of navigation instruments available for this purpose.
The interactive educational exhibition 'Space' introduces visitors to the operation of a number of astronomical instruments from the planetarium's collection. In addition to touch screens with information and animations about the operation of instruments, the visitor can make observations themselves using models of, for example, a sextant and telescope. This way, the origin of solar and lunar eclipses is made clear. With the expansion, the atmospheric city garden behind the building has also become accessible to the public.
All activities are in perfect keeping with Eise Eisinga's principles, namely popularising astronomy. Eisinga built his Planetarium to educate visitors, and has done so since 1781 to this day.
Photography: Combi Hommema, Franeker