The Navy Planetarium has been open to the public since July 20th, 1965 and is located in Belém, next to the Jerónimos Monastery, in one of the most noble and emblematic areas of the city of Lisbon.
It was an original idea from Commander Eugénio Conceição Silva, a Marine Official and a lover of astronomy and astrophotography.
The project resulted from a partnership between the Portuguese Navy and the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation and gave rise to one of the largest Planetariums in Europe, housing a dome with a diameter of 23 meters and seating for about 300 people.
Through this theater of space and time millions of people have passed over the years in a project to spread scientific culture, unparalleled in Portugal.
The planetarium encouraged many young people to pursue careers in science. The memories of their experiences in the planetarium were fundamental in their choice of future professions. Some became astronomers, and became part of a growing and promising community of Portuguese scientists.
Some of them became astronomers, being part of an increasingly large and promising Portuguese community of scientists.
The wonder of observing the sky, the secrets of the universe and the description of the magnificence of the cosmos continues to leave those who visit us with infinite curiosity and arouses a contagious interest. These never-ending questions continue to challenge those who everyday fulfil their mission at the Planetarium.
Over time, there have been major improvements in the sky projection system. Allied to Zeiss since the beginning, today the Marine Planetarium has one of the most advanced projection systems in the world, combining, in a hybrid way, the optical projection of the stars with a state-of-the-art digital image projection system, which gives the visitor an immersive experience and a perspective, not only of sky observation from Earth, but the feeling of a space journey through the universe.
As a result, the possibilities for developing different live sessions have greatly expanded, and the operator can interact with the audience in different ways, providing ever different experiences.
The system also allows the projection of immersive cinema for diverse content that goes beyond astronomy, extending the Planetarium's mission as a space for scientific culture and projecting content, in several languages, ranging from Earth sciences to life sciences.
A new future is approaching for the Navy Planetarium and the sky is still, without a doubt, the limit!