Situated at Xizhimen Outer Street, Beijing Planetarium is a national level natural science museum, and it was the first large-scale planetarium in China. As an advanced education base, it aims at teenagers' science popularization and public astronomical exhibition. The planetarium consists of two main exhibition halls. Exhibition Hall A was first constructed in 1955 and opened in 1957, with an area of 837 square yards (700 square meters), while the new Exhibition Hall B, was built in 2001 with an area of 2,392 square yards (2,000 square meters) and opened in 2004. The Exhibition Hall A is in front of the Exhibition Hall B.
The pendulum in Beijing Planetarium keeps revolving from west to east, showing visitors the principle of Earth's rotation. Experts will explain how daytime and night take turns on the earth to you. On the left of Entrance Hall is the Eastern Exhibition Region, where the Compass Exhibits are located. As one of the four great inventions of China, a number of compasses are lined in this hall to show its historical development. Visitors can get to know how the compass works, and how to use the compass in daily life.
In the Western Exhibition Region is Revolving Starry Night. This hall shows the rotation of the whole universe, for example, when the sun, earth, moon, planets and stars revolve on their own axis, they also spin around the same system center in the mean time. Meanwhile, visitors can try to identify and find their constellations under the aid of the star map. Through observing the changes of solar altitude angle, visitors can understand how four seasons take turns and different climates in different regions. The most splendid show is the eclipses of sun and moon. The fact that how sun rises and falls, and moon waxes and wanes will be demonstrated clearly to visitors.
Deep into the entrance hall lays the Space Theater. This theater, holding 400 seats, is equipped with excellent planetarium instruments from different countries. Zeiss lenses, IMAX digital projection system and surround sound system make itself one of the most advanced space theaters in the world.
Exhibition Hall B
In the basement, Time Machine in Universe, Observatory Exhibits and Meteorites Exhibits are distributed in different zones. Time Machine in Universe is designed to interact with visitors. At first, you can acquire the warming-up knowledge to prepare for the test and assessment, and only when you pass them can you get a chance to enjoy the shuttle in universe and witness the Big Bang and evolution process of universe.