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Birla Planetarium, Chennai

Birla Planetarium
Periyar Science and Technology Centre and Birla Planetarium, Chennai 46.jpg
Established 11 May 1988 (1988-05-11)
Location No. 4, Gandhi Mandapam Road, Kotturpuram, Chennai, India.
Coordinates 13°00′43″N 80°14′37″E / 13.012°N 80.2437°E / 13.012; 80.2437
Type Planetarium museum
Director P. Iyamperumal
Public transit access Kasturba Nagar MRTS station
Website tnstc.gov.in/index.htm

B. M. Birla Planetarium is a large planetarium in Chennai providing a virtual tour of the night sky and holding cosmic shows on a specially perforated hemispherical aluminium inner dome. It is located at Kotturpuram in the Periyar Science and Technology Centre campus which houses eight galleries, namely, Physical Science, Electronics and Communication, Energy, Life Science, Innovation, Transport, International Dolls and Children and Materials Science, with over 500 exhibits. Built in 1988 in the memory of the great industrialist and visionary of India B. M. Birla, it is the most modern planetarium in India. There are two other Birla Planetariums in India, viz., the one in Kolkata known as M. P. Birla Planetarium and the other in Hyderabad, Tiruchirapalli and Coimbatore.

The planetarium is located in the Tamil Nadu Science and Technology Centre's (TNSTC) Periyar Science and Technology Centre campus on the Gandhi Mandapam Road in Kotturpuram abutting the Central Leather Research Institute campus. It lies close to the Guindy National Park in the predominantly wooded Adyar-Guindy region known as the Green Lungs of Chennai, enabling it to conduct night-sky observation comparatively easily which is otherwise difficult amidst the glaring city lights in the night. Other nearby landmarks include the IIT Madras, Adyar Cancer Institute, Anna University, University of Madras–Guindy campus and the Anna Centenary Library. The nearest railway stations are Kotturpuram MRTS in the northeast and Kasturba Nagar MRTS in the southeast, both located at a distance of 1 km from the planetarium. The Kotturpuram bus stop lies 2 km to the north.


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