Editor's Summary
28 February 2008
Night vision
The Eise Eisinga Planetarium in Franeker, The Netherlands, is the oldest functioning planetarium in the world. Built between 1774 and 1781 to prove a point — that a particular alignment in the Solar System would not prompt the end of the world — it has remained open to visitors ever since. It's the latest in our 'Hidden treasures' series. Alison Abbott describes the visitor experience, and answers the question: how many Solar System planets were known then?
Books and Arts: Hidden treasures: Eise Eisinga Planetarium
The world's oldest functioning planetarium was built by an eighteenth-century wool-comber in the Netherlands. Alison Abbot reports, in the second of her monthly series on small museums
Alison Abbot
doi:10.1038/4511057a