Sir Thomas Brisbane Planetarium

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Sir Thomas Brisbane Planetarium

 

The Sir Thomas Brisbane Planetarium is in the Brisbane Botanic Gardens in Mt. Coot-tha.

The entrance to the planetarium is located off the Mt. Coot-tha Road in Toowong, Brisbane.
The planetarium is open from Tuesday to Sunday every week except on public holidays. During Saturdays, the operating hours are from 11:00am to 8:15pm. On Sundays, the planetarium is open

from 11:00 am to 4:00pm, and during the rest of the week, the planetarium hours are from 10:00am

to 4:00pm.

The planetarium regularly stages two kinds of shows: the Children’s Show and the General Audience Show. The planetarium is named after a man who is often dubbed the “father of organized science in Australia”, Sir Thomas Brisbane. In 1821, Sir Thomas Brisbane arrived in the New South Wales colony

as the Governor.

 

During his term, he established an astronomical observatory in Parramatta. With a pair of assistants,

Sir Thomas Brisbane made used the facility to make the “Brisbane Catalogue of Stars”. In this catalogue, he conscientiously listed over seven thousand stars in the southern sky, which was, back then, mostly uncharted. In honor of his significant contribution to the study of astronomy through his mapping of the southern sky, Parramatta’s planetarium and one of the craters on the moon were named after him.