astronomy

Johannesburg Planetarium

Johannesburg Planetarium is a astronomy topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Johannesburg Planetarium rather than just read about it. In short: The Johannesburg Planetarium is a planetarium owned by the University of the Witwatersrand, located on the University's East Campus in Braamfontein, Johannesburg. It was the first full-sized planetarium in Africa, and the second in the southern hemisphere.

Key takeaways

Johannesburg Planetarium belongs to astronomy; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Johannesburg Planetarium to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Johannesburg Planetarium from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

The Johannesburg Planetarium is a planetarium owned by the University of the Witwatersrand, located on the University's East Campus in Braamfontein, Johannesburg. It was the first full-sized planetarium in Africa, and the second in the southern hemisphere.

History The idea of setting up a planetarium in Johannesburg was first discussed in 1956 when the Festival Committee — which had been instituted to organise the celebrations of Johannesburg's seventieth anniversary — decided to raise the funds necessary to buy and house a Zeiss planetarium to be set up for the celebrations. As there was too little time to obtain a new instrument, it was decided to buy an existing planetarium projector from Europe. After lengthy negotiations, the Festival Committee was successful in persuading the Parliament of Hamburg to sell their planetarium's projector which had been in use there since 1930. The Hamburg Parliament, however, imposed as its conditions that the planetarium's projector be fully modernised in the Zeiss factory at Oberkochen, and that Johannesburg would in due course have a new planetarium built for Hamburg. The Hamburg projector was immediately dismantled and moved to Oberkochen for an overhaul, and was in time completely rebuilt. Soon, the responsibilities of the Festival Committee were taken over by the Johannesburg City Council, which after further negotiations, sold the projector to the University of the Witwatersrand for use as both an academic facility for the instruction of students, and as a public amenity. Plans for a new building to house the projector were first drawn up in 1958, and construction began in 1959. The planetarium finally opened on 12 October 1960. The Johannesburg Planetarium is often consulted by the media, and the public, in order to explain unusual occurrences in the skies over South Africa. In 2010, the Johannesburg Planetarium celebrated its golden jubilee.

References

External links Official website

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Johannesburg Planetarium

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Johannesburg Planetarium claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In astronomy, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Johannesburg Planetarium before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Johannesburg Planetarium ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Johannesburg Planetarium

In research: Johannesburg Planetarium appears in astronomy research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Johannesburg Planetarium in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Johannesburg Planetarium is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1960 establishments in South Africa, Buildings and structures completed in 1960, Educational buildings and structures in Johannesburg, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Johannesburg Planetarium outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Johannesburg Planetarium in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Johannesburg Planetarium means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Johannesburg Planetarium out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Johannesburg Planetarium in simple terms?

Why does Johannesburg Planetarium matter?

Because it connects several astronomy ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Johannesburg Planetarium?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Johannesburg Planetarium.