The Sharjah Centre for Astronomy and Space Sciences is nearing its opening date of May 7, providing a new digital and hybrid planetarium for the Middle East region.

The 200-plus seat planetarium is part of the brand new space centre, situated in Sharjah, about 35km (22 miles) from Dubai. It’s a cutting-edge Colorspace theatre with an 18.5-metre hemispherical dome screen by Swedish fulldome company Sciss.

The Sharjah Centre for Astronomy and Space Sciences is set in 40,000sq m (430,000sq ft) of gardens, designed to represent the solar system – with the gold orb of the planetarium depicting the sun.

Sciss’s holistic Colorspace solution includes a seven-projector system, servers, the company’s Uniview software, dome, lighting and audio. A Megastar II-A star projector – made by Japan’s Ohira Tech – creates a star field of more than 10 million stars.

The project was the brainchild of Sultan bin Muhammad Al-Qassimi, member of the UAE’s Supreme Council and current ruler of the Sharjah emirate, who will be hosting the opening ceremony.

Staffan Klashed, CEO at Sciss, said: “Realising this project has been an extraordinary team effort. We have co-ordinated an international team of experts and delivered everything from theatre design, system integration, digital and optical projection and show production. I’m convinced that the planetarium and centre will be an obvious visitor attraction in the region.”

Sciss worked with Dubai-based engineering partner Visuals Attraction on the installation.

Don’t miss the upcoming issue of Attractions Management for more on dome projection technology and an interview with Sciss CEO Staffan Klashed