The Royal Observatory at Greenwich has a lot going for it — cutely bulbous domes, fantastic views of the area (at a cost of a brief but strenuous uphill trek, admittedly), a camera obscura, a museum that’s full of interesting exhibits but small enough to see in an afternoon, and of course the Greenwich Meridian, giving you the chance to jump from the Eastern to the Western hemisphere and back a dozen times in a row if you feel like it. Until October, there’s also a free exhibition about British Summer Time.
From the 25th of May, however, a £15 million redevelopment will provide even more reason to go, culminating in new exhibits and a 120-seat planetarium. Every hour between 11 a.m. and 4 p.m. on weekends, or 1 p.m. and 4 p.m. during the week, visitors will be able to attend a twenty-minute “journey through time and space to explore the Universe”, watching the sky from the same hill where Astronomers Royal used to sit.
The truncated cone of the planetarium juts out into the courtyard, covered in bronze and squatting mysteriously among seventeenth century buildings. There’s astronomical significance in the design: among other details, the slope of one side points towards the north star, and the flat top of the cone is parallel to the equator. And if it all seems a bit bemusing, the new astronomy galleries will explain.
At the end of the day, the pay-off for the effort it takes to get up to the Observatory is a gentle walk with a gorgeous view on the way back down.
The Peter Harrison Planetarium: the Royal Observatory, Greenwich. From 25 May. Shows on the hour from 11-4 weekends, and 1-4 weekdays. £6 adults / £4 children and concession.
