The Libbiano Astronomical Centre, a structure designed to meet the needs of astronomers, has become a centre for the promotion of public interest in, and understanding of, astronomy following the creation of a planetarium and associate conference facilities.
Faithfully reproducing the celestial sphere and its movements, the planetarium is a very effective tool to illustrate the fundamental concepts of celestial mechanics and to allow visitors to recognise – directly and immediately – the constellations and to understand the alternation of the seasons and the variation of the length of day and night.
The Centre consists of two distinct structures:
- An Educational Building which houses the Go-To Ex3 Digital Planetarium with a capacity to hold 25 visitors and a conference room that can seat 50 people. In the entrance area there are the field telescopes used by the local Amateur Astronomers Association and a permanent exhibition of some of the images taken by the group.
- The Galileo Galilei Observatory which houses the two main telescopes: a Ritchey-Chretien 500mm diameter/aperture reflector f/8 – f/6 and an 180mm diameter/aperture apochromatic refractor f/9. The Observatory was first opened in October 1997 in the presence of the renowned astrophysicist Margherita Hack.