In 2000 Oman’s first ever Planetarium was built as an annex to the Oil & Gas Exhibition Centre. Both were built and are owned by PDO. We chose to build a planetarium because we wanted to give it as a ‘Gift to the Nation’ on the occasion of the 30th anniversary of His Majesty Sultan Qaboos bin Said. Every five years PDO presents a Gift to the Nation to help Oman to develop itself further.

PDO decided to build a Planetarium for many reasons; mainly because we want to contribute to Oman’s development in additional ways than just being the leading oil and gas company of Oman. The planetarium is useful and interesting for both children and adults and teaches them about astronomy in an engaging way. It gives children the opportunity to develop their minds and foster an interest for modern science.

Building the planetarium was a good opportunity for PDO to add something unique and beneficial to the country. And since its opening more than 130,000 people have visited the planetarium of which about 75% were schoolchildren. We hope to receive many more visitors in the future and we hope that you will find the planetarium both informative and enjoyable.

A planetarium is a sort of cinema with a domed ceiling. The stars, planets and other celestial bodies are projected onto the domed ceiling and realistically simulate the positions and movements of the heavens. In a planetarium you can see educational and entertaining shows focusing on a certain theme to do with a particular star cluster for example. The PDO planetarium can accommodate 60 people and has a domed ceiling of 11 meters. There are nineteen projectors that can create spectacular panoramas of space, including up to 9000 stars as well as galaxies and comets.
Combined with lasers, video and slide projectors as well as a sophisticated sound system, a planetarium show becomes a multimedia experience that opens your eyes to the wondrous sights of the universe.

It was known by all civilizations, observed by all nations and loved by all people. Small is the space it occupies in the sky, but prominent is its place among all ancient people. There is hardly any civilization or nation who does not have a legend or a myth about that small cluster of stars which appears in winter. For Indians, it is called Krittika, in South Africa it is called Limi Laela. As for the Greeks, its seven stars were known as the Seven Sisters or the Pleiades. Japanese called it Subaru.

This is a show for children and families, but anyone will like it, since you will learn more about earth’s neighbour, the moon. The moon has long been a mystery to mankind, but also helped mankind to unravel other mysteries. For instance man was able to create calendars by observing the movement of the moon, writers gained inspiration from the moon for their poems and novels. And the moon’s gravity that attracts earth’s water every day revealed secrets of the laws of gravity. During your ‘journey to the moon’ you will be accompanied by the young boy Qaid and his sister Shayma and their grandfather to see some of the phenomena related to the moon such as: the tides, solar & lunar eclipses, and the Apollo programme which enabled man to place his first step on the moon’s surface for the first time.

The planetarium organizes stargazing evenings to watch the stars, planets and the moon through a telescope once a month. If you want to join you can sign up for planetarium friend mailing list by . We will then Email you on which day and at what time these evenings take place.

There are no shows on Mondays, Fridays and public holidays. The planetarium shows are free of charge and it is required for everyone to book in advance. Visitors are requested to be present 10 minutes ahead of the show. There are no evening shows during the holy month of Ramadan.

For booking please:

Call: 24 675542

Fax: 24 675553

Email

The PDO planetarium is located at the end of the Seih Al Maleh Street, at the right hand just before the PDO gate 2 – Al-Qurum, Muscut.