Work is moving ahead rapidly on Guadalajara’s new planetarium (Planetario Lunaria), which its backers are now boasting will be the most advanced in Latin America.
Located centrally in the Colinas de la Normal neighborhood, the new planetarium could end up costing more than 240 million pesos ($US12.7 million) – the most expensive of its kind ever built in Mexico. Besides its state-of-the-art dome, the installations will include an extensive exhibition space and parklike grounds.
According to state officials, the work is around 85 percent complete and the inauguration could be scheduled as early as mid-November.
Project supervisor Clemente Zepeda admitted Lunaria will not be the largest in Mexico but said it will be the most technologically advanced. The quality and number of projections will put the Guadalajara dome among the top five in the world, he estimated.
Its Digistar system will allow for 3D projections that on the American continent are currently only offered in planetariums in Richmond, Virginia, and Cozumel, Mexico, Zepeda said.