I wish Greenwich Park had a "What's on in the Planetarium today?" thing, an example suggested

It's possible that what I'm asking for is harder to put together than I imagine but I will suggest it nonetheless.

It's a hot day. Pretend I'm in Greenwich Park, maybe with some kids, and we'd like the opportunity to sit down somewhere cool and watch a planetarium show, if one happens to be running within the next hour or so. How do we find out?

I've been in this position on several occasions (minus the kids, it's just me wanting a sit down in the dark!) and generally I've found it a bit of a faff to find out what shows are happening now, today and if tickets are currently available.

My phone signal's never been particularly brilliant in the park so to begin with there's a bit of annoyance with googling for the relevant page. It might exist but searching for Greenwich Planetarium shows takes me to this page "Planetarium Shows" which tells me about the shows, not what time they're on (more clicking required). It's a bit like looking up the listings on a cinema website and being pointed to plot summaries and reviews instead of the "8.30pm start" information that I'm after.

The What's On page also shows me general information about performances, though some of them do have specific information (e.g. 13 August 2022, 1.30pm etc) or 'mornings, Wednesday - Monday in term time'. It would involve quite a bit of clicking / tapping to go into each planetarium show and find out what time it's on, on a particular day. 

While the What's On page has an opportunity to filter by date and event type when I do so, for planetarium shows on Friday 12 August, it tells me that none are available (though other information suggests that several shows are running tomorrow).

I'd probably like to know if tickets are available or if it's sold out (saves a walk to the venue to find out, even more important if you're with kids) but that may be harder to implement.

I've usually just given up and phoned the general Greenwich museums booking line; they're very helpful - 0208 312 6608.

 Person watching a planetarium show.
Image by 政徳 吉田 from Pixabay

What I'd like
A notice on every noticeboard in the park with a QR code (and link, for those wary of QR codes) that points to a "Greenwich Planetarium Shows Today" page. Every day that page is updated for the new day with a list, ordered by time, of the shows happening in the planetarium. I'm very happy for other "also on today" events at the wider museum(s) to be listed, with a sense of whether they're happening at a particular time or just on all day. But put the time-sensitive things at the top of the page.

Presumably the Planetarium has its own daily list of events and I'm sure this could be shared on a page. If this page already exists then please make it easier to find.

Here's my attempt at doing it for tomorrow (which is during the school holidays, not term time).

Greenwich Planetarium Shows - Friday 12 August 2022

By time

• 11.30am - Ted's Space Adventure (for pre-schoolers)
  
• 12.30pm - Starstruck (for age 7+)
• 1.30pm - The Sky Tonight (for age 7+)
• 2.30pm - Meet the Neighbours (for age 7+)
• 3.30pm - Starstruck (for age 7+)
• 4.30pm - The Sky Tonight (for age 7+)

 

By show

• Ted's Space Adventure - 11:30am (for pre-schoolers)
• The Sky Tonight - 1.30pm and 4.30pm (for age 7+)
• Starstruck - 12.30pm and 3.30pm (for age 7+)
• Meet the Neighbours - 2.30pm (for age 7+)

If it's the same every day then it wouldn't need updating daily. The term-time schedule is slightly different and there aren't usually any shows on term time Tuesdays (but there are on holiday Tuesdays).

Heh, after all that I tried clicking on a booking link (to double-check that the event was definitely running on Friday) and discovered that not only can you book all the different planetarium shows but you can see at a glance the different times they're on. So my advice, if they don't implement my suggestion above, is just to pretend to book something and you'll probably be taken to a page with all the options for those aged over 7 at least.

Screenshot of booking options, which displays all shows.

You can occasionally watch science-themed films at Greenwich's Planetarium

Image credit: Greenwich Park by "12019", Pixabay CC0 licence
(the main exit gate into Cutty Sark is to the left of this picture)

Last night I went to see Hidden Figures at the Planetarium by the Royal Observatory near the top of Greenwich Park - it was fantastic. I had previously heard of their Silver Screen series but hadn't been along to one (though I did attend a screening of Sense and Sensibility at the National Maritime Museum a few years ago) so I was curious to find out how it all worked.

The Planetarium has a hemispheric screen all of which can be projected on during planetarium shows. Obviously this isn't quite what's wanted in a regular screening. Fortunately a rectangular area of the screen (in front of the seats!) was picked out and the film projected there. It looked completely normal and 'flat' so I wonder if some clever stuff was going on with the lens, in order to project a flat image onto a curved surface. Surrounding the screened rectangle they projected a very gently moving star field / map which I thought was a rather nice touch.

After the film there was a short presentation about the women in the film and about which bits of the history were 'Hollywood-ised' and what actually happened. The talk also mentioned some women 'computers' (which is what mathematicians who made calculations for astronomical and other purposes were called) that were relevant to the Greenwich Observatory.

Here's a useful page which currently has all of the previous screenings but I'm assuming that the next lot (Contact, Tron and ... Predator I think) would be added at the end of it.

Note that I'm hoping to be screening The Dish in September at the Charlton & Woolwich Free Film Festival, date to be confirmed.

Things to be aware of
Greenwich Park closes at different times depending on the time of year. In the middle of summer it's open until 9.30pm but in March it shuts at 7pm (the film started at 6pm). The observatory have a couple of mini-vans to bus people out in groups (don't worry they wait for everyone!) but you'll be taken to the bottom of the park, to St Mary's Gate (the big main gate) near the Cutty Sark ship in the 'main' bit of Greenwich (map of the park with bus and other info). Because I live in Blackheath I'd entered through a different gate at the top of the park, which was now closed - so be aware that you may end up in a different place from where you started. Fortunately I have a travelcard so it didn't cost me any extra to get back home again.

We didn't drive through the gates though (I think they were closed) but were deposited just inside them and walked through. There were some parked cars by the observatory and I don't know which gate they exited through (possibly the Blackheath gate at the top) but we weren't supposed to wander off by ourselves on foot and had to be conveyed to the exit. It was quite fun being driven around the park late at night anyway.

We got briefly confused* on trying to leave the Observatory. You leave through the photography exhibition and then take a small wooden spiral staircase upwards (reversing your journey). At the top if you turn in one direction you'll find the exit quite quickly but if not you may find yourself trying to wander in and out of diferent exhibits trying to remember your route back (unless you have a good memory or sense of direction... guess who doesn't). There was another patron there wondering how on earth to get out but we found it quite quickly, but I might suggest better signposting.

*OK not that confused, but it wasn't a smooth exit ;)