What's special about the world's largest Astronomy Museum in Shanghai?

The Shanghai Astronomical Museum (China) on July 18 officially welcomed the public to visit and experience. With unique architecture inspired by astronomy, the fascinating exhibits at this largest-scale astronomy museum in the world really make a strong impression.

An area of about 58.600m ² , Museum of Astronomy Shanghai is located in the Free Trade Zones Pilot of Shanghai Lingang. This is a branch of the Shanghai Science and Technology Museum.

The astronomy-inspired design of the Shanghai Astronomical Museum seen from above. (Photo: CNN)

The American firm Ennead Architects, which won an international building design competition in 2014, conceived and designed this special Museum.

The Shanghai Astronomical Museum, the world's largest museum, officially opened on July 17, and opened to the public on July 18. (Photo: Xinhua)

'We really thought we could leverage architecture to bring an incredible impact to this whole experience,' said the museum's lead designer and partner, Mr. Thomas J. Wong. . 'The building is considered to be the embodiment of . astronomical-inspired architecture'.

The world's largest Astronomy museum features an intricate curvilinear shape designed to reflect the spatial geometry of the universe. Instead of straight lines or right angles like conventional buildings, this work consists of three arcs that overlap to represent the orbits of the respective celestial bodies, the sun, moon and stars.

Curves in the design to prove that everything in the universe is in constant motion. (Photo: XINHUA).

By ignoring straight walls, Wong and his design team wanted to show that everything in the universe is in constant motion and governed by a series of forces.

Virtual reality glasses like a sundial placed in the main hall of the entrance. (Photo: T+L) .

Upon entering the museum, visitors will first encounter a giant virtual reality headset, which opens above the main entrance. This virtual reality headset acts like a sundial, creating a circle of sunlight that shines across the floor throughout the day, indicating the season and time of day.

The giant sphere has a part that protrudes from the roof and the lower part as if it is suspended in the building. (Photo: CHINADAILY).

Next is the planetarium theater which is located in a giant sphere and protrudes from the roof of the building like a moon. The lower part of the huge structure seemed to float weightlessly, below it were wide arched corridors.

The inverted glass dome helps visitors complete their space travel experience as they get closer to the vast sky outside. (Photo: CNN).

Finally, a large inverted glass dome on the top of the roof offers visitors the opportunity to gaze at the wide-open night sky, described as a "real encounter with the universe to cap off the simulated experience outside." in the building'.

A child learns information at a meteorite display in the museum. (Photo: XINHUA).

"We want people to understand the special nature of the Earth as a host for life, unlike any other place we know in the universe," Wong said .

An impressive display corner in the museum makes visitors feel like being in space. (Photo: T+L) .

A building with unique architecture also contains impressive exhibitions and displays. Inside this museum displays about 70 meteorites, including meteorites from the Moon, Mars and the asteroid Vesta.

A visitor looks at an ancient space observatory at the museum. (Photo: XINHUA).

Visitors experience interactive exhibits in the museum. (Photo: XINHUA).

More than 120 collections of artifacts such as works by Isaac Newton, Galileo Galilei and Johannes Kepler; a planetarium, an observatory and a solar telescope 23.77 m high,. are also present in the museum.

Specimens from the Moon are on display at the museum. (Photo: XINHUA).

The public will also see some samples of soil from the Moon brought back by China's Chang'e-5 lunar probe, which are on display at the museum.

Visitors experience virtual reality exhibits in the museum. (Photo: XINHUA).

Not only that, but data visualization, augmented reality, virtual reality and biometric technologies applied in the museum's exhibits will help visitors gain scientific and astronomical knowledge through science and technology. through real interactions.