The new Wits Anglo American Digital Dome will provide students, researchers and citizens of Johannesburg with a 360-degree visual experience.

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The Johannesburg planetarium, transformed into the Wits Anglo American Digital Dome, will enter the pilot phase from this month until the end of January 2025.

It is planned to open its doors to the general public in February 2025.

In 2022, Wits University and mining company Anglo American announcement a multi-million rand investment to fund the renovation, expansion and digitalization of the 62-year-old Johannesburg Planetarium.

According to a statement, the new Wits Anglo American Digital Dome aims to provide Wits University Johannesburg students, researchers and citizens with access to a 360-degree visual experience in the digital centre.

They will learn about astronomy and related fields through immersive technology in multidimensional and interdisciplinary worlds.

Over the past 62 years, the Wits University Planetarium has entertained, inspired and educated hundreds of thousands of learners from Gauteng and beyond. Visitors learned about the night sky, the solar system and the Milky Way through performances at the theater, Wits notes.

The first shows to be seen in the Digital Dome include a set of six courtesy of the American Museum of National History.

Wits and Anglo American say they will make funds available to enable learners from selected schools to attend performances for free in 2025.

“The planetarium has entertained, inspired and educated millions of visitors from Gauteng and beyond,” says Professor Zeblon Vilakazi, Vice-Chancellor and Principal of Wits University.

“Personally, I visited the old planetarium in 1981, at the height of apartheid. It left a huge and indelible mark on me and I believe it played a key role in igniting the scientific spark that led me to become a nuclear physicist.

“Through the Wits Anglo American Digital Dome, we hope to continue to inspire people from a range of disciplines, including those working in climate modeling, artificial intelligence and digital arts.”

First completed in 1960, the old planetarium was the first full-scale planetarium in Africa. The new Digital Dome is the largest of its kind in the southern hemisphere, made possible by a R90 million investment from Anglo American and Wits University.

Duncan Wanblad, CEO of Anglo American, said: “At Anglo American, we see investment in higher education as vital to advancing knowledge, driving innovation and driving economic growth.

“Universities are hubs of research and development, producing skilled professionals who address global challenges and push technological and scientific boundaries. Infrastructure such as the Digital Dome enables this progress, providing students with specialist skills, improving employment prospects and earning potential, whilst contributing to wider societal and economic transformation.

The planetarium has been renovated and digitized with a new digital projection system, auditorium seating, a science and technology exploratory and a high-tech 360-degree IMAX-style theater, Wits notes.

“The new Wits Anglo American Digital Dome is a demonstration of our heritage and our continued commitment, not only to this institution but to the nation as a whole. This new space is designed to inspire and spark interest in science, technology, engineering and mathematics disciplines in future generations,” adds Wanblad.