In the town of Smolyan is the largest in Bulgaria and the People's planetarium observatory. Opening astronomical center was September 6, 1975 and since then he has visited more than 2, 5 mln. People.

The "heart" of the Planetarium is the star room - a cylindrically shaped interior diameter of 12, 5 m with a dome, designed for 150 seats. In the center is a projector made in Germany and designed to create an exact copy of the starry sky. During the "space travel", he plays all the details of astronomical objects move in the celestial sphere: diurnal motion of the planets, the Sun and the Moon, comets, and so on. D., And also displays an interesting astronomical phenomena.

The station is located indoors with the dome height of 3 meters. For observation of the sky here is a special reflecting telescope. For visitors there are several telescopes. In clear weather, they can be seen in the daytime sun, and at night - the moon, the planets, stars and star clusters, galaxies, nebulae and so forth.

The planetarium is conducted research activities, which includes regular monitoring of solar activity and sunspots, solar and lunar eclipses and other celestial bodies and phenomena. During his more than thirty-year history of the center in Smolyan managed to get recognition at home and abroad. On January 1, 1995, he is a member of the planetary community based in Pasadena, USA - one of the largest NGOs in the world, engaged in space research.

The planetarium also conduct scientific popularization work. The staff developed a variety of educational programs for students of all ages, all programs associated with educational material on astronomy, physics and geography. In addition, when the heart is working astronomy club, and in the summer - visiting an astronomical camp.

For the general public in Smolyan planetarium hosts about fifty different sessions, and for very young audiences - in the form of informative stories. For foreign visitors are offered a program in Russian, English, French, German, Greek and Turkish.