The iconic Johannesburg Planetarium has been transformed into the Wits Anglo American Digital Dome, marking a new chapter for science, humanities and education in South Africa. The R90m Digital Dome, funded by Anglo American and Wits University, will open to the public in February 2025.

Listen to this article 10 min Listen to this article 10 min 'For the past 64 years, the planetarium has entertained, inspired and educated millions of visitors from Gauteng and beyond," said Professor Zeblon Vilakazi, the 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 that it played a key role in igniting a scientific spark that led to me becoming a nuclear physicist."

Read Vilakazi's op-ed in Daily Maverick: Seeing stars in a whole new light as Johannesburg Planetarium goes digital

Much like the Vice-Chancellor, many of us will remember visiting the old Johannesburg Planetarium at Wits University as schoolchildren - first completed in 1960 and marking the first full-sized planetarium in Africa.

Now, after a R90-million investment by Anglo American and Wits University--an upgrade that began two years ago--the Wits Anglo American Digital Dome has launched as the largest facility of its kind in the southern hemisphere.

The Digital Dome is no longer just a planetarium that projects the night sky -- it's an interdisciplinary hub that can integrate climate modelling, artificial intelligence, digital...