When I was planning a trip to Peru last November with my family I tried to find an observatory but had no luck. Having never been to the southern hemisphere, I thought it would be interesting to take a look at some of the southern hemisphere's sky objects. Fortunately, I found out about the Cusco Planetarium just before we left. I contacted them and they agreed to meet us at our hotel in Cusco and take us to the planetarium. This was the night before we were heading out to Machu Picchu.

The planetarum is located at the edge of town within a small ecological reserve. They picked us up at 5:30, and we arrived 10 minutes later. We went in and Ana Maria provided a 15 minute lecture (in English!) of the southern sky and its relation to Inca culture. This was very good and I recommend it to anyone prior to going to Machu Picchu. You will understand the astronomical objects and features of the site better.

We then went into the planetarium. Ana Maria was joined by her father (the astronomer brains) and they pointed out the Southern Cross and other constellations, as well as Alpha Centauri (the closest star to earth after the sun), and other objects. They discussed their meaning to local cultures. We spent about a half hour there.

Then we went outside just as the space station flew by, which was cool. They provided hot drinks and kept a wood stove burning to keep us warm (it gets surprisingly cold in Cusco at night because of its elevation) as we looked at several constellations and other objects with the naked eye to get oriented. Then they pulled out an 8" reflecting telescope and we looked at several features - the Jewel Box cluster (the prettiest object I've ever viewed through a telescope), Saturn with two of its moons, a variety of other open and closed clusters, and a binary star. They then drove us back to our hotel by 7:30.

I highly recommend the planetarium. It is not the typical "touristy" fare. You will see a real slice of Cusco, get a concise lecture on the southern sky and what it meant to earlier cultures, and see beautiful objects that you can never see in the northern hemisphere. The price is very reasonable, too. My only regret is that I did not try and talk them into pulling out the 14" Celestron reflecting telescope I spied by one of the exhibits to take a look at some deep space objects, but maybe next time.

This tour is appropriate for kids of all ages and will please non-astronomers as well as astronomers unfamiliar with the southern hemisphere sky. My boys (12 and 10), and my wife both enjoyed it as much as I did.