The world bears witness to its first planetarium originated in Germany in the 1920s. Germany has therefore a long history for the interaction between planetariums and people’s social and cultural life. The paper firstly expounds on the history of the development of planetariums in Germany, followed by summarizing and analyzing the current public planetariums there in line with their geographical distribution, dome size, time of construction, equipment and architectural features, etc. The results show that they have a relatively homogeneous geographical distribution. Planetariums with 6~10 m dome diameter are the most common ones, while over 50% of them were constructed in the 1960s and 1980s. Zeiss projectors have a high market share in Germany. Both the independent and the attached planetariums have information-rich websites. Many of them provide online ticket reservation and program lists which are quite convenient for visitors. The programs are divided into instruction-based and video-based ones. There are also different levels for visitors of different ages. The main disadvantages, however, are a lack of content for high-level amateurs, as well as a lack of highly updated frequency. The latter will make it difficult for the visitors to keep abreast of what is happening in the area of the astronomical research in a short and timely manner.

planetarium  /  Germany  /  popularization of astronomy