The M. P. Birla Planetarium was established in 1962 as an educational, scientific and research institution and was inaugurated on 2nd July, 1963 by then Prime Minister of India Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru. After the London Planetarium, this was the second major Planetarium to be set up in the commonwealth countries. The  Planetarium  owns an  astronomical  observatory  equipped with  a Celestron C-14 Telescope with accessories such as ST6 CCD  camera, solar filter etc.

Since its inception, the Planetarium has presented  more than 300 astronomy  projects  dealing with  astro-physics, Celestial  Mechanics, Space Science, history  of  astronomy, as well as mythology concerning stars and planets.  The  Planetarium  also conducts  school  programmes  for children of various age groups. In addition, there are free  evening courses   in Astronomy, a  Post-Graduate  Diploma  Course  in Astronomy & Planetarium  Sciences, and an M. Phil course in Astronomy and Planetarium Sciences, offered through the Birla Institute of Technology, Pilani.

On Sundays and holidays, there are two additional shows: 10.30 am (HINDI) and 11.30 am (Bengali).