SCHOOLCHILDREN will just have to gaze elsewhere if they want to learn about our Universe and the stars in the night sky.

Madame Tussauds has decided that the Planetarium, in Baker Street, Central London, which has taught thousands of schoolchildren about astronomy, physics and space exploration since the 1950s, will be better served by a show about a different type of star.

Madame Tussauds has cut screenings of the three-dimensional Journey to Infinity at the Planetarium, renamed the Auditorium, from forty-five minutes to ten. It will reopen in July with a show about celebrities.

Teachers, children and astronomers have written dozens of letters of complaint about the demise of the light show, which takes viewers on a journey from the Earth to the edge of the Universe.

Teresa Grafton, who retired last month as the education officer at Madame Tussauds, said: “The shows are extremely popular. Children find them very inspiring and there are always huge collective gasps of amazement as they are taken on a journey through beautiful star fields.”

A letter from a 13-year-old girl at St Marylebone Church of England School, a Central London girls’ comprehensive, protested that “the Planetarium can do things that science lessons struggle to provide”.

Another described the show as “awe-inspiring and amazing”, adding: “It inspired me to look beyond my light-polluted city.”

The head of science at the school, Susan Anderson, who has been taking students there for ten years, said: “I’m just flabbergasted. The shows were brilliant at bringing the topic to life and covered key parts of the science curriculum.” Schools writing to complain have been told that the attraction, which is owned by the Dubai Government, wants to focus on the world of celebrities and fame. Tussauds is working with Aardman Animations, the producers of the Wallace and Gromit films, to make a movie about celebrities.

Diane Moon, the communications manager of Madame Tussauds, said yesterday: “While our main experience moves away from the educative towards the world of entertainment, so the Planetarium becomes a bolt-on to the attraction rather than part of it.”

Robin Scagell, the vice-president of the Society for Popular Astronomy, said: “The Planetarium has inspired generations of schoolchildren and their parents, and to lose it now is a tragedy.

“They (Madame Tussauds) have a valuable resource that they are squandering through a lack of imagination." Nicky Marsh, the marketing director for Madame Tussauds, said: “The future shows in the Planetarium space will be a filmic experience and have nothing to do with stars and planets. People just weren’t interested in attending the space shows.”

Roger Jones, the headmaster of St George’s School, an independent prep school in Windsor, Berkshire, said: “It is obvious that it’s just another classic example of dumbing down. We used it regularly for our 11-year-olds and found it a worthwhile and educational experience. The children talked about it for a long time after and would often visit again with their families.”

Ms Grafton said: “Tussauds has decided that people are more interested in Big Brother, The X Factor and Heat magazine than in anything educational.”

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