It is located diagonally opposite the Beijing Zoo in the northwestern part of the city and is composed of a planetarium, an exhibition hall, a lecture hall and an astronomical observatory.

The planetarium, with its cupola measuring 25 meters in diameter, is the main focus of interest of the entire complex. At regular intervals, 45-minute presentations take the visitor on a trip through the heavens made possible by projectors installed in the center of the hall which faithfully reproduce an image of the starry sky on the inside of the cupola.