The NOVA Mobile Planetarium: Ten best practices for planetarium projects based on an astronomy education success story

The Netherlands Research School for Astronomy (NOVA) has operated a Mobile Planetarium for over 14 years. Between 2009-2023, the project reached more than 400,000 learners and their teachers across the Netherlands. The project has been popular with schools since the beginning but continues to grow and reach increasing numbers of learners and schools each year. A project like the Mobile Planetarium does not continue growing this way without developing key ingredients or best practices. In this article, we describe the NOVA Mobile Planetarium project in detail and the challenges faced over the last 14 years. Reflection on the different aspects of the project has led to 10 best practices which have been critical to the continued success of this project. In this article, we aim to share our experiences to help other mobile planetarium projects around the world.