The long-awaited US$10m (£5m, 6.8m euro) SM Science Discovery Center (SDC) in the Mall of Asia in Manila, the Philippines, has opened to the public.

The 4,000sq m (43,000sq ft) educational attraction revolves around an E&S Digistar Planetarium housed inside a 16m (170ft) sphere with seating for 160 visitors.

The centre comprises ten core zones featuring interactive exhibits – Virtual Reef, Spaceship Earth, Media City, Robot Inc, ImagePort, Transportation Nation, City Science, Life Clock’ Lego Mindstorm and Grossology – and an hourly light and laser show.

At Virtual Reef, visitors are guided around an underwater world by an animated fish called Mr T, who highlights the habitat of coral reef surrounding the islands.

Leisure Entertainment Consultancy (LEC) in Long Beach, California, US, teamed up with local mall operator SM Prime Holdings to create the attraction.