Vol. 49, No. 3 September 2020 Journal of the International

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Vol. 49, No. 3 September 2020

Journal of the International Planetarium Society

Virtual Conferencing Makes it Work rivet

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World’s Leading Domes Executive Editor Sharon Shanks 484 Canterbury Ln Boardman, Ohio 44512 USA +1 330-783-9341 [email protected]

Webmaster Alan Gould Lawrence Hall of Science Planetarium University of California Berkeley CA 94720-5200 USA [email protected]

Advertising Coordinator Dale Smith (See Publications Committee on page 3)

Membership Individual: $65 one year; $100 two years Institutional: $250 first year; $125 annual renewal Library Subscriptions: $50 one year; $90 two years All amounts in US currency September 2020 Direct membership requests and changes of address to the Treasurer/Membership Chairman Vol 49 No 3 Printed Back Issues of Planetarian IPS Back Publications Repository maintained by the Treasurer/Membership Chair (See contact information on next page) Articles Final Deadlines March: January 21 12 Guest Editorial: A passion for public engagement June: April 21 September: July 21 Glen Moore December: October 21 14 Has Vision2020 succeeded? Jon Elvert Associate Editors 16 Recognizing the achievements of outstanding Book Reviews April S. Whitt IPS members Manos Kitsonas Calendar Loris Ramponi Cartoons Alexandre Cherman 20 Why should we look at the sky? Alina Sabyr Classroom Education Mark Percy and the 26 Gandhiji’s keys to the universe Nandivada Rathnasree Classdome Cadre Data to Dome Mark SubbaRao 30 A science center in a new dimension Kenan Bromann, Education Committee Shannon Schmoll Johan Gysenbergs Humor April S. Whitt Ron Walker 32 Software enables fulldome in your home(dome) Immersive Media Carolyn Collins Petersen Ruth Coalson International News Lars Petersen Live Interactive Programs Karrie Berglund Mobile News Susan Reynolds Button Planetarium Design/Operations Tim Barry Sound Advice Jeff Bowen contents continue on next page Southern Hemisphere Haritina Mogoșanu History/Years ago Tom Callen Ron Walker

On the Cover

Faces from around the world: IPS members met virtually instead of in Index of Advertisers person at the 2020 IPS Virtual conference American Museum of Natural History...... 53 on August 3, 5, and 7. More than 40 live Ash Enterprises...... 52 paper and panel sessions were presented. Audio Visual Imagineering...... 65 For more, go to www.ips-planetarium. Bays Mountain Productions...... 51 org/page/ips2020. Screenshot montage BIG & Digital...... 15 created by Mike Murray, IPS Membership California Academy of Sciences...... 13 Committee chair. Clark Planetarium...... 41 Digitalis Education Solutions...... 11 Endurescreens...... 49 International Planetarium Society home page: Evans & Sutherland...... 19, 33, 36-37, 71 www.ips-planetarium.org festoon...... 69 GOTO Inc...... 7 Planetarian home page: Metaspace...... 9, 35 www.ips-planetarium.org/page/plntrn Ohira Tech...... Outside back cover RSACosmos...... Inside back cover Spitz, Inc...... Inside front cover Spitz Creative Media...... 5, 43 You Can Do Astronomy...... 55 www.facebook.com/InternationalPlanetariumSociety ZEISS...... 29 twitter.com/IPS_Planetarium

Vol 49 No 3 September 2020 Planetarian 1 Off icers

September 2020 President Executive Secretary Mark SubbaRao Patty Seaton Adler Planetarium Howard B. Owens Science Center Vol 49 No 3 1300 South Lake Shore Drive 9601 Greenbelt Road Chicago, Illinois 60605 USA Lanham, Maryland 20706 USA +1 312-294-0348 +1 301-906-5990 [email protected] [email protected] Columns Past President Treasurer Shawn Laatsch Ann Bragg 6 In Front of the Console: Getting ready to go Emera Astronomy Center Anderson Hancock Planetarium 167 Rangeley Road Marietta College supernova Orono, Maine 04469 USA 215 Fifth Street Sharon Shanks past-president@ips-planetarium. Marietta, Ohio 45750 USA org +1 740-376-4589 8 President’s Message: #IPSvCon2020 [email protected] Mark SubbaRao President Elect Kaoru Kimura Director of 10 PARTYcles Alex Cherman Japan Science Foundation/Science Operations Museum Jeannie Benjamins 38 IMERSA Matters: Pandemic pondering on 2-1 Kitanomaru-koen Managing Matters what’s happening with immersive venues Chiyoda-ku 411 Richmond Street East, Suite 200 Tokyo, Japan 102-0091 Toronto, Ontario Canada M5A3S5 Carolyn Collins Petersen +81 3-3212-8506 [email protected] 40 Seeking What Works: The bigger picture: Fax: +81 3 3212 8443 president-elect@ Gender and learning Shannon Schmoll ips-planetarium.org 44 From the Classdome: Welcome to the ClassDome back-to-school edition—maybe Board Mark Percy 46 International News Lars Petersen Africa Björn Voss Susan Murabana Owen LWL-Museum für Naturkunde 54 Tales from Dome Under: A defining moment The Travelling Telescope’s Nairobi Westphalian State Museum comes full circle Tom Callen Planetarium of Natural History 105 Riverside Lane off Riverside Sentruper Str. 285 56 Sound Advice: LED video displays: How, Drive 48161 Münster Germany what, when, where, why Jeff Bowen Nairobi, Kenya +49-251-591-6026 +254 722 218 267 +49-251-591-6098 fax 58 41 South: Navigating using a sky smurabana@travellingtelescope. [email protected] www.gdp-planetarium.org full of creatures Haritina Mogoșanu co.uk 60 LIP Service: e-LIPS: Success! Karrie Berglund Asia Latin America Sumito Hirota Alex Cherman 62 Mobile News: Reassessment and redesign Kawasaki Science Museum Rio de Janeiro City Hall Susan Reynolds Button 7-1-2 Masugata, Tama-ku Rua Bento Lisboa, 106 BL1 AP1005 Kawasaki, Kanagawa Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brazil 22221-011 64 A Different Point of View: On censorship 214-0032 Japan +55 21 993557100 alexandre.cherman@ and killing viruses with invisible rays [email protected] planetarium.jp planetariodorio.com.br Ron Walker North America 66 Book Reviews April Whitt Jin Zhu Honorary Director Dayna Thompson Cosmos: Possible Worlds Beijing Planetarium Charles W. Brown Planetarium 138 Xiwaidajie Street Ball State University Galaxies: Inside the Universe’s Star Cities Xicheng District Muncie, Indiana 47306 USA Venus III: The View after Venus Express Beijing 100044 China +1 765-285-8963 +86-10-51583002 [email protected] 68 How we do it: Easy piggyback mount for +86-13-601369613 Michele Wistisen astrophotography Adam Thanz +86-10-51583312 fax [email protected] Casper Planetarium 72 Last Light: Rated P for pandemic-penned 904 North Poplar Street Oceania Casper, Wyoming planetarians April Whitt Martin George 82601 USA Launceston Planetarium +1 307-577-0310 Queen Victoria Museum [email protected] 2 Invermay Road Launceston Tasmania 7250 Australia +61 3 6323 3777 +61 437 688824 (cell) [email protected] Europe Jiri Dusek Hvězdárna a Planetárium Brno Kraví hora 2, 616 00 Brno, Czechia +420 541 321 287 +420 775 35 45 55 (mobile) [email protected]

2 Planetarian Vol 49 No 3 September 2020 Advisory Council

APA ABP PLANed APLF AMPAC ASP APS BAP CASC CPS EMPA GLPA GPPA PlanIt

JPA MAPS NPA PPA RMPA RPA GDP SEPA SWAP

African Planetarium Association Australasian Planetarium Society Italian Association of Planetaria Russian Planetariums Association APA APS IAP RPA Susan Murabana Owen Amanda Kruger Loris Ramponi Yaroslav Gubchenko The Travelling Telescope’s Nairobi Science Space–University of Wollongong National Archive of Planetaria Fulldome Film Society Planetarium UOW Innovation Campus c/o Centro Studi e Ricerche PO Box 103 105 Riverside Lane off Riverside Drive 60 Squires Way Serafino Zani 60310 Nizhny Novgorod, Russia Nairobi, Kenya North Wollongong, NSW 2500 Australia via Bosca 24, C.P. 104 [email protected] +254 722 218 267 +61 (2) 42865000 I 25066 Lumezzane (Brescia) Italy www.apr.planetariums.ru [email protected] [email protected] +39 30 872 164 www.aps-planetarium.org +39 30 872 545 fax Society of the German-Speaking Association of Brazilian Planetariums [email protected] Planetariums ABP British Association of Planetaria [email protected] GDP Alexandre Cherman BAP www.planetari.org Björn Voss Rua Bento Lisboa, 106 BL1 AP1005 Nina Cameron LWL-Museum für Naturkunde Rio de Janeiro, RJ Glasgow Science Centre Japan Planetarium Association Westphalian State Museum 22221-010 Brazil 50 Pacific Quay JPA of Natural History alexandre.cherman@ Glasgow, Scotland G51 1EA Sumito Hirota Sentruper Str. 285 planetariodorio.com.br +44 (0) 141 420 5010 Kawasaki Science Museum 48161 Münster Germany www.planetarios.org.br [email protected] 7-1-2 Masugata, Tama-ku +49-251-591-6026 www.planetariodorio.com.br www.planetaria.org.uk Kawasaki, Kanagawa +49-251-591-6098 fax 214-0032 Japan [email protected] Association of Dutch-Speaking Canadian Association of Science Centres [email protected] www.gdp-planetarium.org Planetariums CASC planetarium.jp PLANed Frank Florian Southeastern Planetarium Association Marlies van de Weijgaert TELUS World of Science Middle Atlantic Planetarium Society SEPA Kapteyn Astronomical Institute 11211 142 Street NW MAPS John Hare University of Groningen Edmonton, Alberta T5M 4A1 Canada April Whitt Ash Enterprises P.O. Box 800 [email protected] Jim Cherry Memorial Planetarium 29 Riverside Drive, Apt 402 9700 AV Groningen www.canadiansciencecentres.ca Fernbank Science Center Cocoa, Florida 32922 USA The Netherlands Atlanta, Georgia 30307 USA +1 941 730 3434 +31 50 363 7027 Chinese Planetarium Society [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] CPS www.mapsplanetarium.org www.sepadomes.org www.astronomie.nl Professor Xiaofeng Wang Director, Beijing Planetarium Nordic Planetarium Association Southwestern Association of Association of French-Speaking 138 Xiwaidajie Street NPA Planetariums Planetariums Xicheng District Kai Santavuori SWAP APLF Beijing 100044 China Sweco Structures LTD Sarah Twidel Milene Wèndling +86-18-911028682 Viitankruununtie 34 B 11 Noble Planetarium Université de Strasbourg [email protected] 00970 Helsinki Fort Worth Museum of Science and History Jardin des Sciences Finland 1600 Gendy Street 12 rue de l’Université European/ Mediterranean Planetarium +358 44 9867 630 Fort Worth, Texas 76107 USA Strasbourg F-67000 France Association [email protected] (817) 255 - 9409 +33 (0)3 68 85 05 32 EMP [email protected] +33 (0)3 68 85 04 88 fax Manos Kitsonas Pacific Planetarium Association www.swapskies.org [email protected] Eugenides Planetarium PPA www.aplf-planetariums.org 387 Syngrou Avenue Benjamin Mendelsohn 17564 P. Faliro West Valley Community College Association of Mexican Planetariums Athens, Greece 14000 Fruitvale Avenue AMPAC +30 210 946 9633 Saratoga, California Ignacio Castro Pinal +30 210 941 7372 fax 95070-5698 USA Ave. San Bernabé, 723, Casa 7 [email protected] +1 408-741-4018 San Jerónimo Lídice, C.P. 10200 +1 408-741-4072 fax México City, D.F. México Great Lakes Planetarium Association [email protected] +52 (55) 5500 0562 GLPA sites.csn.edu/planetarium/PPA +52 (55) 5500 0583 fax Mike Smail [email protected] Adler Planetarium Rocky Mountain Planetarium Association 1300 S Lake Shore Drive RMPA Association of Spanish Planetariums Chicago, Illinois 60612 USA Michele Wistisen ASP +1 312-294-0365 Casper Planetarium Javier Armentia [email protected] 904 North Poplar Street Planetario de Pamplona www.glpa.org Casper, Wyoming Sancho Ramirez, 2 82601 USA E-31008 Pamplona Navarra Spain Great Plains Planetarium Association +1 307-577-0310 +34 948 260 004 GPPA [email protected] +34 948 260 056 Jack L. Northrup +34 948 261 919 fax Sci-Tech Instructional Facilitator [email protected] Omaha, Nebraska USA www.planetarios.org [email protected]

Vol 49 No 3 September 2020 Planetarian 3 Standing Committees

Awards Elections Finance IPS Permanent Mailing Address Manos Kitsonas, Chair Martin George, Chair Current Officers Eugenides Planetarium Launceston Planetarium 387 Syngrou Avenue Queen Victoria Museum Membership International Planetarium Society 17564 P. Faliro Wellington Street Mike Murray, Chair c/o Ann Bragg, Treasurer Athens, Greece Launceston Tasmania 7250 Delta College Planetarium Marietta College +30 210 946 9633 Australia Bay City, Michigan 48708 USA 215 Fifth Street +30 210 941 7372 fax +61 3 6323 3777 +1 989-667-2270 Marietta, Ohio 45750 USA [email protected] +61 3 6323 3776 fax [email protected] [email protected] IPS Web Site: Conference Publications www.ips-planetarium.org Current Officers Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Dale W. Smith, Chair Upcoming conference host, past Danielle Khoury LeBlanc, Co-chair BGSU Planetarium Please notify the Editor and Secretary of any changes conference host, any IPS member Charles Hayden Planetarium Physics &Astronomy Department on these two pages. appointed by the president Museum of Science Bowling Green State University Boston, Massachusetts 02114 USA Bowling Green, Ohio 43403 USA Contact the Treasurer/Membership Chair for [email protected] +1 419-372-8666 individual member address changes and general Dayna Thompson, Co-chair +1 419-372-9938 fax circulation and billing questions. Addresses Director, Brown Planetarium [email protected] also may be changed online on the IPS Web Site. Ball State University Muncie, Indiana, 47306 USA [email protected] [email protected] Professional Partners

Ad Hoc Committees/Task Forces/Working Groups

Armand Spitz Indigeneous Astronomy Working Planetarium Centennial Task Force Planetarium Education Fund Group Björn Voss, Chair Finance Committee Annette Lee, Co-Chair LWL-Museum für Naturkunde St. Cloud State University Westphalian State Museum Of Natural COVID-19 Task Force St. Cloud, Minnesota 56301-4498 USA History Thomas Kraupe and Mark Subbarao, [email protected] 48161 Munster, Germany We are gathered together from all Co-Chairs Ka’iu Kimura, Co-Chair +49-251-591-6026 ‘Imiloa Astronomy Center +49-251-591-6098 fax corners of this globe, inspired by the Education Hilo, Hawaii 96720 USA [email protected] Shannon Schmoll, Chair [email protected] world and the universe we inhabit. Abrams Planetarium Milagros Vasquez, Co-Chair Planetarium Design and Operations Our society draws its strength from Michigan State University Cha’an Ka’an Planetario de Cozumel Ian McLennan, Chair East Lansing, Michigan 48824 USA Cozumel, Quintana Roo Mexico Vancouver, British Columbia our predecessors and from the 1-517-355-0039 [email protected] V6E 1G1 Canada wide diversity of our present [email protected] +1 604-681-4790 phone + fax Immersive Audio [email protected] membership. Building on our past Emerging Communities Charles Morrow, Chair [email protected] Dave Weinrich, Chair 1961 Roaring Brook Road www.ianmclennan.com heritage, we are inspired to dream S250 State Road 35 S Barton, Vermont 05822 USA of future accomplishments, working Nelson, Wisconsin 54756 USA Phone: +1-212-989-2400 Portable Planetariums [email protected] [email protected] Susan Reynolds Button, Chair together as a worldwide society. Quarks to Clusters History International Relations 8793 Horseshoe Lane IPS President Dave Weinrich John Hare, IPS Historian Martin George, Chair Chittenango, New York 13037 Ash Enterprises Launceston Planetarium +1 315-687-5371 Welcome to the 2012 29 Riverside Drive, Apt 402 Queen Victoria Museum [email protected] IPS Conference Cocoa, Florida 32922 USA Wellington Street [email protected] Baton Rouge, Louisiana +1 941 730 3434 Launceston, Tasmania 7250 [email protected] Australia Science & Data +61 3 6323 3777 Visualization Task Force History of the Planetarium Working +61 3 6323 3776 fax Mark SubbaRao, Chair Group [email protected] Adler Planetarium Pedro Raposo, Chair Chicago, Illinois 60605 USA Planetarian (ISSN 0090-3213) is published quarterly by Adler Planetarium +1 312-294-0348 the International Planetarium Society. ©2020 Interna- Chicago, Illinois 60605 USA [email protected] tional Planetarium Society, Inc., all rights reserved. [email protected] Vision 2020 Initiative Also known as The Planetarian from Vol. 1 No. 1 Jon Elvert, Chair through Vol. 6 No. 4. Titled Planetarian starting with [email protected] Vol. 7 No. 1 forward.

Opinions expressed by authors are personal opinions and are not necessarily the opinions of the Interna- •• Contributors agree that their printed version has been received by Guidelines for contributors tional Planetarium Society, its officers, or agents. •• Planetarian welcomes submis- submission is their own original work members), contributors may post the sions of interest to the planetari- and has not appeared elsewhere in submission on a personal website, Acceptance of advertisements, announcements, or um community. Preference is given print or electronically, nor is not blog, or a website of general inter- other material does not imply endorsement by the to articles that closely relate to the being submitted simultaneously else- est as long as the following appears: International Planetarium Society, its officers, or philosophy, management, techni- where in print or electronically. If the Copyright 2013 (or appropriate agents. cal aspects, educational aspects, or submission has appeared elsewhere year) International Planetarium history of planetariums, and to ideas in print or electronically, permission Society; used with permission and Note that photos may be enhanced digitally for print- that can readily be incorporated to re-print must be obtained and provide a link to the IPS. If in doubt, ability only, never for content. into planetarium shows. Authors are a copy of this permission emailed contact the editor with questions. responsible for obtaining all neces- to the Editor with the article. •• The Guidelines for Contributors The editor welcomes Letters to the Editor and items sary copyright clearances, especial- •• Once accepted for publication, on the IPS website should be consult- for consideration for publication.The editor reserves ly for illustrations and photographs. the contributor also agrees that the ed before submitting an article. the right to edit any manuscript to suit this publication’s needs. •• Research articles dealing with copyright for original works not •• Potential advertisers are invited educational aspects of the plan- appearing elsewhere is held by the to check the Advetising Guidelines The online PDF version holds ISSN 2333-9063 etarium and other topics are International Planetarium Society. and Rate Sheet on the IPS website: highly desirable and will be refer- Once a submission has appeared www.ips-planetarium.org/plntrn Planetarian is part of the EBSCO research database. eed if applicable and requested. in Planetarian (but not before the

4 Planetarian Vol 49 No 3 September 2020 SolarSuperstorms_8_5x11_EditedFoPage 1 8/8/2016 3:52:47 PM

NARRATED BY BENEDICT CUMBERBATCH

M Honorable Mention Best Movie Award Honorable Mention Y Espinho, Portugal Brno, Czech Republic Jena, Germany Immersive Film Festival IPS Fulldome Festival Jena Fulldome Festival CM 2015 2016 2016

CMY

FULLDOME www.spitzinc.com/fulldome_shows Vol 49 No 3 September 2020 Planetarian SHOW DISTRIBUTION5 Contact: Mike Bruno [email protected] T: 610.459.5200 Ad space (bleed) : 8.5×11inchi（216×279mm） Trim : 225×290mm Live : 200×265mm

In Front of the Console Sharon Shanks 484 Canterbury Lane Boardman, Ohio 44512 USA +1 330-783-9341 [email protected]

Getting ready to go supernova

I have have a a lot lot of of news news to to share share planetariuming deadline community for each issue. around Those me, four and weeks my are percep filled- in this this issue’s issue’s column, column, so so I’ll I’ll start start tionwith of copywhat editing it takes submissions to be a good for editor grammar, into spelling,“on the with the big thingone: President first: as President Mark job”readability, and “off the and job” Planetarian segments. style. Reminding people SubbaRaoMark SubbaRao announced announced during during forWhat their I can columns. say, however, Processing is there photos are fourand timesother one of of the the business business sessions sessions during duringimages the into year CMYK when .tif the files editor’s and hatsizing was them. firmly Tracking on: the duringthe IPS eConference the IPS eConference in August, I in am fourdown weeks photo prior use to rights the printing and copyright deadline releases. for each Laying issue. Augustindeed that retiring I was at retiring the end at ofthe the outI always the copy worked, and fighting usually with never widows successfully, and orphans. to endyear ofas Planetarian the year as editor.Planetarian Decem - haveFiguring an issue out to pages the (willprinter 88 beat enough?least two Or weeks do I need before to bereditor. will December be my last will issue, be myalthough last thego month up to 92?). on theI think cover. you For get this the idea,issue, and for that’sexample, just aI Iissue, will althoughbe available I will to beassist available through shouldsmall haveportion been of thedone job. by August 15. I’m writing this theto assist first couplethrough of the issues first in couple 2021. on SeptemberOnce I’m 2, finished so, once withagain, this I’m columnextremely I willlate. start of Iissues hadn’t in 2021. figured out yet how workingThose four on weeks my “how are filled to produce with copy Planetarian editing submis” docu- I plannedI hadn’t figured to share out that yet news,how I so sionsment for that grammar, lists deadlines, spelling, readability, styles, people, and and Planetari proce- Markplanned actually to share saved that news me awhen lot of andures. style. Nagging I cannot Reminding write up anpeople easy for “here’s their columns. the job” worry.he made the announcement, Processingbecause it photos takes knowingand other how images much into background CMYK .tif files my andFor he the actually second saved big thing, me a I’ll lot let andreplacement sizing them. is Tracking bringing withdown them. photo And use thatrights back and- myof worry granddaughter over chosing do the the talking. right copyrightground, in releases. turn, will Laying shape out Planetarian the copy for and the fighting future; Youwords. have all been patient while withit will widows become and a orphans. different Figuring publication out pagesas it takes (will on88 I’veI’ve indulged included the yet proud another grand - bethe enough? personality Or do ofI need the editor.to go up to 92?). I think you get motherpicture urgeof my and granddaughter shared pictures Ellis, at age 18 months. Photo by John Shanks. the idea,Right and now that’s we’re just thinking a small portion that there of the will job. need to ofwith her thisgrowing column up from because a distance. it is Ellis, at age 18 months. Photo by John Shanks. beOnce four I’m or fivefinished people with to replace this column me and I distributewill start Thethe problem easiest wayis I also of have explaining been watching from a distance, and that will the work more workingevenly. There on my will “how be toan produce executive Planetarian editor and” opus, assistant but changewhy I’m sometime giving up between the red now pen and the December Planetarian because editors to receiveeven and it edit won’t the be different a huge typeshelp toof copymy successor that we run,because like we’refor good. moving You’ve to Amarillo, been patient Texas, while literally I’ve a indulged block away the from proud Ellis grand and- itresearch will be papers,just the regular deadlines columns, to meet, and people other involved, text. One and person procedures will be hermother family. urge and shared pictures of her growing up from a distance. toresponsible follow. I forcannot layout, write which up an is doneeasy now“here’s on the InDesign job” because from Adob it takese. TheMy problem apologies is I toalso the have planetarium been watching community, from a distance, but none and of thatyou willcan knowingNow you’re how asking much yourself background “why my would replacement any sane person is bringing want with this competechange sometime with that between smiling nowlittle and face the for December my time and Planetarian attention. because She is them.job?” The answer is easy: because it is another manifestation of the thewe’re one moving who has to Amarillo,convinced Texas, me to literally retire my a block red pen away for from good. Ellis (A neat and needRight to share now and we’re teach thinking that seems that thereto permeate will need the tospirit be fourof all orplane five- trick,her family. considering her vocabulary is still small.) peopletarians. toIn replacesharing me with and my distribute colleagues, the there work is more great evenly. personal There satisfac will- My apologies to the planetarium community, but none of you can betion; an there executive is a feeling editor that and you’reassistant making editors a todifference. receive and the different So:compete who with wants that smilingmy job? little face for my time and attention. types of copy that we run, like research papers, regular columns, and People have been laughing when I ask that question, and I under- otherAnd who text. One wouldn’t person will want be responsiblemy job? for layout, which is done So:stand who why. wantsI know Imy have job? a bizarre set of skills that no one else in the nowOne on of InDesign the joys from of this Adobe. job is finding and interacting with young planetariumPeople have community been laughing has, unlesswhen Ithere ask thatis someone question, out and there I under with- people who are so enthusiastic and passionate about astronomy and astand degree why. in I journalismknow I have or a somethingbizarre set of closely skills relatedthat no toone writing else in andthe Youplanetariums never thatknow their how joy is far contagious. your influence I have the fun will of sharing reach their editingplanetarium who alsocommunity has experience has, unless with planetariumsthere is someone and outhas thethere time with to storiesOne andof the watching joys of themthis job grow is findingas they goand on intereacting to make their with marks young on volunteera degree in for journalism what seems or like something a full-time closely job some related days. to writing and thepeople planetarium who are sofield. enthusiastic and passionate about astronomy and editingWhen who considering also has experience whether or with not toplanetariums volunteer, people and has always the time want to planetariumsAlina Sabyr that is one, their and joy she is contagious. met two of my favorite people (one in tovolunteer know how for whatmuch is time essentially they will a full-time need to job.devote in addition to their NewAlina Zealand Sabyr is and one, another and she in meets South two America) more of in my her favorite independent people “dayPeople job.” always I’m afrid want it’s to not know that simple.how much Being time a good they journalist will need or to a study(one in travels New Zealandaround the and globe. another The in fact South that America)they found in andher metindepen each- gooddevote editor in addition is something to their you “day can’t job” turnwhen on considering and off. Even whether when or I wasnot otherdent study has me travels in shivers around over the the globe. coincidence. The fact that I’m surethey you’ll each foundalso enjoy and workingto volunteer. for a If paycheck, you’re concerned I was a full-time about the editor amount in my of way time of and thinking think readingmet each about other her has travels me in starting shivers on over page the 20. coincidence, and I’m sure andyou mycan awarenessseparate your of the roles planetarian into nice blockscommunity. of time, One then needs I suggest excellent that you’llI came also acrossenjoy reading a press releaseabout her from travels Colgate starting University on page about 20. Alina skillsyou don’t at going volunteer back and for forth this one. between the job they are paid for and the thatI came said “Sabyr’s across apassion press release for cultural from astronomy Colgate University came about about while Alina she editorBeing role. a good journalist or a good editor is something you can’t turn wasthat browsingsaid “Sabyr’s through passion astronomy for cultural professor astronomy Anthony came about Aveni’s while book she- onWhat and off. I can Even say, when however, I was working is there for are a four paycheck, times duringI was a full-time the year shelves.was browsing Two years through later, astronomy this interest professor became Anthonythe basis of Aveni’s her Watson book- wheneditor. the I could editor’s not hat separate was firmly my way on: ofthe thinking, four weeks my prior awareness to the ofprint the- project,shelves. LookingTwo years Up: later, Exploring this interest Skywatching became Cultures.”the basis of(www.colgate. her Watson edu/news/stories/alina-sabyr-19-receives-watson-fellowship)project, Looking Up: Exploring Skywatching Cultures.” (www.colgate. Sharon Shanks has been Planetarian editor since Vol. 35 No. 3 (Septem- edu/news/stories/alina-sabyr-19-receives-watson-fellowship)Tony Aveni, one of my favorite people since I first met him more Sharonber 2006). Shanks She has retired been inPlanetarian 2015 from editor the Ward since BeecherVol. 35 No. Planetarium 3 (Septem at- thanTony 20 Aveni, years ago,one hasof my done favorite his share people of mentoringsince I first futuremet him astrono more- Youngstownber 2006). She State retired University in 2015 in from Ohio, the returning Ward Beecherto her journalism Planetarium roots at thanmers 20(and years this ago, planetarium has done lecturer),his share ofand mentoring I found it future fitting astronomers that he was afterYoungstown a pleasantly State passionate University career in Ohio, sharing returning the stars. to her journalism roots (andstill doing this planetarium it, even without lecturer) knowing from it. around the globe, and I found Iit after a pleasantly passionate career sharing the stars. fitting that he was still doing it, whether he knows it or not. I

6 Planetarian Vol 49 No 3 September 2020 Ad space (bleed) : 8.5×11inchi（216×279mm） Trim : 225×290mm Live : 200×265mm

Vol 49 No 3 September 2020 Planetarian 7 President’s Message Mark SubbaRao Adler Planetarium 1300 South Lake Shore Drive Chicago, Illinois 60605 USA +1 312-294-0348 [email protected]

#IPSvCon2020

I write this column at the conclusion of the IPS’s first virtual confer- Varguez from the Cozumel Planetarium spoke about their productions ence. My body is tired, but my heart is full. The year 2020 has been featuring Mayan Astronomy, and Duane Hamacher from the Universi- incredibly difficult. So much has been taken away from us, including ty of Melbourne described an array of planetarium programs in Austra- the gathering in Edmonton that so many of us had planned for and lia featuring Aboriginal astronomy. looked forward to. During the virtual conference in early August, however, the members of our society came together to take back some of what has been lost. There was an incredible sense of community. At the start of each session as people came online sharing greetings appropriate to their local time and in their local languages. It was a reminder that while we are all struggling to face the challenges brought about by the global pandemic, we have a strong global planetarium community to support each other and lift each other up. The fact that so many were willing to stay up throughout their local night to attend shows how special our professional community is. When faced with the prospect of cancelling the in-person conference, we didn’t want to also lose all the intellectual effort that went into assembling the session proposals. Many thanks to the program orga- Daniel Chu Owen and Susan Murabana describing the construction of a bamboo nizer Mirabelle Prémont-Schwarz from TELUS World dome for the Nairobi Planetarium. Screen capture by author. of Science Edmonton and all the members of the program committee who stayed on to help plan the vCon as well. The quality of sessions was uniform- ly excellent. The switch to the online format required us to shorten Jarita Holbrook from UCLA discussed her work on Indigenous presentation times and the result was tightly-focused presentations. African Astronomy, and Ka’iu Kimura from the ‘Imiloa Astronomy In a normal IPS conference you are forced to choose between several Center described the A Hue He Inoa project, which is giving Hawaiian parallel sessions; in the vCon you could attend everything. names to significant astronomical discoveries made at the Hawaiian observatories. Te Kahuratai Painting from the University of Auck- Highlighting two sessions land spoke of the connection between the sky, land, and sea in Maori Two sessions I would like to highlight are those led by the IPS’s astronomy. In their presentation they demonstrated the richness of newest working groups. The Indigenous Astronomy Working Group indigeneous astronomy as well as the importance of presenting it in and the History of Astronomy Working Group were both founded last our planetariums. In addition they provided a set of clear guidelines on year. This meeting served as the public introduction of both groups to how to do so properly. This is important new guidance that all plane- the IPS community. tarians should follow. For the Indigenous Astronomy Working Group’s session, Annette The History of the Planetarium Working Group is another newly- Lee, from St. Cloud State University, assembled a fantastic lineup of 10(!) created body that introduced itself to the IPS community with a session speakers for that session. Nancy C. Maryboy and David Begay from the during the vCon. This working group is chaired by Pedro Raposo of the Indigenous Education Institute told us about Dine’ (Navajo) astrono- Adler Planetarium. The goal of this working group is to bring togeth- my. Ininew (Cree) elder Wilfred Buck, who was scheduled to have been er historians of science who are working on planetariums, and connect a keynote speaker in the in-person conference, showed off a fulldome them to the broader planetarium community. clip of some of his work with the TELUS World of Science Edmonton. Pedro and Katie Boyce-Jacino from Arizona State University gave Yasmin Catricheo from Associated Universities Incorporated excellent presentations that served as a powerful demonstration of the described the cosmovision of the Mapuche people in Chile. Milagros value of this connection. Because their presentation time was short, they were in the process of planning a stand-alone webinar to more deeply address these topics, “History of Planetaria-What to Preserve, IPS President Mark SubbaRao, among his many associations, also is the and How” on September 3. director of the Space Visualization Laboratory at the Adler Planetarium. The IPS’s newest regional affiliate, the African Planetarium Associa- (Continues on page 10)

8 Planetarian Vol 49 No 3 September 2020 Vol 49 No 3 September 2020 Planetarian 9 (President’s Message, continued from page 8) The video recordings and their associated papers are all currently available tion, presented an inspiring session on Planetaria in Africa. The ingenu- on the IPS website: www.ips-planetarium.org/page/2020vconproceedings. ity shown in the low-cost construction techniques of the Sutherland Planetarium in Sutherland, South Africa, which was built around a A virtual visit to Edmonton balloon frame, and the Nairobi Planetarium in Kenya, whose geode- We closed the conference by virtually heading to Edmonton and sic dome is being constructed from bamboo harvested on site, serves as getting a tour of the newly-restored Queen Elizabeth II Planetarium, models for new planetariums in the developing world. after which TELUS World of Science Edmonton’s CEO Alan Nursall The conference featured presenters and posters from twelve differ- interviewed Ian McClennen, the QEII Planetarium’s first director. ent African planetarians. This is significantly more participation than Renowned Canadian astrophotographer Alan Dyer showed off his any previous IPS conference, and a testament to the success for the amazing photographs featuring Comet Neowise and the beautiful African Planetarium Association. Alberta scenery. That imagery made all of us regret not being able to visit Edmonton in person. An engaging anti-racism panel Finally, the Edmonton team gathered in their dome and ceremoni- Another important session was the anti-racism panel organized ally passed the reins of the conference to the team at Planetarium 1 in by IPS Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion Committee Co-chairs Dayna St. Petersburg, adding a small model of an Inukshuk (a figure made of Thompson and Dani LeBlanc. Expertly moderated by Derrick Pitts, piled stones or boulders constructed to communicate throughout the director of the Fels Planetarium at The Franklin Institute in Philadel- Arctic) to the mementos that are traditionally passed from IPS host to phia, this panel featured honest reflections from planetarians James IPS host. Albury, president of SEPA and director of the Kika Silva Pla Planetar- ium at Santa Fe College; Daryl Davis from the Museum of Science in Notes from the general assembly Boston; and Susan Murabana, president of the African Planetarium During the virtual conference we held an online version of the Association and co-founder of the Nairobi Planetarium. general assembly that is normally held during the IPS conference. The engagement with this discussion was so strong that we kept Some of the usual assembly activity, such as the closing of nomina- the discussion going straight through the break that had been tions of candidates for elections and presentations by 2024 conference planned afterward. The IPS EDI Committee has assembled a set of anti- bidders, could not occur since both have been postponed to Septem- racism resources on our website at www.ips-planetarium.org/page/ ber due to COVID-19. racialjustice. We have now officially transitioned our governance structure from As an organization, IPS will build upon the ideas outlined in this a council with representatives from each of the affiliates, to a board discussion with the goal of making sure that our planetariums are structure with representatives from continental zones. To maintain welcoming to everyone, and that the next generation of planetarians communication with the regional affiliates with this new structure, will be more diverse than the current one. the IPS has created the IPS Advisory Council, which will initially be There were light moments as well. An excellent set of video presen- the same as the previous IPS Council. In some cases your board repre- tations on aesthetics called “How to Approach Beauty” from Jacek sentative and your advisory council member may be the same person. Mikulski, Mateusz Wyszynski, and Tomek Drela from the Warsaw The IPS has been doing its best to assist planetarians during the Planetarium, was rich with personality and humor. Tomek’s video pandemic. Marking the virtual conference was part of that, as were the introduction of “welcome to my crib” was repeated by several present- covid-19 mini-grants that were awarded in May. ers later in the conference, and Mateusz’s presentation on aesthetics in During the general assembly we reported on another of those initia- laser shows concluded with “see you laser.” tives, a partnership with Slooh, a company that operates a network of All told we had over 50 sessions (with multiple presenters each) remote telescopes for online observations. This arrangement provides spread over 24 hours, with another 25 poster submissions. Approxi- IPS members an additional audience engagement opportunity and mately 500 people registered for the Zoom sessions and others watched income stream. the livestream on Facebook. All of this came off very smoothly, in large Details of the agreement can be found at www.ips-planetarium. part due to Michael McConville from Spitz, who masterfully operated org/news/508195/Slooh-and-the-International-Planetarium-Society- the video streams over all three days of the conference. Partner-to-Offer-Online-Space-Exploration.htm. I

PARTYcles #043 - Sept. '20 AlexAlex Cherman Cherman

HELLO. I AM THE And what CORONAVIRUS. should we do? RESISTANCE How so? IS FUTILE. Social distance! Mr. Proton, what We're several should we do? orders of magnitude Shhhh... smaller than it! We should be good, then... Keep calm, Mr. Electron. An atom is mostly The virus can't see us! empty space...

10 Planetarian Vol 49 No 3 September 2020 Vol 49 No 3 September 2020 Planetarian 11 Guest Editorial

More than just a life in planetariums: A passion for public engagement

Glen Moore Keiraville, New South Wales Australia [email protected]

Who am I? However, what profoundly impressed me, was the potential of I have been involved in science communication for more than 40 astronomy to engage people and grab the attention of the media. years with my focus being on astronomy and planetariums.1 Having This was a turning point in my career. Shortly afterwards, I developed retired from Science Space at the University of Wollongong, Australia a liberal arts astronomy stream at the university, generated a public (formerly The Science Centre and Planetarium), I have more recently astronomy education course and chaired a Lord Mayoral committee been sharing my experience and providing advice for startup proj- with a mission to build a major planetarium. This project grew rapidly ects in developing countries. I am a member of the IPS Committee for with plans for Australia’s largest planetarium and gained the attention Emerging Communities and a Fellow of IPS. I was a founding member of local, state and federal governments. of the Australasian Planetarium Society and a former president. The Illawarra planetarium project On becoming a planetarian By 1982 the project appeared certain to proceed with broad govern- My first awareness of the power of public engagement in astrono- ment support and I attended IPS1982 in Vancouver as part of a univer- my came in 1976 when I helped organise a site for viewing a total solar sity sabbatical with my family. What an experience! We made lifelong friends, some who also attended IPS2020. Not being an experienced planetarian, I came to IPS82 to learn and to find resources to develop the project. What I found was an incredibly sharing, generous community. I came away with an agreement with a planetarium consultant and I was convinced of a career redirection. Immediately following the conference, we visited the Pacific Science Centre (and planetarium) with our 3-year- old. This was another fantastic experience, this time with hands-on activities. After a full tiring day of keeping up with an excited child, we asked him “what would you like to do tomorrow?” His answer: “come back.” This was the moment that led me to broaden my interest towards a planetarium and a Science Centre. In 1986, with the project ready to proceed with promised government funding, an economic recession was changing priorities in Australia and the project started to encounter difficulties. Once again an astronomical event came to the Aerial view of Science Space. Image provided by author. rescue—Halley’s Comet presented a unique opportunity and we organised Australia’s most publicised and attended public eclipse near the Australian rural town of Bombala. Astronomers from Halley event. A petition in favour of the planetarium development was across the world, both amateur and professional, gathered at the site signed at the event by over 30,000, and political support was renewed. and the action was covered by an editor from Sky & Telescope maga- Shortly afterwards I took a university sabbatical to work at Lunar zine.2 There were far reaching consequences, with the event discussed and Planetary Laboratory in Tucson, Arizona and the University of in the national parliament. An equipment import delay involved a Colorado and at the same time attended IPS1986 in Tucson. positive interaction with the head of the Australian trade union move- At that time I was a founding member of a new government organi- ment. He was later to become the Australian prime minister at a criti- sation created to increase public appreciation of astronomy and space cal time for our planetarium project. My student assistant went on to science research. As chairman, I organised a travelling exhibition called become the executive director of the International Centre for Radio “Awesome Universe,” which created a record Australian art gallery Astronomy Research. attendance. Then, in 1987, politics intervened (the relevant government depart- 1 Planetarian Vol. 43, No. 2, June 2014 p32-33. ment was Sport, Recreation and Tourism) and the project lost out to a 2 Sky & Telescope, Vol. 53, No. 1, January 1977, p4-11. football stadium.

12 Planetarian Vol 49 No 3 September 2020 The planetarium and science centre re-visioned ful.” This may work for art galleries because they are widely accepted as Not to give up, interactives and displays were acquired from the a cultural necessity, but for planetariums, unfortunately, less so. National Science and Technology Centre in Canberra and World Science and science communication, however, are internationally Expo88, with help from planetarian Ian McLennan and our political recognised as necessary and valuable, particularly in the age of science, supporters. A small hands-on science centre was created at the Univer- technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM). Coupling a plane- sity of Wollongong and a used ZKP1 projector was acquired from Zeiss tarium with a science centre can be a winning strategy. Every major Jena, with funding from the Illawarra Planetarium Society. planetarium in Australia, apart from the Sir Thomas Brisbane Planetar- After 10 years of operation the centre was destroyed in a flood. ium, is associated with a science centre. Support came from many planetariums world wide and there were Stand alone planetariums, however, can also promote their role as outpourings of concern from the public. As a result, major government STEM providers to gain more support. funding was provided for a new facility at the University of Wollon- (Continues on page 18) gong, which has grown to become Australia’s leading regional science centre and planetarium. Ironically, it was built on the site of the abandoned football stadium that it lost out to in 1988! A new fulldome experience from Some ideas on the challenges in establishing a planetarium the california academy of sciences Before a facility is funded, consultancy reports and feasibility studies are required. During this process it is absolutely vital to have expert planetarium as well as local advice since planetariums are unique places with special needs and visitor patterns. For example, the particular policies of the regional education system will have a significant influence on school visitation. My observation of feasibility studies is that they often predict an over optimis- tic outcome. While this may help the case for establishment funding, failing to meet projected income or attendance targets can have disastrous consequences, particularly Available for licensing with sponsor support . There is a greater culture of philanthropy in the USA than in many countries. In Australia for example, major cultural developments are almost always government funded. Astronomy is always exciting for the public. However it can be difficult to convince poli- ticians to commit funding in the absence of significant public agitation or unless they are driven by the need to justify government expenditure on major astronomical research facilities. The Apollo program satisfied both of these requirements in USA. In Wollongong we managed to take advantage of major astronomical events to create support. Planetariums in some countries, such as Australia, are uncommon—there are only four with a dome of 10m or more and they are separated on average by 1000km. There is no major planetarium in Australia’s largest city (Sydney) or the national capital (Canberra). Political opposition as a result of competing priorities can easily sabotage a project. Unfor- tunately, sport will always gain a higher share For more information visit of media coverage. www.calacademy.org/licensing. I remember the renowned astronomer Bart Bok once justifying astronomy with the statement “astronomy is useful because it is beauti-

Vol 49 No 3 September 2020 Planetarian 13 As 2020 is drawing to a close, the question must be asked: Has Vision2020 succeeded?

Jon W. Elvert Chair, Vision2020 Initiative [email protected]

The Vision2020 Initiative was launched at the 2014 IPS Conference membership? in Beijing. Its primary directive was to boldly go where IPS had never •• How can IPS support its members? gone before—envisioning a future that would fundamentally change •• Online communications e.g., Planetarian Net and IPS Communi- how IPS operates, alter the business as usual attitude, be more nimble cator to change, and design a big picture vision of how IPS could become a •• Training webinars modern, new IPS. •• IPS partnerships It is now year 2020. Has V2020 succeeded? •• Professional development Since Beijing, V2020’s accomplishments have set IPS on a new Loose Ends: course, but in the post-V2020 world, how will the society continue to •• IPS is not as nimble as we hoped it would be by the time V2020 is remain relevant, recognize opportunities, implement change, serve, phased out and support its members moving forward, and where will IPS be in •• There is a lack of decision/clarity about working groups that are 2030? taking on V2020 goals •• Continued skepticism from some to fully embrace the vision put In the beginning forth by V2020 Six team goals were generated from a comprehensive IPS member/ vendor survey that were to provide membership opportunities in: Legacy •• Professional development Vision2020 set out to expand the horizons of IPS, to provide guid- •• Engage in professional science community ance on what it could become; how fundamental, systemic change can •• Expand international collaboration alter not just the governance structure and how day to day operations •• Achieve greater recognition for research in education get done, but also to fundamentally change how IPS does business on •• Leadership in next generation planetaria a global basis, create opportunities for an increasing diverse member- •• Involve younger members in the future of IPS ship, and how we network and communicate with each other. Evaluation of V2020: The IPS has already made systemic and structural changes, but a •• Major structural/governance achievements “new” IPS will likely be determined by how current and future working •• White papers: making the case for V2020 groups continue to push boundaries, evolve, inspire, and pursue the •• Mission-Vision-Values statements goals envisioned by the Vision2020 Initiative. •• Strategic Plan This past June, during the virtual council/board meeting, a motion •• New membership categories was made to transfer Vision2020 goals into action items for comple- •• Officer term limits tion by IPS working task forces. The new IPS Board is being charged •• Implementation of electronic voting with capturing the essence of these goals and then implementing •• New IPS governance structure model and member representation the transition. The motion to continue the work of Vision2020 was •• Redesign of website seconded and unanimously approved by the Board. •• MOUs with relevant organizations I have been active on Council since 1995 and have seen the Society What still needs to be achieved: slowly accept systemic change, grudgingly surrender old habits, and •• Transition of team goals to existing committees/task forces gradually morph into a more worldwide and inclusive organization. •• A process to ensure change continues to be made post-V2020 IPS has evolved and is becoming the organization envisioned by •• How to anticipate future changes in the field V2020. The adopted Strategic Plan was V2020’s most significant contri- Again, I wish to thank the V2020 team—Karrie Berglund, Ruth bution. Based upon the initiative’s six goals, this plan is intended to Coalson, Anna Green, Levent Gurdemir, Tom Kwasnitschka, and Jaap provide a road map, a guide for what the Society’s goals and priorities Vreeling—for their contributions to this initiative. I also credit past should be, and the strategies on how best to achieve them. It is hoped IPS president Joanne Young and her unrelenting support for helping that IPS will refer to this plan when needed. V2020 succeed. And to all current and previous council affiliates and Unresolved Issues: officers who have given input and encouragement: thank you! I •• How will the goals of V2020 remain relevant beyond V2020? •• How will IPS meet the challenges of sustaining or increasing

14 Planetarian Vol 49 No 3 September 2020 IPS has adopted a new logo and brand, introduced to membership during the IPS2020 Virtual Conference in July. The brand guidelines document and downloadable logo assets are to be made available for use by affiliates and other authorized groups on the IPS website. The url for download was not available by press time for this issue of Planetarian.

Vol 49 No 3 September 2020 Planetarian 15 Donna J. Cox Robin Sip University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign Mirage 3D USA The Hague, The Netherlands

Recognizing the achievements of outstanding IPS members

Manos Kitsonas, Chair Chair1 at the university. tion for the IMAX film Cosmic Voyage. In IPS Awards Committee She is theme lead for Culture & Society for 2017, the Immersive Media Entertainment [email protected] the Emerging Digital Research and Education Research in Science and Art (IMERSA) organi- in Arts Media (eDream) and chief scholar at the zation awarded Cox with a lifetime achieve- The International Planetarium Society National Center for Supercomputing Appli- ment award for lasting contributions to the recognizes the outstanding work of its members cations. She is an internationally-acclaimed big screen community. In March 2018, she through the presentation of several awards, ground breaker in the art of scientific visual- received the Illinois Innovation Transfer normally given in person during the awards ization and her work has been transformative Award in recognition of work with significant banquet during its biennial conferences. in the planetarium field. societal impact. Although the awards could not be handed She’s best known for defining renaissance The ACM’s SIGGRAPH awarded Cox with to their recipients and their achievements teams, “where specialists provide a broad spec- the distinguished lifetime achievement shared to public applause this year during trum of skills in the quest for discovery” and award in digital art and inducted her into the the virtual conference in August, the Awards for her use of supercomputers for visualiza- ACM SIGGRAPH Academy in 2019. She is the Committee is pleased to be about to announce tion. This model serves as an ideal for modern lead co-editor and contributor to New Media the names of this year’s award winners fulldome production teams. Futures: The Rise of Women in the Digital Arts, through the pages of Planetarian. She and her collaborators have thrilled published in 2018 by the University of Illinois millions around the world with stunning Press. Technology and Innovation Award cinematic presentations of science for giant- The IPS Technology and Innovation Award screen productions, fulldome, IMAX, and Robin Sip for 2020 has been awarded to Donna Cox and HD/4K broadcast and streaming documenta- Robin is the founder and CEO of Mirage3D Robin Sip. ries. in The Netherlands and director of produc- The award “shall be bestowed, from time The visualizations created by the AVL tion at Evans & Sutherland. to time, by the Society upon an individu- combine Hollywood quality cinematogra- Robin Sip has always been at the forefront al whose technology and/or innovations in phy and art design with stringent scientific of innovation in the digital planetarium field the planetarium field have been, through the accuracy. These visualizations have appeared from its beginning in the late 1980’s. years, utilized or replicated by other members in numerous fulldome films, including: Pass- Robin would wow and inspire other Digi- and/or other planetariums.” port to the Universe, Black Holes: The Other Side star users at the annual Digistar Users Group For this Award the nominees must have a of Infinity, IBEX: The Search for the Edge of the meetings with his detailed wireframe models broad, deep and concrete effect in the profes- Solar System, The Search for Life: Are We Alone, that were broken into individual parts that sion and its development. The Searcher, Solar Superstorms, Dynamic moved to animate them. A wireframe model Earth, Imagine the Moon, The Birth of Planet for Robin was not something that was just Donna J. Cox Earth, and many others. a static image to only be rotated or moved Professor Donna J. Cox, MFA, PhD, is a Twice she’s walked the Academy Awards’ along a path. For him, the model had to be professor in the School of Art and Design and red carpet: first with former students and more intricate. In doing so, he taught and director of the Advanced Visualization Lab again as art director of scientific visualiza- inspired other users to make more realistic wireframe models, resulting in the spread of at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Cham- 1 The endowed chairmanship is named in honor of paign. She was named the first Michael Aiken the university’s former Chancellor Michael Aiken. his techniques and ideas to Digistar planetar-

16 Planetarian Vol 49 No 3 September 2020 Andrea Cvitan Ralph Heinsohn Björn Voss Ryan Wyatt Astonomical Center Rijeka experimenta Science Center Münster Planetarium California Academy of Sciences Croatia Heilbronn, Germany Germany San Francisco, USA iums of the day all across the world. Thousand One, featuring a cast of six profes- organizations and groups which bring With the advent of fulldome video in the sional actors portraying the multinational attention to the importance of planetari- mid and late 1990’s, Robin was once again team of astronauts. ums’ existence. embracing the cutting edge of technolo- Robin gained access to many NASA sites in •• The development of new methods in the gy in the planetarium field. Robin saw the order to get information on emerging space planetarium field. need for content for this new emerging tech- launch technology and possible spacecraft nology and he founded his own production and lander design for a mission to Mars. He Andrea Cvitan company, Mirage 3D, in 1999. also was able to photograph and get detailed Andrea is the manager of the Atronomical He is a leading fulldome producer and an measurements on the Mars Curiosity rover. Center Rijeka in Croatia. award-winning pioneer of special 3D cinema. In order to model the surface of Mars, Robin Astronomical Center Rijeka opened in Robin built a fulldome production studio that made trips into the Utah desert to record rock 2009 and became an IPS member that same includes the 100-square-meter Chromakey formations for use as stand-ins for the Martian year. There is the only digital planetarium in greenscreen studio and 15-ft-diameter testing surface. Croatia. dome. He has produced/and or directed 20 You can watch any number of fulldome It has hosted events for the Internation- fulldome shows. His show Dawn of the Space productions from other planetariums or al Day of Planetariums since 2010, and intro- Age was the world’s first 3D fulldome film. production companies and find Robin’s name, duced in that year a Dark Sky Week. It also Robin’s signature approach, both economical along with his company’s, in the credits. He offers activities for the Festival of Science and and effective, composites live-action filmed not only produces content just for his produc- World Space Week. characters into computer-generated environ- tions, but he also produces modeling and The center offers a multitude of activities ments. other content for so many others in the field. and special events for all ages, as evidenced by He is a pioneer in the application of 3D reports in International News in each issue of production processes for the dome as well as IPS Fellows 2020 Planetarian. The sheer number of events puts a risk-taker when it comes to subject matter. The following members were named as IPS many other larger planetariums to shame! He’s recently embarked on a new venture to Fellows: Andrea Cvitan, Astronomical Center The center’s schedule for the 2018 Inter- expand the distribution of Mirage3D content Rijeka, Croatia; Ralph Heinsohn, experimen- national Day of Planetariums was so impres- by reformatting it for the giant screen cinema ta Science Center, Heilbronn, Germany; Björn sive that was added to the IPS website as an exhibition platform; Natural Selection, for Voss, Münster Planetarium, Germany; and example of best practices for IDP events (see example, has been played in flat screens Ryan Wyatt, California Academy of Sciences, https://www.ips-planetarium.org/page/IDP). 2D and 3D, at DCI-compliant 24 frames per United States. When Andrea was informed about that, she second, and has been presented at the Giant Deserving IPS members can be named IPS replied “You made me and my colleagues Screen Cinema Association conference. Fellows. For this, the IPS Standing Rules state happy here in Rijeka, knowing that we all He is continuously improving live action that a member must have continuous active share the same passion and goals and that we capture for the dome by designing new membership in good standing in IPS for at are doing a good job.” camera rigs and pushing the limits of fulldome least five years and substantial contributions That truly is the spirit of IPS—the fact that content and realism in immersive filmmak- in at least two of the following respects: they are so isolated (the only other planetari- ing. He is also exploring best ways to maxi- •• Serving IPS in effective office, diligent um in Croatia is at the Nikola Tesla Technical mize the cross-platform distribution potential and/or devoted committee work, and the Museum in Zagreb), but still they take part in by changing how shows are rendered. organization of conferences and meet- international activities and present their plan- Robin was among the first to put live actors ings. etarium as a model of education and learning into a feature fulldome production in Dino- •• Relevant and significant publications activities for their part of Croatia. saurs at Dusk: The Origins of Flight. He contin- and/or conference presentations. ued this with his fulldome movie Mars One •• Cooperation with professional societies, (Continues on next page)

Vol 49 No 3 September 2020 Planetarian 17 Ralph Heinsohn to show their short movies with very differ- iate member of the IPS. Another example of Ralph is working at the experimenta ent contents: art, science, children’s programs, his involvement on international level was as Science Center in Heilbronn, Germany (see and documentaries. a GDP board member when planetarians from story on page 20). In addition, Ralph organized so the local France, Italy, and the German-speaking coun- As noted in the text of his nomination, Astronomical Society was at the dome site tries met in 2013 in Lucerne, Switzerland. “He is always attending IPS conferences and during the whole festival talking about star The service Björn did to the planetarium tries to introduce newcomers and make them parties, telescopes, etc. community even increased in 2015 when welcome.” In 2017, the dome event in Lübeck created he became president of the GDP. His strong Ralph reached out to the Nordic and Baltic a space for developing new methods in the commitment continues with respect to the planetarium field by attending the NPA planetarium field, namely setting up virtual ongoing planning of the centennial activities meeting in 2017 to promote the dome setup as a social event and trying this new area of of the planetarium in the early 2020s. at the Nordic Film Festival in Lübeck. At that using a dome in a different way. meeting, a very exciting story developed as Professionally, Ralph is a designer, curator Ryan Wyatt it was brought forth by another attendee, and producer of immersive media; a virtual Ryan Wyatt is senior director of Morrison Carsten Skovgaard Andersen: a star projec- storyteller and fulldome video producer who Planetarium and Science Visualization at the tor was made in Lübeck by Ernst Nachtigall works in 2D and 3D motion graphics and California Academy of Sciences in San Fran- before World War II. The projector came at writes fulldome scripts. cisco. Ryan wrote and directed the Academy’s that time to Denmark, where it is still working five award-winning planetarium shows, over- at “Stjernekammeret” in Brønshøj. Because of Bjorn Voss (Björn Voß) seeing a team that creates visualization-based the war, the projector never came in produc- Björn has been a member in the IPS Council content for planetariums, exhibits, and online tion, but Ralph did a huge job by digging as affiliate representative of the GDP, the resources. into the story of this—until now—unknown German speaking planetariums, and now as a Previously, Ryan was science visualizer at producer of star projectors. (See story “A series voted IPS Board member as one of two repre- the American Museum of Natural History in of fortunate events leads to historic projector sentatives for Europe. New York City. discovery,” Planetarian, Vol. 48, No. 3, Septem- He is deeply engaged in international plane- He is a founding director of Immersive ber 2019.) tarium affairs. This is not only true for his time Media Entertainment, Research, Science & Ralph also attends and contributes to the being a member of the IPS council/board and Arts (IMERSA), a professional organization NPA meetings and has also made presenta- on committees, but also for the years before. advancing the art and technology of immer- tions at IPS conferences. He was already known from many IPS confer- sive digital experiences, and he currently He has been reaching out to new planetari- ence attendances and presentations he gave. co-chairs the Gordon Research Conference on um audiences by organizing a Dome program He is enthusiastically and actively committed Visualization in Science and Education. at the 60-year-old Nordic Film Festival in to planetarium work. Ryan has presented multiple times at IPS Lübeck. Here fulldome producers from the He has also been deeply involved as a GDP Conferences has served and continues to Nordic and Baltic countries have had a chance board member when the GDP became an affil- serve on various IPS Committees. I

(Guest Editorial, continued from page 13) ing magazine. Their only requirement was that the huge pile of pack- Thoughts on recurrent funding aged equipment had to be oriented to show their logo. Once a planetarium has won its establishment support, there is I found that joining business organisations and boards provided a another challenge: sustainability. The Association of Science and Tech- rich source of corporate contacts. nology Centers (ASTC)3 collects data on income and visitation from science centres around the world and the data shows that earned The challenge of COVID-19 income is insufficient and that at least half of the required recurrent COVID-19 is creating problems for planetariums in many ways funding is sourced externally. which I don’t need to list. As I write, many are closed or opening only In Australia, this most commonly comes from government. In to limited audiences. Being an enclosed space, the nature of COVID-19 Wollongong an agreement was made with government not to seek poses obvious challenges. For those that depend on attendance income government recurrent funding in return for an establishment grant. this is disastrous and some may not survive. Others may have to down- Funding is provided by the university and through corporate sponsor- size and lose valuable staff. ship. Hands-on science centers are facing an equally difficult situation, Corporate sponsorship is usually dependent on local circumstanc- as a result of the added complication of encouraging touch and in a es. Wollongong is an industrial and mining city and these industries much more uncontrolled environment. Many of my favourite places have provided the major source of corporate funding. All support was are temporarily closed, including the Exploratorium in San Francisco, couched as partnerships, which often put it into the marketing area New York Hall of Science and The Pacific Science Centre in Seattle. rather than sponsorship. The marketers usually have more funding The good news is that online activities are being created by both available than those distributing sponsorships! planetariums and science centres and in the long term this may attract One important lesson that I learned was that a most useful form new audiences. of sponsorship is in-kind. Support such as building exhibits, donat- I look forward to Zooming into future IPS conferences and to us all ing equipment, providing volunteers, and free publicity is incredibly getting back to “normal”—in whatever form this will take. I valuable. Support that doesn’t appear “on the books” can be easier to provide for larger sponsors. I remember an Asian electronics company sending dozens of boxes of electronic equipment, purely for the God has no intention of setting a limit to purpose of an Australian photo to appear in an international market- the efforts of man to conquer space.

3 www.astc.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/ASTC_ScienceCenter — Pope Pius XII Statistics-2017.pdf

18 Planetarian Vol 49 No 3 September 2020 Pardon our dust. Construction is underway on a DomeX demonstration facility at our Salt Lake City headquarters.

Vol 49 No 3 September 2020 E xperiPlanetarianence it this f all. www.es.com/Dom19eX A (nearly) year-long quest asking the question: Why should we look at the sky?

dollarphotoclub.com

20 Planetarian Vol 49 No 3 September 2020 A Colgate University student devoted a year to independent exploration to ask a simple question, the answer to whichA Colgate binds University cultures togetherstudent devoted and unites a year us under to indepen the - nightdent explorationsky. to ask a simple question, the answer to Shewhich is Alina binds Sabyr, cultures a native together of Kazakhstan, and unites us who under majored the innight astronomy sky. and physics and minored in classics at Colgate.She is Alina Sabyr, a native of Kazakhstan, who majored Althoughin astronomy her year-longand physics itinerary and minored was cut in shortclassics by atCOVID- 19,Colgate. she touched lives of many around the globe, including severalAlthough IPS her members year-long whose itinerary names was Planetarian cut short readers by COVID- will19, sherecognize. touched Read lives on of tomany find around out more. the globe, including several IPS members whose names Planetarian readers-Editor will recognize. Read on to find out more. -Editor

Alina Sabyr Alina Sabyr Colgate University,Colgate 2019 University, 2019 PhD student in AstronomyPhD student in Astronomy Columbia UniversityColumbia University New York, New NewYork York, USA New York USA [email protected]@columbia.edu In the summer of 2019 I embarked on a regularly at my university’s planetarium, year-long independent exploration with a these experiences have shown to me how main question in mind: “Why should we look much astronomy has the power to inspire at the sky?” humility, meaningful conversations between My experiences as a physics/astronomy friends and strangers, and encourage us to be student at Colgate University (Hamilton, New present in the moment. York) and an interest in cultural astronomy What I realized is that despite not having prompted me to apply for a Thomas J. Watson the strong connection with the sky that fellowship, “a one-year grant for purposeful, our ancestors used to have while navigat- independent exploration outside the United ing, timekeeping, and living by the stars, we States” the previous fall.1 still look up at the sky in our modern society. The Thomas J. Watson fellowship is This motivated me to pursue a project on the awarded to graduating seniors nominat- role of astronomy and skywatching around ed by one of the 41 partner institutions. The the world to learn how cultural heritage and fellows are wholly responsible for executing national identity affect the skywatching prac- their projects on a global scale, from smallest tices in each place today. details to grandest objectives, and do not affiliate with any academic institutions through- First stop: New Zealand out the year. One of the values and visions of My first destination was New Zealand, the fellowship is to provide a year of indepen- where I arrived at the end of June, just in time dent exploration for more humane and effec- for the Matariki festival. Matariki festival is tive leaders. a series of celebrations across New Zealand During my years as an undergraduate celebrating the start of the Māori New Year student I have seen how looking up at the sky marked by the rise of the Matariki, or the connects people and inspires scientific curios- Pleiades in Māori, in the sky. There are many ity. From long public astronomy nights at the Māori tribes and not all celebrate New Year school’s observatory and a solar eclipse orien- with Matariki, but this particular tradition of tation trip for first-year students to working Matariki celebrations have seen a revival in the recent years. 1 www.colgate.edu/news/stories/alina-sabyr-19- receives-watson-fellowship (Continues on next page)

Vol 49 No 3 September 2020 Planetarian 21 The events all across the country include concerts, tours, exhibitions, lectures, and even stargazing tours on boats out in the bay. The latter was so popular that it got booked out on all the days it was offered before I could even sign up. I was in Auckland, the biggest city in New Zealand, during the festival. These events, School holiday program which were attended by people of all ethnic- at Stardome Obser- vatory (Auckland, ities and ages, created a sense of communi- New Zealand). Unless ty that I could not have imagined possible noted otherwise, all in such a big and spread out city. Although photos by or provid- the celebrations are not all traditional, it ed to the author. was uplifting to see a festival that celebrated the Māori culture and brought the country together. As Dr. Rangi Matamua, the author of Matariki: The Star of the Year2 told me in an interview, “right across the country there are people having balls, and having fireworks, and having dinners. I think it’s fantastic because the premise of, the principles of Matari- New Zealand embraces outreach Car. Space Place offers various programmes to ki are remembering the past, celebrating the Whether it is the dark skies of New Zealand the public such as courses on learning to use present, planning for the future however you I cannot say, but it is clear that there is active the telescopes, eclipse viewings accompanied choose to do them.” amateur astronomy and astronomy outreach with breakfast, movie screenings and more. In addition to its Māori astronomy heri- all across the country. While in Auckland The observatory started a campaign “Know tage, New Zealand is known for its pris- I had the chance to volunteer at the Stardo- Your Night Sky” in 2019, which is a series of tine dark skies. During my time there I visited me Observatory and Planetarium located in programs offered to the public such as stargaz- Tekapo, which is located in the Aoraki Cornwall Park. The place hosts an observato- ing and telescope observing courses.3 Hariti- Mackenzie International Dark Sky Reserve. ry with a Zeiss 0.5 m telescope, a planetarium, na Mogoșanu, senior science communicator Tekapo is home to the picturesque turquoise and a space gallery and courtyard with several at Space Place, says “We want to connect the lake, the University of Canterbury Mount telescopes for outdoor viewing sessions. observatory to the Wellington community.” John Observatory and astro-tourism busi- During daytime, the observatory runs Haritina grew up in Romania gazing at the ness Dark Sky Project, which offers stargazing various education programs for school chil- stars with her grandfather and moved to New tours. dren, and at night planetarium shows are Zealand initially just wanting to see the south- The collaboration between Dark Sky played followed by observing sessions in ern hemisphere skies. She has a background Project, the University and the local commu- the courtyard. What impressed me the most in horticultural engineering, environmen- nity is an example of how all these estab- about this place is that the observing sessions tal management and international security lishments can work together. For example, are run nearly every day and crowds of visi- in intelligence; her masters thesis investigates the locals help keep the skies dark, astrono- tors gather every night. how space exploration can promote world my guides contribute to telescope observ- While digital shows are played regularly peace. ing, the observatory provides a place for the at planetariums, this was the first dome that She has been forever in love with the stars stargazing tours and astro-tourism helps the I visited that had observing sessions six days and her passion for astronomy permeates economy of the small town. of the week. Another unique characteristic of through all the programs she leads at Space Dark Sky Project also worked hard on Stardome is that the outdoor observing is led Place and beyond. “I made it my mission to be incorporating Māori astronomy into their both by workers and volunteers. This creates available to young people who want to learn presentations that is accurate and unique a very friendly and exciting atmosphere and about the stars and space,” Haritina says. As to the region by collaborating with local allows people who have a passion for astrono- such, Space Place is a place not only to discov- Māori representatives. Most of the visitors at my pursue their interest and hobby. The volun- er an interest in astronomy or learn, but also the astronomy center are overseas tourists teers all came from various backgrounds, from a place where people can find support and and one of the motivations of the company high school students to retired teachers, those knowledge for pursuing astronomy seriously. is to share the night sky with those who with a physics background and those who just I also briefly visited the Otago Museum’s have never seen a starry night sky or live in liked astronomy growing up. Perpetual Guardian Planetarium and Dunedin big cities. The level of professionalism and In Wellington there is Space Place, an Astronomical Society’s Beverly-Begg Observa- quality of the tours that this company offers educational space and science center appro- tory in Dunedin on South Island. The science and the happy exclamations of tourists who priate for all ages. It consists of a planetarium, center in the Otago Museum offers interactive have never seen a Milky Way before showed various telescopes, and an interactive space exhibits and installations that both children me that the goal of the astro-tourism venture exhibit, which incorporates Māori star lore. and adults would find engaging and unique, is being fulfilled and I left the town with a Space Place is part of the Museums Welling- while the clarity of the night sky seen from pleasant impression that the observatory and ton, which is a network of museums in the city the Beverly-Begg Observatory in Robin Hood the Dark Sky Project work together to share of Wellington, and collaborates with other Park would impress any visitor, so both are and preserve the beauty of the night sky. museums on various programmes. It is located 3 For more about Space Place’s outreach programs, in the Wellington Botanic Garden, overlook- see Haritina’s 41 South column in the June 2020 Plan- 2 2017, Huia Publishers, Wellington ing the bay, next to the city’s famous Cable etarian; Vol. 49, No. 2. - ed

22 Planetarian Vol 49 No 3 September 2020 Below: With Royal Observatory Greenwich Astronomers Dhara Patel and Brendan Owens in London. Left: The September equinox at Stonehenge.

system, two interpretation rooms for learning about Inca astronomy and telescopes for outdoor observing sessions. The place is unique for several other reasons, in addition to its homely style and location. The planetarium focuses on educating visitors about Inca astronomy. It is the only tourist attraction that delivers presentations specifically on Inca astronomy, which, on top of educating visitors on history, invoke a sense of respect and admiration for the city worth a visit for locals and tourists alike. they are visiting and all the archaeological In my conversation with Ian Griffith, sites they have or will visit. an astronomer and director of the Otago Cusco is one of those places where both Museum, he said that looking up inspires visitors and locals are excited to be there. philosophical conversations amongst people This atmosphere is just as equally commu- and that he loves astronomy for its beauty. nicated at the observatory, where the guides A week earlier, I ran into him at the Mt. John are passionately talking about the city they Observatory, where he was training and are from or live in and visitors enthusiastical- observing with high school students as part ly learn about it. of a national astronomy outreach project In the gift shop of this planetarium, visi- called “Mercury Rising” that the museum is tors can also purchase The Inka Astronomy part of. This is another example how plan- Handbook written by Erwin Salazar Garcés, etariums and observatories can play part in the scientific director at Cusco Planetarium, helping those, especially young students, who wrote the book based on research done who are interested in professions related to in small towns of the Sacred Valley nearby. science. ing, can even be sold out months in advance. It covers local constellations and topics in “There’s an appetite” for looking up at the sky, archaeoastronomy. On to the British Isles as Dhara Patel says. Erwin Salazar is a retired teacher who has Following my time in New Zealand, I spent Perhaps it is an indication, as some people been interested in astronomy all his life and some time in England and Scotland. I did not have pointed out to me, that people want to has been an active member of the global visit many public observatories or planetari- connect with the environment more or that amateur astronomy society. He remembers ums there, but it is worth mentioning some stargazing indeed offers something irreplace- how an astronomy professor in Spain taught places that engage with astronomy. While in able. Similarly, when I met with Dr. Carolin him over mail how to observe variable stars, London, a city of many lights, I was inspired Crawford, public astronomer at the Institute how he used to receive 20-30 letters each to see how many opportunities to connect of Astronomy at Cambridge University, she month from amateur astronomers around with the sky are there. says that her “motivation still comes from the world, and how a friend from the United People can go stargazing at the Hampstead looking at the night sky” and that if she ever States helped translate copies of Sky & Tele- Observatory with the Hampstead Scientif- feels disconnected from her research, she just scope magazines to him. ic Society, or Regents Park with Baker Street needs “one night at a telescope or (her) back Other members of the Cusco Planetarium Irregular Astronomers. They can borrow tele- garden or somewhere on a holiday where the team include Ana Maria, the owner, who calls scopes from Westminster library, join the skies are dark.” So perhaps stargazing also gives herself a storyteller and believes that “stories various programs run at the Royal Observato- a perspective to scientists who spend days help us understand ourselves;” Jose Valencia, ry Greenwich, learn from classes and events at working on detailed research. bilingual guide; Judith Toledo, who dreamt of the Royal Astronomical Society, and more. pursuing astronomy since she was a little girl; The Royal Observatory Greenwich offers Next stop: Cusco, Peru and Jose Martin, who is skilled at operating more than 20 different kinds of programs My next destination was Peru, where I first and fixing the telescopes. including panel discussions, observing nights, spent time in Cusco, the Inca Empire’s capital. film screenings, various courses in astron- While learning Spanish and Peru’s history A dome in the Sacred Valley omy. Observing courses, which are attend- and culture during daytime, I spent many In addition to the Cusco Planetarium, ed by adults, are also in demand. They are an evenings at the Cusco Planetarium. Cusco there is also a planetarium and observatory in example of how “learning is a lifelong process,” Planetarium is a family business situated a Urubamba, a town in the Sacred Valley not far Dhara Patel one of the astronomers at ROG short drive from the city center near Saqsay- from Cusco. says. When I was talking to astronomers at the huaman archaeological site and right in the David Rivas Romero is the director of the Royal Observatory Greenwich, I learned that ecological reserve of Llaullipata. The planetar- Planetarium and Observatory in Casa Andina there is a very strong interest in observing ium is based in a typical Andean house made Premium Sacred Valley. He has an education- and special programs, which include stargaz- of adobe and consists of a digital planetarium (Continues on next page)

Vol 49 No 3 September 2020 Planetarian 23 al background in biology but has been interested in astronomy since a young age and says he is grateful that he can now work in astronomy. He is particularly enthusiastic about astrophotography and spends many nights taking deep sky object photographs that look like they’ve been taken by space telescopes. In addition to giving astronomy presentations and leading observing sessions, he recalls sometimes sharing his astrophotography passion with tourists, who would stay up all night with him taking photographs together; some would even come back to Peru to the same observatory. Both of these astronomy centers are trav- eler-oriented and through my interactions with some of the visitors, I realized how often those visitors have never stargazed in their own countries. What is it about astronomy that makes us travel to distant places for the views of the night sky or lets us discover it for the first time? These stargazing tours, due to Erwin Salazar, scientific director of Cusco Planetarium, holding his book their size and familiarity, inspire a dialogue on Inka astronomy (Cusco, Peru). between the local people and visitors from Below: Students waiting to enter the a range of countries and allow for visitors to Planetario de Lima. Photo by Planetar- discover an interest that they would have io de Lima, used with permission (Lima, Peru). otherwise overlooked in their busy lives.

The Planetario de Lima In Lima, the capital of Peru, I visited only one planetarium, Planetario de Lima, located tives of sharing astronomy with others are Magellanic clouds in this case represent the on a headland, south of the city center over- continuing to be fulfilled. two bonfires that the ancestors left. looking the Pacific. The planetarium has a The Pleiades also have several names and gallery, which includes both various astro- Meeting another ambassador associations. One name is Eichu, “honeycomb nomical exhibits and archeological finds Following Peru, I spent about a month in of bees;” another is Oñembyatyva, which from the local area, and a planetarium with a Paraguay, where I joined the project Mochil- refers to a group gathering for warmth. It also fulldome digital projection system. eros Astronomicos led by Bryant González.5 represents the seven monsters, children of Planetario de Lima was founded by a group Together with Bryant, we took part in various Kerana and Tau, a famous Guarani story. One of engineers and a scientist with a shared activities organized by local astronomical can learn more about the myths while visit- passion in astronomy who together formed societies, gave astronomy lessons to children, ing the town Yaguaron, which is known as the Peruvian Association of Astronomy (APA). and various talks such as for the International the cradle of Guarani mythology and has a The planetarium first opened its doors to the Day of Women and Girls in STEM. series of murals depicting it. public in 1960 and has since been actively I chose to visit Paraguay for two reasons: the The Pleiades, just like for many Māori serving thousands of members of the public dark skies and the Guarani astronomy. I was groups, symbolize the start of the New Year and student groups from various schools.4 pleasantly surprised to find out in Paraguay with their appearance in the southern hemi- While talking to the director of the plan- that many people know the Guarani names sphere’s winter. Some of the local names asso- etarium, Javier Ramirez, he shared how he and stories behind various constellations and ciated with constellations, such as the Virgin remembers fondly coming to this planetar- astronomical objects. For example, one of the Mary with the constellation of Taurus, point ium while still in school and learning how Gurani names for the Milky Way is Mborevi to the influence brought by religion.6 to use his telescope better from astronomers Rape, which translates as the “Road of the In Paraguay visitors can learn about working here. Now he helps children who Tapir.” The Milky Way represented a road of Guarani astronomy at the Centro de Inter- come to visit “to find a place for their ques- dry leaves that the animal Tapir would take pretación Astronómica Buenaventura Suárez tions to have answers.” regularly to get food and water and these dry in San Cosme y Damián. It is named after His message to those visiting the planetar- leaves would reflect the moonlight at night. Buenaventura Suárez, who was an astron- ium is that they should not lose their “chil- The Milky Way is also seen as Tape Kue omer and Jesuit priest sent to the mission dren’s spirit of curiosity.” After seeing people or the “Old Road,” which the ancestors took in San Cosme y Damián where he conduct- exclaim in excitement and laugh during a to get to Earth from space and by which it is ed astronomical observations. He is known planetarium show, take pictures with statues believed we will all return back to space. The of aliens in the gallery, and wait outside 6 Information in these paragraphs is based on patiently for the next show during my visit to conversations that I had in Paraguay and on the the planetarium, it is evident that these objec- 5 Learn more about Bryant’s travels through South video that I was shown at the Centro de Interpre- America in the article “Go where you go, Go with all tación Astronómica Buenaventura Suárez in San 4 “Planetario “José Castro Mendívil”,” Planetario de your heart: Mochileros Astronómico bring astrono- Cosme y Damián. Centro Astronomico Bicentenario, Lima, accessed July 20, www.apa.com.pe/historia_ my excitement across South America” in Planetarian “El Cielo De Los Guaranies,” posted on 15 February apa.html Vol. 48, No. 1, March 2018. 2017, www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Y0ePIX3H_0

24 Planetarian Vol 49 No 3 September 2020 for building the first permanent telescope in South America from quartz and publishing an almanac of astronomical predictions of solar and lunar eclipses. At this astronomy center the astronomy Left: Observing the tours are combined with historical tours at sun with Bryant Gonza- the nearby Jesuit ruins. The astronomy expe- les, founder of Mochil- eros Astronómicos, and rience consists of a presentation on Guarani (below) playing astrono- astronomy, a planetarium show, and tele- my games in Comunidad scope viewings. Indígena Sawhoyamaxa, Like in Peru and New Zealand, a visitor can Paraguay. learn about the unique star lore of the local culture. In the courtyard of the Jesuit reduc- tions of San Cosme y Damián is located a solar clock that was built by Buenaventura Suárez and functions perfectly to this day. Although there are many planetariums that are part of museums, this was the first time that I encountered a planetarium that worked together with a historical site and combined the tours. This set-up presents a unique way astronomy centers could work together with historical sites and museums with an integrated experience. Our experience with astronomy clubs is what left the most lasting impression on me. The astronomy societies were mostly led and organized by college students but the events were advertised both on the local radio stations and various forms of social media and attended by people of various age groups. El Centro de Interpretación Astronómica Buenaven- These astronomy gatherings embody tura Suárez (San Cosme y Damián, Paraguay). what it means for an event or a society to be community-oriented, welcoming and open to everyone. I will never forget planetariums, observatories, and other moments like waiting to load into a bus astronomy centers revealed to me places with camping gear and coolers in a crowd that were more than just establishments for of complete strangers from the same town communicating science. These institutions, and then stargazing on a tiny island on river from well-equipped with the latest projec- Stargazing with Cielo Guarani, amateur astronomical society of Misiones province in Argentina. Parana together. tors to small observatories run by amateur Pictured here is Alejandro Sommers, who founded These societies further showed to me how astronomers, astro-tourism projects, and Cielo Guarani on 9 June in 2017 (Reducciones de much astronomy is something that can be domes with glass slide constellation projec- Santa María La Mayor, Argentina). enjoyed by a varied audience and can bring tors, serve many functions in our society. communities together encouraging conver- They provide a space for communication that my focus shifted towards understand- sations between people of various professions, of the latest science in various creative forms ing what astronomy brings to the world and social background and age. All the astrono- of presentations, for accurately telling our how it affects those who do not pursue it as a my groups in Paraguay are in communica- history, and for celebrating a cultural identity profession. tion with each other, exchanging ideas both through the sharing of local star lore. As someone who wants to pursue science online in a group chat and at times in person. They are also places where people who professionally, I wanted to know what role decided not to pursue astronomy profession- astronomy plays on a global scale and if it A journey interrupted ally can engage in their interest as a hobby, matters to those who do not use the big tele- Following Paraguay I traveled to Rio de or work as a guide, outreach coordinator, and scopes or supercomputers to study it. I found Janeiro, Brasil, but before I could pursue any volunteer. The astronomy centers also serve an overwhelming enthusiasm and curiosity of my intended plans there (including partic- as places where people who end up pursu- in every place that I visited for all the discov- ipating in Dr. Arianna Cortesi’s Internation- ing scientific careers can find resources and eries made or being made, for the history al Astronomical Union’s project on recording support, or discover their interest for the first of astronomy, the technology, and the star indigenous astronomy chants and visiting time. stories. I returned home with a full heart and various places related to astronomy education Above all, these are places where people of a profusion of ideas on how we can further and outreach), everything started to close due all backgrounds can discuss science, history, use astronomy and spaces like planetariums to the COVID-19 pandemic. I reluctantly trav- culture and philosophy together. and observatories to make real contributions eled back home to Kazakhstan. Although I started the year with a question to the society we live in and marvel at our During the months that I was traveling, of why should we look at the sky, I realized universe together. I

Vol 49 No 3 September 2020 Planetarian 25 Gandhiji’s keys to the universe Nehru Planetarium in New Delhi uses Bapu’s own words about the stars to inspire the next generations

26 Planetarian Vol 49 No 3 September 2020 Nandivada Rathnasree Director, Nehru Planetarium Nehru Memorial Museum and Library, New Delhi, India [email protected]

Bapu ki khagol potli. Bapu ki khagol potli? What is that? Friends, we welcome you to Nehru Planetarium, Nehru Memorial Museum and Library. We bring to you this short, unique, planetarium program, Bapu ki Khagol Potli, or perhaps you can call it Bapu’s Astronomical Bag. The script writer for this program is none other than Mahatma Gandhi himself! Surprised? Yes, it is understandably a surprise. We do not usually associate Gandhi Ji and astronomy, right? But, it is true. Gandhi Ji, for a brief period, had an intense interest in astronomy and wrote extensively about the inspiration he found through observations of the immeasurable universe. He even wrote simple primers for observing the skies for Sabarmati Ashram residents. He would frequently use metaphors and similes drawn from astronomy to illustrate his views in various contexts—for example, talking about the Charkha as the center of a solar system with all other village industries as planets! We welcome you, once again, to enjoy Bapu ki khagol potli, in the open, under the stars. The program Bapu ki Khagol Potli literally translates to Bapu's Astronomical Bag. It is a collection, a bundling, of bits and pieces of astronomy, specifically that of the sky, from different The scene of the sea when the sky is clear is at it at once. Kaka1 was with me. He induced letters written by Gahdhi. It was presented for Bapu Khagol Mela, or the astronomy festival lovely. On one moonlight night I was watch- me much But my mind turned me aside from presented in honor of Bapu, another identify- ing the sea. I could see the moon reflected in it. “When I get leisure from other work, I er of Gandhi in his identity as father of India. Ji the water. On account of the waves the moon would do it” was the feeling. In 1922 when I is an honorific. appeared as if she were moving here and there. was here I had collected books on the subject. One dark night when the sky was clear the At that time also I was deferring this study for Please contact the author directly, who will be 2 glad to freely share the notated script: rathnas- stars were reflected in the water. The scene one reason or another. Shankarlal gradual- [email protected]. around us was very beautiful at that time. ly studied the subject himself. I was induced several times to see Cassiopeia. After seeing a All images provided by author with the excep- I could not at first imagine what that was. little I engaged myself again in my work. tion of the star field on the facing page, which is from hubblesite.org/image/1042/gallery/83- They appeared like so many diamonds. But I star-fields. knew that a diamond could not float. Then Herbert Kitchin, a co-worker in South I thought that they must be some insects Africa, had great interest in the subject and which can only be seen at night. Amidst these took me to an observatory. But he failed to study of the heavenly bodies. Here I take the reflections I looked at the sky and at once infect me with his enthusiasm as my mind was illustrated weekly map for my guide and found that it was nothing but stars reflected then absorbed in other things. Now however I have gone far beyond Rohini, Krittika, Mriga, in waters. I laughed at my folly. enjoy my study of the heavens immensely. It Anuradha, and Jyeshtha nakshatras.3 broadens our outlook indeed. This reflection of the stars gives us the idea The Times Weekly gives every month a map of fireworks. Fancy yourself to be standing At this time thoughts came to me sudden- of the stars visible in the sky at the time. All on the storey of a bungalow watching the ly that the sight of the sky was equivalent to of you should have look at it. I myself have fireworks performed before you. I very often a valuable religious association. The stars were been watching the stars every night and enjoy enjoyed this scene. silently talking with us. What I want to say the experience immensely. I have woken up is that when everything becomes a religious in old age. But what harm can there be in My room may have blank walls and I may lesson for me then only I dive into it and now waking up even on death-bed if watching the even dispense with the roof so that I may gaze I cannot come out of it. stars helps one to have a glimpse of the soul? out upon the starry heavens overhead that stretch in an unending expanse of beauty. I have now made good progress in my I am now quenching the thirst which What conscious art of man can give me the was awakened then for a knowledge of the panoramic scenes that open out before me 1 “Kaka” is referring to Kaka Kalelkar, a freedom heavens and I have progressed so far that I when I look up to the sky above with all its fighter, who was in prison along with Gandhi Ji cannot restrain myself from sharing with resi- shining stars? around 1920. It was later in 1930 when he was again (Continues on next page) in prison (Kalelkar, too, was with him for some time I will tell you how I was induced to study but he was soon released) that Gandhi started under- taking sky observations in earnest. 3 There are 27 nakshatras, or sectors, along the eclip- the sky. When I accidentally found that it had 2 Shankarlal Chelabhai Banker, an Indian indepen- tic; see en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Nakshatras) become for me a means of seeing God I looked dence activist. and their constellations.

Vol 49 No 3 September 2020 Planetarian 27 dents of the Ashram the thoughts which fill my mind.

We are taught right from our childhood that our bodies are made of the five great elements: earth, water, akash,4 light, and air. We ought to know something about them.

At the moment we are concerned with akash. Akash means space. If there were no space in our bodies we would not be able to live even for a moment. This is true about the universe too. Our earth is surrounded by infinite space. The blue which we see extending over us in all directions is akash.

The earth has poles. It is a solid sphere and its axis is 7,900 miles long.

But the akash is empty space. If we imagine A sketch of (left) of Orion made by Gandhi Ji in his letters to ashram children. I overlaid the sketch over this space to have an axis we shall have to a skymap image (right) for the space and location from Stellarium. imagine it to be of infinite length. In this infinite space the earth is like a mere particle of sand and on this particle of sand each one of from this position will ever forget it after- hunter’s dogs. The star in the west is the bigger us is a particle of such infinitesimal size that it wards. Since this is the bright half of the dog and the one to the north is the smaller is impossible to explain how small it is. month, this and other constellations shine dog. The cluster of stars which we see to its with a rather pale light, but even then this east and south, below the star which forms Both children and grown-ups love dramas particular constellation is so bright that even the fourth angle of the figure, is imagined to and the spectacular scenes which they a novice like me can spot it easily. be a hare. present. But no drama composed or acted by human beings can even equal the great spec- No figure of this cluster shows all the stars The dogs are running towards it. The three tacle which nature has arranged for us on the in it. Actually, there are many more stars than stars in the middle are the jewels in the hunter’s stage of the sky. you will see in any such figure. Hence the best waist-band. Those stars have also been shown as thing is for everybody to make his or her own representing the following figures: The bigger of When we are totally absorbed in the grand drawing and show by dots as many stars as the two dogs is called Lubdhak among us, and spectacle in the heavens, we seem to hear can be seen with the naked eye. If we follow those three stars represent the deer’s stomach. those shining bodies in their utter silence, this practice, we shall learn to recognize the The stars to the south represent the arrow shot singing the praise of God. Let him, who has different constellations much more quickly. by Lubdhak. The three stars to the north outside eyes to see, watch the ever-changing patterns the rectangle represent the deer’s head. These of this eternal dance. Let him, who has ears to Moreover, the drawings which we ourselves may be beautiful fancies. hear, listen to the silent music of these count- make will be much better for our purpose less gandharvas. Let us now try to learn some- than those we find in books, for, when the There is, of course, no such figure in the sky. thing about these stars, or rather let me share stars are observed from different places there Nor are the stars as near to us as they seem. with all co-workers what little knowledge I are bound to be differences in the drawings They are not what they look, but are suns have picked up. which represent them. far bigger than our sun. Being millions and millions of miles away from us, they twinkle Those of the residents who sleep in the It would be advisable for everybody to in the sky as mere points. open may spend as much time as they wish, observe the stars from a fixed place and at a when they are alone, in watching the stars. fixed time. This suggestion is meant for those Let us now turn our attention to two other As they become absorbed in the scene, they who wish to make drawings or who are begin- groups to the north of Mriga. The bigger group will soon fall asleep. If they wake up during ners. After we have become familiar with the is known as the Saptarshi, and the smaller one the night, they may spend some more time in different constellations, we shall be able to is called Dhruvamatsya. I have shown seven looking at the sky. Since the sky seems to be recognize these heavenly friends of ours from stars in each group, but there are many more moving all the time, the scene keeps changing wherever we observe them. in the Saptarshi. In Dhruvamatsya we shall from second to second. not see more. It being the bright half of the The constellation of which I drew a figure month just now, we can see only three, two If we look at the sky at 8 p.m. in the west, we is known among us as Mriga or Mrigashirsha. members of the rectangle and the one at the shall see a grand figure. One of the months got its name, Margasira— end of the tail, which is called Dhruva. Magshar—from this. This figure will be in the west. I see it direct- This is the only star which remains practi- ly opposite me as I lie on my back with my In the West, the Mriga is known as Orion. cally fixed and that is why it was a great help head in the east. No one who sees the figure The constellation is imagined to be a hunter. to sailors in old days. Both these groups seem To its east, there are two very bright stars in to revolve round Dhruva. 4 Akash means either space or aether in traditional a straight line. They are imagined to be the Indian cosmology. (Continues on page 34)

28 Planetarian Vol 49 No 3 September 2020 No reason to do without a brilliant starry sky.

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2 Science Dome literally takes the audience for a ride A science center in a new dimension

Kenan Bromann, Manager Technique [email protected] 3 Johan Gysenbergs, Head of the Science Dome & Observatory [email protected] Science Dome experimenta Heilbronn, Germany

A new concept of show stage, multi- talent-finding activities. media dome, and planetarium, all in With more than 250 interactive one, has emerged in Heilbronn. Called exhibits within four exhibition floors, the Science Dome, it is part of exper- visitors discover our world over and imenta, Germany’s largest science over again. Eight well-equipped labs center, and has been in operation for stimulate school classes and even just over one year. kindergarten groups to explore and to 4 experimenta, a hands-on science experiment. center located in Heilbronn within The Maker Space and the Forum are a central area of German technology special places of intense exchange and industry, has been operating since 2009 dialog focused on the latest in science and welcomes 180,000 visitors per year. and research. A massive renewal project that An astronomical observatory with included the construction of an archi- powerful instruments and additional tectural landmark building led to telescope stations to host larger groups re-opening in April 2019, making tops the experimenta building. experimenta Germany’s largest science Of special interest to the planetari- center with a total surface of 25,000 m2 um community is the Science Dome, an and equipped for all formats of STEAM innovative facility hosting a tilted 21.5- (science, technology, engineering, art, meter multimedia dome with a full-size and mathematics) communication and theater stage, all integrated in one. 5

30 Planetarian Vol 49 No 3 September 2020 6 7 8

Facing Page: Image 1, experimenta Heilbronn with Science Dome. Image 2, inside Science Dome. Image 3, Science Dome in fulldome mode, and Image 4, in stage mode. Image 5, the secret: the rotating equipment below the audience. This page: Image 6, the Science Dome stage under the dome, and Image 7, with water screen on stage. Image 8, a closer view of stage mode, and Image 9, in use for a performance. Image 10 shows a workshop with Prof. Eduardo Miranda from the University of Plymouth (UK) on biological artificial intelligence. All images provied by experimenta. Finally, Image 11 shows “Kafka in wonderland” from the Science Theater Festival; picture copyright half- pastselberschuld, used with permission.

A truly innovative and literal This approach does not make it easier for change of perspective productions. The regular method of pushing To change between dome- and stage- a fulldome show button ends here. Produc- 9 viewing modes, the entire 150-seat audience tion needs carefully thought over with its platform rotates 180 degrees, whatever is available space in mind. preferred. The revolving auditorium in the Most of our regular shows start with a live Science Dome is a unique feature. After a 180 presence on stage to introduce a subject and degree turn of the auditorium, visitors find turn the audience into a fulldome presenta- themselves under a state-of-the-art planetar- tion. In a more complicated scenario, a stage ium or before a fully equipped theater stage. live act can be combined with fulldome The Science Dome is armed with 8K-60fps mode and even return to a stage story again. dome projection, 3D audio, lighting and For that matter, edutainers were cast with recording systems, digital planetarium image theater and science skills. It is this team of generators, an opto-mechanical star projec- edutainers that gives us input as well about tor, a laser system, projection water screen, how to use this special environment for 10 additional cinema projection screens, and maximum result. complete stage technology. It can be linked Even in fulldome mode a smaller stage 2 to the rooftop observatory and is prepared for upfront of nearly 100m is available for other high voltage and chemical experiments. interactive and live use. The stage perfor- It is operated continuously on a dense mance can be continued into fulldome mode schedule, with content from all STEAM and as well. related fields and formats ranging from full- It all needs to be planned and script- dome movies, planetarium programs, and ed accordingly, since there are safety issues live experimental shows to concerts, theater, involved. Sensors prevent visitors from enter- talks, music, and laser shows. Shows are devel- ing the stage during High Voltage or laser oped for different age groups, covering all ages shows, for example. and targeted to also attract youths and young But the real estate is there to comply with 11 adults. many of our visitors’ educational and entertainment wishes, and so far we have received Making it all work together excellent feedback from our guests. Finding the optimal way of using the The Science Dome team has its own combination of dome, stage, and ample multi- production squad. Beside experimenta’s own media technology poses challenges and offers productions, the team provides addition- opportunities to gain insights useful for the al footage for virtual reality environments, world-wide planetarium landscape as it devel- models, and other screens. ops towards digital, multi-purpose multimedia domes. Appropriately, exploring limits The prospects are obvious: a whole orches- Exploring Limits (in German, Am Limit) is tra now can be part of the performance and our first in-house produced fulldome movie. Under the direction of Ralph Heinsohn, larger theater spectacles can add to the dome 12 experience. The rotation itself now becomes Exploring Limits describes a number of part of a show element. dynamic processes regarding speed and its (Continues on page 34)

Vol 49 No 3 September 2020 Planetarian 31 Software enables fulldome in your home(dome)

Ruth Coalson festoon [email protected] www.ruthcoalson.com

When producing fulldome content for a planetarium or mobile dome, being able to see the content as it is intended for the target hardware is imperative to producing a great product. If you’re lucky, you have access to a dome in the place of your production—for example, if your production studio is connected to a science centre. However, this can still be prob- lematic, as your own dome might not be the same as the one(s) you are developing for. Screenshots showing custom environments for festoon; the festoon team (from left) The shape, tilt, size, and seating orientation Ruth Coalson, Philippa Day, Michael Gandham, Nicholas Waterton, and James Taylor. of domes can vary widely and what works on All images provided by author. one dome won’t work on another. All this is crucial to work through before considering Interpreting speed of movement: Some- the northeast of England, has created festoon, your project. thing that seems slow on your desktop screen a tool set to change the fulldome industry’s Unlike standard or large-screen formats can often appear much faster when viewed in approach to content production. Festoon uses (such as 16:9 or Imax projection), the display the dome. VR or your PC desktop to reduce or eliminate a fulldome artist sees on their desktop screen Movement and motion sickness: Motion the need for a physical dome during content has virtually no correlation to how the sickness can be a major problem when produc- creation. This substantially speeds up produc- production will appear on the target dome. ing fulldome content. You can’t accurately tion and gives greater creative control over Each artist then has to make assumptions judge movement on a desktop screen and be the process. around how large an object will appear on the sure that it won’t cause motion sickness when Festoon has been driven by the develop- dome using only a flat screen fisheye plate. viewed in the dome. Some very basic movement team’s commitment to bringing more

ments can cause nausea; it’s almost impossible high-quality fulldome shows to the market Key areas to consider include to predict without previewing the film. and to see more members of the public engage Scale: Judging the optimal scale of objects with the fulldome experience. Now, with can be tricky. Something that looks quite A new team comes together to the coronavirus pandemic, it has never been small on the monitor can appear much larger solve these problems. more important for fulldome and 360 content when seen in fulldome. With support from Innovate UK’s Audienc- producers to keep working on their films. Orientation: Knowing how the orienta- es of the Future fund, the collaboration of full- Now they can view their content in a dome tion within the fulldome will be viewed in dome industry veterans Ruth Coalson and environment from their own home or wher- the dome. Something that might seem like it Philippa Day (both formerly at NSC Creative), ever they are in the world. will appear behind the viewer might actually along with Arcus Animation Studios based in (Continues on page 34) be directly above.

32 Planetarian Vol 49 No 3 September 2020 BLACK HOLE FIRST PICTURE COMING SOON

Vol 49 No 3 September 2020 Planetarian 33 (Script, continued from page 28) (experimenta, continued from page 31) Here we find it very interesting to watch All things in the universe, including the thrills, whether in physics or in daily live. their motion every night. Their positions sun, the moon, and the stars, obey certain The show is available for license and can be change continually all through the night. If laws. Without the restraining influence of viewed through fddb.org. we noted these positions from time to time, these laws the world would not go on for a Licensed shows are also in play and special we would find that they trace quite a big arch. single moment. If the sun and other heav- attention is given to stage productions for In the West, these two groups are called the enly bodies did not work like machines, the different age groups that combine the use of Great Bear and the Little Bear respectively. In universe would come to a standstill. The way the revolving theater. one of the books, I even saw beautiful draw- the planets go round the sun is discipline. If Stage science shows are created on differ- ings of them. The Great Bear is also known any planet, out of mischief, were to start going ent topics. Special attention is given to high as the plough. The Saptarshi serves as a clock faster or rush too near to the sun, it would not voltage shows since 3 Tesla coils are installed during the night. After some experience, we only burn up but would destroy the whole on stage for permanent use. Soundscapes can always know the time of the night from solar system. developed by Foxfire Interactive (Massachu- the position of the Saptarshi. setts, United States) is in the works. Everything that has a beginning must end. The use of combined stage and dome We know that the sun has been rising regu- The sun, the moon and the Earth must all modes gives unlimited possibilities for drama- larly at its fixed time for countless ages in the perish one day even though it might be after tization of different productions. The rotation past and will continue to do so in future. The an incalculable number of years. itself is part of these experiences. cooling orb of the moon will continue always These unique capabilities from experimen- to wax and wane as it has done for ages past To be lying on your back in the open air ta’s Science Dome have already been demon- with a clock-work regularity. That is why we on a starry night and regarding universe after strated through two major public events. An call the sun and the moon to be witness to our universe in the immeasurable expanse, you international eminent symposium on artifi- affairs. We base our calendar on their move- cannot help becoming a worshipper of God. cial intelligence called Beyond took place in ments, we regulate our time by their rising My mind leaps with joy as I do so. Oh, it is September 2019 and brought in numerous and setting. marvelous! I guests and speakers from all over the world Later during our opening year a science- (festoon, continued from page 32) theater festival took place under the auspic- Festoon provides the ability to create a underpinning the project. Commercialization es of the Theater of Heilbronn and numerous bespoke virtual dome. With instant play- potential will be delivered by partners Phil theater companies. back of content in the virtual dome, it can Day and Ruth Coalson. Finding the optimal way of using the then be integrated with any other produc- Arcus Animation Studios produce anima- combination of dome, stage, and ample multi- tion software, creating text markers and tion for UK National broadcasters, includ- media technology poses challenges, and offers drawing directly onto the media at any point ing the BBC and Channel 4. In 2017-18 they opportunities to gain insights useful for the for review, and enabling collaboration with produced their first fulldome film Star Maker, world-wide planetarium landscape as it devel- multiple people in a VR or in a desktop envi- an R&D adaptation of the seminal sci-fi novel ops towards digital, multi-purpose multime- ronment. by the same name, written by Olaf Stapledon dia domes. We briefly introduce the overall Festoon is expected to offer up to 30% in 1937. The film won the 2018 JANUS Direc- concept for operation and didactic approach savings in time and cost over traditional full- tor’s Award at the Jena International Full- we have developed. dome production workflows. The goal is for dome Festival. Since its opening in April 2019, more than current fulldome producers, from planetari- Philippa Day has worked in 3D animation 130,000 visitors have been welcomed inside um organizations to independent creatives, and software development for 11 years. Her the Science Dome. The COVID-19 pandemic to use festoon in creating more, higher-qual- expertise lies in fulldome and large format paused this successful track and experimen- ity content at lower budgets and bring it to production. She has worked on several award- ta was obligated to close as of March 15 for 3 market much faster. winning fulldome shows and VR applications. months. At the moment we are slowly recov- Student and independent artists are also Philippa self publishes immersive products ering from this pandemic punch and are open encouraged to engage with these environ- through the trading name Whirligig Produc- again, but under strict hygienic and safety ments to bring new, affordable content to a tions. precautions and with a limited portfolio. broader audience. Venues can also use Festoon Ruth Coalson is a business development For more, please check out to create their own content, so when they strategist and has worked in the fulldome •• www.experimenta.science/en/ re-open they will have more content to show industry for 12 years. She sits on the IPS’s •• www.youtube.com/ and a wider choice of content to license while Design and Operations Committee and served watch?v=SDeGtM5y96U (German) selling tickets and drawing the public back on the Vision 2020 strategic planning initia- •• www.kraftwerk.at/de/Referenz/ into the dome. tive. She also is a member of the IMERSA advi- experimenta-science-dome/ (no For more information contact: ruth@ sory board. I sound) I festoonsoftware.com or visit https://www. festoonsoftware.com.

About the team Space is for everybody. It’s not just for a few people in science or The project is being led by Arcus Anima- math, or for a select group of astronauts. That’s our new frontier tion Studios personnel Michael Gandham out there, and it’s everybody’s business to know about space. (producer) and James Taylor (animation direc- – Christa McAuliffe tor), who are developing the creative innovation discussed and the technical innovation

34 Planetarian Vol 49 No 3 September 2020 Vol 49 No 3 September 2020 Planetarian 35 36 Planetarian Vol 49 No 3 September 2020 Vol 49 No 3 September 2020 Planetarian 37 IMERSA Matters Carolyn Collins Petersen About Fulldome & Immersive Media Loch Ness Productions Post Office Box 924 Nederland, Colorado 80466 USA +1 303-642-7250 [email protected]

Pandemic pondering on what’s happening with immersive venues

In the June issue of Planetarian, Sharon Shanks wrote an article about cope with pandemic-related closures. As of this writing, 84 of 212 giant how fulldome and planetarium vendors are faring during the COVID- screen theaters have reopened, all with limited capacity seating and 19 crisis. That inspired further thoughts about other venues affected by additional precautions. the pandemic. A very small number have reclosed due to upticks in local infections. Sure, we’re all getting used to the “wear a mask, wash your hands, These venues face the same challenges as domes: how to reopen safely stay in” advisories. Those are common sense in a time of spreading and maintain the correct safeguards to prevent the spread of the virus illness. But it’s not just our individual and family activities that are among audience members and staffers. curtailed during the pandemic. The spread of the illness has shaken the Of course, fulldome theaters are facing the same issues and questions. very roots of what we in the immersive communities have taken for Some have reopened, but their numbers (as of mid-July) remain small. granted: that we run and/or create content for people who physically Based on conversations we’ve all had in the field and in IPS reports, come to our venues. many facilities are still evaluating their opening dates—if they even It doesn’t matter if our places are strictly educational, or entertain- have them. Some are keeping their opening plans “TBD,” just as the ment, or a mix of the two. We depend on bodies in the seats, visiting giant screen theaters are doing. our exhibits and other offerings, and enjoying themselves in our places. At the venues, domes, and attractions that are open, particularly in Most of us are aware of what the busy theme parks, people are implementing such work- domed community is doing, but arounds as virtual queuing (where visitors make a reser- other parts of the “audience-based vation for a timed visit and are alerted by text or other industry” that we are a small part means when to show up for their time) are in place. of face huge challenges, too. What about other immersive attractions? COVID-19 and content These comprise movie theaters, The closure and delayed reopening of giant screen escape rooms, VR experiences, theaters, museums, science centers, and planetarium theme parks, and other entertain- domes also affects content producers. In the larger produc- ment venues. All are affected. er community, particularly the TV and movie world, Recent news has it that the AMC work is still largely at a standstill. Yes, some movies are Theater chain of venues may not being shot, and some television programs continue under survive at all. The much-touted heavy safety requirements. group VR experiences from The For some shows (Star Trek: Discovery, for example), activ- VOID, situated in a small number ities such as post-production have been done in a distribut- of urban areas, have shut down ed fashion (i.e., in people’s homes via secure links to studio permanently. Some Disney attrac- computers). Due to restrictions on otherwise-crowded tions re-opened in Hong Kong and sets, requirements for masks, stricter standards for clean- Florida, with heavy restrictions liness and safety rules, and insurance regulations, re-start- to keep visitors safe. Other venues ing production is a major challenge. The cable networks, have plans for re-opening at some streaming networks, and over-the-air providers seem to point, feeling their way through a be relying (in some part) on footage that’s already “in the trying time. can” or on reruns to fill viewer needs. The temporary entrance to the Gates Planetar- Giant screen cinemas (IMAX, ium, with social-distance line markers extend- In the fulldome world, some production continues, etc.) are a very important part of ing far into other parts of the Denver Museum although producers face similar restrictions. In an effort the immersive community. Like of Nature and Science. The museum has modi- to have content remain relevant and uppermost in the planetarium domes, these facilities fied the daily planetarium schedule with pre- minds of fulldome professionals, some producers (such as recorded shows (no live shows) offered every shut down when everything else Evans & Sutherland and Spitz) have made selected produc- 45 minutes, allowing cleaning of hard surfac- closed. The Giant Screen Cinema es between programs. The Gates Planetarium tions available for streaming on institutional websites. Association (GSCA), assisted by air conditioning is set to full circulation capac- Others are looking at expanding to other venues. Loch James Hyder of LF Examiner and ity and all audience groups are required to Ness Productions has pivoted their productions to work Paul Fraser of Blaze Cineworks, as wear masks and use separated seating. These in the flat-screen streaming world (for both classroom and measures reduced seating capacity by 75%, well as IMERSA and IPS, has been but most available seats are selling out. Cour- home use), while continuing to provide licensed content tracking members’ activities and tesy Dan Neafus, Denver Museum of Nature and to domed theaters. sharing information about how to Science. As another example of this “pivoting” approach, the National Science Foundation-funded Dome+ project, responsible for the Big Astronomy: People, Places, Discovery fulldome Carolyn Collins Petersen is an IMERSA board member, and also is CEO of show and related resources that were due to premiere earlier this year, Loch Ness Productions. She can be reached at [email protected]. is changing its plans to accommodate the pandemic. This is a project

38 Planetarian Vol 49 No 3 September 2020 headed up by the Associated Universities Incorporated, Abrams Plan- etarium, Astronomical Society of the Pacific, California Academy of Sciences, Peoria Riverfront Museum, and Ward Beecher Planetarium. The planetarium show had an initial launch date of May 2 (later shifted to September 26). The entire project was created around the “Dome+” model, designed to build synergies between a dome production and content developed to support engagement beyond the dome (e.g., webcasts, activities, and educational resources). The grant funded research into this model of engagement. However, with domes closed, the team is shifting to a “Show+” model, which will reduce reliance on the dome as a venue. Planetari- ums that are open and want to present the production will still be able to do so. To accommodate the changed reality of the pandemic world, however, the planetarium show is also available in a 360° streaming format to maintain its immersive feel. The research team is shifting its focus toward understanding how people use the show, in whatever format, as a jumping off point to navigate the additional resources. This will allow for a better understanding of how online resources for shows can be developed, and the Dome+ team hopes to open the door for additional research after the pandemic with a stronger model. In order to maintain momentum with their audiences, fulldome professionals have picked up tools such as OBS Studio, StreamYard, Zoom, and Twitch. They are creating their own homegrown content for their venues’ web pages. Along these same lines, GSCA and the Asso- The ongoing closures due to COVID-19 have delayed the dome rollout ciation of Science-Technology Centers (ASTC) have been compiling of the upcoming Big Astronomy: People, Places, Discoveries project. The lists of resources for their respective venues, including online program- production team will be pivoting to include other ways of presenting the ming availability, and other initiatives to bring content to people content and will be adapting their research approach to accommodate the “stuck” at home. It’s all in an effort to keep our venues in the public changes. Images courtesy the Dome+ Project. mind, even if people can’t come visit yet. venues worry about when they’ll start to see audiences return. Content market questions A report released on July 22 indicates that at least a third of museum On the content side, fulldome and immersive producers who depend facilities in the U.S. may not ever reopen. It’s based on a June survey on income from licensing must be greatly affected by the shutdowns of more than 750 museum directors conducted by Dynamic Bench- due to the pandemic. We’re all asking a great many questions: when marking, for the American Alliance of Museums. Funding sources have we reopen, who will be coming in? What can we offer them? What disappeared and resources available to museums are running very low. will we charge if we have reduced offerings? Producers also contend That is not unexpected news, but doesn’t bode well for all such insti- with issues that affect resumption of production, and will ultimately tutions. wonder “Who is open to license these productions?” And, more impor- Yet, many facilities do plan to reopen at some point. And, for them, tantly, “Once facilities do re-open, will they have a budget for such there are other resources for guidance. Most people in the museum and licenses?” science center community know about Colleen Dilenschneider and Like any money-gathering enterprise, dome theaters depend on her surveys of visitor “intentions to visit” and other audience practices. some kind of funds coming in, whether they be taxpayer funds or (Read her page at colleendilen.com.) She has written a remarkable series ticket purchases. And, if the pandemic continues to keep people from of analyses about audience intentions in her COVID-19 updates. As of visiting venues, ticket sales go down. Taxpayer funds, always in short mid-July, she writes, “Across the board, intentions to visit cultural orga- supply, are also threatened by the economic hit from the pandemic. nizations remain low when compared to historic values.” What about live performances and lectures? What will happen In her survey reporting July results, Colleen has noticed that (at least to the kinds of highly creative “art in the dome” events such as Ben in the United States) “intentions to visit” are down quite a bit as coro- Gondrez’s “DomeLab” gatherings, where animators share their latest navirus hotspots continue to expand across the country. (Intention domeworks? In Ben’s case, he was able to move the gathering online. to visit is a metric that explores a person’s plans to visit in the near, But, not everyone can do that. mid, and long term.) This, as she notes, is true despite more institutions For example, what about the very imaginative performance art opening up. programs held at Museum of Science Boston’s Charles Hayden plane- Bear in mind that her surveys are focused on cultural institutions, tarium? Or the touring shows, such as Mesmerica? For now, all those but those do include museums and science centers. It’s worth visiting activities have stopped in the interests of audience and performer her page occasionally to get a feel for what’s happening in the larger safety. When they resume is anybody’s best guess. Everyone involved museum world. The IPS, GSCA, ASTC (astc.org), and American Alliance in those efforts is taking serious looks at how they can best restart those of Museums (aam-us.org) webpages offer more resources for affected activities with minimal effect on public health. institutions. In addition, the Dome Dialogues and IMERSA pages on Facebook have provided helpful resources for the domed community. When will they come back? Our audiences are the lifeblood of our venues, whether we are Answers are still forthcoming running a fulldome theater, an IMAX screen, creating and distribut- There are, as of this writing, many unanswered questions about ing productions, or arranging other events at our facilities. So, after the where our communities will be in a few weeks, a few months, a year, big question “When will we reopen?” is asked, then the people at the (Continues on page 52)

Vol 49 No 3 September 2020 Planetarian 39 Seeking What Works Shannon Schmoll The IPS Education Committee Director, Abrams Planetarium Michigan State University [email protected] 517-884-0039 www.abramsplanetarium.org

The bigger picture: Gender and learnng

The Spring 2020 edition of this column I am delighted and honored to take on the role of Education Chair and follow in the 1 addressed gender differences in learning, footsteps of Dr. Jeanne Bishop. She has done a lot for planetarium education and I look primarily focusing on differences seen in the forward to expanding on her work with the committee. brain (Sousa, 2011). The realm of gender differ- A few notes on changes to the committee: Since I took over the role, we have been ences and learning, however, is more nuanced working to create subcommittees that will address different aspects of planetarium educa- and extends beyond the sex-linked differences tion. We have decided on three major areas to explore: Classic Concepts, Broader Concepts, we might see in the brain. and Research. Please check the IPS Education Committee page at www.ips-planetarium. There are more questions and aspects of org/page/edcom for updates on the subcommittee tasks, foci, and members. The plan is to gender that need to be considered. For instance, have each subcommittee write a Seeking What Works column each year. how is gender defined and how might those definitions affect the studies and how they are interpreted? What factors contribute to observed sex-linked differ- can result in evolutionary differences that are seen in the brain that ences in learning? Why does a discussion about gender and learning could perpetuate some of the societal expectations. However, there is matter? little evidence that there are any true differences between the male and This column is in no way meant to be a comprehensive understand- female brain (Rippon, 2019) and that any differences are easily misin- ing of gender and learning, but it will hopefully offer a more complete terpreted or misused by the scientific community (Eliot, 2019). Social picture to consider when thinking about how we might adjust our expectations, exposures, and messages are a more likely explanation teaching techniques in the dome in order to support all learners. for any differences that are observed between sexes in terms of interests and learning styles than physical differences in the brain. Where do differences come from? The previous column outlined differences in the male and female What is gender? brain that have been observed. Differences in the brain and learning When talking about gender differences in learning, it is often styles between males and females are very small. But differences are presented as learning differences between girls and boys or males and statistically significant enough to be noted. So, where do these differ- females. This binary definition of gender is also what most people learn ences in the brain come from? Biological differences do not happen in growing up. However, this is not the complete picture. a vacuum. Humans are impacted by their environment including the Let’s first consider the difference between biological sex and gender. physical world and the social world built around them. These are distinct facets of an individual. A person’s biological sex People are bombarded with gendered images, ads, television shows, indicates the sex a doctor assigned a person at birth based on their books, and cultural expectations. For sex organs. However, there are inter- instance, in western culture girls have sex people who have sex organs that traditionally been encouraged to focus on do not fit into widely used definitions emotional forms of pretend play. Boys have of male and female bodies (United traditionally been raised to play outside Nations, 2016). So, even when discuss- and play sports. These differences could ing strictly biological sex in learning potentially explain more spatial awareness differences, there is a spectrum that for boys and more emotional intelligence is rarely acknowledged and therefore for girls (Sousa, 2011). leaves out an entire group of people Sousa (2011) also noted that with the from the discussion. advent of video games, boys are not Gender identity is the gender a playing outside more than girls, resulting in person would say they are -- how they observed changes to spatial reasoning. Envi- feel on the inside. This can match or ronmental and social influences play a role differ from a person’s biological sex. It in how people see themselves and impact is also important to note that identity the activities they are encouraged to engage Adapted from scalar.usc.edu/works/index-2/media/ is not something someone “chooses” in, which can result in observed differenc- the-gender-spectrum. but rather an inherent aspect of that es in the brain and in learning styles. Differ- person and something one feels and ences are not necessarily from an inherent biological difference but knows internally (Human Rights Campaign, 2020). This, again, does from a socially imposed one. not fall into a binary of man/woman, girl/boy but is also a spectrum On larger timescales, Sousa (2011) also argued that when people have and dependent on each individual. had certain traditional roles imposed on them over generations, this Within society, we have set up certain expectations for what is considered “masculine” or “feminine.” Gender expectations are every- 1 This paper used the term biological gender rather than biological sex, as a note where from clothes, roles, toys, media, interests, careers, and even food. of transparency. (Continues on page 42)

40 Planetarian Vol 49 No 3 September 2020 EXPLORE MARS clarkplanetariumproductions.org

interactive exhibits | Fulldome shows | music shows

Vol 49 No 3 September 2020 Planetarian 41 These expectations will also look different across different cultures. diverse people are more likely to be stigmatized and therefore not How people present themselves to the world within these expecta- receive proper healthcare. Women’s pain is consistently downplayed tions is called one’s gender expression and how the world sees someone and undertreated (Kiesel, 2017). Transgender people are more likely to is gender presentation. Again, gender expression and gender presenta- encounter barriers, including doctors who do not understand their needs tion may or may not match gender identity, biological sex, or society’s (Safer et al, 2017). Until recently, females were more likely to die in car expectations (Ontario Human Rights Commissions, 2014). crashes because safety tests only included dummies of average male phys- Overall, gender itself is a spectrum with many unique identities. Most iology (Barry, 2019). These are just a few of the glaring examples. studies and discussions of gender differences in learning have focused Why do these issues persist? Generally, because the results from on just two genders and seem to assume gender identity, gender expres- studies that only use white males as subjects tend to be applied to sion, and biological sex match for all participants. So, what impact does everyone. This creates a world that can alienate and disenfranchise this have on these studies and what does it mean for learning? people who are different from that assumed norm. When it comes to I did try to find studies that address gender and learning beyond learning, this means that women and gender diverse people have an binary definitions, and there were not many. One study, however, additional burden they carry with them into the classroom that could conducted in the Netherlands in 1997 explored gender identity and affect learning as well. learning styles in adult learners (Severiens & Dam, 1997). They described four different styles of learning and looked for sex and gender identi- Conclusion ty variances in who tended toward those learning styles. Gender iden- Gender itself is a spectrum and not the binary that we tend to be tity was established by using the Dutch Sex Role Inventory. Sex role exposed to. There are a variety of learning styles and types of intelli- inventories are surveys that assess a person’s place on a scale of mascu- gences that anyone of any gender can possess. Yes, there are observed linity and femininity according to stereotypical masculine and femi- trends of learning differences that can originate primarily from societal nine psychological traits. influences and expectations. There are also assumptions made in our Overall, the variances between groups across all learning styles institutions that do not reflect a spectrum of learning styles or genders were minor, but gender identity was able to explain variances more and that ultimately can leave women and gender diverse people out of completely than biological sex*. The study also did not find any the conversation. evidence that students with similar gender identities tended to share Ultimately, we shouldn’t look at a group that comes through our learning styles over those with shared biological sex. doors and assume the best way of teaching based on their perceived This study is not conclusive in any way and was done over 20 years gender. It is perhaps best to have a toolbox that addresses many learn- ago, so we have to be careful to not put too much weight on it. However, ing styles and be ready to grab the right tool (or tools) for your group it does suggest that we need to be aware when teaching that student as you get to know them. Perhaps this can be a future project of the gender identities may or may not play a role in learning styles. Also Education Committee, to offer support in creating that toolbox and remembering that gender identity does not always match biological advice on how to pick the right tool. Also be aware of your own sex or gender expression may need to be taken into account, meaning assumptions and biases, in order to better understand how they may that simply looking at your group of students is not a sufficient means be affecting your judgment calls when working with students. There of establishing which educational methods you should use. are tests online, such as Project Implicit that can help you identify your bias or look to your institutions for implicit bias training. Why should we care about gender differences? This article is also to start a discussion and is not meant to be a defin- Considering there are many nuances to addressing gender and there itive examination of gender and learning. This is simply meant to raise are studies showing differences in learning between genders that are awareness that nuance exists. It should also be noted that this discus- minor, why should we care about differences in learning between sion is focusing on gender and a very western ideas of gender and educa- genders? Even if differences are minor, there are biases that are brought tion. This discussion also does not take into account different cultural into learning environments surrounding gender identity and gender perspectives, systemic racism, and oppression of Black, Indigendous expression that in turn are derived from cultural and social expecta- and other people of color in educational institutions in which all of tions. For instanced, gendered and sex-based stereotype biases have these issues surrounding gender are compounded. This is all scratch- been found in teachers which affects how they teach their students ing the surface of what we need to examine and think critically about. (Macdonald, 2014). Thus, it is vitally important to acknowledge gender differences in order to these combat biases. References Educational institutions, particularly those in STEM higher educa- Barry, K. (2019, October 23) The Crash Test Bias: How Male-Focused tion, have systemic assumptions and biases that are a result of the times Testing Puts Female Drivers at Risk. Consumer Reports. www. when women and other minoritized groups were excluded or discrim- consumerreports.org/car-safety/crash-test-bias-how-male-focused- inated against. Another clear example is that women tend to leave testing-puts-female-drivers-at-risk academia because of the tenure structure, expectations, and social Eliot, L. (2019). Neurosexism: the myth that men and women have norms which have persisted since a time when primarily white men different brains. Nature, 566(7745), 453-455. were in the field. This results in environments where women feel they Human Rights Campaign (retrieved 2020). Sexual Orientation and are not able to balance work and family or other societal expectations Gender Identity Definitions. Human Rights Campaign, www.hrc. (Sassler et al, 2017). This is also matched with frequent reports of sexism, org/resources/sexual-orientation-and-gender-identity-terminology- which drives women from the field (Prescod-Weinstein, 2017) and bias and-definitions when hiring or grading work (Eaton et al, 2019, Jansson & Tyrefors, Kiesel, L. (2017). Women and pain: Disparities in experience and treat- 2018). These factors in turn result in fewer role models for younger girls ment. Harvard Medical School Harvard Health Blog. in science. This then further contributes to the societal stereotypes of Macdonald, A. (2014). “Not for people like me?” Under-represented what is masculine versus feminine and could result in girls not feeling groups in science, technology and engineering. Wise Campaign. like a “science person” (Macdonald, 2014). Ontario Human Rights Commission (2014) Policy on preventing Beyond, education there are serious instances of sexism and gender discrimination because of gender identity and gender expression. discrimination in our daily lives. The World Health Organization notes www.ohrc.on.ca/en/policy-preventing-discrimination-because- that healthcare is generally less accessible for women. Also gender gender-identity-and-gender-expression (Continues on page 52)

42 Planetarian Vol 49 No 3 September 2020 BOPE_8_5x11.pdf 1/10/2019 3:18:58 PM

CMY

FULLDOME www.spitzinc.com/fulldome_shows SHOW DISTRIBUTION Vol 49 No 3 September 2020 Planetarian 43 Contact: Mike Bruno [email protected] T: 610.459.5200 From the Classdome Mark Percy Williamsville Space Lab Planetarium 1595 Hopkins Road Williamsville, New York 14221 USA [email protected]

Welcome to the ClassDome back-to-school edition—maybe

Please note that I am not an epidemiologist, nor do I play one on TV. stand the complexities. However, I do deeply believe that science is our best way to survive I have listened to multiple lengthy interviews with respected and recover from the COVID-19 pandemic. epidemiologists. This has helped me understand why hydroxychlo- When the pandemic first hit the U.S., I watched an interview with roquine was first seen as a possible panacea, but then later was shown Neil DeGrasse Tyson during which he predicted that we were about to to be inadvisable. enter a global experiment to find out if people will listen to scientists, At first, masks were in such short supply that it was recommended namely medical professionals. He was very correct. We have seen this that the general public should not be wearing them. We then learned unfold with the varying guidance of political leaders, news personali- that masks don’t provide all that much protection for you, but they ties, business interests, and public health professionals giving some- do act to protect others. what different advice. Now there is a large body Of that list, the only ones that have given reliably predictable of data that shows that results are the scientists. Time and time again, leaders have pushed widespread mask use in different directions based on what outcomes they want to see. All may be one of the ways the while, public health professionals have been using research and to avoid having infection the scientific method to determine what courses of action are best. It has been painful to watch the actions and their results in what seems like slow motion. Follow the science and things get better. Don’t follow the science, and things get worse. Perhaps in the end more people will recognize that trusting the scientific process is better than deciding what you want and trying to make reality fit those desires. I understand that for many people, science seems to give conflicting and unreliable direction. Science is (unfortunately) seen by many as a body of absolute truth carved in stone. Gravity pulls stuff down. Period. But they have also seen conflicting guidance about so many topics. Back in the 1970s, climatologists were concerned about global cooling, but now it is warming. Coffee is good for you in one study, but then it is bad for you in another. Eggs cause high cholesterol, but maybe they don’t. The trouble therein is the fundamental misun- Jake the Robot (my SpitzA5) is sad that there are no kids to talk to about the derstanding about how the process works. We never have the final wonderful night sky. (Photo by the author) answer. We always re-examine results to see if there is something more to be learned or something we missed. That dynamic process leaves rates surge again resulting in repeated closures. Science self corrects. people thinking that science is unreliable. Frankly, it is, sometimes, in Clearly, the government and educational leaders are not keeping certain situations (like in cases where the study is being financed by a up with the evolving recommendations. Discussions about reopen- large company with a financial stake in the “correct” results.) ing my school continue to revolve around surface disinfection. As humans, we tend not to trust someone if they lie to us, and Consider all of the information, however: with little data for guid- wonder if we should trust them again. But there is the crux of the ance early on, contact transmission was suspected to be a major problem: changing guidance from scientists is not lying; it is the self- vector for COVID-19 transmission. With much more information correcting nature of science at work. It is deeper understanding that and understanding, it is now believed that contact transmission is uncovers previous misconceptions. not the big problem that it was originally viewed as. I was getting really good at washing my hands like a surgeon, and Listen to the science there is still plenty of reason to wash your hands thoroughly and The case in point that I would like to discuss is what to do about often. Consider all of the information: recent data points to breath- getting back to work in our planetariums. As I think about what I ing other people’s air as the most important factor. Surface disinfec- need to do, I listen to the scientists. They should not have an agenda tion should not be ignored, but the biggest thing that we need to do other than seeking the truth. Government and school officials are is to not inhale respiratory droplets exhaled by others. pulled in different directions by the public, parents, businesses, and More examples: https://www.npr.org/2020/06/17/879255417/ labor unions as well as by scientists. For myself, I will listen most amid-confusion-about-reopening-an-expert-explains-how-to-assess- intently to the latter. The problem is exacerbated by the fact that covid-risk; http://www.wcny.org/july-8-2020-ualbany-professor- understanding the current scientific guidance takes time and atten- helps-new-york-tackle-pandemic-from-all-angles. tion to details. People aren’t very good at that these days. They How does this guide our decisions and methods of getting back to have heard the short answers and won’t take the time to under- work in our domes? Some basic facts: Keep people apart from each

44 Planetarian Vol 49 No 3 September 2020 other. Wear your mask and wear it properly. Keep your time in indoor Peggy Hernandez: Elgin School District Planetarium, spaces limited. The longer you share someone’s air, the more of those Elgin, Illinois respiratory droplets will be inhaled and the higher your risk will be Our school year will open with all students in distance learning at for contracting COVID-19. Do whatever you can to keep the air with least until the first quarter. In October the current threat phase assigned those respiratory droplets from concentrating. That may mean being by the state will dictate if we stay distance or begin the shift to hybrid outdoors where it can’t accumulate. It might mean high efficiency in elementary. The plan is to move towards some in person (hybrid) filtration of air or circulating fresh air into a space. Personally, I am starting with elementary schools, then middle, and then high school. now pretty comfortable getting together with others as long as it is (1) The district-provided buses to visit the planetarium live are not outdoors, (2) at a distance, and (3) masks are worn as much as possible. expected to be available for the school year. Even if some students are What about my planetarium? I can’t just meet with kids outside or easing back into in-person school, the planetarium lesson will proba- open the nonexistent windows. Risk factors are like terms of an equa- bly be remote all year. All plans are fluid and changes may occur even tion. before this is disseminated. I need to reduce the value of each term of the equation as much as The planetarium will offer modules on the Canvas learning manage- possible. I know that I have three HVAC units that constantly bring ment system that all teachers use for a “planetarium visit” at each grade. fresh air into the room as well as an exhaust vent which helps reduce It will consist of lessons for teachers to implement based on standards the concentration of those droplets. and curriculum at that grade level. The modules will include videos, I know that I have 75 seats that I won’t be packing people into journals, links to activities, and opportunities to access me (planetari- anytime soon. Perhaps the number will be 25...or fewer? The fewer at a um teacher) in synchronous Zoom or Live Chats to enrich the teachers’ time, the better. lesson(s). I also plan on continuing a live weekly “sky talk” using Zoom I know that I should keep my lessons shorter so that we spend less with Stellarium available to the public. time breathing each other’s air. I also know that everyone will need to I certainly hope to find a few nuggets of silver lining in these chal- wear their masks properly the entire time. I’ll have to figure out how to lenging times and share in later editions. teach with my mask on. Perhaps a head-worn mic will work. I’ll also get a lot of exercise wiping down surfaces every day over and over again. Anthony Kilgore: Irene V. Hylton Planetarium, In the meantime, my wife’s school has a ridiculous proposal that Woodbridge, Virginia students will be able to take their masks off once they are seated at their My school has been using me as an assistant principal for the most desks. So—25 kids sitting in a small, poorly-ventilated classroom for 45 part instead of anything planetarium related. I have no clue if that minutes with no masks? The factors in the risk equation do not calcu- will change, but, like some of you, the idea of me doing shows is not ate well, but that school board is listening to the community members a reality until a vaccine is. This is just one more reason I’m sad for the instead of the scientists. kiddos all enduring this health crisis. I am curious to hear what some of you end up doing or being allowed Specific plans for teaching this year or encouraged to do. Maybe I can use it to try and change my situation For schools in New York state, our leaders have been told to prepare if there is a good result. for three modes: in-school learning, remote learning, and a hybrid mode. The plans are to be submitted to the NYS Education Department Geoff Holt: Madison Metropolitan School District and then the state will decide which mode each region should employ Planetarium, Madison, Wisconsin depending on the conditions at the time. Buffalo, New York is a long My school district in Madison has decided to go fully virtual for the way from New York City so it make sense to differentiate our response first quarter, and they’ll re-evaluate in a couple of months to decide on based on local conditions rather than state-wide. the next quarter. My time will likely be focused mostly on providing I also anticipate that infection rates will change and the mode by asynchronous resources for teachers. which we are operating will have to change as the year progresses. If we are fully remote learning, I will have to keep doing what I did in the spring. I used Sky-Skan’s Digital Sky 2 as well as Stellarium over Neil Pifer: Margaret C. Woodson Planetarium, Zoom to lead students through a pared down version of my standard Salisbury, North Carolina astronomy labs. The rate of engagement was poor during the spring, My main challenge has been that our facility is not going to open but participation was not mandated. If participation is mandated for to the public or student field trips all next year, but we are hosting a the fall, there will have to be a defined schedule, attendance policy, brand-new K-8 virtual school in our space next school year. I am now and code of conduct established by the school district. None of those partly a virtual K-8 enrichment science teacher in addition to being exist at the time of writing this article. If we are in the school building planetarium director. Changing out displays and exhibits, flat screen either part time or full time, I will have kids in the planetarium while content and VR content has been my thoughts as we head to next year. implementing measures to reduce the factors in the risk equation that I hope I can contribute more concrete tools as we get closer to opening. I explained above. For younger kids, virtual field trips seem to be the best option. I Lisa Swaney: Horwitz-DeRemer Planetarium, really don’t think schools will be piling kids on to buses to come visit Waukesha, Wisconsin me as they normally do in any of the three modes. If I can present a I am at a point, as I assume many are, that I am just so unsure of all flat screen version of a show and interact with kids during and after of it that I don’t even know where to begin. Besides, there have been the show by videoconference, that seems like the safest for reaching so many changes at all levels and branches within my setting that it these kids in either the all or partial remote learning modes. The favor- makes it even more confusing: a new superintendent, new direct super- ite part of my job is the discussion time with these younger kids. While visor, new building facilities manager, new county building supervi- not ideal, this would provide a way to stay in direct contact with my sor (who is also on paternity leave), etc. I had hoped to continue with students. Saturday public shows in September (maxing out at 22 people for our As for others in the ClassDome Cadre, here are the local plans for fall 90 seat facility), but as of mid-July I had only one staff member who that they contributed. I think that most of them are also struggling will assist with those shows. with the same lack of direction as I am. (Continues on page 52)

Vol 49 No 3 September 2020 Planetarian 45 International News

Lars Petersen DK-6630 Rødding, Jels, Denmark [email protected]

Dear fellow planetarians

This summer (winter in the southern hemisphere) the corona- Great Lakes Planetarium Association virus pandemic has been hitting down hard on all of us. Many Illinois. On Saturday 16 May, Mike Smail from Adler Planetarium planetariums have been locked down for months, meetings and confer- hosted a multi-state meeting for WIMPS (Wisconsin, Iowa, Minnesota), ences cancelled or postponed, and very many planetarians regret they Illinois, and Indiana, which was forced to be a virtual meeting because couldn’t meet for IPS 2020 in Edmonton. of the pandemic. The resulting Zoom meeting featured 14 presenta- In some regions and countries slow reopening has been possible from tions, including a tour of Adler’s world-class collection of historic scien- mid-summer, while the institutions follow strict corona-measures and tific instruments and a workshop hosted by Chuck Bueter on building with a reduced number of guests. During the last months many plan- a solargraph. In the end, 51 people participated. etariums have also found ways to communicate science and get in contact with their users through the internet in brilliant and popular ways. Below, you can see how institutions globally have overcome some of the severe challenges the coronavirus has given, despite difficult conditions. By this, the planetariums worldwide have once again proven to be a responsible part of society, and even in difficult times shown to able to reach out to their audiences and plan for better times. For this section I’m indebted to contributions from Andrew Kerr, Bart Benjamin, John Hare, Loris Ramponi, Alexis Delivorias, and Zinaida Sitkova. Let’s start this tour around the world by the Pacific.

Pacific Planetarium Association PPA is starting up a mini grant program that will award $500 grants to planetariums. Applicants must show a need for the grant and communicate a specific use for the funds. More information and the application from can be found at www.ppadomes.org/business/mini-grants. The most recent webinars in the planetarians’ webinar series that PPA hosts have been: • 26 June, “VJ-ing with NestDrop in the Dome,” Jason Fletcher, asso- GLPA. The II-WIMPS Zoom meeting “group photo” that typifies the COVID- ciate producer and 3D animator at the Charles Hayden Planetarium, 19 era. Some 51 planetarians met online in mid-May in a tri-state meeting Museum of Science, Boston. hosted by Mike Smail at Chicago’s Adler Planetarium. Official group photo. • 29 May. “NASA Working for You: The Museum Alliance.” Jeffrey Below, in Champaign, Tania Swigart has kept the community entertained Nee, informal education specialist, NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory. through bedtime story reading. Courtesy of Staerkel Planetarium. • 24 April, the workshop “What makes a successful live interactive planetarium program?” led by Karrie Berglund. At the William M. Staerkel Planetarium in Champaign, the last • 27 March, “Big Astronomy: (Nearly) Free Show and Great Resourc- shows were on 14 March. Director Erik Johnson has moved his astron- es.” Renae Kerrigan (Peoria Riverfront Museum), Shannon Schmoll omy courses online and has been sharing sky news through social (Abrams Planetarium), Tiffany Wolbrecht (Ward Beecher Planetari- media. Producer Waylena McCully and Tania Swigart have been creat- um). ing online science activities. Erik, Waylena, and Tania made a series of For more details and a complete archive listing, see www.ppadomes. videos sharing their favorite HST images to celebrate the 30th anni- org/events/ppsarchive. versary of Hubble, and Tania has kept the community entertained Due to COVID-19, the U.S. Center for Disease Control recommends through bedtime story reading. that schools assess field trips and consider postponing them, but a new When the Dome Planetarium in Peoria was closed to the public, option is now available. BIG & Digital LLC launched the Cinema Learn- the staff created virtual programming to continue connecting to their ing Challenge Virtual Field Trip Experience on 3 July, as a no-contact, audience. The staff had just started a new video series called What’s educational alternative to traditional field trips and outreach programs. Up with Renae Kerrigan in March. In addition, Nick Rae launched a For information on Cinema Learning Challenge, visit www.facebook. science demo series, both using Facebook Live and videos, called Whiz com/CinemaLearningChallenge/. Bang Science. And finally, their newest team member Kyle Denny has

46 Planetarian Vol 49 No 3 September 2020 been busy producing the videos, publishing a weekly newsletter, and omy class online after spring break, as all BGSU classes are now being hosting a live stream of the full moon through his telescope, which delivered electronically. became the most popular and engaging post in their planetarium’s Defiance Schools in northwest Ohio is getting a new high school. Facebook page history! In a piece of good news, the school administration will be storing the The Elgin School District Planetarium closed on 13 March. As a full- existing Viewlex-Apollo projector for re-installation in the new build- time teacher, Peggy Hernandez was expected to engage students in ing. distance learning with interesting and standards-aligned lessons that Wisconsin/Minnesota. The Horwitz-DeRemer Planetarium in students could do from home. Peggy reports that as a teacher leader Waukesha, Wisconsin has been busy during the shutdown. Some of in a big K-12 district, “It’s been a mess, but also a great opportunity to their projects included preparing Spanish seasonal star talks, preview- turn away from some less effective practices and require evidence of ing new planetarium shows, sending out reminders about celestial science practices and crosscutting practices events via TweetDeck, and assisting teach- no matter what content is assigned.” ers within their virtual learning platform. The Illinois State University Planetari- The planetarium is also starting a fundraising um in Normal is also closed to the public. campaign to remodel and refresh their front However, the staff is sharing astronomy and lobby area. general science information and educational The staff at the Whitney and Elizabeth materials on its website and Facebook page. MacMillan Planetarium in the Bell Museum Adler Planetarium in Chicago closed its in Saint Paul, Minnesota are using a variety of doors to the general public on 14 March. online platforms to create engaging astrono- Since that time, the staff has been ramping my posts and videos that are tailoring differ- up their online presence. Probably the most ent content to different interest levels. successful new outreach endeavor has been The Madison Metropolitan School District their Skywatch Weekly video series. Each Planetarium in Madison, Wisconsin is week, they post a short tour of a portion of staying connected to schools and the general the current night sky, using open broadcast- public through online resources, virtual er software. Adler had planned a month-long events, and social media. They are producing 50th anniversary celebration of Apollo XIII videos to provide some flatscreen experienc- with commander Jim Lovell, but in-person es to replace planetarium visits for classes and events had to be cancelled and other events holding live virtual events for the general moved online. public. Michigan. Michigan’s state meeting was The Manfred Olson Planetarium at the originally scheduled for 9 May at the new University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee has University of Michigan Natural History partnered with the alumni association for Museum in Ann Arbor. Due to COVID-19, a weekly live series called Stars have Stories they canceled the in-person meeting and for families. Jean Creighton started a series of hosted a virtual meeting instead. They had podcasts about Greek constellations myths about 20 people in attendance and they and expanded the resources available on were able to discuss Michigan-specific issues their website. related to COVID-19. At the Gary E. Sampson Planetarium in Ohio. The staff at the Ward Beecher Plan- GLPA. Top, in Peoria, Renae Kerrigan offers a new Wauwatosa, Wisconsin, Todd De Zeeuw etarium in Youngstown worked from home What’s Up video series, and Nick Rae launched a sends out occasional posts of things that their science demo series called Whiz Bang Science. to deliver astronomy education via a weekly Both courtesy of Dome Planetarium. Below, Nick friends can see in the current night sky. He is public show on Facebook live and virtual Lake introduces Orion and other objects in the also transitioning his aerospace engineering field trip options. All members of the plan- early evening sky. Courtesy of Adler Planetarium. and astronomy classes to fully online learning. etarium team have led sections of public The Soref (virtual) Planetarium at the shows and they have been very success- Milwaukee Public Museum keeps audienc- ful so far with hundreds of live views and thousands of overall views. es updated with short videos using Digistar, including Asteroid 52768 They are also working hard to revamp this year’s Nightlights Hallow- and Dinosaurs in the Dark of Night. Besides regular Wisconsin Stargaz- een program. ing videos, they keep audiences up to date on current space news. During the closure, the director of Hoover-Price Planetarium in The Barlow Planetarium at the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh Canton, Suzie Dills, presents a weekly night sky highlight and educa- Fox Cities is connecting with guests and visitors through Facebook and tional video, which includes activities. Constant Contact campaigns. They recently took delivery of the latest The University of Toledo’s Ritter Planetarium closed right after generation of SkyLase from AVI and a production computer. spring break in March. Now they’re offering streaming programs on their webpage. Mike Cushing meets with K-12 students online so they Southeastern Planetarium Association can chat with a real-life astronomer. Heidi Kuchta and Alex Mak are At the time of writing, plans for the 2020 annual business meeting working to convert their astronomy lab and astronomy class events to of the Southeastern Planetarium Association, to be held virtually via an online format. Alex is also working on creating some distance learn- Zoom, are in place. Current SEPA members were invited to participate ing school programs for the fall. in the meeting and election beginning at 5 August. Important items of Just west of Toledo, while the Appold Planetarium at Lourdes Univer- business will include: future conference site selection, officer reports, sity in Sylvania is temporarily closed, director Laura Megeath is hosting a committee reports, election of officers. “Dome from Home Club” with flat screen shows and space trivia. 2020 annual conference, originally scheduled for the Hallstrom In Bowling Green, the BGSU Planetarium also closed right after Planetarium at Indian River State College in Fort Pierce, Florida, 2-6 spring break in March. Director Dale Smith taught his honors astron- (Continues on next page)

Vol 49 No 3 September 2020 Planetarian 47 IAP. Drawings by children courtesy of Santa Gianna Beretta kinder- garden school. At left, the text reads “Io e la mia fami- glia osserviamo il cielo stellate (With my family I observe the night sky)” Near left, it is “La luna mi piace molto (I like so much the moon).” Bottom: the planetarium for Accendi- July, was cancelled. Hallstrom Planetarium director Jon Bell will keep amo le stelle (Let’s the option open for hosting the conference in 2022. light up the stars). SEPA will return to Kingsport, Tennessee in 2021 for its 50th anniversary conference. The facilities at Bays Mountain Park include a recently renovated planetarium situated in a 3550-acre nature preserve. Conference dates are June 22-26, 2021, and SEPA 2021 will be a huge conference with all US affiliate regions (6) except GLPA participating. For all information regarding SEPA please visit the website sepadomes. org or contact IPS representative John Hare ([email protected]). readings about sky myths to the Italian Association of Planetaria participants. Each Nicola Bonomo is the winner of the Planit prize 2020 with participant is the video Little Prince produced by 3Des (in Verona). The prize for the invited to prepare winner is 500 euro. The video of the winner of next year’s competition an audio memory will be presented during the last weekend of April at the Italian Asso- about a sky obser- ciation of Planetaria national meeting in Florence. The site will be the vation of the past. Planetarium of Fondazione della Scienza e Tecnica where the meeting These anonymous was already in planning for 2020, but the coronavirus pandemic forced recordings will be the organizer to postpone the event to next year. Thanks to the collab- shared during the oration of the GDP colleagues the dates of the national meetings in following events. German and in Italy in 2021 will be divided in two different weeks. The contact with The COVID-19 times also change astronomical observations for the the audience also audience. The risk is to be too close to each other in the dark and to continues in the touch part of the telescope. Beginners of astronomical observations future by sending are many times close with their mouth and eyes to the eyepiece. That news about sky means it is necessary to secure a continuous safety cleaning of these events like easy parts of the telescope. conjunctions and Therefore, the Astronomical Observatory Serafino Zani experiments rare comets (e.g. with a new way to help the audience in the recognition of sky objects Neowise last July). during a naked eye observation, also for schools. The children and the Since the 1980s, the Peano-Pellico high school has been equipped teachers are invited to discover the wonders of the night sky with the with an astronomical observatory and promotes scientific culture. remote help of a virtual guide, using WhatsApp. The children stay at With the Associazione Astrofili Bisalta (AAB), a collaboration was born home with their parents, and the teacher manages the distribution which allowed to bring not only students but also citizens closer to the of audio messages from the virtual guide to the families. The audio dissemination of science and, in particular, of astronomy. messages are devoted to the investigating of easy sky objects. A planetarium, owned by the Piedmont Region and used in the The main purpose is to promote deep sky observations, to be able to Experimenta exhibition in Turin, will now remain for three years in divide objects in relation with their magnitudes, colors and differences the new location of Cerialdo (Cuneo) with visits managed and led by in the light (e.g. compare stars and planets). The virtual guide continues the Scientific and Classical High School G. Peano-S. Pellico. The project to receive questions and comments from the audience through audio, Accendiamo le stelle brings the starry sky to everyone. The visit to the photos and texts. At the end of the events that involves schools, draw- planetarium can be a first approach to what takes place in the sky, the ings prepared by the students and the audio recording of the evening encounter with something both far and near that has always fasci- will be collected and will be showed, listened to and commented in nated mankind from different cultures, locations and even historical the classroom. periods. The remote sky observations, with naked eye or through binoc- This instrument allows a more engaging approach for the student ulars, begin in the days before the astronomical WhatsApp evening, and for the public, above all also thanks to the possibility of being able sending sky map, audio recordings with suggestions for the first obser- to reenact a show of remarkable visual impact. The activity is for these vations, short interviews with amateur astronomers and scientists, and (Continues on page 50)

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EndureScreens-hirdetes-ips-planetarium-8_5x11inch-2020-04-21.indd 1 2020. 04. 21. 11:03 RPA: At left, filming a cycle of the video lectures “Astronomy comes to neer Dmitry Aleshin checks the operation of the system. All three photos you.” Dmitry Fetisov, head of the Kaluga Planetarium, is seated; Anton courtesy of A.V. Ivashkina. Zarubin, technical specialist, takes care of the fiming. At right, chief engi- reasons not only educational, and therefore mainly aimed at schools, Fridays (in Croatian) for the adult public, an open-air program was but also very charming and informative, to reach the widest possible scheduled after the show, which (weather permitting) included an audience. outdoors laser night sky orientation program. On cloudy or rainy days, It is a mechanical planetarium, a didactic tool for an accurate and the RAC planetarium screened a show on light pollution. approachable divulgation of astronomy and, at the same time, a room Also in June, the RAC restarted its Matinee Saturdays for children of comparison between the different souls of both the scientific and with the Solar System Safari planetarium show, as well as with the humanistic cultural landscapes, allowing a constructive and modern Make your own Sun workshop (for a maximum number of 10 children, interaction between various disciplines. between the age of 5 and 10). Conducting the visits at the laboratory workstations—concerning At the time of writing, the RAC is preparing two space travelers the solar system, the stars, the galaxies and the constellations—and planetarium shows. The first, provisionally titled Moon Night, is dedi- managing the movements of the planetarium will be the high school cated to the Apollo 11 51st anniversary, while the second show, titled students who will act as guides, thanks to the promotion of the Pied- Martians, is dedicated to the Mars Perseverance Rover, which was mont Region’s Regional Museum of Natural Science. Contact: planetar- scheduled to launch between 30 July-15 August. The RAC staff is also [email protected] (Prof. Gherardo Oreggia). For more information preparing other shows, accompanied by lectures, quizzes, hidden trea- see liceocuneo.it/planetario/ sure hunt, a public forum and stargazing through portable telescopes. For August, provided that there will be no further restrictions to European/Mediterranean Planetarium Association public attendance, the RAC was planning to introduce two programs Croatia. For the first time since it opened its doors to the public, the dedicated to the Perseids meteor shower: Prepare, Beware, Perseids! and Rijeka Astronomical Centre (RAC) had to close down on Saturday 14 Celestial fireflies: of tears and stones. March, due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Since then, the stuff of the RAC It is important to emphasize that all the programs and activities of worked from home and only came to the facility during exceptional the Rijeka Astronomical Centre are organized according to the instruc- situations. tions of the Croatian Civil Protection Headquarters and may change in In that period, the RAC staff worked on new programs for its digital case of a resurge of the pandemic. planetarium, staying in touch with its audience through its Facebook Greece. The New Digital Planetarium of the Eugenides Foundation page, which became a place for alternative activities for the public. in Athens unfortunately remains closed for the public and, if all goes Particular emphasis was given to the communication of past events well, will open for the public on 7 September, with a reduction of avail- of interest, dissemination of interesting information about the Rijeka able seats from 278 to 140. The premiere of The Story of Earth, its last Astronomical Centre, and articles and news on astronomy and other planetarium production, originally scheduled to occur in March, is natural sciences. rescheduled for late September, while the premiere of its latest show, With pandemic conditions improving, the RAC reopened on 20 provisionally titled Voyage through the Galaxy, was rescheduled from May, upon the instructions of the Croatian Civil Protection Headquar- September to March 2021. During this period, the staff of the New ters. However, the capacity of the planetarium was reduced from 50 to Digital Planetarium communicates with the public through its Face- 15 seats, but later the number of available seats was increased to 20. All book page, with numerous articles, quizzes etc. on astronomy, astro- other facilities faced a similar reduction in numbers, as the minimum physics and space exploration. Lately, on 24 June, the New Digital distance between visitors had to be 1.5 m. Unfortunately, the Observa- Planetarium organized a webcast with Prof. Stamatios Krimigis, the tory is still shut for the public. legendary Greek-American scientist who has made key contributions From 1 June the evening planetarium program introduced its Starry to many of NASA’s unmanned space exploration programs and has Nights show. On Wednesdays (for foreign tourists in English) and on served as principal investigator on five NASA missions, including the Cassini Orbiter and Voyager 1 and 2, the space exploration expert who has designed and built instruments that have flown to all nine classi- Lars Petersen, PhD, is an astrophysicist and science communicator. From cal planets. Prof. Krimigis’ presentation was on a critical review of the 1997-2016 he was director of Orion Planetarium, Denmark. At present he is engaged in various astronomy communication projects. He is a fellow plans to send the first human crews on Mars. of IPS.

50 Planetarian Vol 49 No 3 September 2020 Russian Planetariums Association Due to the pandemic situation, all Russian planetariums have been closed the last months. But planetariums did not lose touch with astronomy lovers. With the introduction of quarantine, the majority of Russian planetariums actively implemented online projects. The planetariums systematically posted astronomical news, online lectures on their pages on social networks, and held various contests and olympiads. G. M. Grechko Nizhny Novgorod Planetarium, being the organi- zational and methodological center of the Russian Planetarium Asso- ciation, initiated the online conference “Planetarium online: crisis or a resource for development?” The conference was held on 28 May, and 33 planetariums took part. The moderator of the conference was G.A. Muromtseva, director of the planetarium. The discussion of the problems associated with the new working conditions of planetariums was attended by employees of planetariums in a number of Russian cities: N. N. Malinina (Vladimir), M. A. Kislitsyna (Kirov), P. A. Kulikov (Tomsk), I. A. Feoktistova (Samara), I. Garaev (Kazan), and E.N. Tikhomirova (Yaroslavl). But now the planetariums have gradually been opening to the audi- RPA. The Kaluga planetarium on 7 July. The first session after quarantine ence. Hence on 7 July, after the abolition of the self-isolation regime, removal. the Kaluga Planetarium opened its doors to visitors. In order to maintain social distance, it was necessary to reduce the number of tickets length programs and now there are more than 20 of them. By the end sold, as well as to introduce new visiting rules. While the planetarium of 2020, it is planned to create a new fulldome program for children was closed, its employees actively worked on online content, which titled A Guest from Space. was posted on the planetarium’s website and on the planetarium’s The following planetariums have now opened again: Novokuznetsk pages on social networks. To date, a series of video lectures on astro- Planetarium (25 June), Kazan Planetarium (1 July), Novoros- nomical subjects has been created, as well as a series of articles devoted siysk Planetarium (4 July), St. Petersburg Planetarium (6 July), to interesting celestial phenomena. Work in this direction is ongoing. Moscow Planetarium (1 August), and Izhevsk, Ulyanovsk, Podolsk, For many years the Kaluga Planetarium has been creating original full- and Kaliningrad planetarium. I

Vol 49 No 3 September 2020 Planetarian 51 (What Works, continued from page 42) Jansson, J., & Tyrefors, B. (2018). Gender grading bias at Stockholm A., & Sevelius, J. (2016). Barriers to healthcare for transgender indi- University: Quasi-experimental evidence from an anonymous viduals. Current opinion in endocrinology, diabetes, and obesity, 23(2), grading reform. 168–171. Prescod-Weinstein, C. (2017) Curiosity and the end of discrimination. Sassler, S., Glass, J., Levitte, Y., & Michelmore, K. M. (2017). The missing Nat. Astron. 1, 0145 . women in STEM? Assessing gender differentials in the factors associ- Rippon, G. (2019). The Gendered Brain: The new neuroscience that shat- ated with transition to first jobs. Social science research, 63, 192–208. ters the myth of the female brain. Random House. Severiens, S., & Dam, G. T. (1997). Gender and gender identity differenc- Safer, J. D., Coleman, E., Feldman, J., Garofalo, R., Hembree, W., Radix, es in learning styles. Educational psychology, 17(1-2), 79-93. Sousa, D. A. (2011). How the brain learns (4th ed.). Thousand Oaks: Corwin Press (IMERSA, continued from page 39) United Nations (2016, October 24) Intersex Awareness Day. or longer. We all wish we had better insights, data, and ideas to help United Nations Human Rights Office of the High Commis- solve the issues we face. Currently, (July 2020) some countries are sioner ohchr.org/EN/NewsEvents/Pages/DisplayNews. doing better than others and may reopen quickly. Other countries are aspx?NewsID=20739&LangID=E not. For the world, there are promising glimmers of vaccines on the World Health Organization (retrieved 2020). Gender. horizon, but those take time to develop and test. And, any such vaccine Health Topics. www.who.int/health-topics/gender I will take time to disseminate through all the public. In the U.S., at least, we are still discussing when, if, and how to safely reopen our schools. Someday we will fully emerge from the pandemic shutdowns and slowdowns. It may take longer than we think, and require of us more (ClassDome, continued from page 45) patience and ingenuity than we knew we had. We all look forward to Summary a day of “new normal” when our audiences and visitors will return. Everyone keeps asking me what is going to happen this fall. I have Perhaps they’ll still be wearing masks and social distancing themselves, to keep telling them that I just don’t know, and may not for a while. but they’ll be ready to enjoy their time under the dome, in the IMAX New York State created a 145-page guidance document. It discusses theater, at the park, or in the movie theater. many, many details that should be considered, but the guidelines for Special thanks to Shannon Schmoll for her contributions to this column, as each that are vague at best. The fact of the matter is that the school well as James Hyder of the LFExaminer (LFExaminer.com). and also to IMERSA leaders will have to figure out what to do first and we will have to be Board members Michael Daut and Ryan Wyatt for their timely input. I ready to do our best adapting to this fluid situation. I

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Vol 49 No 3 September 2020 Planetarian 53 Tales from Dome Under

Tom Callen Vaxholm, Sweden [email protected]

A defining moment comes full circle

Everyone can probably recall some defining moment or person that This same year I got the job, I was also continuing on with Earth might have started them down the path to becoming a future plan- Science II and had pretty much made up my mind that I was aiming etarian. I was recently reminded of this during a late summer 2019 for a career in a planetarium, but the question was how to go about it visit by my old high school Earth Science teacher, with whom I’m still once I got out of high school. friends, and his wife. We have been trying to arrange such a visit for I knew that the State University of New York system had planetar- years, but this was the first time where everything seemed to align and iums on some of their campuses, but was there one that had a degree it was finally possible. involving planetarium education? As luck would have it, SUNY Part of our sightseeing included a trip to Cosmonova, the Imax- Oswego, located an hour and a half east of Rochester and situated liter- Dome®/digital planetarium that I helped build, later upgrade, and ally right on the shore of Lake Ontario, purported to have just such a worked at from 1991 to 2011. While sitting there in the dark watching a show, it felt that it was a kind of coming full circle. As a kid, I was known to be one who was “always looking at rocks on the ground or stars in the sky.” This must have been conveyed further outside of my family as, after a Sunday morning church service when I was probably in 3rd or 4th grade, I was introduced to someone named Mr. Ander- son. We talked a little about the night sky and, after a few minutes, he handed me a copy of Sky & Telescope magazine and his business card, where he had written on its back where I could write to get a subscription. I held onto the business card and the magazine for years, though what I did not comprehend at the time is that he was Robert G. Anderson, the director of the planetarium at the State University of New York at Brockport, which was about a half hour from my parent’s church. This, as it turned out, was analogous to a comet nucleus in the depths of the Oort Cloud getting a gentle gravitation- The Strasenburgh Planetarium, circa 1970, photo by John Paris. From author’s collection. al nudge that sent it sunward towards the inner solar system. As I said, I kept the issue of Sky & Telescope (and the business card on my bedroom bulletin board, until it was later transferred to program: They must have one, as I had been told so by the planetarium my wallet when I finally had one) and pulled it out of the back of my director himself over the telephone. closet from time to time. Over the years, more and more of it began to With a bright-looking couple of years of college before me, I sent in make a little sense and it definitely played a part in tweaking my inter- my application to transfer from the local community college where est in astronomy. I had spent my freshman year to Oswego for the autumn term of my While in high school, I discovered that the science department sophomore year. offered Earth Science: an intriguing blend of meteorology, geology, paleontology, mineralogy, and (you guessed it) astronomy. I had found Expectations fall apart my niche and even spent the summer after my first year of that class Well… perhaps not quite as bright as I had thought, for two reasons: teaching a two week-long kid’s class at our city museum/science center 1) the planetarium director I had spoken to about the planetarium with my earth science teacher. education degree program had retired the summer before my first term After that class was over, he encouraged me to fill out an applica- started and 2) there was no such program and, as other Earth Science tion for a part-time museum job. This eventually paid off about six Department staffers explained to me, it was his pipe dream to have months later, leading to my first under-the-dome job as an usher at such a program. Strasenburgh Planetarium (recounted in another of these articles A quick regrouping on my part now that I was enrolled, accepted, called “Origins” (March 2017, Vol. 46 No. 1). I had already been a fan and committed showed that the best way to accomplish my goal was since the place opened some four years earlier, so this was just the icing to get a bachelor’s degree in secondary education in Earth Science with on the cake. a concentration in astronomy and planetarium. This worked—up to a point. Sooner or later I would have to do a semester of student teaching and my advisor in the Education Depart- IPS Fellow Tom Callen has approximately 40 years experience across five planetariums. He lives on an island in the Stockholm Archipelago under dark ment was hell-bent that I was going to do it in a conventional class- skies with wife Mariana Back and two trilingual cats. room and not in a planetarium. I was just as hell-bent not to do so in front of a chalk board, but under a dome.

54 Planetarian Vol 49 No 3 September 2020 My advisor in the Earth Science Department—not an astronomer, but in the east that I was aware of at the time; there may have been more (sigh) a meteorologist—tended to side with the education advisor, but in the direction of California, but I was unfamiliar with them. So, the by the spring of my junior year I finally won him over and convinced targets of interest were the programs at Michigan State University’s him that I was only planning on teaching in a planetarium and never Abrams Planetarium and the University of North Carolina at Chapel in a conventional classroom. Somehow he and the education advisor Hill’s Morehead Planetarium. reached an agreement and that was what I would be allowed to do—a first for the university. That only left answering the question of where Star-crossed applicants to do it during the autumn term of my senior year. Taking pen in hand, I filled out the application forms for both and The where of it was quickly answered through my former associa- crossed my fingers. Little did I know it, but April Whitt (turn, please, tion at the Strasenburgh Planetarium. That place held a certain posi- to the last page of this issue if you are unfamiliar with her wit and tion of high esteem for the astronomers at SUNY Oswego, especially wisdom) was doing the same thing. I was hoping for North Carolina by the planetarium director in Piez Hall where the campus dome was while she had her eye set on Michigan. located. As it turned out, we both got the exact opposite of what we original- While there was a Spitz A3-P RPY on campus, Strasenburgh had ly wanted, but from the perspective of looking back decades later, it (and still does today) the world’s first Zeiss Model VI opto-mechani- couldn’t have turned out better for the two of us on both personal and cal projector. The first term I had been a student in the Oswego Earth professional levels. Science Department I had mentioned that I had once worked part time I didn’t give it much thought at the time, but I must have been in a at Strasenburgh, which elicited some skepticism on the part of one or hurry as I doubled up on my courses as often as I could. I finished up the two teachers. program I had started in August 1976 just before summer 1977, so it was a very, very busy—but extremely fun, creative, and productive—period A field trip seals the deal of time. How could one have been working at Abrams Planetarium Fine. I arranged a field trip for all of us on a weekend and we had then and not have fun? Every day was a new set of creative challeng- a pleasant drive in autumn weather to Rochester where I, in turn, led es in how to solve a problem with a production underway or teach a them on a guided behind-the-scenes tour of the facility, including couple of classes in live shows in the theater. theater time with me at the controls of the state-of-art Zeiss projector Some of my fellow students in the master’s program were Dave and the special effects system. Case closed: I had worked there. It also Duszynski (later an IMAX® theater director), Ray Shubinski (future led to a lively question and answer session on the drive back to campus. planetarium director in Louisiana), Carl Wenning (astronomy profes- What better place to do my student teaching than Strasenburgh? A sor in the midwest), and Mike Bakich (currently the senior editor at couple of phone calls set things in motion—also a first for them—and Astronomy magazine). (not surprising to those of you who know him) Director Don Hall was From there, it was on to the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space pleased as punch to have an extra staffer at no cost. I got the added Museum’s Albert Einstein Planetarium in Washington, DC for about benefit of being able to live at home rent free and could go to/from the 13 years, and then to the Swedish Museum of Natural History in Stock- city every day with my dad on his way to work at Xerox. holm for the start-up project that became the ImaxDome®/digital plan- The complication was that I had to take a course in Stellar Astro- etarium now known as Cosmonova. physics that was only offered that same autumn term. That, however, was fixed by Strasenburgh Staff And the circle is complete Astronomer Bill Gutsch jumping in and being my teacher/advisor Here is where I come full circle: to the visit with my former Earth for the class, which I could take remotely. So, not only was I actively Science teacher who was sitting in the theater that I helped build student teaching and carrying out related projects every day, I was also and run for almost 20 years. If I hadn’t got that copy of Sky & Tele- beholden to the college to get through this class, too. scope from SUNY Brockport Planetarium Director Robert Ander- Probably the strangest thing I had to do during my student teaching son, had I not volunteered to help out with that summer kid’s class semester was translating our traditional Star of Bethlehem show into at the Rochester Museum and Science Center and had not filled out Spanish. This request had come from the Rochester Spanish-speaking that part time job application, things might have been a whole community, but had never come to fruition. The only problem with lot different. When I pointed out the impression of having come that: I didn’t speak any Spanish. Fortunately, our new composer in resi- full circle to him as the lights came up at the end of the show we dence, Cary Ratcliff, did. I worked with the local Spanish association on watched in Cosmonova, I think he was as moved by the thought as the script and adapted the visuals and Cary worked with the narrator I was when it hit home. But, then he quickly quipped, “Gee, I hope and remixed the soundtrack. For the first time since opening its doors not full circle.” Good point, as we are both still fit for fight with time in January 1968, Strasenburgh Planetarium had a Spanish version of for potentially more adventures ahead! I its popular show that premiered during the lead-up to the Christmas season in 1971, where it had an enthusiastic response from its intended audience.

Survived teaching and stellar strophysics In the end, I survived both student teaching and the stellar astrophysics class and went on to get my B.S. teaching degree from Oswego in May 1972, which presented another interesting “hitch” of sorts. When you got a teaching degree in New York State, you were expected to also get your master’s degree within five years or you would lose your teaching certification. I knew there was no way that I would be able to both work and take classes, so I decided to continue on with school, especially since I was already in the “take college classes” mode. The question now was where. There were two master’s degree programs in planetarium education

Vol 49 No 3 September 2020 Planetarian 55 Sound Advice Jeff Bowen Bowen Technovation 7999 East 88th Street Indianapolis, Indiana 46256 USA +1 317-863-0525 [email protected]

LED video displays: How, what, when, where, why

Most video installations in exhibit work now feature flat panel or “direct view” LED technologies for many reasons. But installing an LED video wall in place of using projection could compromise the visitor experience. Direct view LED is a display type involving the use of light-emitting diodes mounted directly on a printed circuit board. These can be multi- screen video walls or single screen “televisions.” This column is focused on multi-screen flat, curved, ceiling, and floor/wall-type systems. These systems consist of a matrix of small modules or tiles that are Figure 1. Tiled LED video display. All images provided by author. tied together to create a wall of various sizes and various resolutions. Figure 1 shows an example of a very large case study. Here is information about how to make decisions regarding these technologies and how, what, when, where, and why to use them. Included are comments from some of the industry’s best LED display designers, engineers, and consultants. Their names are listed at the end of the article.

When 1. When is the best time to use a direct view LED solution rather than projection? Is projection obsolete? The best application for direct view displays is in areas where the images are competing with light levels. A major factor in whether this will work or not is the viewing distance from the display. This is always the most important deciding factor. More information appears below about how this as applies to large format video walls. Figure 2. Pixel pitch effect on screen size. If there will be visitor activity or display objects, ductwork, and other obstructions between the projection and the screen, a flat wall The systems can be designed with one input to feed the entire system solution can prevent shadowing. or with multiple inputs. In the first method the displays actually process and remap the Pros and cons entire incoming image to all the displays. In the second method you 2. What are the “cons” associated with this choice? can send higher resolution native content to smaller sections of the In addition to needed high cost of support infrastructure, Tom larger display, taking best advantage of the native resolution of each Wilmers (DPI) notes that “Direct-View LED is generally a higher cost display or smaller group of displays. option if the viewing distances are relatively close. When consider- Many producers find this technology to offer a much greater ing larger pixel-pitch options and longer viewing distances, LED solu- dynamic range available due to the high contrast and true blacks of tions can sometimes be in the same general price range as high lumen the LED display. projectors, depending on the image size. LED systems may require more A comment from D’nardo Colucci (The Elumenati): “I would say complicated mounting and infrastructure when dealing with non-flat the main consideration is aspect ratio and resolution. As you are aware surfaces, where a projector solution can take advantage of image warp the resolution of a LED is limited by the size of the pixels, i.e. a 1080p and blending.” display at 1.2mm pixel pitch is 110 inch diagonal. If you want native 4K, In addition, Diane Schildnecht (Irwin Seating) points out that the the display would need to be 220 inch. It is just math.” angle of the seat backs can affect off axis viewing. You need a lot of adjustment points to keep the individual panels What about color? aligned edge to edge for a seamless look, and the system should be cali- 4. What are the color differences between projection and direct view brated regularly so all the panels match color and brightness. LED? The color gamut of an LED system can achieve near REC2020 reso- What about content production? lution, at an extremely high brightness level. To get close with projec- 3. Are there considerations for content production related to using direct tion, pure RGB laser illumination with a 3-chip DLP projector would view LED solutions? be the closest match for higher brightness applications. Similar results Content production methods are often very non-standard and are could be achieved with LED illuminated projection, but that yields a usually based on Adobe After Effects or animation software comps. much lower brightness output than everything else.

56 Planetarian Vol 49 No 3 September 2020 Can they be touched? neers. In the design phase you need to make sure any seating, exhibits, 5. Can the display surfaces be touched when used in public spaces? benches etc. below the area can be removed for repair and servicing. This varies greatly from manufacturer to manufacturer. We suggest From Tim Fausel (Watchfiresigns) “Engineering for mounting need you request an official statement in writing regarding this when you to be specially addressed. The horizontal and vertical viewing angle are interviewing products. capability of display would remain the same.” How about interactive touch? How much space? 6. How is interactive touch for LED 11. How much space is typically walls integrated? needed behind the display for service/ This is achieved in a couple of ways. cooling/cabling? There are many infrared touch type As you can see from the next two overlays that can be added. Most will comments this really varies from be custom ordered, as they will need manufacturer to manufacturer. One Figure 3. Adding an interactive overlay. to match the aspect ratio and size of thing to keep in mind is that ADA the display. requirements do not allow any display However, we have designed to extend from the wall more than 4 systems that use gesture technologies inches. to provide the user interface. These From Ton Wilmers, “For most sensors can be installed overhead, Radiance LED displays, the product beside, or at the top of the display. is designed to be 100% front access Also, very inexpensive pressure sensi- and front service/installation. When mounted with our standard and ADA tive foot mats can send switch closures Figure 4. LED viewing distances. to media player to trigger different compliant frames onto a fixed wall, no scenes. They are fun for kids, too. additional cooling is required the total

When do you curve, when do you facet? 7. When is it best to use curved vs. faceted LED walls and vice versa? Again from Tom Wilmers: “Truly flexible LED panels are generally only available in larger pixel pitch options that require longer viewing distances. For fine pitch applications, the precision cabinets required to create the seamless display will rely on facets to achieve a curved effect. When engineered and mounted properly, even a faceted LED display will look like a natural curve, especially when content is active.”

How do you calculate? 8. How do you calculate viewing distance relative to pixel pitch? From Dave Olson (BP Marketing): “Based off an article from Sixteen:Nine (https://www.sixteen-nine.net/) we use distance (m) = 1.5 x pitch (mm). It should be noted that fill factor is the real issue. If a Figure 5. Understanding pixel pitch is important. 2.5 mm pitch LED panel had 90% fill factor like a DLP, the viewing distance would be 0.5 m instead of 3.7 m using the above formula.” depth of the system is less than 4” off the wall. From Neil Silber (Planar): “General rule of thumb is the ‘times 10’ From DO: We prefer to have at least 1.0m clearance for installation rule. Multiple the pixel pitch times 10 and change millimeters to feet even for front serviceable panels.” to get the optimal viewing distance. So, 1.5 mm pitch would be 15 feet Special thanks to the following who contributed to this issue: for optimal viewing, but 7.5 feet for comfortable viewing, meaning •• Neil Silber, Planar the content still looks great, but the human eye could theoretical- •• Tod White, BWA Associates ly resolve an individual pixel at that distance.” That would result in •• Tom Wilmers, Digital Projection seeing “screen door effect.” •• Tim Fausel Regional Sales Manager, Watchfire •• D’nardo Colucci, The Elumenati What does pixel pitch mean? •• Dave Olson, BP Marketing 9. What does pixel pitch actually mean?

There is a misunderstanding about this. Many think this means the Signing off size of the pixel or LED, but it is the amount of measured space between The December issue will be my last after authoring this column the center of one pixel to the center of the next. This is measured in for about 25 years. It will feature a collection of my most impor- millimeters. So, a 10mm pitch means 10mm between “dots,” a 4mm tant columns and some thanks to some people who have been mean 4mm center to center. The tighter the pitch the better the resolu- influential in my planetarium work. If you want me to cover any tion and clarity of text. However price also jumps dramatically. specific topics, send an email to [email protected]. I Special considerations? 10. What are special considerations when using these overhead horizon- Jeff Bowen has worked worldwide as a planetarium and exhibit specialist tally or curved? since 1985 and has been named a Fellow of GLPA and IPS. Jeff also served Access and safety are major considerations. This means careful until recently on the IPS Sound Committee and is the founder of Bowen Productions, Bowen Technovation, and AstroFX. design is a must with inclusion of certified reports from structural engi-

Vol 49 No 3 September 2020 Planetarian 57 41 South Haritina Mogoșanu Space Place at Carter Observatory 40 Salamanca Road Kelburn, Wellington 6012 New Zealand [email protected]

Navigating using a sky full of creatures

One of the blessings of the planetarium is that it can take Wouldn’t it be great? you from one side of the world to the other in a heartbeat—or They came back in 2009 for another Polynesian Navigation festival, a few, depending on how fast you can maneuver the buttons. this one held under the International Year of Astronomy banner. The I could never get enough of “taking off” from Earth and seeing the acclaimed music composer Rhian Sheehan (Capcom Go, We Are Stars, great expanse of the Pacific Ocean from my planetarium seat behind We Are Astronomers from NSC Creative and many others), who just so the controls. It felt a bit like being on your own little space ship. happens to live in Wellington, held a public concert called “Under the The closest I ever got to doing this for real was when flying back Sails” for the occasion. from Europe. I remember vividly one night staring at a dark sky where After that, the project morphed into a wish. Wouldn’t it be great if Orion was starting to turn upside down and seeing the reflection of one day we could co-create a planetarium show in which we could its belt stars in the airplane’s wing. We were crossing the equator and look at all these stories? Stories from the Europeans, the Vikings, the my mind was wandering to the indigenous inhabitants of the Pacific who existed there thousands of years before airplanes were born, paddling in their waka/vaka and reaching destinations that for me now were just an airport away. How did they go from pilotage to the blue water navigation that allowed them to cross the vast expanses of ocean?

Indulging navigation obsession Their accomplishments fueled my interest (nearly an obsession) with navigation. In December 2005 I attended my first indigenous navigation wananga (workshop) at the Carter Observatory in Wellington with navigator Jack Thatcher. He is a man of the sea who navigates his waka without instruments, following the Pacific traditional methods. Jack worked with the legendary Mau Piailug and Nainoa Thompson and he is also an amazing public speaker. His enthusiasm and love of the stars is obvious to anyone who works with him. In 2006 he invited us to Tauranga to “Pathway of the living,” artwork created by the author for the program. attend the ceremonies of establishing the first Star Compass, a monument for the courage and knowledge of their ancestors. Later on, in 2007, we were organising a Polynesian Navigation Festi- Chinese, the Arabs, the Pacific people; they all navigated. What was it val at the Carter Observatory and met a few more amazing people: Sir that drove them across such vast distances? What were they seeking Hector Busby, who built the waka that took them from New Zealand and where is our next frontier? All these people, coming in their little to Tahiti navigating by the stars; navigators HoturoaBarcklay-Kerr and boats to see new worlds, are so much like space explorers of now. The Stanley Conrad, along with some of their crew; and, of course, Jack way they problem-solve their own environments is obvious in the came back as well. It was the best. way they constructed their respective knowledge systems. These people really know their night sky; theirs is full of ocean crea- An opportunity for a planetarium show arose in 2019 with the cele- tures. The Milky Way is TeIkaRoa, the Big Fish. Scorpius is the fishhook bration of 250 years since the first encounters between Māori, the of Maui, TeMatau A Maui. The horizon is split into 32 houses and direc- indigenous people of New Zealand, and European navigators. The New tions are given by the winds and stars. Zealand government provided funding for projects showcasing New We made full use of the planetarium. We would listen to their Zealand’s dual heritage and its shared future, promoting the value of stories, their voices projected under the dome and while we looked at indigenous knowledge and cultural practices and our potential as an the stars as they would appear at different latitudes. increasingly multicultural society.

58 Planetarian Vol 49 No 3 September 2020 We are now fully engaged in the creation of a planetarium show Looking to the stars for reference called The Navigators, where we tell the story of the two sides, the Euro- Indigenous navigation in the Pacific was accomplished by looking pean and the Pacific. The Pacific navigation concept includes Polyne- at the sky for guidance and using stars as reference points, without sian navigation, recognizing the knowledge that has been kept and using instruments to precisely measure directions and distance. taught by Micronesian Mau Piailug and other Pacific navigators. Instead, navigators made mental approximations of the distances and then used environmental markers to acquire landfall. Here is a glimpse of what we have found out so far According to Lewis, oceanic navigation is composed of three main The scaling down in long distance voyages in the Pacific after the tasks: 1500’s, combined with European contact, missionaries, and modern •• orientation, course setting and steering, history, facilitated the loss of dissemination channels of the tradition- •• dead reckoning; and al navigation knowledge, which survived by the beginning of the •• homing in on the target island. century in a few navigators scattered throughout the Pacific and in It started historically as east-west navigation between the islands information cyphered in traditional stories and cultural practices. located in the tropical zone to the north of the equator, using the However, after the 1960’s, the traditional methods of navigation saw vertical paths of the rising and setting stars as directional markers and a revival thanks to dedicated people who worked together to decode Zenith stars for fixing the latitude. and share the information available at the time working with descen- Then the star compass concept was created by carefully observing dants of the ancient navigators or current navigators from Melanesia the rising and setting azimuths of stars, which allowed for directional to Micronesia and Polynesia. orientation, given that the positions of the stars on the celestial sphere What we call Pacific navigation today is a combination of ancient does not apparently change generally for thousands of years. The main practices that have been recreated from various sources revisited at navigational stars were grouped in segments which later gave the 32 times through modern interpretation and learning. For instance, the houses of the compass, which initially were not equal but marked current interpretation of the star compass used now by the Polynesian according to the rising and setting points of the stars. The houses were Voyaging Society was reconstructed by Hawaiian navigator Nainoa also marked and named according to the predominant winds. Thompson from the teachings of Micronesian navigator Mau Piailug Instead of constellations/asterisms as we know them for navigation- and his own observations. The star compasses used by current Māori al purposes, stars formed linear constellations (asterisms) where stars of and Polynesian navigators are an adaptation of both Mau Piailug’s and the same declination “travel the same road”—the original zenith star Nainoa Thompson’s compasses. being replaced throughout the night by other stars in the same declina- Young Māori navigators are now encouraged to learn mathematics tion, thus keeping the zenith marker even when the main star has set. and astronomy. This does not change or alter the ancient knowledge, The concept of etak was introduced, a technique of dead reckoning but supports the learning of it in modern context. The acceleration of by using stars in different houses and a reference point between the the learning is now done in planetariums, something which Nainoa stars and the navigator (usually an island) to estimate the distance trav- Thompson started himself, and many voyaging societies have now (portable) planetariums, which they use as an aide for their teaching elled. and learning. As the ancestors of the Polynesians settled more of the Pacific, The revival of the traditional methods of navigation in the Pacific further techniques were developed, such as different markers to indi- started in the 1960’s, when concomitantly the Polynesian Voyag- cate the direction north-south—pairs of meridian stars, which are stars ing Society was founded and navigator David Lewis, (1917-2003), after that reach the meridian at the same time. sailing with a number of active navigators, independently found out The mental concept of the star compass allowed the navigator to that Oceanians shared a common system of wayfinding, with regional know at any time the position of the vessel by looking at the stars, variations, that could be traced as far away as Indonesia. knowledge used to orient, set the course, steer, and dead reckon. Steer- The system was based on non-instrument observations of the stars ing, orienting, and dead reckoning was also done with the help of the and other heavenly bodies, as well as of the changing patterns of the waves, winds, and clouds. Homing was done by reading environmental clouds, wind, and sea and by observing birds and the marine environ- signs such as land birds, clouds, waves, and other patterns. ment, sometimes alike but more often different from modern navigational practices. Knowledge driven to solve problems Since Pacific navigation knowledge has been orally transmitted, Traditional Pacific navigation is a clear example of a successful it had many variations and, invariably, some information was lost divergent knowledge system that arose to problem solve the issue throughout the centuries. For example, no physical permanent repre- of territorial expansion in an environment that was different from sentations for the Polynesian star compass have been found, although the one where humans traditionally evolved—a large mass of land the concept was fully in use, a fact reflected in the oral traditions and pinpointed by sources of water. In contrast to where their ancestors stories. left from, indigenous people of the Pacific thrived in an environment However, the indigenous navigation techniques from the Pacific that stretched across large masses of water pinpointed by islands by represent a unified alternative concept to latitude navigation that we developing new rules and customs that ensured their survival in those are accustomed to, one that was established by people who used their specific geographical conditions. This is the quintessence of creating a geographical environment to their benefit. culture. What blows my mind about this is how different these two navi- Haritina Mogoșanu is an astrobiologist. Director of the New Zealand gation systems are, yet how similar. I’ve been long fascinated with Astrobiology Network, director of Milky-Way Kiwi, and senior science biases and mindsets, and this story has the opportunity to show communicator at Museums Wellington, she is actively involved in creating that the same problem can be solved in more than one way. It is this networks that engage space scientists with communities through hands- problem solving, the creation of new knowledge, and seeing some- on programmes. Haritina came to New Zealand from Romania for the night sky and has been working at Space Place-Carter Observatory since 2005, thing from different points of view that we want to communicate to presenting and promoting space sciences to thousands of young New young people here. This is, once again, a very exciting project and we Zealanders. will keep you posted with our progress. I

Vol 49 No 3 September 2020 Planetarian 59 LIP Service Karrie Berglund Digitalis Education Solutions, Inc. Bremerton, Washington 98337 USA [email protected]

e-LIPS: Success!

The first ever virtual LIPS took place July 14-16, just a few days ago I determine the best location for these. as I write this. I have been meaning to organize LIPS virtual sessions for What happened during e-LIPS? The full schedule is accessible from the past few years to supplement the annual symposium, but I never the LIPS sessions page (sites.google.com/view/lipsymposium/sessions). found the time to do so. Coronavirus restrictions forced me to make it I will provide an overview and a brief description of highlights here. happen. e-LIPS was free to attend, and there was no pre-registration required. Focus on virtual presenting We used Digitalis’ Zoom meeting account, which allows up to 100 Many e-LIPS sessions focused on virtual presentations: Sample activi- attendees per session. We had a high of 88 attendees for one session, ties, suggested technology, ideas for audience engagement, best practic- and the lowest was 64. es, and more. As I noted in my previous column, I have been impressed I had a few goals for e-LIPS: First and foremost, to prove to myself by how many planetarians have adapted to this new reality, and I that I could do it. I learned something during every session about online programs. scheduled Zoom test Eddie Goldstein’s keynote workshop “Planetarium Shows: What Are times with present- We Trying to Achieve?” focused on the work of Marshall McLuhan, ers to minimize tech a Canadian philosopher who studied media and media theory. Eddie issues, and luckily centered his e-LIPS workshop on three McLuhan concepts that he there were no major connected to planetarium presentations: problems. 1. The medium is the message: Content is less important than the Secondly, I wanted structures of media; structures shape human consciousness in to prove that I could profound ways. not only do it, but 2. Extensions of humanity: Media act as extensions (or exter- do it effectively. A nalizations) of our ideas, thoughts, and/or feelings. McLuhan summarized his idea as: “All media are extensions of some human faculty—psychic or physical.” 3. Hot and cool media: Hot media engages one sense completely and demands little interaction from the user. Cool media John Erickson demonstrated some inter- engages several senses and demands audience participation. esting uses of Zoom’s Eddie experimented with two types of online interaction during his virtual backgrounds. session. For the first part of the workshop, he asked participants to raise Screens captures by their physical hand and wait for him or me to spotlight them before Rosemary Walling. speaking to the entire group. For the second half, we used the Zoom chat function. I assisted Eddie with finding questions or comments on a particular topic as the chat comments can fly by quickly when many people are typing at once. At the end of his workshop, Eddie asked the audience to comment on which type of interaction they preferred. I’ll let you watch the recording to learn how people answered. Eddie shared an excerpt from a 1977 interview about McLuhan’s book The City as Classroom1 that I and many others found quite power- successful LIPS-style workshop is generally a blend of large group and ful, so I will include those comments here (full interview at www. small group discussions, so it was critical to have these options avail- youtube.com/watch?v=aX9j_3bxZU0). able. Zoom has a breakout room function that served the small group The City as Classroom began out of Ivan Illich. His book Deschool- discussion function. ing Society (1970) had challenged me. Illich was quite right in suggest- Next, I wanted to continue to offer a range of sessions in order to ing that we live in a new environment in which all the answers are appeal to a variety of attendees, and I didn’t want to overwhelm people now outside the school room and therefore he suggests, why don’t we with Zoom time. I find it hard to concentrate on a video conference for close the schools? I say, why not put the questions in the classroom? If more than 60 minutes at a time, so I scheduled breaks between sessions; the answers are now outside, let’s get the questions inside and set up a these breaks also meant that presentations could run a bit long if there dialogue between the outside and the inside. was interest and need for a few more minutes. Short breaks were used I believe—I bet you do, too—that planetariums are a powerful tool for presenter switch over time and longer breaks were for lunch, catch- for encouraging questions. We presenters of live, interactive planetar- ing up on other work, etc. To record all sessions and chats. I will post on the LIPS website when 1 The City as Classroom: Understanding Language and Media, Eric McLuhan, Kathryn Hutchon, and Marshall McLuhan, 1977, Book Society of Canada.

60 Planetarian Vol 49 No 3 September 2020 A group photo from the final e-LIPS session required two screenshots. Screenshot from John Erickson. ium programs should foster that dialogue between the inside and the attended her session, you are probably also still occasionally doing the outside. hand movements while chanting “we need more light!” Cassandra’s session description summed up her presentation nicely: Reopening our domes We Share the Same Moon is a free online resource that uses stories as Another highlight for me was Shira Moskowitz’s session about stimulus for science learning. We Share the Same Moon offers over 30 reopening our domes. Shira is planetarium director at the Maryland folktales from Europe, Asia, Africa, and America. It is designed for use Science Center in Baltimore, which has reopened but with restrictions with audiences from 3 years old, with stories created especially for visu- and cleaning requirements (note that I am writing this in late July— ally impaired audiences, deaf students, and children for whom English the previous statement may no longer be accurate when you read this). is an additional language. Resources also include 20 science workshops Shira decided to try a drop-in approach to programming in their linked to science topics such as light, eclipses, the solar system, and dome: They leave the planetarium doors open, and a presenter discuss- constellations. es a scheduled topic for 20 to 30 minutes. Audience members can enter If you are not familiar with the website, I encourage you to check it as long as there is room, and they can exit at will. After each drop-in out: WeShareTheSameMoon.org session, the dome is closed for cleaning. Shira’s session led to some interesting discussions, such as how to The first-ever LIPS service award train/support a presenter for this type of free form presentation, safety But the best part of e-LIPS for me personally was receiving the first concerns, number of staff needed to run effectively, how this style ever LIPS Service award. The year 2020 was the 10th LIPS, and Andy might work in other domes (digital and analog, different sizes), and Kreyche decided that this milestone should be recognized even though more. we were not meeting in person. A final session highlight for me and for many attendees was Cassan- In recognition of my work starting LIPS and keeping it going, Andy dra Wye’s “We Share the Same Moon.” Cassandra is a profession- put together a short presentation. He spoke for a few minutes, and he al storyteller who lives in Bristol, England. We were lucky enough to had arranged for several other people to speak, including Ian McLen- experience her storytelling in action during her e-LIPS session. If you (Continues on page 63)

From left: The glass award I was honored to receive for my LIPS Service; the decorated cigar box that held more than 50 postcards with LIPS supporters’ comments, and a few of the postcards I received. Andy Kreyche transcribed emailed messages from more than 50 LIPS supporters on the back of the cards. He tried to select postcards that represented the senders. For example, the card at bottom left was used for Kaoru Kimura and Ian McLennan’s comments, and the card at top was for Emily Peavey’s comments. All photos by author.

Vol 49 No 3 September 2020 Planetarian 61 Mobile News Network Susan Reynolds Button Quarks to Clusters 8793 Horseshoe Lane Chittenango, New York 13037 USA +1 315-687-5371 [email protected] quarkstoclusters.wordpress.com

Reassessment and redesign

In my last column, I discussed “keeping the momentum.” Of course E-conference panel “Outreach with a Portable we actually need to do more than that. Planetarium” One year, while planning to revisit one of our elementary schools, I This Zoom session was a wonderful way to get to know mobile learned that the new principal had decided to change all the teachers dome directors from around the world. If you have questions for them to different grade levels! as a result of watching the session, or even if you simply have a ques- Most of the teachers were really upset because now they had to tion for an experience mobile dome professional, you can contact me ditch all of their tried and true lessons and support materials that took or them directly. them so long to perfect. Now they had to pivot to new content and age Since all sessions were recorded, our session can be found on the appropriate strategies. IPS YouTube Channel. For your convenience, there is a link on the The principal’s goal was to refresh the entire school; to shake teach- resource page for portables planetariums at www.ips-planetarium.org/ ers out of their “business as usual” attitude and inspire them to be page/portableresources. I creative. There is some merit to that. The challenge these teachers faced actually promoted collaboration across grade levels and teachers were invigorated as they brainstormed curriculum development. Twenty years ago I planted ten blueberry bushes in our yard. There are five varieties ranging from early to late bearing. This year they are fully loaded with fruit; each day I can pick enough to use on our cereal and enough to give a pint or two to give away. Sometimes I freeze them to have for a treat in the winter. When picking berries one learns to pick along the row in one direction and not to quit there. If you go back along the row the opposite way you always find more berries that were, from the other view, hiding behind a branch or leaves. To be extra sure you’ve gotten all the ripe berries, you need to step back and survey each bush as a whole to find the last hiding gems. Marco Avalos—Costa Rica Change your perspective [email protected] What have these two stories got to do with mobile domes? Well, this pandemic has taught us, and given us time and inspiration, to examine our programs from some new perspectives. We can look for the gems Ruth Grützbauch—Austria in our past ways of being and working. We can reassess our overarching [email protected] mission and specific goals and learn new ways to use our talents and showcase the gems we already have created while designing new treats for our audiences during the season of COVID-19 and beyond.

Building a home planetarium podcast For some interesting musings from home planetarium veteran Gary Likert, I suggest that you listen to his extensive podcasts. He says, John Meader—Maine, United States “Symbolizing both the realistic and admittedly fake setting, the home [email protected] planetarium walks that tightrope between reality and make-believe.” His content includes defining the equipment, constructing your own planetarium, and examples of content for it. The home planetarium community is a group of creative, dedicated and persistent folks whose love of planetariums and astronomy is extremely uplifting. Go to: www.podbean.com/media/share/pb-dv58a- db3ac5?utm_campaign=w_share_ep&utm_medium=dlink&utm_ source=w_share Tilo Hoenschlaeger—Germany Susan Button is a past president of IPS and has chaired the Portable Plane- tilo.hohenschlaeger tarium Committee since 1988. She is a retired portable planetarium direc- @schulplanetarium.de tor for the Onondaga Cortland Madison BOCES in Syracuse, New York, Guilherme Marranghello—Brazil USA. [email protected]

62 Planetarian Vol 49 No 3 September 2020 Katahdin Woods and Waters certified as International Dark Sky Sanctuary

Katahdin Woods and Waters National Monument in Maine has been designated as an International Dark Sky Sanctuary. The sanctuary designation is the second of its kind in the National Park Service and distinguishes the monument for the exceptional quality of its naturally dark night skies. It is the first International Dark Sky Place certified in the state of Maine and New England. Katahdin Woods and Waters National Monument was established August 24, 2016 to protect the extraordinary natural and cultural landscape of the north Maine woods, including the mountains, woods, and waters east of Baxter State Park, where the East Branch of the Penobscot River and its tributaries, including the Wassataquoik Stream and the Seboeis River, run freely. IDA established the International Dark Sky Places Program in 2001 to encourage the protection of natural dark night skies around the globe through responsible lighting policies and public outreach and education. The designation will be celebrated during the seventh annual Stars Over Katahdin event, scheduled for September 12, 2020. This event hosted by the Friends of Katahdin Woods and Waters provides visitors an opportunity to learn about the monument’s dark skies and the continued efforts of the National Park Service and IDA to preserve natural night skies. A virtual version of the event is also being prepared in case an in-person gathering is not advisable at the scheduled time. For more information about the IDA, visit the International Dark-Sky Association’s website at www.darksky.org.

Katahdin Woods and Waters National Monument. Photo: John Meader. (Yes, the same John Meader referenced on the preceding page. -Ed.)

(LIP Service, continued from page 61) nan, Susan Button, Toshi Komatu, Mark Webb, Keith Davis, and Joanne hung out on Zoom chatting with other attendees during the Young. After the prepared speakers, there was time for anyone to share breaks, so they were obviously not overwhelmed by the amount comments. of Zoom time. At LIPS, as with most planetarium conferences, On top of arranging the speakers, Andy shipped several things to break time is nearly as valuable as session time for catching up my co-worker Joshua at Digitalis so that Joshua could present them on with friends, creating new connections, and sharing ideas. screen. These items were (see pictures): 4. People who really wanted to attend made it happen, even if •• An engraved glass award reading “LIPS Service Award 2020, Karrie time zones made it difficult. For example, Kaoru Kimura was Berglund, for ten years of stellar dedication and innovation.” there every day, despite the fact that we started each e-LIPS day •• A decorated cigar box with postcards from over 50 people sharing at midnight Japan time. That is dedication! what LIPS means to them. Andy collected these comments via 5. There is a real need for virtual LIPS-style workshops, which will email, transcribed each message onto a postcard, and then gath- continue even after coronavirus restrictions have lifted. The ered them up in that nice box. response to the Dome Dialogues e-conferences has also demon- •• A certificate of nearly $500 US in accumulated donations to the strated the desire for online professional development. Many cat shelter where I volunteer, PAWS of Bremerton, Washington people simply cannot travel to an in-person LIPS due to travel USA. Since one of my all time favorite PAWS residents recently expenses, visa requirements, etc., so we need to continue to received emergency vet care (which I can tell you from experi- offer online opportunities. I am currently thinking about addi- ence is NOT cheap), I was especially grateful for this. tional online LIPS workshops to take place before LIPS 2021. A huge thank you to everyone who sent comments and who spoke And speaking of LIPS 2021, the Fiske Planetarium at the University during the session. I want to give an extra-special thank you to Andy of Colorado Boulder is planning to host in 2021 since they couldn’t this for all of the time he spent organizing this and making it happen! LIPS year. They have fantastic plans, so cross your fingers that we can all is a wonderful community, and I am so grateful to be a part of it. meet in Boulder for LIPS 2021. The 2021 dates have not yet been set or even discussed as the future is so uncertain, but rest assured that I will Key e-LIPS lessons post updates on LIPS 2021 as soon as I can. I’d like to end with a few key lessons I learned from the e-LIPS. As always, I end with reminders about the Live Interactive Plane- 1. It takes much more time than I expected to organize an online tarium Symposium Facebook group and Google Group. These are conference. Part of that was undoubtedly because it was my great ways to keep conversations going while we are physically apart. first time, and I didn’t do things as efficiently as I will in the Contact me if you need information on how to join either group: future. [email protected]. I welcome your comments, ques- 2. Despite the fact that attendees were spread out around the world, it was indeed possible to create a sense of cohesion in sessions. Congratulations to our e-LIPS presenters for making Karrie Berglund is the director of education for Digitalis Education Solu- that happen! tions, Inc. and leads the Vision 2020 initiative on professional development. She is a former director of the Willard Smith Planetarium at Pacific 3. The amount of break time in the schedule worked well, and Science Center in Seattle, Washington, USA. several people commented on that. Many attendees simply

Vol 49 No 3 September 2020 Planetarian 63 A Different Point of View Ron Walker The Star Barn Planetarium P.O. Box 161 Cave Creek, Arizona 85327-0161 [email protected]

On censorship and killing viruses with invisible rays

Well it appears that my last attempt at liter- early childhood memory of the Boris Karloff ary nirvana was met with the brutal ax of film The Invisible Ray2 reinforced my deter- censorship. Oh, the horror! The horror! All I mination not to be in the room while the ray can do is try, try again.1 was on, but better safe then sorry. All kidding One would think that with all the extra aside, DO NOT be in the room when this beast time that the “virus” has afforded us it would is operating. be easy to catch up and get ahead with all of What better to control this lamp then the chores that life generates for us. Not for good old photographic enlarger timers. Fight- me. I still need to be under the pressure of a ing back over piles of good junk, I found deadline. my enlarger, complete with quart bottles of What bothers me the most, and it’s hard Dektol and acid fixer mixed in 1994. Ahhh, for me to believe, is I really miss the small remember the smell of acid fixer on your flow of people that had been visiting my little finger tips in the morning? dome. So when things open up, how will I Anyway I found my timers and they still adjust? Most of my seating is plastic Adiron- worked (no computer chips here) and set up dack chairs so it will be easy to place them a simple system that would allow me one six feet apart and stack the extras. I can easily minute to exit the room before “the ray” do a circle of ten chairs and keep within the was energized. The system allows for up to maximum of ten people gathering in one spot. an hour of operation before turning off and Again no problem as most of my shows have since I’m only planning on one show in any be given to ten visitors or less anyway. So, how one day, all of the ozone should have dissi- will I adjust? Actually, very well indeed. pated by the next morning. From everything But how do we keep visitors safe (as well I’ve read, things should be back to normal in as the host)? I can drench everything within a half hour and turning on the air handler reach in bleach (if I can find it in my local area) will move things along even faster, plus you but this doesn’t come across as very scientif- According to its wikipedia entry, the movie’s have the benefit of cleaning out all the mold ic, plus the smell will drive people away faster premise is “A visionary astronomer, Dr. Janos and other junk deep within the recesses of the Rukh (Boris Karloff), has invented a telescope then I can. No, something more interesting that can look far out into deep space, into the system. and exciting needs to be done (and something Andromeda Galaxy, and photograph light rays more in line with the planetarium) and that that will show the Earth's past.” It gets better. Keith’s captured quips, chapter would be to “Let The Sunshine In.” Not that “Looking at the remote past on a planetarium- twelve like dome in his lab, two of those ardently skep- I can unscrew the dome and allow the sun’s tical scientists, Dr. Benet (Bela Lugosi) and Sir (After seeing the IMAX movie Alaska): “I ultraviolet rays saturate the inside, nor can Francis Stevens (Walter Kingsford), watch a like the wolf film because of all the dead meat I generate a controlled reaction in the dome, large meteorite smash into the Earth a billion it showed. It was cool when the wolves ripped but I can use the destructive power of the years ago, in what is now the continent of Africa. out the meat and all that stuff. I think wolves powerful ultraviolet-C light ray to destroy Amazed by Rukh's demonstration, the pair invite him to go on an expedition to locate the impact are cool because we made paper wolves the that nasty villain. site.” Movie poster image: public domain. other day. I relly do like wolves and animals UVC light will actually mutate the DNA of and elephants.” the virus so it can no longer reproduce. This stuff is so powerful that “I liked the movie Wolves a lot. It was my 2nd favorite movie. My it is recommended to remove any plants from the room if you want first favorite movie is Jimmey Nuetron Boy Gennius.3” them to live. Some lamps will also generate ozone that will permeate “Have you explored Mars? I am gowing to.” those areas that the light misses. “The 3rd thing I learned that the sun is a star. Not even my Mom With something this potent, how will it affect you? Well, all I can knew that!” tell you is don’t be in the room when it’s on and don’t go in until it’s off and the ozone has broken down into simple oxygen. Perhaps an Ten years ago September 2010: Steve Tidey tells us in “Destruction Down Under” 1 The editor had to make last-minute major deletions to make pages fit and, with about the mindless destruction of the Canberra Planetarium. The much angst, took the the red pen to A Different Point of View. The reader should (Continues on page 67) rest assured that it was not censorship (because the editor does not have a Heart of Darkness and appreciates obscure literary references), but the simple mathe- 2 en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Invisible_Ray_(1936_film) matical fact that the number of pages in a bound publication must be divisible 3 He is referring to Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius, a 2001 animated movie from Nick- by 4. - Editor. elodeon.

64 Planetarian Vol 49 No 3 September 2020 

Joanne Young . 407-859-8166 . [email protected] . www.av-imagineering.com

Vol 49 No 3 September 2020 Planetarian 65 Book Reviews

April S. Whitt Fernbank Science Center 156 Heaton Park Drive NE Atlanta, Georgia 30307 USA [email protected]

Cosmos and beyond, inside galaxies, and Venus III

Cosmos: Possible Worlds Galaxies: Inside the Ann Druyan, National Geographic Part- Universe’s Star Cities ners, 2020. David Eicher, Clarkston Potter Publish- Reviewed by Francine Jackson, Ladd ers, 2020 Observatory, Providence, Rhode Island, Reviewed by Ray Lucas, Space Tele- USA. scope Science Institute, Baltimore, For anyone who has seen the latest Maryland, USA. version of Cosmos on the National The first words that come to mind Geographic Channel, reading this book when reading this book are “concepts” brings back many of the exemplar scenes and “context.” you are familiar with: the dog, before and The Dedication is to Dr. Brian May, after being a victim of rabies; the 1902 the gifted rock guitarist from the group eruption of Mount Pelee and the total Queen who finished a long-deferred PhD in astrophysics in recent destruction of Saint-Pierre, Martinique— years. The insightful foreword is by Dr. Jay Gallagher, a noted author- except for one prisoner, who was able to withstand the agonizing heat ity on galaxies at the University of Wisconsin, and the explanatory within his cell; Russian botanist Nikolay Vavilov and his incredible introduction is by the author himself, the editor-in-chief of Astronomy team of seed collectors; and many others. All are beautifully described, magazine. Eicher was inspired by Timothy Ferris’ landmark 1980 book bringing a lot of the historic, and very often unknown, elements of our Galaxies. It’s all here, in chapters titled “What Are Galaxies,” “Inside the scientific knowledge to life. Milky Way Galaxy,” “Nearby Galaxies: The Local Group,” “The Virgo And a part of this book is the love between the author and her Supercluster,” and “Galaxies to the Edge of the Universe.” husband, Carl Sagan. From their first meeting, as collaborators, to their This beautiful 256-page book which is filled with gorgeous color eventual 20 years together, the author not only speaks of their lives matte prints (a feature this reviewer preferred over glossy images) of together, but how his influence on her totally changed her life. From many amazing, varied, and spectacular galaxies is also an invaluable there, we are shown how one person can easily be a force within not key to the reader for unlocking an understanding of the many advanc- only a life, but a generation. es that have been made in the study of galaxies since Ferris’ iconic book As in the television series, the annual calendar, representing time on the subject was published in 1980. It represents the author’s attempt from the beginning, is mentioned, reminding us of our absolutely to recount and explain those advances and the concepts which they minuscule time frame in history. Also, the author, in the show and embody, and to place them in the context of our current understand- as written, compares our lives to those who have come before us, and ing of the nature of galaxies and how their structures form and evolve, how the evolution and the workings of the brain have been both plus the dynamic and physical and chemical mechanisms by which studied and met with amazement. they do so. One of my favorite vignettes is the absolutely unbelievable lives Whether for the very interested amateur astronomer or the student of bees: their colonization, their divisions into other neighborhoods, who has developed an interest in astronomy, and in particular, galax- their death ceremonies, and, of course, their “waggle dance” way to ies, and who wishes to develop a good fundamental base of understand- converse with their hive mates, all of which is mainly known because ing, or even for the researcher in other areas of astronomy, caught up of the incredible work of Karl von Frisch in interpreting much of their in keeping track of and contributing to research and developments in language. their own field of study and not so much in the area of galaxy studies, It really doesn’t matter whether you’ve seen all of the 13 Cosmos this book provides a good starting point. The book elaborates both episodes; this book can stand alone. It not only complements the show, concepts and context for our latest views of galaxies and their forma- but it can very easily entertain and instruct by itself. Cosmos: Possible tion and evolution, and of the nature of their distribution in the larger Worlds was also written as a love story about two people fortunate to context of the dynamic, expanding universe itself. have found each other, who, together, made science both interesting The author ties the reader’s most local reference frame, observing and understandable to all, for both the professional and the neophyte. the Milky Way Galaxy itself and the few other extragalactic objects It is a book worth reading. one can see from one’s own back yard or dark-sky site, to successively more distant and apparently faint objects visible only with good tele- April Whitt is an astronomy instructor at Fernbank Science Center in scopes. Atlanta, Georgia, USA. She shares that she is so old that she has flown on And, in some cases, the added benefit of modern CCD cameras— both the Kuiper Airborne Observatory (KAO) in 1995 and the Stratospher- cameras that can make long, cumulative exposures to record the faint ic Observatory for Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA) in 2015. light of the majority of much more distant objects and reveal their

66 Planetarian Vol 49 No 3 September 2020 structure with varying degrees of resolution and detail. Going even view it as a brilliant, cloudy planet, has a composition magnificent in beyond that, the author includes images from and discussions of some its complexity. of the latest findings on the most distant galaxies observed, which we For the reader who wishes to learn more about each section of see as they were when much nearer to the time of their formation in research, every chapter contains pages of reference, to enhance the the early universe. information, although the chapters already contain a plethora of The understanding and importance of several concepts have been knowledge. But, if any section within this book might pique the curi- nearly re-written since the publication of the Ferris book, such as newer osity of the reader, the authors have given a complete list of further findings on black holes which are now believed to be at the centers of knowledge. most galaxies, and the relative importance of major and minor galaxy Venus III has an incredible amount of information. For those looking mergers in galaxy formation and evolution. for a comprehensive volume of our next-door planetary neighbor, Similarly, ranging in scale from newer images and discussions of there isn’t a better choice. I features of local individual galaxies, it extends to mention some of the most distant galaxies in the universe, and to some of the latest findings (Different, continued from page 64) on the largest structures in the universe, galaxy clusters and superclu- destruction was substantial and Director Peter Williamson fears that sters of galaxies, and it even mentions the initial findings of gravita- the site owners might take the easy way out and simply demolish the tional waves by the LIGO detectors. place. The two other newer major topics that this reviewer would have liked to see included in prominent fashion would be the amazing Twenty-five years ago phenomenon of distant gravitationally-lensed galaxies magnified, September 1995: Richard McColman of the Morehead Planetarium distorted, and multiply-imaged by the shape of the spatial distribution writes a fascinating report on what went wrong on Apollo 13, specifi- of mass and dark matter in intervening massive galaxy clusters, and cally how a combination of a lot of small things all worked together to the much-increased role of multi-wavelength astronomy from x-ray, make a disaster. Well worth the read. UV, infrared, sub-millimeter, and radio wavelengths in addition to the “Home, dome on the range” is written by Gary Likert, who just understandably traditional optical focus in this book, and how those happens to be a home amateur planetarian like myself. As I see it, home topics fit into and add to our current understanding of galaxies. planetarians have come in three waves, of which Gary is a major player A big coffee table-type book might have allowed even the largest in the second wave. The first wave were the pioneers like Stephen images to be contained all on a single page with no page break in the Smith, who made his star projector way back in the 40’s as a 16-year- middle, but that likely would have made it a much more expensive old. We all know Dr. Richard Emmons, who built his home planetar- and physically unwieldy book. As they are, the images are still beauti- ium in his garage and then went on to drill star balls for anyone who ful and fit well within the context of this smaller shelf-sized book. This wanted one. is both a useful and beautiful reference book for those wanting a solid Gary, as a second wave star maker, started the Home Planetarium introduction to the current views on galaxy formation and evolution, Association, a group of dedicated if slightly crazy people who build and to the universe of galaxies in general. and operate their own home planetaria. The third wave are those of us who waited for retirement before walking that narrow path of build- Venus III: The View after Venus ing their own home domes. Perhaps I can get some of these late bloom- Express ers to talk about their efforts in this very strange world of the amateur. Edited by Bruno Bezard, etc. Springer, 2020. Forty-five years ago Reviewed by Francine Jackson. September 1975: The more things change, the more they stay the One thing a reader of a Springer publica- same, as true today as they were nearly a half century ago. In his article tion can be sure of: Any book you choose “The Planetarium Director,” Robert D. Neville notes “Back in the 40’s, will give all the information available on all a planetarium needed was a star projector that could project a good the subject. This is noted immediately after and accurate sky, a lecturer with knowledge and oratorical skills, suit- opening Venus III. Table 1 gives the basic able but highly stereotyped selections of music, a slide projector, and data of Venus, with comparisons to Earth an arrow pointer.” Sounds a lot like me. and Mars, and Table 2 lists 44 missions to He points out that today (remember, this was written in 1975), the Venus, from all countries, both success- most significant changes are in equipment design, program structures and failures. And the information they ing and scoring, methods of program presentation, and philosophy have accumulated from all the successful ones is outstanding. of program content and program subject matter. Sounds like it was Venus III is a set of papers which goes into all aspects of our twin written today. planet following the Venus Express mission. Each paper goes into Gerald Muhl, in his article “Seeking A Unique Role For Planetarium every detail of Venus, with major concentration on its incredible Educational Programing,” sums things up this way: “Current research atmosphere. Although there is a chapter on its interior structure, and seems to offer an escape from the apparent enigma facing planetari- another on surface composition, the atmosphere gets almost all the um school programs. A careful fusion of cognitive and effective objec- attention. tives in the preparation of school programs seems to offer promise of a Venus’s atmosphere cannot be more different than the Earth’s. As unique educational role for the planetarium.” such, each section of the atmosphere is given such attention, the reader Again, it is well worth everyone’s time to go back and review will almost believe each atom of it has been studied and analyzed. We many of these great articles. After all, those who ignore old articles are know its composition is mainly carbon dioxide, but there are minute doomed to repeat them, or some such clever wisdom. I traces of many, many varied elements and molecules. And, although we here on Earth mainly think that each layer of it is fairly similar, the After 40 years as a commercial, industrial, and feature film maker, for Ron research states otherwise. From studies of wave models, to that of the Walker controlling the universe in his "Star Barn Planetarium" was a natural cloud morphology, Venus III clearly has combined the best of the best step forward. He reports that surprisingly, viewers actually enjoy his shows, which unfortunately forces him to write new ones between naps. planetary scientists intent on alerting the reader that Venus, while we

Vol 49 No 3 September 2020 Planetarian 67 Adam Thanz How we do it Planetarium Director Tips and tricks to share Bays Mountain Planetarium 853 Bays Mountain Park Road Kingsport, TN 37660 [email protected] www.baysmountain.com

Easy piggyback mount for astrophotography

If you like to take pictures of the night sky, then this little project “How we do it” is an occasional column of tips and tricks submitted by might be fun for you. It is very easy and uses very little material, and planetarians. To submit your own tips, tricks, or methods of making your the beauty is that it can provide a better solution to piggyback astro- daily life easier, contact the editor at [email protected]. photography than a commercial camera mount you could buy. Most commercial mounts are very low profile and provide a crude tail bar to slide in the dovetail mount, the 1/4-20 bolts need to have a adjustment for pointing your camera to compose your shot. The shallow head. (See figure 1 again.) version described below allows for smooth, easy, and controlled move- Figure 1 and the illustration also show four 3/8 inch holes. This will ment of the camera to point. The ball head mount also includes a small allow a short, 3/8 inch bolt to pass through. This is what the ball head mounting plate so you can easily remove or attach the camera to the will thread on to. (Check the threading of your ball head in case it isn’t ball head whenever you like. The ball head mount may come with 3/8 inch.) Figure 2 shows the ball head threaded onto the wood stock. a tripod (or as a modular component) that you may already have. If The variety of holes is just for that, variety. You never know where not, they can be less costly than the commercial piggyback mount I you might want to mount the camera. mentioned before. The 3/8 inch bolt has one inch of threading. The wood is 7/8 inch Figure 1 shows the piece you make. It is simply a piece of wood stock thick. The bolt head is fully recessed in case it needs to be placed in with holes in it. I purposely chose a very strong piece of wood so it the hole in the middle of the dovetail bar. Thus, the threading that is wouldn’t flex. If you need to purchase a piece of wood, I would recom- exposed is 9/16 inch long. The key is that you want a 3/8 inch bolt that mend a 1x2 inch piece of red oak hardwood that is 12 to 18 inches long. won’t bottom out when it is threaded into the ball head. It needs to be a If you are able to do so, a thick enough piece of metal could also work, bit less so when you tighten the ball head onto the wood, the wood has but it would be much more difficult to mill. some “give” and acts as a rubber washer and will grip the ball head well. Wood is a great material to work with because of this give. It has a A handy dovetail mount very low cost, is easy to cut and drill, and doesn’t get cold like metal. It For my telescope, I have a dovetail mount on the top of the tele- can flex with large temperature changes, but very strong wood is less scope rings to attach any sort of accessory. The wood stock thus needs susceptible and cuts really cleanly. I should also mention that I used a to attach to the dovetail bar and the dovetail bar is held in place by drill press to make sure the holes were centered and very square to the the dovetail mount. The dovetail bar I use has a variety of holes in it wood. for all sorts of possible uses, but I’m using the two end holes that are Scientific Fact: Even though the farthest hole is enough for the 1/4 inch wide. This will allow a 1/4-20 bolt to slide through and then camera to point forward and not have the front of the telescope get thread into T-nuts that are inserted in the back side of the wood stock. in the way, you can place the camera right above the dovetail bar and (See the illustration.) point it anywhere. The key is the telescope mount. The mount already The benefit of using the two end holes of the dovetail bar is that it is needs to be polar aligned so you don’t get star trails. This allows you the strongest possible mounting. You can see the T-nuts on the top side to point the telescope anywhere while the telescope and mount as a of the wood stock in Figure 2. Please note that in order for the dove- (Continues on page 70)

Figure 1 (above): The mounting bar showing the underside where the dovetail bar attaches and the 3/8 inch bolt comes up through one of the recessed holes. Figure 2: The mount in use. The ball head can be used in any of four spots on the mounting bar. This allows the camera to be pointed anywhere in the sky 2 and even straight ahead if you need to clear the end of the scope. All photos by author.

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during his tenure and was involved in many large projects that trans- Free “Black Lives in Astronomy” resource guide Heading into retirement formed Indianapolis. To help fuel the growth, he added branches in "Black"Black LivesLives inin Astronomy,"Astronomy," aa newnew 8-page8-page resourceresource guideguide byby astronastron-- Jeff Bowen earlier this year announced his retirement and the key markets during this time frame. He attributes much of the growth omer/educator Andrew Fraknoi, includes written and video resourc-- passing of the mantle of Bowen Technovation, headquartered in India- to the team around him and the relationships developed with many es about and by 25 black astronomers, as well as general materials to napolis, Indiana, to a new generation. John Barry comes to Bowen after customers and key vendors with which they went to market. examine the history and issues facing black members of the astronom-- 25 years in the construction industry, previously owning a construc- John’s focus with Bowen is working on the strategic direction, oper- icalical community.community. tion supply company. The company experienced significant growth ations, and relationships with customers and vendors. John’s vision for Both older, established scientists and people early in their careers during his tenure and was involved in many large projects that trans- Bowen is to continue to provide unparalleled customer service, with are covered. It is aimed at the Astro 101 and amateur astronomer level, formed Indianapolis. To help fuel the growth, he added branches in innovative products and the best workforce in the industry. The team and thus does not include any technical materials. It is designed to give key markets during this time frame. He attributes much of the growth takes pride in making every job come alive. instructorsinstructors andand studentsstudents examplesexamples ofof authenticauthentic blackblack voicesvoices thatthat cancan to the team around him and the relationships developed with many In his free time John enjoys the many sports teams in Indianapolis, be shown in class or used in assignments. You can find it free of charge customers and key vendors with which they went to market. including the Pacers, Colts, and Butler Bulldogs. He is an avid race fan at http://bit.ly/blackastrohttp://bit.ly/blackastro.. John’s focus with Bowen is working on the strategic direction, oper- liking anything with four wheels. He also loves to travel the world and For a broader examination of the astronomy (and astronomers) ations, and relationships with customers and vendors. John’s vision enjoys many different cultures. of non-white cultures, see Fraknoi’s “Astronomy of Many Cultures” for Bowen is to continue to provide unparalleled customer service, ONE THOUSAND ONE at the website of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific, at http:// with innovative products and the best workforce in the industry. The I Book marks a milestone bit.ly/astrocultures.. I team takes pride in making every job come alive. Bowen’s competitive Bryant González Vásquez, the back- advantage will always be our team and the products we choose. packing astronomer who has been FULLDOME OnDemand adds flat-screen options In his free time John enjoys the many sports teams in Indianapolis, traveling and visiting planetarium Loch Ness Productions announces that it has added a flat-screen including the Pacers, Colts, and Butler Bulldogs. He is an avid race fan throughout South America, has written option to its FULLDOME OnDemand line. liking anything with four wheels. He also loves to travel the world and and published El Planetarista: A Guide to During the COVID-19 pandemic, with domes closed and planetari-- enjoys many different cultures. um professionals finding themselves in traditional classroom spaces, the Astronomy Outreacher in the Planetar- they can still teach astronomy and space science fundamentals using iums. these familiar shows. Bryant marked a milestone on his “OverFULLDOME the years, OnDemand we’ve had has inquiries always about offered flat-screen two formats—fisheye versions of our journey in late June this year. “Next shows.and prewarped Traditionally, for sphericalwe stayed mirror focused projection—in on shows for the rental dome packages. experi- Monday is my 1000th day of travel and ence,”Now some says Loch of them Ness have Productions a third format CEO Carolyn included, Collins 16:9 rectangularPetersen. “Now HD I will announce the book in all my social we’refor flat adding screens. a feature to our streaming rental packages.” networks and I will publish it in July. In FULLDOMELoch Ness Productions’ OnDemand own has shows always are offered the first two in the formats—fisheye catalog to get it I show all my experiences with South andthis option. prewarped The forcompany spherical is discussing mirror projection—in with other producers rental packages. adding American planetariums, give advice, Nowflat-screen some versionsof them haveof their a third shows, format too. included,For more 16:9information, rectangular please HD and mention some characteristics that I found during my travel and visit FULLDOMEOnDemand.com. for flat screens. what can be useful to the people who work in planetarium. The book Loch Ness Productions’ own shows are the first in the catalog to get is already translated into Portuguese. He hopes to translate the book thisHeading option. intoThe companyretirement is discussing with other producers adding into English during the upcoming months and also used it as part of a flat-screenJeff Bowen versions earlier of thistheir yearshows, announced too. For more his retirementinformation, and please the presentation in the virtual IPS2020 Conference in August. visitpassing FULLDOMEOnDemand.com of the mantle of Bowen Technovation,. headquartered in India- He is offering a free digital copy of the book to everyone would like napolis, Indiana, to a new generation. John Barry comes to Bowen after to use the information for their planetariums. 25 years in the construction industry, previously owning a construc- Go to mochilerosastronom.wixsite.com/travel/ tion supply company. The company experienced significant growth elplanetarista?lang=en to download and for more information. I (How we do it, continued from page 68) group will track the night sky correctly, even scope tube be in the way. 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70 Planetarian Vol 49 No 3 September 2020 ONE THOUSAND ONE

Vol 49 No 3 September 2020 Planetarian 71 Last Light April S. Whitt Fernbank Science Center 156 Heaton Park Drive NE Atlanta, Georgia 30307 USA [email protected]

Rated P for pandemic-penned planetarians

During the ongoing pandemic madness, Michael McCon- ville did an excellent job hosting e-conferences through the Dome Dialogues. Different speakers gave papers or presentations. Part of the “Not For The General Public” segment was Mike’s offering: All the ways that space can kill you, a detailed list of the perils of space travel. There was some good advice. If you’re ejected from a space craft without a spacesuit, don’t hold your breath. Breathe out slowly through an open mouth. You’ll feel the tingling in your mucus membranes as moisture evaporates, and you have 60 seconds to get back inside. You’ll also get I asked them if it was safe to be running tours during the pandemic. They said, “During an extraordinary sunburn. Your body will boil from the the what?” Courtesy xkcd comics, https://xkcd.com inside out, and freeze from the outside in. You’re really dead after 60 seconds. Really. After the final section, detailing the biological implications of of the fall semester this year. attempting intercourse in freefall, Mark Webb asked, “Are there any During a virtual staff meeting this summer, it was reported that the questions for Michael? I really hope so.” emergency generator is now working. Cat Hunt’s “Incest In the Stars: The Indian Drama Too Strange for A staff member noted that, “I’m not sure we really need to generate Bollywood” described one of her programs for Valentine’s Day celebra- any emergencies just now…” tions that featured star-crossed lovers, starring Sirius as Shiva. It was a Among the challenges of remote learning is that of students sabo- spicy story, after which Mark Webb suggested that “I guess you could taging others’ work. One of our instructors came up with a deterrent, tell people that we are star stuff, and then not define ‘stuff’ too well.” posted clearly with each lesson. “Warning: All inappropriate or disrespectful comments will be Is it s as in Sam or f as in Frank? removed, but only after I’ve taken a screenshot and sent it to your The successful SpaceX launch on 30 May brought color commen- parents.” tary from Mike McConville and Anna Green. Stories of earlier launch- Our IPS leaders spent time this summer transitioning the governing es brought up the launch of Apollo 12, struck twice by lightening just structure to the newly-elected board and the affiliate representatives after lift-off. to an advisory council. During the Zoom meeting, when the transition With alarms blaring and console lights flashing in the space craft, was complete, Benjamin Mendelssohn drew a line in the chat box: EECOM John Aaron told the crew to “flip SCE into AUX.” SCE is the ------New IPS Starts Here------signal conditioning equipment. Aaron had noticed a similar pattern in And, thinking ahead to post-pandemic times, start thinking of ideas data during a Command Module practice earlier, and recognized it in for celebrating the planetarium’s centennial. The first planetarium the Apollo 12 data. projector presentation took place in Jena in 1923, and the first planetar- CapCom Gerald Carr relayed the message, “Flip SCE to AUX.” ium in Munich opened in 1925. Back came Commander Pete Conrad’s acknowledgement, “Try FCE The Planetarium Centennial Working Group suggests celebrating to auxiliary. What the hell is that?” from fall 2023 through May 2025. That sounds about right. I Carr tried again. “SCE. SCE to auxiliary.” Alan Bean found the switch, flipped it to AUX, and the situation was resolved. Random neural firings during Zoom meetings, watching the little boxes with people in them: “If you have to cough, would you please put a mask on? Cherie Morrow is about an inch away from me.” Preparing to give his presentation, Ken Brandt wanted to know, “Is there an automatic hold at two minutes?” “This is a success in progress.” “We are as far from the 1980s as the 80s were from the 1940s.”

Keeping that sense of humor So many of our domes and facilities were, or still are, shut down. Fernbank Science Center is part of the DeKalb County School District Oh no! My marshmallow has become tidally locked! Courtesy xkcd comics, in Georgia, and subject to the remote teaching decision for the first part https://xkcd.com

72 Planetarian Vol 49 No 3 September 2020 REAL TIME UNIVER SE

INTERACTIVE EXPERIENCE

A u d i e n c e “Studio”: Easy r e s p o n s e and intuitive GUI s y s t e m

G a m e p a d , full Ipad control; Manual console CONNECTED COMMUNITY

D o m e D a t a 2 D o m e C a s t i n g

C l o u d & Social Network

STUNNING REALISM

Advanced terrain Volumetric trail and atmospheric and active nucleus e f f e c t s f o r c o m e t s

Scientific and volumetric Milkyway & globular clusters