The 2010 IPS Elections Four Candidates for President

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Vol. 39, No. 3 September 2010

Journal of the International Planetarium Society

Alexandria Highlights Start on Page 23

Articles

September 2010 Vol. 39 No. 3 6 Supplemental Fulldome Projection Declan De Paor, C. Jerome Oakley Executive Editor Sharon Shanks 12 Planetariums in the Virtual World Ward Beecher Planetarium Naelton Mendes de Araujo Youngstown State University 17 Destruction Down Under Steve Tidey One University Plaza 20 A Visit to Croatia Martin George Youngstown, Ohio 44555 USA 23 Under One Dome: In Alexandria +1 330-941-3619 [email protected] 24 IPS Service and Technology Awards 26 Four candidates for president Martin George Advertising Coordinator 55 A Week In Italy: Final Report Michele Wistisen Dr. Dale Smith, Interim Coordinator 57 Observe the moon around the world (See Publications Committee on page 3) 60 Doing no harm with children’s books Sharon Shanks

Membership Individual: $65 one year; $100 two years Institutional: $250 first year; $125 annual renewal Columns Library Subscriptions: $45 one year; $80 two years 62 25 Years Ago...... Thomas Wm. Hamilton All amounts in US currency 58 Book Reviews...... April S. Whitt Direct membership requests and changes of 64 Calendar of Events...... Loris Ramponi address to the Treasurer/Membership Chairman 37 Educational Horizons ...... Jack L. Northrup 4 In Front of the Console ...... Sharon Shanks Back Issues of the Planetarian 39 IMERSA News...... Judith Rubin IPS Back Publications Repository 43 International News...... Lars Broman maintained by the Treasurer/Membership Chair; 68 Last Light ...... April S. Whitt contact information is on next page 54 Mobile News...... Susan Reynolds Button 52 Partycles...... Alex Cherman Index 32 Past President’s Message ...... Susan Reynolds Button A cumulative index of major articles that have 31 President’s Message ...... Tom Mason appeared in the Planetarian from the first issue through the current issue is available online at 65 Waxing New...... John Schroer www.ips-planetarium.org/planetarian/planetarian_ index.pdf

Final Deadlines Index of Advertisers Astro-Tec Mfg., Inc ...... 45 March: January 21 June: April 21 Audio Visual Imagineering ...... 42 September: July 21 Bob Crelin Moon Wheel...... 31 December: October 21 Clark Planetarium ...... 48 Detroit Science Center...... 11 Digitalis Education Solutions, Inc...... 30 Evans & Sutherland ...... inside back cover Associate Editors Global Immersion...... 5 25 Years Ago Editor-at-Large International GOTO INC ...... 19 Thomas Hamilton Steve Tidey Lars Broman ‘Imiloa Astronomy Center ...... 16 Book Reviews Education Last Light Konica Minolta Planetarium Co. Ltd ...... 63 April S. Whitt Jack Northrup April S. Whitt R.S.A. Cosmos ...... outside back cover Calendar Forum Rudinec & Associates ...... 50 Loris Ramponi Yaroslav Mobile News Gubchenko Susan Button Sky-Skan, Inc ...... 33, centerfold, 36 Cartoons Softmachine...... 22, 27 Alexandre IMERSANews Waxing New Cherman Judith Rubin John A. Schroer Spitz, Inc...... 9, 21,51, 53, 61 White Tower Media...... 38 Zeiss, Inc...... 15, inside front cover

International Planetarium Society home page: www.ips-planetarium.org Planetarian home page: On the Cover: Prometheus is honored for bringing fire to humankind in the soar- www.ips-planetarium.org/planetarian ing statue “Prometheus Bearing Fire” in the Plaza of Civilization at the Biblioth- Guidelines for Contributors and Advertisers: eca Alexandrina’s conference center. More photos appear on Page 23. Photo by www.ips-planetarium.org/planetarian/ Mark Rigby. guidelines.html

September 2010 Planetarian 1 Affiliate Representatives

Association of Brazilian British Great Plains Planetarium Rocky Mountain Planetariums Association of Planetaria Association Planetarium Officers Alexandre Cherman Shaaron Leverment Jack Dunn Association Planetário do Rio de Janeiro Explorer Dome: Ralph Mueller Planetarium Rick Greenawald President R. Vice-Governador Hands-on Science Outreach University of Nebraska-Lincoln Faulkner Planetarium Dr. Tom Mason, Director Rubens Berardo, 100 Mailbox 42 210 Morrill Hall Herrett Center Armagh Planetarium Rio de Janeiro RJ 22451-070 179 Whiteladies Road Lincoln, Nebraska College of Southern Idaho College Hill +55 (21) 2274-0046 ext. 264 Clifton, Bristol BS8 2AG 68588-0375 USA P. O. Box 1238 Armagh BT61 9DB +55 (21) 2529-2149 fax England +1 402-472-2641 315 Falls Avenue Northern Ireland [email protected] United Kingdom +1 402-475-8899 fax Twin Falls, Idaho United Kingdom www.rio.rj.gov. +44 117 914 1526 [email protected] 83303-1238 USA +44 (0)2837 524725 br/planetario +44 793 035 0805 www.spacelaser.com/gppa +1 208-732-6659 +44 (0)2837 526187 fax shaaron@explor- Italian Association +1 208-736-4712 fax +44 (0)771 0013453 cell erdome.co.uk of Planetaria [email protected] [email protected] Association of Dutch- information@explor- Loris Ramponi herrett.csi.edu/ www.armaghplanet.com Speaking Planetariums erdome.co.uk National Archive of Planetaria faulkner_overview.asp Ad Los www.planetarium.org.uk c/o Centro Studi e Ricerche Past-President Planetarium Ridderkerk Serafino Zani Susan Reynolds Button Museum Johannes Postschool via Bosca 24, C.P. 104 Quarks to Clusters Rijksstraatweg, 101 Canadian Association I 25066 Lumezzane Russian Planetariums 8793 Horseshoe Lane 2988 BB Ridderkerk-Rijsoord of Science Centres (Brescia) Italy Association Chittenango, New York The Netherlands Ian C. McLennan +39 30 872 164 Zinaida P. Sitkova 13037 USA + 31 180 434441 or #404 - 1275 Haro Street +39 30 872 545 fax Nizhny Novgorod +1 315-687-5371 + 31 180 437716 Vancouver, British Columbia [email protected] Planetarium +1 315-432-4523 fax [email protected] V6E 1G1 Canada [email protected] Revolutsionnja Street 20 [email protected] www.planetariumrotterdam.nl +1 604-681-4790 www.planetaritaliani.it 603002 Nizhny [email protected] phone + fax Novgorod Russia +1 604-240-0938 cell +7 831 246-78-80 President-Elect Association of French- [email protected] Japan +7 831 246-77-89 fax Dave Weinrich Speaking Planetariums [email protected] Planetarium Society [email protected] Planetarium Agnès Acker www.ianmclennan.com Kaoru Kimura [email protected] Minnesota State Observatoire de Strasbourg Japan Science Foundation University-Moorhead 11, rue de l’université Kitanomaru Park, Chiyoda-ku 1104 7th Avenue South 67000 Strasbourg France Council of German Tokyo, 102-0091 Japan Moorhead +33 3 90 24 24 67 Planetariums [email protected] Southeastern Minnesota 56563 USA +33 3 90 24 24 17 fax Thomas W. Kraupe www.shin-pla.info Planetarium +1 218-477-2969 [email protected] Planetarium Hamburg Association +1 218-477-5864 fax [email protected] Hindenburgstraße 1 b John Hare [email protected] www.aplf-planetariums.org D-22303 Hamburg Middle Atlantic Ash Enterprises Deutschland Planetarium 3602 23rd Avenue West +49 0 (40) 428 86 52-21 Society Bradenton, Florida Executive Secretary Association of Mexican +49 0 (40) 428 86 52-99 fax Steve Mitch 34205 USA Lee Ann Hennig Planetariums +49 0 (40) 4279 24-850 e-fax 258 Springdale Avenue +1 941-746-3522 Planetarium, Thomas Ignacio Castro Pinal +49 0 (40) 172-40 86 133 cell Wheeling, WV 26003 USA [email protected] Jefferson High School Torres de Mixcoac, A6-702 thomas.kraupe@ +1 304-242-7614 www.sepadomes.org for Science and Technology C.P. 01490, México City planetarium-hamburg.de [email protected] 6560 Braddock Road D.F. México www.rdp-planetrium.de Alexandria, Virginia 22312 USA +52 (55) 5500 0562 +1 703-750-8380 +52 (55) 5500 0583 fax Nordic Planetarium Southwestern +1 703-750-5010 fax [email protected] European/ Association Association of [email protected] cosmos.astro.uson.mx/ Mediterranean Prof. Lars Broman Planetariums AMPAC/AMPACintro.htm Planetarium Teknoland Linda Krouse, Director Treasurer and Association Stångtjärnsv 132 Noble Planetarium Membership Chair Manos Kitsonas SE-791 74 Falun Fort Worth Museum of Shawn Laatsch Association of Spanish Eugenides Planetarium Sweden Science and History All fiscal matters: Planetariums 387 Syngrou Avenue +46 2310177 1600 Gendy Street P.O. Box 4451 Javier Armentia 17564 P. Faliro [email protected] Fort Worth, Texas Hilo, Hawaii 96720 USA Planetario de Pamplona Athens Greece lars.broman@strom- 76107 USA All other correspondence: Sancho Ramirez, 2 +30 210 946 9674 stadakademi.se +1 817-255-9409 ‘Imiloa Astronomy E-31008 Pamplona +30 210 941 7372 fax www.teknoland.se +1 817-360-0082 cell Center of Hawai’i Navarra Spain [email protected] www.planetarium.se/npa [email protected] 600 ‘Imiloa Place +34 948 260 004 www.swapskies.org Hilo, Hawaii 96720 USA +34 948 260 056 +1 808-969-9735 +34 948 261 919 fax Great Lakes Planetarium Pacific Planetarium +1 808-969-9748 fax [email protected] Association Association [email protected] gestion@pamplonetario. Jeanne Bishop Gail Chaid infonego-cio.com Westlake Schools 1320 Glen Dell Drive Planetarium San Jose, California Parkside Intermediate School 95125 USA Australasian Planetarium 24525 Hilliard Road +1 408-540-8879 cell Society Westlake, Ohio 44145 USA +1 408-288-8525 Mark Rigby, Curator +1 440-899-3075 x2058 [email protected] Sir Thomas Bris- +1 440-835-5572 fax sites.csn.edu/plan- bane Planetarium jeanneebishop@ etarium/PPA Mt. Coot-tha Road, wowway.com Toowong www.glpaweb.org Brisbane, Queensland 4066 Australia +61 7 3403 2578 +61 7 3403 2575 fax mark.rigby@brisbane.qld.gov.au

2 Planetarian September 2010 Standing Committees IPS Permanent Awards Committee Conference Host-2012 Membership Committee Mailing Address Prof. Lars Broman, Chair Jon Elvert Shawn Laatsch, Chair Teknoland Irene W. Pennington Planetarium ‘Imiloa Astronomy Center of Hawaii Stångtjärnsv 132 Louisiana Art & Science Museum 600 ‘Imiloa Place International Planetarium SE-791 74 Falun 100 South River Road Hilo, Hawaii 96720 USA Society Sweden Baton Rouge, Louisiana 70802 USA +1 808-969-9735 +46 2310177 +1 225-344-5272 +1 808-969-9748 fax c/o Shawn Laatsch [email protected] +1 225-214-4027 fax [email protected] Treasurer/Membership www.teknoland.se [email protected] Chair Publications Committee Conference Committee Elections Committee Dr. Dale W. Smith, Chair All fiscal business: Dr. Tom Mason, Chair Martin George, Chair BGSU Planetarium P.O. Box 4451 Armagh Planetarium Launceston Planetarium 104 Overman Hall Hilo, Hawaii 96720 USA College Hill Queen Victoria Museum Physics &Astronomy Department Armagh BT61 9DB Wellington Street Bowling Green State University All other correspondence: Northern Ireland Launceston Tasmania 7250 Bowling Green, Ohio 43403 USA ‘Imiloa Astronomy Cen- United Kingdom Australia +1 419-372-8666 +44 (0)2837 524725 +61 3 6323 3777 +1 419-372-9938 fax ter of Hawai’i +44 (0)2837 526187 fax +61 3 6323 3776 fax [email protected] 600 ‘Imiloa Place +44 (0)771 0013453 cell [email protected] Hilo, Hawaii 96720 USA [email protected] www.armaghplanet.com Finance Committee +1 808-969-9735 President, Past President, Presi- +1 808-969-9748 fax dent Elect, Treasurer, Secretary [email protected]

IPS Web Site: Ad Hoc Committees www.ips-planetarium.org Armand Spitz Job Information Service +1 801-456-4928 fax Planetarium Education Fund Subcommittee [email protected] Finance Committee (Professional Services Committee) Please notify the Editor Steve Fentress, Chair Script Contest Committee of any changes on these Education Committee Strasenburgh Planetarium Thomas W. Kraupe Jack L. Northrup Rochester Museum & Science Center Planetarium Hamburg two pages. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Planetarium 657 East Avenue Hindenburgstr.1b King Science and Technology Rochester, New York 14607 USA D-22303 Hamburg Germany Contact the Treasurer/ Magnet Center +1 585-271-4552 ext. 409 +49(0)40-428 86 52-21 3720 Florence Blvd. +1 585-271-7146 fax +49(0)40-428 86 52-99 fax Membership Chair for in- Omaha, NE 68110 USA [email protected] +49(0)40-4279 24-850 e-fax dividual member address +1 402-557-4494 +49(0)172-40 86 133 cell [email protected] IPS Publicity Coordinator thomas.kraupe@plane- changes and general cir- webmail.ops.org/~jack.northrup (Publications Committee) tarium-hamburg.de culation and billing ques- Jacques Guarinos www.rdp-planetarium.de tions. Full-Dome Video Committee Astronef–Planetarium Interim Chairs: de Saint-Etienne Strategic Planning Committee Shawn Laatsch 28 rue Ponchardier Tom Mason, Chair ‘Imiloa Astronomy F-42100 Saint-Etienne France Armagh Planetarium The Planetarian (ISN 0090- Center of Hawai’i +33 (0)4 77 34 40 85 College Hill 3213) is published quarterly 600 ‘Imiloa Place [email protected] Armagh BT61 9DB by the International Planetar- Hilo, Hawaii 96720 USA Northern Ireland +1 808-969-9735 Outreach Committee United Kingdom ium Society. ©2010, Interna- +1 808-969-9748 fax Jon W. Elvert, Chair +44 (0)2837 524725 tional Planetarium Society, Irene W. Pennington Planetarium +44 (0)2837 526187 fax Thomas W. Kraupe Louisiana Art & Science Museum +44 (0)771 0013453 cell Inc., all rights reserved. Opin- Planetarium Hamburg 100 South River Road [email protected] ions expressed by authors Hindenburgstraße 1 b Baton Rouge, Louisiana 70802 USA www.armaghplanet.com are personal opinions and are D-22303 Hamburg +1 225-344-5272 Deutschland +1 225-214-4027 fax Technology Committee not necessarily the opinions +49 0 (40) 428 86 52-21 [email protected] Jack Dunn of the International Planetar- +49 0 (40) 428 86 52-99 fax Ralph Mueller Planetarium ium Society, its officers, or +49 0 (40) 4279 24-850 e-fax Planetarium University of Nebraska- Lincoln +49 0 (40) 172-40 86 133 cell Development Group 210 Morrill Hall agents. Acceptance of adver- thomas.kraupe@plane- Ken Wilson, Chair Lincoln, Nebraska 68588-0375 USA tisements, announcements, tarium-hamburg.de 9346 Drawbridge Road +1 402-472-2641 www.rdp-planetarium.de Mechanicsville, Virginia 23220 USA +1 402-475-8899 fax or other material does not [email protected] [email protected] imply endorsement by the History Committee www.spacelaser.com/gppa International Planetarium So- John Hare, IPS Historian Portable Ash Enterprises Planetarium Committee Web Committee ciety, its officers or agents. 3602 23rd Avenue West Susan Reynolds Button, Chair Alan Gould, Chair The Editor welcomes Letters Bradenton, Florida 34205 USA Quarks to Clusters Holt Planetarium to the Editor and items for +1 941-746-3522 8793 Horseshoe Lane Lawrence Hall of Science [email protected] Chittenango, NY 13037 University of California consideration for publica- +1 315-687-5371 Berkeley, California 94720-5200 USA tion. Please consult “Guide- International [email protected] +1 510-643-5082 Relations Committee [email protected] +1 510-642-1055 fax lines for Contributors” at Martin George, Chair [email protected] www.ips-planetarium.org/ Launceston Planetarium Professional planetarian/guidelines.html. Queen Victoria Museum Services Committee Wellington Street Mike Murray, Chair The Editor reserves the right Launceston, Tasmania 7250 Australia Clark Planetarium to edit any manuscript to +61 3 6323 3777 110 South 400 West suit this publication’s needs. +61 3 6323 3776 fax Salt Lake City, Utah 84101 USA [email protected] +1 801-456-4949 September 2010 Planetarian 3 probablying to the means planetarium. another If closure this passes threat then at thewe endcould of be the open 10-11 beginning school year the if 2011-2012 sufficient school funds In Front of the Console aren’tyear.” raised. Another planetarium—this time at a community college—has moved to the endangered Sharon Shanks list. It is the Paulucci Space Theater at Hibbing Ward Beecher Planetarium Community College in Hibbing, Minnesota. Youngstown State University State-level budget cuts are the villain again. Youngstown, OH 44555 USA (More in International News, page 47.) Tom Callen, who is facing a 1 March 2011 [email protected] layoff date from the Cosmonova in Stock- holm, Sweden, reports that he has other “irons Thanks to pictures from Alexandria 2010, Ione knew I selected I wanted jumped something out and fromwaved Uruguay, at me. I in the fire that I’m pursuing, but am aiming to article illustrations and vendor advertising, I butliked the the individual color, composition pictures submitted and theme, weren’t and, stay in the planetarium business since that is think this has to be one of our most colorful quiteeven better, right. Iit waswasn’t happy a pyramid. with the collage-in- all that I have done since 1972 (and served in issues to date. the-countryIn other words, idea that the not choice only of looks cover cool, image but five theaters in the process). “ We planetarians planetarians work are sensitiveso often with about black our illustratesdepends on the what concept I have of to the work IYA with program and my as In addition to the 18 years in Sweden, Tom andblack. are We picky insist about that our it as blacks well; bewe “black,” insist that not well.own aesthetic and journalistic sense. has worked with the Strasenburgh Planetari- ourjust somewhat blacks be black, “black,” like not a shirt just that’s somewhat been DidI will any admit one that else I noticehesitated the once similarity I learned be- um, Piez Hall Planetarium at State Universi- black,washed like many a shirt times, that’s but BLACK!, been washed as in brand- many tweenthat the the photographer, actor in Two Mark Small Rigby, Pieces also of Glass was ty of New York-Oswego, Abrams Planetarium, times,new, never-been-washed, but BLACK!, as in brand-new,get-lost-in-the-illu never-- andrunning Daniel for Scarpa? IPS president. Would using his and the Smithsonian’s Albert Einstein Plan- been-washed,sion black. get-lost-in-the-illusion black. pictureFor this make issue, it lookthe cover like I had was to favoring be from him Al- etarium, working there for 13 years before Black”ish”One of therectangles things need I’ve not noticed apply. riding the exandria,for president? of course. Naaaaaah, I browsed I decided. hundreds I don’t of play im- moving to Cosmonova. coattailsOne of of the the things digital I’ve dome noticed revolution riding the is agesfavorites, (planetarians something love I their hope cameras) the Planetarian and the The picture of Tom that appeared on page coattailsthe explosion of the of color. digital Having dome started revolution in this is onereaders I selected know byjumped now. out and waved at me. I 55 of the June issue was taken by Lars Pehrsson thebusiness explosion with ofkodalith color. Havingand colored started gels in (yes,this liked the color, composition and theme, and, of the Svenska Dagbladet newspaper. businessI know I’mwith still kodalith a baby. and Some colored of my gels readers (yes, evenNews better, updates it wasn’t a pyramid. Istarted know withsome fire of myinside readers hollowed-out started with trees fires in InSupporters other words, of both the choice the David of cover M. Brownimage An overdue book review insidecaves and hollowed-out didn’t even trees have in kodalith), caves and I’m didn’t hap- dependsPlanetarium on what (Arlington, I have to work Virginia with schools)and my I had promised to review Time for Patriots, evenpy to havebe able kodalith), to saturate I’m my happy dome to with be able colors to ownand the aesthetic Colonial and School journalistic District sense. planetarium written by Thomas Wm. Hamilton, about a saturatewhen needed my dometo get withacross colors a desired when effect need or- (PlymouthI will admit Meeting, that I hesitated Pennsylvania) once I arelearned still year ago, and finally got around to it. I think ededucational to get across message. a desired effect or education- thatworking the tophotographer, raise funds to Mark keep Rigby,their respective also was I kept putting if off because I couldn’t give it al message.The IMERSA column (page 39) is especial- runningdoors open, for but IPS the president. amount Wouldcollected using to date his an entirely glowing review, but don’t let that ly Thecolorful IMERSA this time, column not only (page providing 39) is especial great- pictureby both make groups it is look far short like Iof was the favoringamount theyhim stop you from buying the book. It’s fun to lypictures, colorful but this also time, text not about only the providing colorful waysgreat forneed president? by the time Naaaaaah, school starts.I decided. I don’t play read and maybe Thomas will expand it to Un- pictures,that planetariums but also text use about their the domes colorful and ways the favorites,In Arlington, something the school I hope board the Planetarian has agreed der the Dome length. (That’s the 1072-page lat- thatspectrum planetariums of creative use people their doing domes it. and the readers know by now. est book by Stephen King that’s not, unfortu- spectrumI was happy of creative that space people worked doing out it. so that I nately, about planetariums.) couldI was use happy a second that Joan space of worked Arc picture out soon that page I Awkwardly, the “continued on” part of the could52. It is use simply a second beautiful, Joan of both Arc picture in its use on of page ef- review continues on Thomas’ 25 Years Ago 52.fective It is lightingsimply beautiful, to make both a statement in its use and of ef its- page. That’s just the way it worked out. fectivedome imagery. lighting to make a statement and its arium dome imagery. Stumbled over report HowLive do productions I pick the in thecovers? dome are a great While searching for planetarium wayI never to keep know your what venue will fresh.appear At on the the Ward cov- news with various online search en- Beecher Planetarium, we, too, hosted a live News updates gines, I stumbled across an interest- er until midway through the production pro- to keep the planetarium open on a limited ba- play. It was called The Star Seeker, written Supporters of both the David M. Brown ing comment. It came as a review cess. Occasionally a picture will come in that sis to allow backers time to raise funds, which proclaimsand produced itself by to Davidbe a cover Munnell, image a talentedwithout Planetarium (Arlington, Virginia schools) for a US Post Office station, “Plan- probably means another closure threat at the evenYoungstown asking my State permission. University “Hi. theater I’m your student. cov- and the Colonial School District planetarium etarium Station” in New York City, to end of the 2010-11 school year if sufficient er picture.The play Don’t was even part think of our about celebration using some of- (Plymouth Meeting, Pennsylvania) are still be exact. workingfunds aren’t to raise raised. funds to keep their respective thingIYA2009 else.” and Cheeky, recounted they the are. latter years of the One reviewer noted that “…this is the lo- Meanwhile, the Robert H. Johnson Planetar- lifeOther of Galileo. times We I have provided to think the starsa bit. and For some June doors open, but the amount collected to date cal post office, and it’s named for the nearby ium (Jeffco Public Schools, Golden, Colorado) Ifulldome knew I effects; wanted there something were capacity from Uruguay, audienc- by both groups is far short of the amount they Hayden Planetarium at the Museum of Natu- will remain closed a second year. It was closed butes both the nightsindividual of the pictures performance. submitted weren’t need by the time school starts. ral History. I guess that goes to show that back due to budget cuts during the 2009-10 year. quite right. I was happy with the collage-in- In Arlington, the school board has agreed in the day, Planetariums were kind of a big Kathryn Miller reports “We are hoping to Howthe-country do I pickidea that the not covers? only looks cool, but to keep the planetarium open on a limited ba- deal. Not so much these days.” pass a mill levy this fall that will bring fund- I illustratesI never knowthe concept what will of Uruguay’sappear on IYAthe covpro- sis to allow backers time to raise funds, which Ouch. gramer until as midwaywell. through the production process.Did Occasionally any one else a picture notice thewill similaritycome in that be- tweenproclaims the itself actor to in be Two a cover Small image Pieces without of Glass Who’s your president? andeven Daniel asking Scarpa? my permission. “Hi. I’m your cov- Tom Mason accused me of wishing to go back in time when, in the June issue, I stated on er picture.For this Don’tissue, eventhe cover think had about to usingbe from some Al- this page that Martin George was president of the IPS. I do wish to go back in time, but only exandria,thing else.” of Cheeky, course. Ithey browsed are. hundreds of im- to keep alive all those brain cells I killed during college. Or was that a freudian slip? agesOther (planetarians times I have love to their think cameras) a bit. For and June the 4 Planetarian September 2010

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Declan G. De Paor, Director C. Jerome Oakley, Instructional Technology Manager Pretlow Planetarium Old Dominion University Norfolk, Virginia, USA [email protected] [email protected] 6 Planetarian September 2010 Traditional planetarium projection systems included an opto-mechanical star projector, a set of Kodakchrome slide carrousels, and individual slide or laser projectors controlled from a dip-switch console. With the introduction of fulldome digital projection, the planetarium presenter is faced with the challenge of combining the main image with peripheral projections. In university science courses in particular, it is necessary to project PowerPoint-style slides as well as the fulldome image. To meet the needs of our classes, we combined a Digitarium Epsilon system with an Apple Declan De Paor Quad-Core Intel MacPro computer equipped with four video cards. The external computer per- mits a wide array of sources to be accessed and facilitates the teaching of subjects other than astronomy, such as geophysics and structural geology. Similar systems accessing multiple digital sources could be constructed with other fulldome projection systems and could serve numerous other subjects in the sciences, engineering, and the arts. We recently added a handheld Cinemin pico projector connected to an Apple iPhone. This allows the presenter to move the projected image across the dome, creating an engaging learning experience.

C. Jerome Oakley

First presented at the Middle Atlantic Planetarium Society Annual Meeting, University of Southern Maine, May 19-22, 2010.

Like many other campus-based planetar- classroom LCD projector on top of a filing perimentation was interrupted by receipt of iums in the U.S., the Pretlow Planetarium at cabinet facing it, and projected from a Mac- an ETF grant for the purchase of a Digitarium Old Dominion University in Norfolk, Virginia bookPro laptop computer using software and Epsilon planetarium projection system. was build in the late 1960’s and equipped with methods described by Bourke (2005). The NSF MRI proposal, which would have a 40-foot aluminum dome and a Spitz A3P The results were less than spectacular in funded a GOTO Chronos hybrid system, did star projector. Additional images were project- terms of resolution and distortion, but, nev- not succeed, principally because reviewers re- ed by a dozen Kodachrome carrousel projec- ertheless, they impressed audiences that had jected our argument that equipment used to tors and miniature single slide projector box- no previous experience of advanced fulldome evaluate undergraduate learning outcomes es mounted around the spring line. digital systems. constituted “major research instrumenta- The original equipment was still in place We could have achieved acceptable digital tion.” when the authors took over responsibility projection inexpensively with a higher quali- for the planetarium in 2008. A music cd play- ty front-silvered mirror or by purchasing the Initial installation er and an overhead projector had been added, hemispheric mirror package offered by Ash We left the Spitz star ball in place at the but otherwise the facility was unchanged for Enterprises Inc., for example. However, our ex- bottom of its elevator shaft so that it could be almost a half-century and was raised when needed in future, and we mount- in poor condition. ed the new Digitarium Epsilon system on a re- In the Fall of 2008, we re- movable wooden platform on top of the ele- ceived funding from the Old vator’s hexagonal housing (Fig. 1). Dominion University Depart- This gave us the ability to project the Digi- ment of Physics for building talis version of Stellarium as well as digital me- refurbishments, including dia from a DVD or flash memory stick. the construction of a dozen Anticipating the problem that digital con- lab workstations around the tent has a principle direction of projection, we periphery of the auditorium, removed a 120° arc of the original concentric and we applied to the Vir- bench seating. This created stage space that we ginia State Equipment Trust Fund (EFT) and the NSF Ma- jor Research Instrumentation (MRI) program for funds for a digital star projector. Fig. 1 Our system: A: Digitalis Ep- Whilst waiting for deci- silon projector, B: Black cloth sions on these proposals, we covering MacPro, C: Two LCD experimented with hemi- projectors, D: VGA cable from MacPro to Epsilon, E: Cove light- spheric mirror projection using fader, F: Spitz A3p elevator ing an inexpensive plastic housing, G: Mobile Lectern, H: In- hospital corridor style mir- structor’s monitor. Inset: Apple ror obtained from a local sup- MacPro computer’s four video cards. Photos by C. J. Oakley plier. We mounted this at the iStockphoto.com spring line, placed a standard

September 2010 Planetarian 7 C

A B

Fig. 2. View of Earth from space. a) Stellarium, b) Celestia. The latter also allows interactive views of c) the Milky Way and d) galaxies and the zone of avoidance. Screen captures by D. De Paor

plan to use for events such as concerts, poetry Whilst the Digitarium black box projects readings, private parties, etc. the fulldome version of Stellarium plus dig- At first, the Digitalis remote control did not ital movies, the MacPro opens up a range work—probably due to the poor condition of alternative sources and media, including of the aluminum dome, which should have multiple DVD, USB, and hard disk drives, bounced the remote signal but which had not web resources such as streaming Quicktime yet been refurbished. While awaiting delivery and YouTube movies, and handheld video of an IR receiver for the remote control, we cameras or web cams. D experimented with an Apple Quad-Core Intel We use free Celestia software extensively MacPro computer connected to the Epsilon in undergraduate astronomy lab classes. Ce- models using COLLADA1 and developed projector’s VGA port. This was fortuitous, as lestia’s rendering of the Earth (Fig. 2) is partic- emergent models of the interiors of these bod- this experimentation lead to our current pro- ularly impressive. When this image fills 60% ies (De Paor 2007, Dordevic et al. 2009) and we jection from multiple sources. of the dome, viewers’ brains tend to pop it were able to project these also (Fig. 3 a,b). With the setup shown in Fig. 1, we can from concave to convex, creating an engag- The MacPro connection also opens up pos- switch from the Digitarium to the MacPro ing immersive experience. Celestia has a great- sibilities outside of astronomy. There are ex- simply by pressing the VGA or D/H buttons er range of navigation and viewing options cellent resources, both free and licensed, for on the Epsilon remote control and flicking a than Stellarium and these permit us to fly-by geology and geophysics, for example (e.g., Mi- sound switch if audio is involved. planets and moons, and zoom out to the gal- rage3D, Fig. 3 c). Even a simple grid can be used axy and beyond (Fig. 2). in conjunction with a laser pointer for teach- Using a window that fills a small portion of the dome, we project Google Earth, which includes Google Moon, Google Mars, and Google 1 COLLADA is a COLLAborative Design Activ- Sky. With help from graduate student Mladen ity for establishing an open standard digital Dordevic and colleague Steve Whitmeyer, we asset schema for interactive 3D applications; had previously created star, planet, and moon learn more at collada.org/mediawiki/index. php/COLLADA.

Fig. 3. Google Earth with COLLADA models for revealing the interiors of celestial bodies a) Venus, b) The sun. c) Animated volcano from Mirage3D (used with permission), d) Stereographic projection for teaching orientation analysis in structural geology. Screen captures by D. De Paor

B C D

8 Planetarian September 2010 September 2010 Planetarian 9 ing principles of stereographic projection to class and makes it difficult to pause for ques- movie reaches its last frame. When creating structural geology students (Fig. 3 d). Many tions. We therefore have begun to experiment content, therefore, it may be useful to add other resources exist also in engineering and with pico projection (Fig. 4). time at the end of each movie to give the pro- the arts. jectionist a warning that the movie is about Pico projection to end. The Cinemin Swivel (Fig. 4 a) is an inex- There appear to be slight differences in op- pensive pico projector from www.Wowwee. eration of the iPhone 4G versus the 3G and com that can project slide shows and mov- 3GS, therefore we continue to use a 3GS even ies from an iPhone, iPod, or iPad. We are cur- though the 4G is more aesthetically matched to the Cinemin. A Cinemin Swap adaptor (Fig. 4 a) is available for connecting a desktop or laptop computer via a VGA cable. In this configuration, A slide shows or movies can be controlled by a remote slide advancer which also incor- Fig. 4. a) The Cinemin Swivel picoprojec- porates a laser pointer. The projected image tor with Cinemin Swap VGA adaptor can be cast onto any part of the planetarium (source: www.wowwee.com, with per- dome and rotated into any desired orienta- mission), b) Cinemin strapped to an iP- tion (Fig. 4 d). hone, c) Alternative arrangement with 90° swivel, d) Orion artwork from Stel- larium projected in an arbitrary direction Discussion and and inclined orientation. (b and d photos conclusions D. De Paor; c by C. J. Oakley) B Our 40-ft dome is close to the limit for the Digi- rently concentrat- tarium Epsilon system Peripheral projection options ing our attention on Although we kept the opto-mechanical star the iPhone connec- ball in functional state, we decided that the tion, although iPad Kodachrome slide projectors had to go. That applications may be raised the question of how to display the an- increasingly impor- C cillary images and peripheral data that one as- tant in the future, es- sociates with traditional planetarium shows. pecially as Digitalis Our first experiment was to install four vid- plans to use an iPad for controlling the Digi- eo cards in the MacPro. These video cards en- tarium. able (1) projection of fulldome media onto the The Cinemin projector is similar in size to dome via the VGA port of the Digitarium Ep- an iPhone and the two can be held in place in silon projector, (2) projection of associated lec- parallel or swiveled orientation with rubber ture graphics in Apple Keynote or Microsoft bands or velcro (Fig. 4 b, c). This makes hand- PowerPoint format using two standard class- held projection easy. room LCD projectors oriented at ±60° to the The iphone operating system (currently iOS D main projection axis, and (3) mirroring of 4) has behaviors that the projectionist needs the fulldome image on a lecturer’s flat screen to be aware of. The pico projector projects monitor. only movie content. The image on the iPhone and the Stellarium star field image is notice- The latter is mounted horizontally on a screen will not project if it is not a movie. ably pixilated, but this limitation is more mobile lectern in order to be versatile whilst There are three sources of movies: YouTube than compensated for by the range of media remaining unobtrusive to the audience. The streaming video, photo albums, and iPod vid- that we can project, including digital astron- lectern monitor is important because many eos. We did not experiment with the first as we omy applications, graphic images, Quicktime applications require keyboard and mouse saw no advantage to streaming content rather and YouTube movies, and other web-based controls. than caching it in the phone’s memory. content. The system is suitable for topics oth- However, problems arose with this setup. Photo albums are created by syncing a folder than astronomy, including geophysics and The video cards need the fan on all the time er of images from a computer using iTunes. structural geology. Similar systems accessing and the quality of the fulldome projection de- The folder is selected and played as a slide multiple digital sources could be construct- creased when the peripheral LCD projectors show. The slide show can be paused and slides ed with other fulldome projectors and could were connected. Evidently, the system soft- can be advanced with a flick of the finger. To serve numerous other subjects in the sciences, ware automatically adjusts all resolutions to minimize ambient light, the iPhone screen engineering, and the arts. match the lowest one. can be turned off and the slides will contin- With the aid of switch boxes, any num- Furthermore, there was no easy way to co- ue to project. Note, however, that no projec- ber of computers could be daisy-chained to ordinate the peripheral projection content tion occurs when individual slides are select- the Epsilon VGA port. Therefore, it would be with dome content. We tried running Ap- ed from within a folder—the folder must be possible to construct a planetarium show in ple Keynote (the Mac equivalent of Micro- played as a slide show. which each successive element is ready-to- soft PowerPoint) presentations with automat- iPod videos are also created on a computer, run at the flick of a switch. PC, Mac, and Li- ically timed slide advancing, but whilst that saved in MP4 or MPEG-4 format, and synced nux systems can be interchanged. Pico projec- method works for canned presentations, it with the phone. A potentially irritating aspect tors and iPods are so affordable that, given a limits a live instructor’s interaction with the of the iOS is that the projection ends when a modest budget, a dozen sets could be installed

10 Planetarian September 2010 around the spring line of a planetarium where Given the number of slide carrousels used to be. individual local and re- However, a single handheld pico projec- mote controls involved tor image can be swept around the dome and in a multi-source projec- may have added pedagogical value, first be- tion system, it may be cause students tend to pay attention by dint necessary to devise a con- of its motion, and second because it allows trol panel with arrays of auxiliary images such as constellation art to dip switches that are easy be projected in an inclined orientation, thus to locate and operate in overcoming problems of canonicality (e.g., Ba- the dark. las and Sinha 2009). We think we know Canonicality refers the human brain’s pref- where we can find such a erential identification of objects or patterns in console! (Fig. 5a). a correct, “upright” orientation (Lloyd et al., As for the Spitz star 1981). In the past, planetarium show presenters ball, we must confess Fig. 5 The Spitz A3P control console. A modern equivalent might be use- frequently projected upright Kodakchrome that we have not elevat- ful for remote control of multiple projection sources. Photo by C. J. Oak- ley. slides of constellation art and expected the ed it recently. The task audience to make the transformation, both of removing the overburden of digital equip- proximately 600 undergraduate students of of location and orientation, when searching ment is daunting. However, there may be op- “Intro Astro” who are our annual evaluators for the equivalent star pattern on the dome, portunities to incorporate opto-mechanical and critics. whereas the pico projection can be rotated star balls (without planetary cylinders) in af- This work was supported by a grant from into oblique orientation in real time. fordable quasi-hybrid systems with just one the State of Virginia Equipment Trust Fund In addition to the Cinemin model that we axis of rotation. This concept will be the sub- and a Google Faculty Research Award. tested, there are a number of pico projectors ject of further experimentation. in the $250-$700 price range, including mod- References els manufactured by Aaxa Tech, Microvision, Acknowledgments Balas, B.J. and Sinha, P. 2009. “The role of se- Samsung, Toshiba, and Optoma, among oth- We received strong support from depart- quence order in determining view canoni- ers. Some can store images and video within mental and college administrators: Gail Dodge, cality for novel wire-frame objects.” Atten- the projector, but we find the attached iPhone Walt Hooks, Mike Craig, and Rob Grandon. tion, Perception, & Psychophysics, Vol. 71, pp. connection an advantage because of the apps We thank graduate students Whitney Brooks, 712-723. and image or video sources available to it. Mladen Dordevic, and Steve Wild and the ap- (Continues on Page 25)

September 2010 Planetarian 11 The World Wide Web is like a high- way full of tangled exits, entrances, and changing lanes. Web surfers generally begin at a starting point but do not know, a priori, where they will arrive while browsing one a link to another. Dis- Naelton Mendes seminating science in such de Araujo an environment is exciting and, at the same time, challenging. iStockphoto.com

Planetariums in the Virtual Word: Institutional Relations on the Web

Naelton Mendes de Araujo Rio de Janeiro Planetarium Foundation Rio de Janerio, Brazil [email protected]

Since the beginning of the Internet in the citations and links. This discipline was defined and what are their meanings? 1980s, planetariums, like other institutions of by Björneborn (2002) as: “...the study of quan- Webometrics can give us some clues about scientific dissemination, have been using the titative aspects of the construction and use of each of these issues. This article presents, in large computer network to aid their role in information resources, structures and tech- summary form, the results of my dissertation, disseminating knowledge. Usually the pages nologies on the Web, from bibliometric ap- in which I mapped clusters of sites that show of planetariums only play a role in corporate proaches and informetric.” geopolitical characteristics as in Herrero-Sola- communication, promoting their programs as na and Morales-Del-Castillo (2004) or linguis- a kind of digital folder. Goal tic characteristics as in Kurtenbach and Gou- Researchers began to study how informa- It is expected that institutions and their veia (2009). tion is processed through scientific technical websites keep a deep relationship. You can publications nearly 60 years ago (Price, 1965). map the relations of visibility and proximi- Development From the statistical study of citations of arti- ty of sites using planetary webometric tech- The method used consisted of collecting, cles developed what was called scientometrics nique. We can identify links that delineate via a browser, value “snapshots” of the num- by Mulchenko and Nalimov (1969) and bib- patterns of grouping to analyze: ber of links and pages to 165 preselected sites liometrics by Pritchard (1969). Currently, the •• What is the relationship of these patterns of a larger list of planetariums found in the Di- term informetrics covers several areas of mea- on the Web with institutional relations? rectory of the International Planetarium Soci- surement of information flow that includes •• How does the Web see planetariums? ety (www.ips-planetarium.org). The entire da- both approaches (Egghe, 2006). •• Do these institutions have special features tabase was too large to use as is, so we had to In the last two decades, informetrics ex- in the Web? make a judicious clipping. We dismissed the perts began using these same techniques to •• How are the institutions linked in this following cases: study the Web quantitatively. “Webometrics” changing environment? 1) Sites in subdirectories, e.g.: www.rio.rj.gov. emerged in 1997, drawing a parallel between •• How do they make exchange of referrals br/planetario;

12 Planetarian September 2010 2) Sites within sites of different institutions: government agencies, educational institutions, museums, research centers, hotels, etc.; and 3) Portable planetariums. Although they are planetariums, we felt they serve the public differently and have very distinct institutional profile compared to fixed planetariums. These data were statistically processed in the form of two webometric indexes (described below): the External Web Impact Fac- tor (eWIF) and Number of Co-links that measure respectively, visibility and proximity of sites. We collected the number of links using the search engine AltaVista (www.altavista.com) Naelton Mendes de Araujo on 11/07/08. With the dynamism inherent in the Web you have to take a “snapshot” of sites in the shortest possible time, because nothing guarantees that links remain the same for longer than 24 hours.

External Web Impact Factor We followed the webometrics hypothesis, which states that the amount of links to a site is an indicator of visibility and prestige that this site receives. Fig. 1 - Number of sites by eWIF values. The scale of the x-axis is exponential. On each bar the percentage The eWIF is defined as the ratio between the of sites we have in relation to the sample. Summary of statistics: N = 164, Mean = 31.62, Standard Devi- ation = 77.89, Min. = 0.05, Max. = 551. All graphs by author. number of links that a page receives, minus the internal links (self-citation), on the number of pages in the site (INGWERSEN, 1998). In Fig. 1 you can see the statistical distribution of our sample. For most of the analyzed sites (65%), the highest values of impact factor fell between 1 and 32. An analysis of eWIFs by geographical representation shows a remarkable concentration of sites in Europe. We used the average values of impact factors of the individual sites for each country (Fig.2). The indicator eWIF highlighted the most prestigious centers of planetariums in the world, identifying clearly the predominance of German (average value: 51.24) and Amer- ican (average value: 44.68). However, the average per country methodology creates an illusion that countries with only one planetarium are prominently larger than the real- world context (Bolivia and Malaysia, for example). (See Fig. 2). These data are quite consistent with the history of planetariums, which began in Germa- ny and had great development in the U.S. Fig. 2: Representation of the geographical distribution of eWIFs by country. Co-link analysis When two URLs are linked, a third URL co-cited (for this reason sites in Japan, China, of two points is directly proportional to the says there is a co-link between them. Count- Brazil and others are excluded). From the ma- number of links that the sites share (co-links). ing the number of co-links as pairs, for each of trix of co-links is obtained a graphical repre- the sites, we obtain a matrix of co-citation on sentation of the groups by similarity (greater Discussion and conclusion the Web. number of co-links more similar). (See Figure The numbers of co-links subjected to the Using the command a link:urli link:urlj, the 3). View more about this technique in Herre- techniques of cluster analysis allowed us to array of co-links was obtained for each pair ro-Solana and Morales-Del-Castillo (2004) and visualize a spatial distribution of sites and of sites. Our matrix had dimensions of 94 x Leydesdorff & Vaughan (2005). In this type groups. These resources allowed us to classi- 94 due to the fact that nearly 70 sites are not of graphical representation, the proximity fy quantitatively the great mass of sites, dis-

September 2010 Planetarian 13 tinguishing them in seven major language land and the Czech Republic, Bulgaria, Hun- ical relations are evident. groups: Latin (French sites), Germanic I (North gary), which have in common the fact that Cluster analysis of these sites reflects the in- American sites, all in English), Germanic II they are the same linguistic group (Slavic) and stitutional contexts in a clear and unequiv- (German language sites in Austria, Switzerland have belonged to the same political bloc of ocal. The Web does not break the language and Germany), Slavic I (Czechs sites), Slavic II the Cold War (Warsaw Pact). These behaviors barrier, at least with respect to the sites of (Russian and Ukrainian sites), Slavic III (Polish may show geopolitical factors distinguishing planetariums. The image of the “virtual world site) and a Mixed group (multiple languages the subgroups. without borders,” faced with the analysis per- and nationalities). The group Germanic I: USA presented the formed on the sites of planetariums, seems to The behavior of groups by language is sim- highest average in eWIF (107.56) but does not have no webometric foundation. ilar to results found by Gouveia and Kurten- have the largest number of co-links. This sug- Note: This work was originally presented bach (2009) who analyzed at the 11th National Astron- 18 sites of science centers omy Meeting (November of the Network for the Pop- 2008, Alagoas, Brazil). A PDF ularization of Science and version of the full disserta- Technology in Latin Amer- tion (in Portuguese, can be ica and the Caribbean (Red- found at tinyurl.com/nael- POP). ton. Using the same technique, these authors identi- References fied language barriers that Björneborn, L. Small-world keep away Brazilian sites link structures on the web. (written in Portuguese) Accessed 28 July 2003, www. from the remaining pairs of db.dk/lb/2002smallworld. Latin American sites (writ- Björneborn, L. and Ingwers- ten in Spanish). Outside this en, P. Toward a Basic Frame- dominant factor (language), work for Webometrics. Jour- other secondary factors ap- nal of the American Society peared in that work: geo- for Information Science and graphic location and simi- Technology, vol 55 no14, pp larities between the nature 1216-1227, 2004. of science centers. Björneborn, L. and Ingwers- The pattern of planetari- Fig. 3: Cluster analysis based on the co-links. Note: The size of the circles is proportional en, P. Perspectives of webo- um grouping of sites studied to the number of co-links. The axes are in arbitrary units that represent only the similarity metrics. Scientometrics, vol in this work is quite simi- between the sites. The codes represent sites worldwide: the first three letters represent 50 no 1, pp 65-82, 2001. the name of the city and the country the last two (following the typical coding used in lar to the results of these au- Egghe, L. Expansion of the Internet addresses). For a full list, see the complete paper at tinyurl.com/naelton. thors. We can conclude that field of informetrics: The sec- the number of co-links is a ond special issue. Informa- much richer in information, allowing a good gests that sites in America, despite their high tion Processing Management, vol 42, no 6, pp overview of the data analyzed. visibility, have low proximity to other sites 1405-1407, 2006. Considering the features observed, the (fewer co-links). Gouveia, F and Kurtenbach, E. Mapping the weight of regional associations that have Although there is no a direct relationship web relations of science centres and muse- Web presence cannot be discarded. These as- between the number of languages and index- ums from Latin America. Scientometrics, vol sociations tend to host lists of their members es webometric, we found the highest average 79, no 3, pp 491-505, 2009. and this can create extra links in addition to rates of co-links in multilingual sites. The most Herrero-Solana, V. and Morales-Del-Castillo, J. the language. The U.S., France and Germa- prominent was the group Slavic I (Czech sites), Mapas geopolíticos de internet: aplicación ny, countries highlighted in this work, have which include the websites of the following de las nuevas técnicas de representación de strong, active associations. Compounding the institutions (followed by the code with which la información. Ciência da Informação, Bra- framework is IPS, which has 23 associations. they identified the body of this paper): Pils- sília, vol 33 no 3, pp 69-75, set./dez. 2004. Seven of these are affiliated associations in the en Observatory and Planetarium (PLZ-CZ), Ingwersen P. Research Brief: The Calculation U.S., while other countries have one IPS affili- Prague Planetarium (PRA-CZ), Observatory Of Web Impact Factors. Journal of Documen- ate each. and Planetarium Johanna Palisa (OST-CZ), and tation, vol 54 no 2, pp 236–243, March 1998. Upon further analysis, using a sharper sta- Nicholas Copernicus Observatory and Plane- Leydesdorff, L. and Vaughan, L. Co-occurrence tistical cut, the group Germanic II (composed tarium (BRN-CZ). Matrices and their Applications in Informa- of Germans, Austrians and Swiss) and group The site with the largest number of co-links tion Science: Extending ACA to the Web Mixed were subdivided. This draws attention (7454) is the Copernicus site, which contains Environment. Journal of the American Soci- to a slightly unequal distribution of sites in six languages, and Palisa as the second larg- ety for Information Science and Technology, East Germany and West Germany between est (7349), a bilingual site. This shows that the 2005. the two subgroups of the Germanic group II. multiplicity of languages is certainly a factor Nalimov, V.V. and Mulchenko, Z. M. Sciento- For the group Mixed, interestingly, there that enhances the development of co-links. metrics, Izd. Science, Moscow, 1969. is a subset of sites in Spain distinct from the It is a common thought that the Web breaks Price, D.J. de S. Networks of Scientific Papers. subgroup of Hispanic Americans, despite the geographical boundaries. Experimental evi- Science, 149(3683): 510-515, July 30, 1965. same language. The profile shown the sites dence of this work does not corroborate this Pritchard, A. Statistical bibliography or biblio- for the East Germans did not appear for oth- view. It was observed that local factors such as metrics? Journal of Documentation, vol 24, er countries from Eastern Europe (Russia, Po- culture and language (primarily) and geopolit- pp 348-349, 1969. I

14 Planetarian September 2010 September 2010 Planetarian 15 16 Planetarian September 2010

S9-a01-02 Destruction Down Under The sad story of thieves, vandals, and the struggle to keep a planetarium alive

Editor-at-Large Steve Tidey Space Educator 2 Stambridge Road, Rochford, Essex, SS4 1DG, England [email protected]

As usual, Sherlock Holmes got it right. To berra Planetarium (otherwise known as the Even when viewed from afar, it’s like a person- paraphrase one of his memorable conversa- Canberra Space Dome and Observatory) per- al violation that’s so intense it rips our collec- tions with Watson, the brilliant, self-taught petrated by burglars, villains, ruffians, miscre- tive heart out across the planetarium commu- detective with an eye for the fine detail once ants, punks, deadbeats, scallywags, nihilists, nity. remarked “Violence is the last refuge of a per- Luddites, scoundrels, etc. Peter personally set up the observatory son who has run out of ideas.” Call them what you will, and pray that in 1989, after four years of preparatory work This apposite quote came to my mind they’ll go straight to h*** without passing “Go” and building when there was nothing else on when my jaw scraped the ground as I heard first, but the end result is the same: it’s yet an- site, to coincide with the massive interest sur- about the mindless destruction of the Can- other sorry chapter in the inexorable collapse rounding the passage of Comet Halley. of old-fashioned norms of behav- He later realised that the addition of a plan- iour that we see enacted about us etarium would be a great community proj- every day in the streets and on the ect. Funding was kindly given by the local news, with its daily reports of the Canberra Tradesman’s Union Club, and after steady decline of social mores and many years of construction and testing, the customs. At times like this, we de- doors were finally opened in 1997. Ole Knud- spair of humanity, or the lack of it, sen of the Aarhus Planetarium in Denmark as- in some people. sisted in the design of the auditorium. Imagine the horror felt by Peter A Zeiss ZKP3 was installed, and the 36-ft (11- Williamson, Canberra Planetari- m) dome screen was supplied by Astro-Tec. A um’s director, as he walked into his six-projector all-sky system was also installed, place of work only to be greeted by along with a bank of Ektapro slide projectors. the accompanying images, which All of these were tragically feted to be heavily are a classic example of “A picture damaged or stolen during the destruction. tells a thousand words.” As the planetarium had been Attached to a club closed and unoccupied for some The planetarium was attached to the Down- time he doesn’t know exactly when er Club, which later encountered manage- the vandalism took place, only that ment and finance problems that eventually it must have been between January lead to it being closed in 2007. From that mo- and April of this year. ment the planetarium’s days were numbered, For Peter it was a moment nev- as the two facilities were so closely linked. er to be forgotten, frozen in time. The planetarium was just about squeezing Almost 20 years of hard work, per- by on school audiences only (about 50,000 spiration and inspiration, hopes visitors in their last year) and no advertising. and dreams, lay around him, liter- This wasn’t good enough for the wider site’s ally shattered into a million pieces. management, and so the planetarium closed Think how you would feel if your its doors to the public in 2008. Canberra Planetarium Director Peter Williamson next to his damaged Zeiss ZLP3. All photos provided by Williamson facility ended up looking like this. Since then, Peter’s been paying occasional

September 2010 Planetarian 17 visits to the site to maintain equipment and •• Zeiss spare parts were keep the facility in tip-top condition, should stolen, along with Zeiss it ever need to be shown off at its best ahead ZKP3 globes. The ZKP of a prospective reopening. projector itself looks like Peter later got involved in an initiative to one of the villains sat on re-launch the planetarium on a new site by it as it was swung about, teaming up with four other people to form thus destroying many a support group, the Planetarium and Obser- of the internal gears. vatory Association of Canberra (POAC). They •• All the cabling from the approached local and national government Spice control desk, plus funding organisations, made promotional other area of the dome, television adverts, and they were interviewed was ripped out and sto- on local TV and in the newspapers. len for the copper in the They also had discussions with state and lo- wiring that can attract cal government departments in an effort to high value on the black get the facility relocated to Mount Stromlo market. Observatory. But the Australian National Ob- servatory, which runs the Stromlo Observato- And all of that was just ry, decided that such a move wasn’t in keep- what Peter had noted in ing with their charter, and so they decided the first day or two, peer- against the relocation. ing about in the half light, The group’s 18 months of hard work pro- as the observatory and duced nothing. Yes, everybody gave them lots planetarium were without of verbal support and emotional encourage- light and power. ment, but regretted that there was no money. In the days following the vandalism, many of Salvage begins these same funding bodies expressed sorrow At the time of writing, and sympathy to Peter, but had to repeat their Peter had just started the regret that no money was available to help re- immense task of taking store the facility. apart the still usable parts of the planetarium, put- The destruction ting together an invento- Here’s the depressing list of destruction en- ry and finding a place to acted by the burglars: store the myriad elements. •• The Spice control system was ripped out He has been given help and thrown on the floor, creating a whole in the clean up phase by world of damage to its innards. What’s left members of the Canberra of it Peter can’t test, as he doesn’t have an Tradesman’s Union Club. operating system. He’s still hopeful of re- •• The whole sound system was stolen, so building the planetarium that’s five amps, six speakers and all the ca- on a fresh site. bling. As if all of the above •• All the lenses in the Ektapros were re- wasn’t enough, as we went moved. to press Peter informed me •• Two laptops were stolen, and the desktop that contractors have re- computers had their processors and disk moved the Zeiss projec- drives ripped out. tor from the dome against •• A DAT recorder was stolen. his express instructions •• A telescope donated by the Japanese manu- and without the knowl- facturer, Ishikawa, was ripped off its moor- edge of the person in over- Pictures that need no explanation: the foyer (top), meeting room and ings and damaged. Its future is uncertain. all charge of the site. He office/production area. An antique telescope stolen. doesn’t know where it is, •• Every room on site was trashed, all the glass and fears it’s been scrapped cabinets in the foyer were smashed, and the as the damage is beyond repair. whether or not the site owners may take the gift shop left looking like a bomb had ex- He was already very frustrated with the easy way out and simply demolish the site. ploded in there. All the glass was smashed, contractors who, he says, are “clueless” about His utter despair was evident when he and the cash register destroyed. planetariums and what they’re about. For ex- told me, “I’m shattered. I’ve tried so hard for •• The main office was trashed, comput- ample, they made a pig’s ear of safely remov- so long to save this site. I can’t do anymore ers broken, and all the drawers ripped out. ing expensive telescopes for storage. than what I have done. Nobody seems to care Three doors were ripped off their hinges, Other local companies have put in lowest about this place, except for the four other peo- and the sink in the break room area was sto- common denominator bids to get the clean ple in POAC.” len. up underway, but Peter is concerned about He realises that whilst many in the planetar- •• Glass slides from carousels were thrown on the quality of their work for such little mon- ium community may wish to donate equip- the floor. ey. He’s also had to deal with the worry of (Continues on Page 57)

18 Planetarian September 2010 September 2010 Planetarian 19 A Visit to Croatia Martin George Chair, International Relations Committee

During June 2010 I took a trip to con- and an RSA Cosmos In Space System. tinental Europe, one of my aims being In addition, there is a rooftop observa- to continue my study of the planetari- tory dome housing a 16-inch Meade um industry in Eastern Europe. On this Schmidt-Cassegrain telescope. The ob- occasion I decided to concentrate on servatory began operation in 2001, and Croatia, a country that I had never be- the planetarium much more recently, fore visited. This was largely inspired by in 2009. the fact that the planetarium in Rijeka, I had a delightful day with Andrea Croatia, is one of our newest IPS mem- Cvitan, Vladimir Zubkovic´ and Ivica bers! Cikovic´ ´ from the planetarium, partici- On the way, I stopped off in Slovenia pating in a press conference and speak- and attempted to learn more about the ing with local media about their im- planetarium that we have listed as be- pressive facility. Later, I met up with ing in Ljubljana, Slovenia’s delightfully Zlatan Hreljac, director of Rijeka Sport attractive capital city. Ltd., and Vojko Obersnel, the mayor of I discovered that the planetarium, the City of Rijeka. The Mayor was clear- which used a Zeiss ZKP1 projector, has ly very proud of the facility, and we had been closed for a very long time—esti- a quite long discussion. mates varied between 10 and 20 years. I was very pleased to be invited to re- I found that it had been run by the uni- turn to the observatory during the eve- versity but, on paying them a visit, dis- ning, where members of the local as- covered that there was no longer any- tronomical society were meeting and thing to see of the old planetarium. I do making use of the telescope. It’s al- hope that one day it will be possible to ways great to be able to take a look at resurrect it! some northern-hemisphere celestial ob- I then headed by rail across the bor- jects (my latitude at home is 41 degrees der into Croatia, staying for two nights south!) and these included M82 and the in Rijeka. Earlier, I had organised my vis- “Blinking Planetary” (NGC 6826). it to Rijeka’s planetarium, with the kind It was a most enjoyable visit to a great assistance of Andrea Cvitan, manager facility. Everyone involved is to be con- of the Astronomical Center of Rijeka, gratulated for the result that they have which includes the planetarium. The achieved! whole centre is run by Rijeka Sport Ltd., Following my visit to Rijeka I trav- which, in turn, comes under the auspic- elled, again by rail, to Zagreb, Croatia’s es of the City of Rijeka. capital city. There, I visited the tech- The Astronomical Center is inte- nical museum, which houses Zagreb’s Top: The Astronomical Center of Rijeka. Second: (from left:) ´ ´ ´ grated into a 1941 World War II defen- planetarium. The museum itself con- Vladimir Zubkovic, Andrea Cvitan and Ivica Cikovic in the Rije- ka Planetarium. Third, left: The original telescope from the Za- ˇ sive structure situated on Sveti Kriz hill tains a wealth of interesting objects greb Observatory, displayed in the Technical Museum. Third, above the city. Conveniently, it is im- from the very small to the quite large, right: Ante Radonic´ with the Zeiss ZKP1 projector in Zagreb. mediately adjacent to a local bus route. including an old Dubrovnik tram, a rail- Bottom: The Planetarium at the Technical Museum in Zagreb. All photos by Martin George. The planetarium has an 8-m dome (Continues on Page 25)

20 Planetarian September 2010 AD_REV2.pdf 1/29/2010 4:42:33 PM

CMY

September 2010 Planetarian 21 22 Planetarian September 2010 In Alexandria

Delegates at registration. Martin Ratcliffe Welcoming entry. Mike Smail

Friendly face. Gail Chaid

The new Cairo planetarium. Mark Rigby

Light show at the pyramids. Mark Rigby

All dressed up. Alexander Zaragoza

The French squad. Lionel Ruiz

Menu. Mike Smail Carter Emmart and Don Davis. Mark Rigby

The eastern harbor. Mike Smail

September 2010 Planetarian 23 Facing page, left: President Tom Mason presents the IPS Service Award to Thomas Kraupe (photo by Daniel Audeon); Right: Planetar- ians gathered at IPS 2010 Gala Din- ner in the garden of El-Salamlek Pal- ace (photo by Martin George).

This page: New IPS Fellows, from left Chris Janssen, André Milis, An- dreas Hänel, Andreas Scholl, and Mike Murray. For Thomas Hamilton, see page 62.

He developed the first video special effects am Schölerberg Planetarium, Osnabrück and lowships from IPS members, and then pres- libraries and the first means of distribution us- Andreas Scholl, Olbers-Planetarium, Bremen; ent nominations together with the commit- ing video discs under computer control. This, and tee’s recommendations to the off-year council in turn, led to the transformation of the plan- From the United States, Thomas Hamilton, meetings. After the council’s decisions, the etarium manufacturing and special effects HOSS Planetarium, Staten Island, New York committee then prepares the awards and di- industry, a revolution that continues to this and Mike Murray, Clark Planetarium, Salt plomas to be given at the next year’s IPS Con- day. Lake City, Utah. ference. He was IPS President 1989-90 and he is pres- The new fellows received a Fellowship Di- The next call for nominations will be pub- ently associated with Evans & Sutherland. ploma from Awards Committee Chair Lars lished in a future issue of the Planetarian. I Broman; those not present will receive their President Award diplomas by mail. Again, from the By-Laws: “In order to be The President Award was given to Susan named Fellow of IPS, a member must have Reynolds Button by Former President Mar- continuous active membership in good stand- tin George. Button served in IPS’s highest of- ing in IPS for at least five years, and substan- IPS 2010 Alexandria fice from 2007-08 and she has, for a long time, tial contributions in at least two of the follow- Service and Technology/Innovation Awards worked to raise the profile of the importance ing respects: of mobile planetariums, and to have this rec- 1. Serving IPS in elective office, diligent and/ ognized by IPS. or devoted committee work, and the organi- All three awards were made of crystal glass, Thomas Kraupe, director of the Hamburg Agency, initiated a renewed IPS web presence, bers and/or planetariums. zation of conferences and meetings. molded in the shape of an iceberg and en- 2. Relevant and significant publications Planetarium, received IPS’s most prestigious and strengthened the internationality of IPS. Murtagh’s innovative experimental work graved by the Swedish Nybro Glassworks. and/or conference presentations. award during the IPS 2010 Conference in Al- Kraupe has served on a number of IPS com- at Armagh Planetarium commenced in the 3. Cooperation with professional societies, exandria, Egypt. mittees, including work on the just revived 1970s and solved the problem of video projec- Fellows named organizations and groups which bring atten- The awards ceremony took place during IPS Eugenides script writing competition. tion without distortion on the curved dome Six deserving IPS members were named Fel- tion to the importance of planetariums’ exis- the gala dinner at El-Salamlek Palace in Alex- With his energy and curiosity for innovative surface, and revolutionized planetarium de- lows of IPS: tence. andria. All awards and fellowships were decid- technologies, he has pushed for cross-media sign and presentation across the globe. Thus From Belgium, Chris Janssen, Europlanetari- 4. The development of new methods in the ed by IPS Council during the meeting in Tou- and cross-platform projects connecting plan- did he initiatethe greatest change in planetar- um, Genk and André Milis, Planetarium of the planetarium field.” louse, France a year ago. etariums with other learning experiences and ium technology since the development of the Royal Observatory of Belgium, Brussels; The role of the IPS Awards Committee is Thomas Kraupe was a very happy recipient of opening new formats and angles for what a opto-mechanical projector of 1923. He then From Germany, Andreas Hänel, Museum to collect nominations for awards and fel- IPS Service Award. Photo by Martin George. Service Award planetarium theater can be. persuaded manufacturers of conventional The prestigious Service Award was present- He helped many sites to launch their new equipment to take up and distribute the new ed to Kraupe by IPS President Thomas Ma- planetariums and initiated a best practice for technology, both in hardware and software. (Multiple Sources, continued from Page 11) 41, No. 7, p. 260 tial reference systems and the canonicality son. The award, according to the IPS By-Laws, combining arts and sciences un- Bourke, P.D. 2005. “Using a Spherical Mirror for Mirage3d Inc. 2010. “Geology Fulldome Li- effect in infant search.” Journal of Experi- “shall be bestowed, from time to time, by the der the dome. As representative of Projection into Immersive Environments.” brary-Volcano scene.” Web site: www.mi- mental Child Psychology, 1981, Vol. 32, No. 1, Society upon an individual or institution the Council of German Planetari- Graphite (ACM Siggraph). Proceedings of the rage3D.eu. (Accessed 6/8/2010) pp. 1-10. I ums, he continued to support IPS whose presence and work in the planetarium Third International Conference on Computer Lloyd, S.E., Sinha, C.G., and Freeman, N.H. “Spa- field has been, through the years, an inspira- as an active member on council in Graphics and Interactive Techniques in Aus- tion to the profession and its members.” the last decade and helped to set up tralasia and South East Asia. pp. 281-284. (Croatia, continued from Page 20) Thomas Kraupe has worked at major plan- new initiatives for planetariums. De Paor, D.G. 2007. “The World is (Almost) way engine and, on the upper floor, the orig- a completely live show, describing—in Croa- etariums for many years, including in Stutt- Round: An Introduction to Google Earth inal 164-mm refractor telescope from the Za- tian, of course—the sights of the night sky to gart, Munich and New York, and has been di- Technology and Science.” FrontMatter Technovations, Vol. 1 greb Observatory. The telescope was installed the audience. rector at Hamburg Planetarium since 2000. Innovation Award no. 1, pp. 10-11. in 1903 and was in use until 1965. Also on the There was a very positive response from He has served IPS in many ways for more The Technology Technology and and Innovation Innova- De Paor, D.G. 2009. “Visualizations of Stel- upper floor, one can see the prominent blue the audience and, once again, this reinforces than two decades. He was IPS President from Awardtion Award was given was given to Terence to Terence Mur- lar, Planetary, and Lunar Interiors Using planetarium dome, which houses a Zeiss ZKP1 something I have always felt strongly about: 1997-98; when he was chosen as president- taghMurtagh by byIPS IPS Past-President Past-President Susan Su- Google Earth.” Proceedings of the Middle At- projector. the planetarium staff, interacting with and in- elect in the fall of 1994, he was the first (and Reynoldssan Reynolds Button. Button. lantic Planetarium Society (electronic). I received a welcome as I arrived at the mu- spiring the audience, are so important in en- to-date only) planetarian from a non-English The Technology and Innovation Dordevic, M.L., De Paor, D.G., and Whitmey- seum, and shortly after I met up with Ante suring its success. speaking country to be elected. He has been Award is given by the Society to an er, S.J. 2009. “Understanding Volcanism on Radonić, operator of the planetarium. For Ante and I later had a pleasant chat about his active in connecting IPS with profession- individual whose technology and/ Terrestrial Planets and Moons using Virtual many years, Ante has run the shows here, and facility, and astronomy in the region in general astronomical associations and space agen- or innovations in the planetarium Globes and Collada Models.” Geological Soci- I was fortunate to be able to sit in on a pub- al. Clearly, it’s a popular subject in Croatia, and cies. He launched a media distribution service field have been, through the years, Terence MurtaghMurtagh at at the the podium podium after after receiving receiving the IPS the Tech IPS- ety of America Abstracts with Programs, Vol. lic show, which began at midday. Ante runs I’m glad to have made a visit there! I through his work with the European Space used or replicated by other mem- nologyTechnology and Innovation and Innovation Award. Award. Photo Photo by Michael by Michael Daut. Daut.

24 Planetarian September 2010 September 2010 Planetarian 25 Facing page, left: President Tom FacingMason page, presentsleft: President the Tom IPS ServiceMason presentsAward the IPS to Service Thomas Award Kraupe to Thom (photo- as Kraupeby Daniel (photo Audeon); by Daniel Right: Audeon); Planetar- Right:ians Planetarians gathered gatheredat IPS 2010 at GalaIPS 2010 Din- Gala Dinnerner in the in the garden garden of El-Salamlek of El-Salamlek Pal- Palaceace (photo (photo by byMartin Martin George). George).

This page:This page:New NewIPS Fellows, IPS Fellows, from fromleft Chris leftJanssen, Chris AndreasJanssen, AndréHänel, Milis,Andreas An- Scholl,dreas and Mike Hänel, Murray. Andreas No photo Scholl, avail and- able forMike André Murray. Milis; For for Thomas Thomas Hamilton, Hamil- ton, seesee page page 62. 62.

He developed the first video special effects am Schölerberg Planetarium, Osnabrück and lowships from IPS members, and then pres- libraries and the first means of distribution us- Andreas Scholl, Olbers-Planetarium, Bremen; ent nominations together with the commit- ing video discs under computer control. This, and tee’s recommendations to the off-year council in turn, led to the transformation of the plan- From the United States, Thomas Hamilton, meetings. After the council’s decisions, the etarium manufacturing and special effects HOSS Planetarium, Staten Island, New York committee then prepares the awards and di- industry, a revolution that continues to this and Mike Murray, Clark Planetarium, Salt plomas to be given at the next year’s IPS Con- day. Lake City, Utah. ference. He was IPS President 1989-90 and he is pres- The new fellows received a Fellowship Di- The next call for nominations will be pub- ently associated with Evans & Sutherland. ploma from Awards Committee Chair Lars lished inin aa futurefuture issueissue of of the the Planetarian Planetarian.. . I Broman; those not present will receive their President Award diplomas by mail. Again, from the By-Laws: “In order to be The President Award was given to Susan named Fellow of IPS, a member must have Reynolds Button by Former President Mar- continuous active membership in good stand- tin George. Button served in IPS’s highest of- ing in IPS for at least five years, and substan- IPS 2010 Alexandria fice from 2007-08 and she has, for a long time, tial contributions in at least two of the follow- Service and Technology/Innovation Awards worked to raise the profile of the importance ing respects: of mobile planetariums, and to have this rec- 1. Serving IPS in elective office, diligent and/ ognized by IPS. or devoted committee work, and the organi- All three awards were made of crystal glass, Thomas Kraupe, director of the Hamburg Agency, initiated a renewed IPS web presence, bers and/or planetariums. zation of conferences and meetings. molded in the shape of an iceberg and en- Planetarium, received IPS’s most prestigious and strengthened the internationality of IPS. Murtagh’s innovative experimental work 2. Relevant and significant publications graved by the Swedish Nybro Glassworks. and/or conference presentations. award during the IPS 2010 Conference in Al- Kraupe has served on a number of IPS com- at Armagh Planetarium commenced in the 3. Cooperation with professional societies, exandria, Egypt. mittees, including work on the just revived 1970s and solved the problem of video projec- Fellows named organizations and groups which bring atten- The awards ceremony took place during IPS Eugenides script writing competition. tion without distortion on the curved dome Six deserving IPS members were named Fel- tion to the importance of planetariums’ exis- the gala dinner at El-Salamlek Palace in Alex- With his energy and curiosity for innovative surface, and revolutionized planetarium de- lows of IPS: tence. andria. All awards and fellowships were decid- technologies, he has pushed for cross-media sign and presentation across the globe. Thus From Belgium, Chris Janssen, Europlanetari- 4. The development of new methods in the ed by IPS Council during the meeting in Tou- and cross-platform projects connecting plan- did he initiatethe greatest change in planetar- um, Genk and André Milis, Planetarium of the planetarium field.” louse, France a year ago. etariums with other learning experiences and ium technology since the development of the Royal Observatory of Belgium, Brussels; The role of the IPS Awards Committee is Thomas Kraupe was a very happy recipient of opening new formats and angles for what a opto-mechanical projector of 1923. He then From Germany, Andreas Hänel, Museum to collect nominations for awards and fel- IPS Service Award. Photo by Martin George. Service Award planetarium theater can be. persuaded manufacturers of conventional The prestigious Service Award was present- He helped many sites to launch their new equipment to take up and distribute the new ed to Kraupe by IPS President Thomas Ma- planetariums and initiated a best practice for technology, both in hardware and software. (Multiple Sources, continued from Page 11) ety41, No.of America 7, p. 260 Abstracts with Programs, Vol. Lloyd,tial reference S.E., Sinha, systems C.G., and and Freeman, the canonicality N.H. “Spa- son. The award, according to the IPS By-Laws, combining arts and sciences un- Bourke, P.D. P.D. 2005. 2005. “Using “Using a Spherical a Spherical Mirror Mirror for Mirage3d41, No. 7, Inc. p. 260 2010. “Geology Fulldome Li- tialeffect reference in infant systems search.” and Journal the canonicality of Experi- “shall be bestowed, from time to time, by the der the dome. As representative of forProjection Projection into Immersive into Immersive Environments.” Environ- Mirage3dbrary-Volcano Inc. 2010. scene.” “Geology Web site: Fulldome www.mi Li- mentaleffect in Child infant Psychology search.”, 1981, Journal Vol. of32, Experi No. 1,- Society upon an individual or institution the Council of German Planetari- ments.”Graphite Graphite (ACM Siggraph). (ACM Siggraph). Proceedings Proceed of the- rage3D.eu.brary-Volcano (Accessed scene.” 6/8/2010) Web site: www.mi- mentalpp. 1-10. Child Psychology , 1981, Vol. 32, No.I 1, whose presence and work in the planetarium ums, he continued to support IPS ingsThird of International the Third International Conference on Conference Computer Lloyd,rage3D.eu. S.E., Sinha, (Accessed C.G., and 6/8/2010) Freeman, N.H. “Spa- pp. 1-10. I field has been, through the years, an inspira- as an active member on council in onGraphics Computer and GraphicsInteractive and Techniques Interactive in Tech Aus- tion to the profession and its members.” the last decade and helped to set up niquestralasia in and Australasia South East and Asia South. pp. East 281-284. Asia. pp. (Croatia, continued from Page 20) Thomas Kraupe has worked at major plan- new initiatives for planetariums. De281-284. Paor, D.G. 2007. “The World is (Almost) way engine and, on the upper floor, the orig- a completely live show, describing—in Croa- etariums for many years, including in Stutt- DeRound: Paor, D.G. An Introduction2007. “The World to Google is (Almost) Earth inal 164-mm refractor telescope from the Za- tian, of course—the sights of the night sky to gart, Munich and New York, and has been di- Technology and Round:Science.” An FrontMatter Introduction Technovations to Google, Vol. Earth 1 greb Observatory. The telescope was installed the audience. rector at Hamburg Planetarium since 2000. Innovation Award no.Science.” 1, pp. 10-11.FrontMatter Technovations, Vol. 1 in 1903 and was in use until 1965. Also on the There was a very positive response from He has served IPS in many ways for more The Technology and Innova- Deno. Paor, 1, pp. D.G. 10-11. 2009. “Visualizations of Stel- upper floor, one can see the prominent blue the audience and, once again, this reinforces than two decades. He was IPS President from tion Award was given to Terence Delar, Paor, Planetary, D.G. 2009. and “Visualizations Lunar Interiors of Using Stel- planetarium dome, which houses a Zeiss ZKP1 something I have always felt strongly about: 1997-98; when he was chosen as president- Murtagh by IPS Past-President Su- Googlelar, Planetary, Earth.” Proceedings and Lunar of Interiors the Middle Using At- projector. the planetarium staff, interacting with and in- elect in the fall of 1994, he was the first (and san Reynolds Button. lanticGoogle Planetarium Earth.” Proceedings Society (electronic). of the Middle At- I received a welcome as I arrived at the mu- spiring the audience, are so important in en- to-date only) planetarian from a non-English The Technology and Innovation Dordevic,lantic Planetarium M.L., De Paor, Society D.G., (electronic). and Whitmey- seum, and shortly after I met up with Ante suring its success. speaking country to be elected. He has been Award is given by the Society to an Dordevic,er, S.J. 2009. M.L., “Understanding De Paor, D.G., andVolcanism Whitmey on- Radonić, , operator operator of of the the planetarium. planetarium. For Ante and I later had a pleasant chat about his active in connecting IPS with profession- individual whose technology and/ Terrestrialer, S.J. 2009. Planets “Understanding and Moons Volcanism using Virtual on many years, Ante has run the shows here, and facility, and astronomy in the region in general astronomical associations and space agen- or innovations in the planetarium GlobesTerrestrial and Planets Collada and Models.” Moons Geological using Virtual Soci- I was fortunate to be able to sit in on a pub- al. Clearly, it’s a popular subject in Croatia, and cies. He launched a media distribution service field have been, through the years, Terence Murtagh at the podium after receiving the IPS Tech- etyGlobes of America and Collada Abstracts Models.” with Geological Programs, SociVol.- lic show, which began at midday. Ante runs I’m glad to have made a visit there! I through his work with the European Space used or replicated by other mem- nology and Innovation Award. Photo by Michael Daut.

24 Planetarian September 2010 September 2010 Planetarian 25 Lars Broman Alexandre Cherman Thomas Kraupe Mark Rigby

The 2010 IPS Elections Four candidates for president

Martin George, Chair IPS Elections Committee 2010 is an election year for IPS officers! At the beginning of October, me at [email protected] and Shawn Laatsch at slaatsch@ voting will be possible on the IPS website, www.ips-planetarium.org. imiloahawaii.org to advise us of the change. I’d like to see a big voter turnout this year; don’t forget that, as an IPS Please note that Lee Ann Hennig and Shawn Laatsch have been nom- member, it is your chance to have your say in how the Society is run. inated for secretary and treasurer, respectively, and are unopposed, so Over the coming weeks I shall be emailing all of you to remind you statements from them will appear on the website and in any mailed- of the election. Inevitably, some emails addresses “bounce,” and those out ballots. whom I cannot contact by email will be sent a hard copy ballot pa- For this issue of the Planetarian I have asked all four candidates for per to return to me. However, you can help: if you have changed your the office of president-elect to submit a candidate statement, and these email address over the past year or so, please let us know by emailing are presented here. You will also find them on the IPS website. I

Lars Broman Alexandre Cherman Thomas Kraupe Mark Rigby I believe that I am able to serve IPS has given me a lot. It is only Dear fellow planetarians, I am It was with careful consider- IPS well as president of the Soci- fair I offer something in return. what I am because of you—all you ation that I accepted nomination ety. I hope this is evident from I’m offering my time and my un- inspirational planetarians out as a candidate for IPS president what I have done before, what I divided attention to its cause. there—in the Americas, Africa, elect. I only did so after consul- am today, and what I would like If elected, I would be the first Asia, Australia and Europe! Join- tation with past and present of- to concentrate on during my president from a developing ing forces with you keeps me go- fice holders in order to appreciate presidency. country. I want to build bridg- ing, striving for excellence! IPS is what the role involved and to be Past: I created Sweden’s then es between developed and devel- like a big family for me and since sure that I could deliver. largest planetarium, the Kos- oping countries, large and small you fellow planetarians have giv- Accepting the nomination is morama Space Theater, in 1986. domes, fulldome and tradition- en so much to me, I want to give actually a call to face a six-year The same year, I invited IPS to al planetariums, science and cul- as much as possible back to you! commitment of supporting the hold its first conference outside ture. So it is a great honor for me to be incoming president as president the North American Continent, But, most of all, I want to show in this fine group of candidates— elect, serving as president and which led to the unforgettable people in our community that and friends—for the office of IPS subsequently occupying the po- IPS’90, The Boundless Planetari- we might not need bridges after president. sition of past president—all vital um, with me as Chair. The same all, since we are already all on the In my years as astronomer and roles that require dedication, pro- year I became the Nordic Plane- same bank of the river! assistant director at Stuttgart viding considered advice and or- tarium Association’s first presi- Who am I, anyway? Planetarium (1984-1993) and as ganizational guidance as IPS ex- dent and I have since been NPA’s Within the IPS context, I’m director of the new planetarium pands its reach across the planet. representative on IPS Council. usually referred to as “the big guy at Deutsches Museum Munich I firmly believe that I can fulfill Since the mid-1980s, I have from Brazil.” I’m an astronomer, (1993-96), the internationality these roles. marketed and delivered, togeth- a physicist, a writer, a storyteller, and spirit of IPS was like a mag- It is an exciting time for IPS—a er with my brother Per, so many an educator and a science com- net for me. Since 1988 I have not time in which I would relish con- planetariums in the Nordic coun- municator. Above all, I’m a plan- missed a single IPS conference! tributing to the growth of the or- tries that today well over half of etarian. From 1994 until 2000—while ganization and pursuing a higher (Continues on Page 28) (Continues on Page 29) (Continues on Page 28) (Continues on Page 29)

26 Planetarian September 2010 September 2010 Planetarian 27 Broman, continued my, and I am its rector and one of expensive associateship in IPS in- planetariums. its 40professors (both un-salaried cluded in the membership of an Possibilities to interact with the planetariums in this part of positions). My planetarium Stel- Affiliate Association would be friends and colleagues all over the world have been provided by la Nova has been taken over by worth trying. We are, after all, sev- the world have benefited tre- us. the academy and is now a school eral thousand planetarians in the mendously by using computers John Mosley asked me to take planetarium in Strömstad. world and it is a pity that only a and the Internet. I can foresee a over as the Planetarian’s Region- Through my small company fraction of us are IPS members. not-so-distant future when inter- al Roundup—later re-named In- Teknoland, I assist my brother An associateship could include national travel will be restricted ternational News—editor in 1995, Per’s Broman Planetarium to mar- an electronic version of Planetari- due to global warming, so may- and I have been editing this col- ket and sell domes and all-sky vid- an, which at least partially ought be IPS conferences in the future umn ever since. In 2006, in Mel- eo on the European market. I am to be multilingual. I would love will let us all meet in one loca- bourne, I received the IPS Ser- also involved in research and act to see new active Affiliate Asso- tion on Earth only every fourth vice Award, something I am very as the coordinator of the interna- ciations in China and the Arab- year. In between, regional confer- proud of. And since 2007, I have tional project Public Understand- speaking countries, for example, ences could take place simultane- been chairing the IPS Awards ing of Astronomy (PUA). If elect- as well as greeting many ex-mem- ously and we could interact with Committee. ed president of IPS, I plan to hand bers from USA and other coun- planetarians at several places in Present: I now have time to over some of my duties—the pres- tries welcome back to IPS. the world in joint sessions, con- be IPS president, having recent- idency of NPA, the chairing of IPS members are primarily ed- nected over the Internet. During ly retired as a university profes- the Awards Committee, and edit- ucators and not scientists. We my presidency I would like us to sor, chairing a Masters’ Program ing International News—to other should however strive for pre- make a first try in 2013. in Science Communication. Out planetarians. This will help me to senting correct science in our A final comment: My fami- of 50 graduates, 10 received an be an active member of IPS Exec- planetariums, just like science ly name, Broman, is Swedish for Armand Spitz Educational Fund utive Council during the coming teachers should do in their class- “bridgeman,” and I have since Scholarship, and their theses were six years. rooms. As your president I would long had a general guideline in published as an IPS Special Report Future: As president of IPS, I like to promote the planetarium everything I am doing: to be a in 2008. will continue the internation- community’s strive in this re- man building bridges between This doesn’t mean that I sit alization of our Society that has spect. Astrology, creationism, in- people, between institutions, and idle in a rocking chair in front been going on for the last two de- telligent design and denial of an- between sciences. As a president of a cozy fire. No, I have initiat- cades. This can only take place by thropogenic climate influence of IPS, I certainly want to live up ed the Nordic Institute for Ad- tighter collaboration with our Af- may be advocated in other insti- to my name! I vanced Study Strömstad Acade- filiate Associations. Maybe an in- tutions in the society but not in

Kraupe, continued casts, blogs and twitter have the scales, from nano- to macro-di- telling! And there are so many un- potential to empower our IPS net- mensions. told stories and so many incredi- working in Munich and also for work to amplify our efforts. We My focus as president would ble storytellers like you out there! the New Hayden Planetarium are the right people for a new di- be on helping us planetarians to It is my vision that our growing Project in New York City—I had mension of global projects bring- succeed in these exciting but de- network of IPS will support you, the honor of being the first (and ing together domes of all sizes— manding new immersive envi- so that many more of these sto- so far only) IPS officer and IPS fixed and mobile—and leaving no ronments, e.g. by ries make it up on our domes and president (1997-98) coming from one behind. Further improving our net- into the minds and hearts of peo- a non-English speaking country. As much as I embrace new tech- work for communication, infor- ple around the globe. During my term I presided over nologies, I know that content is mation and publication; I am convinced that our domes the IPS’98 conference in London. more important, and most im- Creating new opportunities for reach far beyond the scientif- Since late 2000 I have lived and portant are people! As president I exchange across cultural borders; ic arena; with the spirit of artists worked in the beautiful city of would continue to listen to you, Providing guidance for solu- they open up new perspectives on Hamburg in Northern Germany. extending the efforts of current tions and recommended stan- ourselves. Hence, as president of As astronomer-director of Ham- and past presidents to strength- dards; IPS I would not only strengthen burg Planetarium (www.plane- en partnerships with major re- Creating visibility and awards the scientific basis, but also build tarium-hamburg.de) I continued search organizations, even be- for “best practice”; bridges into the arts and digital my work for IPS as council mem- yond astronomy into Earth- and Establishing opportunities for media and encourage the great ber and in several IPS commit- Geo-sciences, and use my excel- professional training (workshops, artistic skills we have within our tees. At IPS 2010 in Alexandria, I lent worldwide contacts to estab- summer schools etc.); worldwide membership. You can received the IPS Service Award— lish new content partnerships for Adapting IPS conference orga- count on my experience, dedica- the highest honor of our society. the upcoming new generation of nization and content to changing tion and vision for advancing IPS This means a lot to me and is an space missions, observatories and needs; and following your needs. Since our encouragement for the future. research labs. Evolving the structure of our marvelous officers Lee Ann and We live in an exciting new era I am an astrophysicist who had organization and sharpening Shawn have already worked with for planetariums, propelled by a specialized in cosmology and X- tasks of IPS committees. me in the past, I do expect that fast pace of new digital media. No Ray astronomy. But I am keen You know, it is neither the very efficient teamwork would one can foresee the future, but I on all sorts of explorations and in size of your dome, nor the size kick in from day one—for the promise to work hard to make our immersive theaters we now of your budget. It is the dedica- benefit of all members. I the future possible. Instant tools can take audiences virtually any- tion and passion that empowers of communication like dome- where, linking us humans to all each of us—our passion for story-

28 Planetarian September 2010 Cherman, continued to tell scientific anecdotes to the As a member of the planetar- see eye-to-eye with the big guys general audience. I was getting ium community, I’ve been inin our industry. But I live in a de- Born in 1972, I was practically paid to teach and, even better, to volved with IPS since 2000. I was veloping country, which means raised on board a ship. My father, learn! Life was good. elected for two terms (2007-8 and that my budget is always tight! a ship captain, was my first as- And it still is! 2009-10) as scientific director of So I can easily relate to the small tronomy teacher and as I learned Thirteen years later, I have a the Association of Brazilian Plane- domes and their issues as well. I’m to read and write, I also learned to PhD in physics and I’m head of tariums. I had an active role in the a man of both worlds. Bridges, re- navigate by the stars. production of the Rio Planetari- process that led IPS to welcome member? At the age of 17, I enrolled in um, the largest and busiest plane- its first-ever South American affil- A big dome with a low bud- the American Field Service ex- tarium in South America. iate. I’ve been a member of the IPS get is a perfect invitation for cre- change program. AFS sent me to I’ve produced eight shows so Council since 2007. And, most re- ativity and lateral thinking! And Bartlesville, Oklahoma, where I far, always experimenting with cently, I became an associate edi- that is what I will encourage the lived for a full year with an Amer- different techniques (you might tor for the Planetarian, producing most in our community: creativ- ican family and graduated from have heard about the puppets in the PARTYcles comic strip. ity! Let’s not be afraid to try new high school. the dome). I have written four I also work as a technical re- things. Instead of preparing for After my AFS year in the US, I books (all in my native Portu- viewer for English-to-Portuguese the future, let’s create it. It is not went to college in Rio de Janeiro. guese). I also oversee all published translations (from Russell’s ABC about the money, it is not about I graduated in astronomy in 1996, material produced by the plane- of Relativity to Ridpath’s Illus- the technology. Our business has cum laude. At that same year, the tarium, as well as the astronomi- trated Guide to Astronomy) and always been, and it will always be, Rio de Janeiro Planetarium was cal content of our website. as a consultant to various projects about bold new ideas! hiring graduated astronomers! I have a special interest in show- of planetariums and museums. I Bold new ideas in science, bold Serendipity at its best. ing underprivileged kids that sci- am currently working on the Mu- new ideas in science communi- So I became a planetarian by ac- ence can be a valid path for social seum of Tomorrow, designed by cation, bold new ideas in educa- cident, one might say. And what a ascent. They can achieve a better Santiago Calatrava, to be opened tion. Let’s aim for the stars, for we fortunate accident that was! I fell life through knowledge and edu- in Rio in 2012. are planetarians and we can’t set- in love with the job. I was getting cation. I feel that it is very impor- I work in a big institution, with tle for less. Head in the sky, feet paid to write, to lecture, to make tant to convey to all audiences three domes (one of which is 23 on the ground. That is what I en- astronomical jokes to little kids, that science can be fun. m in diameter!); I can certainly vision for IPS! I

Rigby, continued optical star projectors, or the most share my experience and to draw to witness and report on space basic of tools, our goal is to inspire upon the collective experience of missions as well as eight total so- public visibility for IPS by extol- children about their cosmic envi- other IPS officers and committee lar eclipses, the most recent in ling the advantages of planetari- ronment, thus enabling them to members. My focus would be to Libya, Siberia, China and on Eas- ums in communities around the see the importance of their role in ensure that you see IPS member- ter Island. world. I believe this also would caring for their home planet. ship as a great benefit that can as- Planetarium experience: I assist planetariums that are under Technology now allows us sist you in achieving your goals. joined the Sir Thomas Brisbane threat. It is an area of first-hand to overcome the tyranny of dis- Work Experience: I received Planetarium as assistant curator experience and successful out- tance. There is still much that IPS my first telescope on my 11th in 1985 and became curator in comes. can do in the form of webcasts birthday and soon began attend- 2002. I have been very hands-on IPS has become a global organi- and video archiving of confer- ing astronomical society meet- in the planetarium’s administra- zation with the majority of insti- ence presentations in the future. ings, constructing my own tele- tion, publicity, show production tutional members being outside This is not to say that conferenc- scope, writing articles and giving and presentation—personally pre- the United States, while the US es are obsolete—as anyone who talks. Communicating is what I senting more than 10,000 shows. still has the majority of individu- attends them knows the valuable loved then, and still do. Since 2004, I have overseen two al members. The IPS 2010 confer- benefits of firsthand contact with At university, I became inter- major upgrades of the facility ence served to highlight the im- colleagues from around the globe, ested in journalism to address with digital fulldome systems. I portance of reaching out to areas the information to be shared and my strong desire to communi- am now overseeing the acquisi- not yet adequately represented in lessons to be learned. cate science and soon became in- tion of a new optical star projec- IPS. For example, there is much to My career has involved both volved in the media with partic- tor. be achieved in embracing plan- traditional optical star projectors ular emphasis on astronomy and List of memberships of profes- etarium developments by sup- and immersive digital technolo- space exploration. In the 1980s, I sional organizations: porting existing members and gies. Working with a 12.5 m dome also managed a high-profile Aus- Member, International Plane- encouraging new affiliates in the means that my experience lies on tralian space science competition tarium Society since 1992. Middle East, Africa, China, India the boundary of small and large sponsored by Australia’s nation- Australasian Planetarium Soci- and South America. facilities. About two-thirds of my al communications satellite com- ety: member since its formation Our members’ passion and sat- dome time is spent presenting pany. in1998; treasurer 2003-2008; Pres- isfaction comes not only from “live” content—the “life blood” of While my planetarium career ident and affiliate representative the success of their own facilities, small and medium fixed domes, has absorbed most of my time to IPS since May 2008. but also from helping others to as well as portable domes. I also since 1985, I have travelled exten- Fellow of the Queensland Acad- achieve their dreams. No matter present a range of selected pre- sively and visited planetariums emy of Arts and Sciences, elected whether IPS members have the rendered shows. and space facilities whenever pos- 2007. I latest fulldome technology and If elected, I will be dedicated to sible. I have undertaken journeys

September 2010 Planetarian 29 30 Planetarian September 2010 as she had some urgent business in the USA. I know that she was keeping a careful remote President’s Message eye on things via the internet. I will be for- Dr. Tom Mason mally writing to her and all at the Bibliotheca Armagh Planetarium thanking them on your behalf. I am sure that you all know, or will have guessed that, as usu- College Hill, Armagh BT61 9DB al, there was a lot going on behind the scenes: Northern Ireland, United Kingdom I am pleased to report to you that things went +44 (0)2837 524725 well there too. +44 (0)2837 526187 fax, +44 (0)771 0013453 cell My main problem is that I spent so much [email protected] time talking to people that I missed large chunks of the conference action. What I did Dear Colleagues and Fellow the Swakop River flowed all year round. see was great; it is always exciting to see the Planetarians, It was so pleasant to see many of you at the new things, the cutting edge technology, new In my previous life in South Africa, when event, and for those that I did not get a chance CGI, new projectors, software and shows, and I was a geology professor at the University of to talk to, my apologies, but I did talk to a large the new ways of visualizing data. Natal in Durban, I organized lots of small spe- number of delegates who had never been to From conversations which I took part in or cialist paleontology conferences with 100 or an IPS conference before. The opening cere- heard out of the corner of my ear, there was fewer participants. I also organized one inter- mony was enlivened by Dr Ismail Serageldin’s the usual ferment and buzz, which, in my national biggie with around 400 delegates. At talk, and our other guest speakers, Dr Farouk view, is the prime reason for attending IPS the end of that conference I swore that I would Elbaz and Dr George Saliba. provided much conferences in the first place. From what I was never get involved in such a conference again, food for thought with their excellent presen- told first- and second-hand by conference del- as it involved a huge amount of work. tations. egates and our professional sponsors and ven- The fact that I can now write that the dors, the conference was a worthwhile event. unique African-Egyptian-Alexandrian confer- Warm welcome to new faces The final dinner in the splendid outdoor ence has been and gone is informative. First, I was impressed at the breadth of our mem- venue at the Montazah Palace was a fitting it shows that you should never say never; sec- bership, with 44 countries represented and punctuation mark to end the proceedings. The ond, that we humans are really good at forget- many new people from Africa. I will mention palace grounds where our tables were set up ting past experiences. From my personal per- two of them. Both are from Africa and both for dinner came complete with a huge collec- spective the Alexandria conference has been are plotting to enhance their home cities with tion of opportunistic hungry cats, all of them a momentous happening, with a number of a new planetarium. One is Abdulkarim Ajijo- determined to share in the feast. I just checked important firsts for the IPS. It was the first IPS la from Nigeria and the other was physics pro- the collective nouns for cats: the most appro- conference in Africa, and the first in the Islam- fessor Dr Manahil M Baher Eldin from Juba priate ones for the Montazah cats are “clutter” ic-Arabic speaking world. University in the Sudan. It was very hard to and “nuisance”: they were both. You will know from my previous columns miss her infectiously happy smile. I wish them After the dinner was over, we had a ceremo- that I consider the “International” part of our both luck in their quest, and they told me that ny to honor IPS members Susan Button, Ter- society title a badge of honor, and one that we they had learned lots, and met many useful ence Murtagh and Thomas Kraupe with IPS need to continuously upgrade and renew. contacts by attending the conference. Service Awards for their achievements. I sus- It was a striking feature of the conference pect that, in common with many of you, their It was an awesome site that our hosts, and especially the IPS blue- story still has some way to run, for it is appar- It was quite awesome to be holding our shirted helpers with their welcoming smiles, ent to me that this profession of ours is noth- conference in the international crossroads of made many of the daily administrative bumps ing less than an addiction. A beautiful obses- the eastern Mediterranean, the city of Alexan- disappear. I do hope that all of you who made sion with the stars. They appear, from our dria, where Archimedes and Euclid worked in the trip to Egypt had a similar experience, and organic perspective, to be immutable, but as the earliest model of a university, the fabled we are still keen to hear from any of you who we learn more and see further, we now know ancient University of Alexandria. And did have things to tell, especially as they will help that they are as fickle and as changeable as you also know about Hypatia, Eratosthenes, us to make future conferences even better. us: they just operate on a very much longer Aristarchus and Hipparchus lives and work? It would be remiss of me not to make spe- lifespan. Here’s hoping that you all have lots Truly an illustrious past. cial mention of our Egyptian hosts: Omar and of clear nights to keep a careful curious eye on Our conference hosts at the Bibliotheca Al- Ayman and Nermine deserve special men- them. I exandrina not only claim this famous past his- tion, and the others are tory, its continuity interrupted by a few cen- too numerous to men- turies or so (a small matter of a fire. they said), tion, but all worked very but also that this famous Mediterranean city hard to make our confer- is distinctly different. I guess the best way to ence work. I would say describe it is to mention, almost in the same that on the hospitality breath, that it is African and Egyptian: to un- scale they all scored 10 derstand this you will have to go there. out of 10. Many thanks! And of course, as a sedimentologist, I can I am sorry that the only marvel at the gift of the Nile’s waters delegates did not get a flowing north through one of the driest and chance to meet Planetari- hottest places on Earth; a gift from god which um Science Centre Direc- has transformed the Nile Valley. I can only tor Hoda Elmikaty, who imagine what life would be like in Namibia if was unable to be with us

September 2010 Planetarian 31 Past President’s Message

Susan Reynolds Button the past president has unfinished business on Quarks to Clusters his/her projects, they need to be encouraged 8793 Horseshoe Lane to pursue and continue those initiatives. Chittenango, New York 13037 USA I enjoyed the past president position be- +1 315-687-5371 cause it provided a chance for me to stay in- [email protected], [email protected] volved, but the decision making pressure and the workload was certainly reduced! Communication with committee chairs In a continuing effort to make IPS more ence, Jordan Hall of Science at the Universi- and Council representatives has been sluggish visible to members and potential members, I ty of Notre- Dame, Indiana (USA). at times, but not impossible. I found that since have enjoyed meeting and working with col- everything is done in English the effective- leagues by attending three conferences this Officers meet ness of communications is sometimes com- year and plan to attend three more in the last I joined the other officers for an intense and promised by brief answers given and nuances months of 2010. much needed meeting in February at Lee Ann missed; sometimes the tone of voice is misin- In the later part of 2009 and early 2010 I was Hennig’s home in Alexandria, Virginia, where terpreted in the written words. We know that (or will be, depending on the date) a delegate we solved all the problems of the world! Ac- Council members and committee chairs want at the following conferences: tually, we made good progress in completing to serve and to do a good job; that must al- •• 1-4 September, 2009, 6th European Meeting many plans and projects for the 2010 Confer- ways be kept in mind when interpreting com- of Small and Portable Planetariums at the ence. Over the next several months we ham- munications. M. Copernicus Planetarium and Observato- mered out the last details of reports and ini- Communications and support from the ry in Chorzow (Poland); tiatives that were presented at the conference officers (current and past) is regular, timely •• 21-24 October, 2009, Great Lakes Planetar- in Egypt. and extremely supportive. I never felt isolat- ium Association 45th Annual Conference It is important to note that President Tom ed, nor did I feel that any difficult problems at the Delta College Planetarium, Bay City, Mason, the president elect and other past pres- were mine alone to solve; we shared all bur- Michigan (USA); idents also traveled this year to several other dens and joys. •• 19-22 May, 2010, Middle Atlantic Planetari- venues as representatives of IPS. All IPS pres- The president’s work is most intense dur- um Society Conference, Southworth Plane- idents (elect, current and past) are regarded ing the pre-conference time period and I ap- tarium at the University of Southern Maine, with great esteem by other planetarians. plaud Tom Mason on his ability to keep us on Portland, Maine (USA); Our promotion of IPS through our presence an even keel. •• 4-7 August, 2010, Western Alliance Plane- at conferences and meetings works well as a tarium Conference (Great Plains Planetari- method of strengthening the outreach and in- Comb that hair um Association, South Western Association ternational relations of IPS around the globe, I read a phrase recently (on Facebook!) that of Planetariums, Rocky Mountain Planetar- what is just as vital is the strong representation resonated with me when thinking about the ium Association, Pacific Planetarium Asso- of IPS Affiliate Representatives at their respec- jobs of the officers. It was stated, “My moth- ciation) in Omaha, Nebraska (USA); tive conferences and meetings. Their commit- er always told me, don’t forget to comb the •• 17-20 August, 2010, 7th European Meeting ment to keeping the colleagues of their region hair on the back of your head!” IPS officers fre- for Small and Portable Planetariums at the informed and connected with IPS is essential. quently are “faced” with issues that need im- Kallio Planetaario in Finland; and Sharing their region’s concerns and success- mediate actions but we must also always re- •• 20-23 October, 2010, Great Lakes Planetar- es, through their representation on Council member to take care of duties that are not ium Association (GLPA), Annual Confer- and posting news in the Planetarian, is crucial so obvious. Lee Ann and Shawn are expert at to the overall effec- helping us to remember that! tiveness of IPS. I feel that I continued the work of previ- My two years as ous presidents (an example: bringing Brazil in president have in- as an affiliate took three presidencies) and ac- formed me that ev- complished a great deal. I am frustrated that ery president needs some of my initiatives didn’t work well…yet! to delegate more to Sometimes we don’t know how an idea will the president elect play out in the future and I am counting on and the past presi- the expertise of Council members to continue dent. For example, to address issues that I still feel are important. many of the small Having served as IPS president has helped “housekeeping” de- me to more deeply learn the culture of the So- tails and support of ciety and its needs; I see things that I can con- the committee chairs tinue to work on for years to come. could be assigned, as Thank you to all of those very dedicated was done this year. I and helpful people who made my time as an think it takes several officer such a pleasure. Please remember that I years for any initia- would consider it an honor to assist the incom- IPS Officers enjoy a well-deserved dinner after days of hard work; we still tives to take effect, so ing presidents and the amazing International talked business, though! From left: Dave Weinrich, Susan Button, Shawn if the president elect Planetarium Society in any way that I can, now Laatsch, Tom Mason, and Lee Ann Hennig. Photo by Tommy Hennig has a specific goal or and in the future. I

32 Planetarian September 2010 September 2010 Planetarian 33 34 Planetarian September 2010 September 2010 Planetarian 35 Coming Soon to 2D and 3D Theaters

From Earth, the Sun cannot be looked at with human eyes. Solar Storms gives the audience the opportunity to see the Sun up close. Stand above the arctic circle and witness the most brilliant auroras on Earth; take a ride on a solar blast from Sun’s surface to Earth Magnetosphere, and come to a deeper understanding of what this vast sea of re means to life here on Earth. For Sky-Skan’s exclusive fulldome version, the original 3D animation les have been accessed, adding spherical stereo cameras and re-rendering each scene to take full advantage of the fulldome environment. Solar Storms for fulldome is no mere spherical transform but a completely custom scene-by-scene reproduction.

Fulldome Version Produced and Distributed Exclusively By Sky-Skan A Melrae Pictures production in association with K2 Communications. Contact [email protected] Developed with the assistance of NASA and the Smithsonian National Air +1 603-880-8500 and Space36 Museum. Planetarian SkySkan.com/shows September 2010 S10-a01-01 ing the misconceptions, then we may not Educational Horizons have to send 20 years of emails saying, “Mars cannot be as big as or bigger than the moon Jack L. Northrup when viewed from Earth.” Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Planetarium King Science and Technology Magnet Center Lesson: Estimating and Graphing 3720 Florence Blvd., Omaha, Nebraska 68110 USA Your lesson idea is a quick lab that I use +1 402-557-4494 when my 5th graders come for their planetar- [email protected] ium visit. It ties estimation and graphing together by having the students estimate a me- crash a rocket in the moon. And around we go again... ter, a centimeter, and a millimeter and then Is it going to look like the This recently arrived in my mailbox at graphing their results on a bar graph. moon in Time Machine?1 school: Thx Materials: To: [email protected] •• measuring tape (meter sticks will work but From: mychildlovesastrono- are harder to manage) [email protected] (changed to pro- I got emails from not only my students, but •• poster graph paper (you will need three) tect the sort of innocent) from other schools after an article in Google News titled “NASA Aiming to Shoot the •• stickers Re: Mars and the Moon Moon” became popular enough to warrant I got an email from my mother-in- being in the top stories for two days. When This is used as an anticipatory set for the law saying that this fall, Mars is I received the emails, my first question was, scale of the universe presentation. Use a list going to be so close to the Earth “Did you read the article?” If they said yes, of random seat numbers to have 6 students that it will be bigger than the then we did a quick talk about how big the At- come to your location and, using their hands/ moon. Is it true and can we bor- las V was and how big was the moon. If they arms, estimate the length of a meter. Measure row a telescope to observe with? said no, then I recommended that they read and record the number, but don’t announce it Thank you and see you at Par- or it will alter the other students’ estimations. ent-Teacher Conferences, the article and then we would have the “yes” Use the stickers to label the graph as you read Concerned/interested Parent conversation. However, I also added another approach off the numbers (still no student names), and (Continues on Page 57) For the last few years many of us have field- to stopping the “blowing up the moon fear” ed messages similar to this and may have even by running Clark Plane- talked to the press to “alleviate” people’s fears. tarium’s LCROSS Newsreel Last year we had some members begin posting before my main presenta- on social networking sites and blogs that this tions. event is impossible with the current orbit- During the course of al system, and it worked people were happily my experiment I noticed clicking delete when the message came in. a marked decrease in the Well, it sort of worked. This inoculation of number of off-the-wall factual information is only good for about 10 questions. So, during this months and then they have to give a boost- last summer, I expanded er shot when the emails return. There is a rea- the experiment to include son for this, and it can be found it brain re- Jack Dunn’s Astronaut search. The transition of information from Clay Anderson mini-show, short-term memory facts to long-term mem- as it is a local interest piece. ory knowledge requires repetition. The varia- Again, I noted a change tion in the number of repetitions is massive, in the type of questions I anywhere from 20 to 40 (variation is caused was being asked. I ran both by age, gender, previous experience, and loca- short presentations before tion of the moon and Mars) to transition the the main presentation and information. used the time to get my If this is true, then for the next 16 to 36 years A3P aligned for the main you will need to send out a reminder informa- presentation. tion email each fall. I am not suggesting that There has to be an easier way; many of us we produce hundreds of don’t want to send that email out for the rest newsreels and shorts, sim- of our careers. ilar to 1940 theaters. No, Let’s look at another innocuous that caused pick your battles with a bit of a panic in the people, NASA’s LCROSS misconceptions, use your mission: tools for public informa- To: [email protected] tion, and most miscon- From: [email protected] ceptions can be addressed Re: Blowing up the moon quickly, correctly, and po- litely. If we keep address- Mr. Northrup, Perhaps visual aids might help retention in long-term memory. Imag- We saw on the news that es courtesy Clark Planetarium Education Department; planet images 1 Referring to the 2002 movie next week we are going to from NASA version of H.G. Wells’ classic

September 2010 Planetarian 37 38 Planetarian September 2010 was produced using vvvv software and displayed on the E&S Digistar 3 system. IMERSA News Taking a page from the current theater trend of projected backdrops, Haydn’s opera Il Mondo della Luna played for 5 nights in Janu- Judith Rubin ary, 2010 at the Hayden Planetarium at New Communications Director, IMERSA.org York’s American Museum of Natural History [email protected] (AMNH). The story features a sleeping potion induced trip to the moon that made use of NASA pho- Live from the Digital Dome and effects to link the performer to the dome tographs of the lunar surface, shots of the By Sarah E. Herbert screen.” Innovative programs around the Earth from space, shooting stars, exploding and Judith Rubin world are integrating digital video with the- galaxies and fanciful images created by Phillip The theatrical potential of fulldome sys- ater and literature, spoken word performance, Bussmann and displayed on a Global Immer- tems makes it possible for operators to think music and dance, art and science. sion Fidelity Bright projection System. of their digital theaters as cultural venues ca- Examples of digital theater as cultural ven- The Zeiss Mark IX star projector provided pable of housing a wider variety of produc- ue include more than a celestial backdrop in the immer- tions and look about them for collaborative •• ICH2, an interactive dance performance de- sive environment; the audience was transport- opportunities with educators and arts groups. veloped specifically for fulldome planetari- ed along with the Gotham Chamber Opera’s ums (Mediendom, Kiel Germany); characters to the wildly alien surroundings. “We want to use new multimedia tech- •• Il Mondo della Luna (The World on the Moon) From October 9, 2009 through January 10, nologies to achieve new dimensions of Haydn’s opera, adapted for fulldome plane- 2010, Galileo Live played at the Montreal Plan- aesthetic and to appeal to the senses and tarium (Hayden Planetarium, New York); etarium with one actor revealing the story of the emotions of our visitors. Our aim is to •• Galileo Live (Montreal touch the hearts of the audience and thus Planetarium et al); arouse their curiosity about science and •• The Little Prince (Ham- even abstract and difficult subjects. Mul- burg Planetarium); timedia enables us to educate in an enter- •• Moby Dick (Hamburg); taining way.” •• Bella Gaia (Denver Mu- —from the mission statement of the Me- seum of Nature & Sci- diendom in Kiel, Germany ence); •• Life Out There (DMNS); The digital technology now available and •• Spontaneous Fantasia for multimedia programming raises “the and The Omnicentric potential to harness the energy of the Universe (J-Walt). dome.” —Kenji Williams, violinist and producer Making it happen of Bella Gaia, one of many new live mul- ICH2 was produced in timedia experiences in the digital dome 2008 at the Mediendom growing out of collaborations between in Kiel, Germany, in part- planetariums and museums, artists and nership with the Muthe- universities sius Academy of Art and Design and the Kiel Ballet. “Instead of using the visuals as a back- Two dancers were record- drop for the music, or the other way ed and projected onto the around, in Life Out There the visuals, sci- dome using motion track- ence and music were all on par.” ing cameras, while sensors —KaChun Yu, PhD and curator of space on their bodies reacted to science at the Denver Museum of Nature their movements to pro- & Science duce sounds. The two dancers inter- Unique challenges in staging acted with the images and Unique challenges arise when adding live sounds in real time, trans- performance to the digital dome. “Many ferring motion between think that the lighting and staging ruin the the dome above and the immersive effect of the display system,” says central space below on a Dan Neafus, director of the Gates Planetarium curving stage, reminiscent at DMNS. “On the contrary, a well designed of a Moebius strip, built digital display environment is very much en- especially for the perfor- hanced by proper use of theatrical lighting mance. The performance The projector is the star (Top) in New York’s Hayden Planetarium, where Marco Nisticò and Rachel Calloway started in Hayden’s opera Il Mondo della Luna, and (Bottom) in Hamburg, where Rudolf H. Herget re- Sarah E. Herbert joins Judy in writing for this issue; she is a journalist for cited and performed The Little Prince. Top: Courtesy American Museum of Natural History; Bottom: ©Hardy Brackman, Planetarium Hamburg, the attractions industry with a background in education. used with permission.

September 2010 Planetarian 39 Symphony in blue: (Left) Jazz rocked the Gates Planetar- ium at the Denver Museum of Natural Science’s monthly Science Lounge; (Above) The Montreal Star Theater hosted Galileo Live; (Right) Joan of Arc looks to the stars in a Gates production by design students from the University the astronomer’s life, interact- of Colorado Denver. Left and Right images courtesy Gates Downing’s (panoramic) bubbles, even more ing with images of 17th cen- Planetarium; Above by Sophie DesRosiers, Montreal Plan- slowly to give them time to attend back and tury Italy, Galileo’s daughter etarium. forth between visuals and Williams’ perfor- and other virtual characters, mance.” projected onto the dome and Another week of rehearsals in Denver cul- supplemented by the Zeiss IV-B starfield. to use Uniview software for real-time naviga- minated in four consecutive live evening per- The production was the result of collabo- tion of star system databases. formances. ration between four institutions: the HR Mac- The conversation between Yu and Wil- Gaia Journeys was a scripted experience but, Millan Space Centre in Vancouver, the TELUS liams continued over the next year, leading for those four performances, it was live play World of Science in Calgary, the Manitoba to the pilot program, Gaia Journeys, in 2007 at for the music, lights, and visuals. The vid- Museum Planetarium in Winnipeg and the the Gates Planetarium. Williams was drawn to eo portion is now pre-rendered in Bella Gaia, Montréal Planetarium, travelling to each for a the immersive quality and unique appeal of with the addition of scientific visualizations run of performances. the dome. (of sea ice and ocean temps, for example) and Science and literature come together regu- “Planetariums have a special role in soci- HD footage of New York, Egypt, and Japan larly in the Star Theater series at the Hamburg ety,” says Williams. “Apart from churches and shot by Williams in place of Downing’s pho- Planetarium in Germany, using the E&S Di- temples, they are a non-religious place to con- tographs. gistar 3 SXRD. Currently showing is The Little nect with the universe.” With the success of Gaia Journeys, the Gates Prince, a story which begins on another plan- Verbal narration is sparse. Williams’ live vi- Planetarium and DMNS went on to produce et. olin performance does most of the talking, in other multimedia shows for the digital dome. Last spring an adaptation of Moby Dick ran, tandem with images of our planet from deep First piloted in November 2009 and subse- which highlighted the system whalers used to space, low earth orbit, and closer views of se- quently used to kick off the first installment navigate by the stars. In addition to the one lected regions meticulously choreographed of the Museum’s Science Lounge series, Life actor on the stage, Moby Dick also employed a and edited for the dome. Out There is a multimedia search through percussionist to convey the sounds of the sea, Gaia Journeys made use of the Uniview to space and time for the origins of life. waves, wind, and storm, even the singing of provide an accurate representation of the The House Band to the Universe played four the whales. Earth’s place in our universe, periodically sets of jazz to a mix of pre-rendered video ani- zooming in to Earth-bound imagery from mation, photographs, PowerPoint images and Collaborations around the world by Greg Downing, spherical real-time visuals on the Global Immersion Fi- The theatrical potential of fulldome sys- panoramic photographer. delity Bright system. Between music sets, the tems makes it possible for operators to think The idea itself—a visual journey around the visuals repeated as band member/astrobiolo- of their digital theaters as cultural venues ca- Earth accompanied by live music—was sim- gist Dr. David Grinspoon described the science pable of housing a wider variety of produc- ple enough, but technically complex to real- displayed in the images. tions and look about them for collaborative ize. Yu and Williams worked remotely for sev- opportunities with educators and arts groups. eral months, mapping out the performance Theaters and universities Bella Gaia presents a successful model. Ken- and putting test animations online to view In Germany, the Hamburg Planetarium and ji Williams, violinist, award-winning director and discuss. the Mediendom offer instructive examples of and producer of 15 albums, met DMNS’s Yu in Pacing and a keen sense of the visitor expe- successful collaborations in creating live mul- New York in 2006. They discussed Williams’ rience were important. “Flight paths and cam- timedia shows for the digital dome. Most mu- idea to bring the experience of seeing Earth era movements need to be slower in the dome sicians, actors and artists are usually quite ap- from space and without political boundaries than on a flat screen, because there is more to proachable and enjoy experimenting with to the general public. take in for both pre-rendered images and ‘fly- their arts, suggested Thomas Kraupe, director Williams had already built relationships ing live,’” explains Yu. of the Hamburg Planetarium. He recommends with a former astronaut who inspired his idea, “In Gaia Journeys, the images were slowed getting out, being involved in the communi- and also with Carter Emmart, director of as- down even more because Williams wanted to ty, seeing performances and meeting musi- trovisualization at AMNH’s Rose Center for give the same experience as people have trav- cians to initiate the relationships which bring Earth and Space, who showed Williams how eling into orbit—slow and graceful—then, into about collaborations among theatres, univer-

40 Planetarian September 2010 “With the Altonaer Theater deserts, clouds or mountains. we sit together and discuss Another is le voyage abstrait, which has what to do next.” been playing at the Hamburg Planetarium on Classes in the Medien- first Wednesdays for a good seven years (since dom, housed at the Kiel Uni- 2003). Constellations and computer anima- versity of Applied Sciences, tions by Thomas Kraupe and laser effects by give students hands-on ex- Simon Bottcher synchronize with chill clas- perience to create multime- sic and electronica music by Raphael Marion- dia productions of what Kiel neau and talented guest musicians or DJs each bills as “novel pedagogical month. depth and visual attraction.” J. Walter “J-Walt” Adamczyk takes the mixed The technology in this dig- media storytelling voyage to new worlds with ital dome theater, which live digital animation performances in a series doubles as a classroom/lec- he began in 2004, titled Spontaneous Fanta- ture hall and work space, sia, which has bookings in flat screen venues prepares students for a mas- as well as domes. ters in Multimedia Produc- J-Walt cites as a chief inspiration the Lumia tion. light sculptures created in the 1930s by Thom- “Now that people realize as Wilfred, which were created live in front of they can do more with digi- the audience. The improv factor allows J-Walt tal media, they have to come to adapt his program on the fly to the given up with the content,” notes projection system and dome tilt of any loca- Markus Schack, Mediendom tion, blending color, music and movement. technical director. Allow- Spontaneous Fantasia is now plug-and-play ing students the opportuni- on Sky-Skan systems after J-Walt worked with ty to take part in producing the Digital Sky 2 software to create a plug-in. dome experiences can lead Having performed in a wide variety of to unexpected creative re- venues, J-Walt prefers digital domes because sults, such as the dance per- of what he terms their “egocentric format,” formance ICH2, mentioned which allows the audience to become charac- above, and Joan of Arc, an ters traveling through his “imaginary, allegor- experimental prototype de- ical universe” of digital art. veloped by Laura Cuetara The Omnicentric Universe, J-Walt’s latest, re- and digital design students volves around the themes of cosmic and per- from the University of Col- sonal exploration. He creates a planet in real orado Denver presented at time and populates it with plants, artifacts, DMNS. The UCD students and dancing creatures. were tasked with set design Adding the drawing tablet to his techni- and animation. Neafus ob- cal setup has been pivotal for J-Walt’s ability served that today’s digital- to create characters and environments with ly saturated students have movement and body language. “The whole great aptitude and enthu- reason of performance is the organic gesture,” siasm for this kind of work he says. “Theater, music and dance are worth- when well directed. while because there is the presence of the human gesture.” Jammin’ in the dome Combining music with Unique challenges for operators visuals and effects to enter- and producers tain and educate audiences When adapting a production for a fulldome has been a tradition in plan- environment, the most precious resource is etariums for decades; Lase- dome time, according to Kraupe. “You don’t The many faces of the planetarium: (Top) Kenji Williams and Gaia rium is probably the best usually have the money for lots of time and Journeys at the Gates Planetarium (coutesy of the Denver Museum of Nature and Science); (Center) J-Walt and Spontaneous Fantasia (pho- known example. Shows of- lots of people,” he points out. “The planetari- to by Paul Buehler, used with permission); and (Bottom) Michael Alt- ten include real-time impro- um has lights; instead of thinking you need to mann (front) and Christian von Richthofen, performers of “Moby visation and artists can now squeeze in all of your cables and lights and 20- Dick under the stars” at the Hamburg Planetarium. ©Sascha Kreklau, tap into vast digital resourc- 50 performers, get rid of your equipment and used with permission. es, musically and visually. try to find the essence of the performance.” One example is an inter- Outside groups will often express great in- sities, arts organizations and planetariums. active cluster of digital spheres created by Bas- terest in using the Gates Planetarium to bring Much of the content for Star Theater and tian Barton at Kiel’s Mediendom. While Jens in their favorite visualization software tool other programs at the Hamburg Planetarium Fischer plays guitar, Barton flies through the (which typically outputs a single channel of come from ongoing teamwork with Ham- field of spheres, each containing a different video) for an artistic endeavor, according to burg’s Altonaer Theater. “Pick a theater in land-, sky- or space-scape into which he can Yu, only to droop when they see the complex- town and build a relationship,” Kraupe says. delve, taking the audience through galaxies, (Continues on Page 52)

September 2010 Planetarian 41 42 Planetarian September 2010 The vendors’ stands were installed in the International News Grande Orangerie room, with a wonderful garden environment. Specific workshops were Lars Broman organized for portable planetariums, concern- Teknoland and Strömstad Academy ing administration and security problems, Stångtjärnsv 132 software selection, and links with tourism. SE 791 74 Falun, Sweden RSAcosmos made three major announce- +46 2310 177 ments: (1) RSA proposes its third offering, a [email protected], [email protected] portable device COSMODYSSEE IV (projector www.teknoland.se, www.stromstadakademi.se and dome) will be given in May 2011 to the best project of implementing a planetarium This column was finalized during the time filiate (see p. 3) is welcome to contact Martin in France; (2) RSAcosmos society is now con- of the year when only one star is visible at George, [email protected]. ducted by Benjamin Cabut and Christophe my 60°N latitude: the sun. It was a big change Bertier; and (3) RSAcosmos is now in collabo- to just being back from Egypt with its dark Association of French-Speaking ration with GOTO for a hybrid planetarium. Didier Mathieu, head of the Epinal Planetar- nights. I especially liked the slow setting of Ve- Planetariums ium, is the new APLF president, starting from nus behind the Chefren Pyramid during the The 26th APLF conference was hold in Di- 1 July. Agnès Acker (president since 1984) was light and sound show, which had the three jon 13-16 June, inside the prestigious Jardin des thanked cordially, and she was very excited to pyramids in Giza and the Sphinx as the sched- Sciences Planetarium. About 100 APLF mem- receive flowers, with an RSA trophy and a pre- uled main actors. bers were present over the 4 days, with plane- cious part of the Allende meteorite. For more The International News column is depen- tarians representing an increasing number of information, see [email protected]. dent on contributions from IPS Affiliate As- small structures in attendance. sociations all over the world. Many thanks In addition to the usual SN classical pro- Association of Italian Planetaria to Agnès Acker, Vadim Belov, Bart Benjamin, jector, RSAcosmos had installed a superb full- The A. Volta Technical High School and the Gail Chaid, Alex Delivorias, Alan Dyer, Martin dome video system of two projectors. Using I. Danti Planetarium organized an activity ti- George, John Hare, Shaaron Leverment, Mark this system, the participants discovered new tled “Step by step towards…” for a children’s Rigby, and Loris Ramponi for your contribu- shows: Natural Selection (Robin Sip’s Mirage summer camp. The aim was to construct a tions. Upcoming deadlines are 1 October for 3D), a 15-minute show on Planck (HFI, Paris), model of the solar system, using children to Planetarian 4/2010 and 1 January for 1/2011. and French versions of two shows, Touching represent the planets. At the start, the leader Anyone who wants to contribute news the edge of the universe (ESA-Darmstadt), and showed the difference between circular and from parts of the world where IPS has no af- Two Small Pieces of Glass (IPS). the elliptic orbits. After that, the construction began. Leav- ing from the planetarium building, which represented the sun, the boys and girls went to their own places with a different kind of step (an ant, a rabbit, a man…) along a string, where they found the indications of the proportional distance of every planet from the sun. When every “planet” had taken its place, the leader explained the differences in the sizes of the planets and added, as necessary, more boys or girls to the “planets” to give a scale comparison. Then he covered each “planet” with coloured material to illustrate the differences in colour. The next Italian meeting of Planetaria, the 26th, will be held 16-17 April 2011 on the hills of Crespano del Grappa (Don Chiavacci Ob- servatory and Planetarium) and in the city of Padua, in the new planetarium connected with the observatory of the local university. Foreign colleagues who cannot attend will be able to present virtual communications AFP: Above, the 26th APLF through a Skype session. Conference in Dijon. Fore- The next two main Italian astronomical ground center: Agnès Ack- dates are the national day against light pollu- er (past-president) and (to her left) Didier Ma- tion, 9 October 2010, and the Day of Planetar- thieu (APLF president). Pho- ia that will be held on 20 March, 2011. to by Stephane Urbano, Di- A new initiative is a list of planetarium jon. Left: RSA-GOTO union: shows available in the Italian language. The Patrick Romeuf, Benjamin Cabut, Christophe Bertier list is being prepared for a catalogue of plane- (RSAcosmos), and Ken Mill- tarium shows written with the help of many er (GOTO) in Dijon. Photo collaborators, in particular Steve Case. by Michel Vignand.

September 2010 Planetarian 43 after the adjacent club that ran it withdrew and a professional story-teller, brought in to from the site. (See story on page x.) help members with skills and pointers for how APS President Mark Rigby was one of four to engage the audience and create a truly mag- IPS members to accept nomination for IPS ical atmosphere. The story-teller gave a won- President-Elect elections to be held later this derfully inspiring performance, telling a sto- year. ry from the Wild West of England: the moon is captured and hidden under a stone deep in British Association of the moorlands of Somerset. Darkness strikes Planetariums fear into the locals and magical powers are re- News from BAP is dominated by the success quired to release it back into the night sky. of the 2010 conference held at Winchester at It was a wonderful sight to see so many the INTECH Science Centre and Planetarium. planetarium professionals enthralled by the Heartfelt thanks from the BAP community drama, and what better reminder that stories must first go to Dr. Jenny Shipway, planetar- are not just for children. The quality of a pro- ium manager and generous host for the two- fessional story-teller is a wonderful tool in sci- day event. BAP also thanks the sponsors this year: Global Immer- sion, Sky-Skan, Digitalis Educa- tion, Evans & Sutherland, Mirage 3D, NSC Creative, and RSAcos- mos. The 2009 conference was the first time that BAP had more AIP: A major date coming up in Italy is the Day than one official sponsor; this of Planetaria, which will be held on 20 March, 2011. year there were seven. Their support made the conference possible, enabling participants to bring Australasian Planetarium Society in specialist speakers and keep the The Australasian Planetarium Society (APS) conference and membership fees held its 2010 meeting at the Launceston Plan- down to a minimum. In addition, etarium during April. For most members in at- BAP hopes to use any remain- tendance, it was the first opportunity to see ing funds to increase advertising the facility, which had been moved last year and support to new members this to a new site at the Queen Victoria Museum coming year and follow-up proj- and Art Gallery’s site at Inveresk. ects, such as the collaboration Planetarium Curator Martin George had with Italy or exchanges with the overseen the move of the planetarium’s 8 m Ghana Science Project. BAP: Appropriate to the theme of “Is There Anybody Out (27 ft) dome and seats to a new building last The theme for the event was There,” attendees of the British Association of Planetariums year and the Zeiss ZKP1 had been replaced “Is There Anybody Out There!?,” conference were tasked with creating monsters as an after- with a ZKP3 and a mirror-dome system. pointing both towards the search dinner activity, using only materials they found on their tables. Photos courtesy NSC Creative. A wide range of fulldome content was pre- for life (a subject to engage any au- sented from overseas, as well as Melbourne dience) as well a nudge for BAP to Planetarium’s program Our Living Climate and become even more outward looking in wel- ence communication and the wealth of myth Launceston’s own What Happened To Pluto? coming more members, supporting the new and legend associated with astronomical ob- A range of fulldome video recorded at both planetariums setting up in the UK and look- jects is a gift to all planetarians. Mauna Kea and Antarctica was shown during ing to support projects and events beyond UK A more unusual session, equally popu- some of the sessions. borders. lar and cutting-edge, on “Art in the Dome” The new planetarium at Carter Observato- Highlights of this year’s conference includ- chaired by Chris Hudson of the Centre for Life ry in Wellington, New Zealand, is up and run- ed a teleconference with IMERSA at the full- showcased two new independent fulldome ning following its opening in late March. dome film festival in Jena, Germany. The re- artworks, “Continuum” by Paul Grimmer During June, the Brisbane City Council mote link-up with Jena for a demonstration of and “Harvest of Souls” by Harfiyah Haleem. (the largest local government in Australia) an- the new IMERSA web site and a summary of Joining both artists on the panel were Colin nounced funding for the Sir Thomas Brisbane IMERSA work to date was a huge success and Hutcheson from Thinktank, which has an en- Planetarium to acquire a new optical star pro- a great opportunity to bond with the interna- viable history of encouraging art in the dome, jector for installation in late 2011-early 2012. tional community, ask questions and make and Gill Russell, an artist with much past ex- This follows an upgrade earlier this year of the introductions. perience in planetariums. Discussion covered planetarium’s fulldome projectors, sound sys- Other popular sessions used the planetari- production methods suitable for artists rather tem and lighting, along with other improve- um in new ways, often as a tool rather than than production studios and widely different ments. the main feature. For example, the INTECH between the two pieces, how to engage art- Unfortunately, the news was not all good in planetarium Uniview system provided a stun- ists regarding the unique space a dome offers, the region as the mothballed Canberra Plan- ning visual backdrop to an in-depth lecture and managing artist’s expectations, especially etarium was subject to vandalism. The plan- about “Life in the Universe” by Dr Francisco with regard to dome time required. etarium had closed in early 2008 following Diego from UCL. As we are in the midst of the International a number of years of decreased attendances The story-telling session enlisted Uniview Year of Biodiversity, everyone was also incred-

44 Planetarian September 2010 September 2010 Planetarian 45 ibly interested to see Mirage 3D’s Natural Selec- tion, especially Robin Sip himself and the com- poser, who had not yet seen the show! This 40-minute show follows the life and work of Darwin—the famous British scientist—and is a work of painstaking detail with a dizzying variety of complex environments rendered on screen. Add in a full orchestra and choir and it’s easy to imagine why this took three years to put together and is, on all accounts, a blind- ing success. From 2009 to 2010, BAP membership has increased again and, thanks to sponsors, delegate numbers for the conference also increased, a bit of a surprise considering the great success of 2009 at Greenwich, London. The Associa- tion welcomes new members to the community and, with their added support, BAP will continue to grow as a pillar of community CASC: The new science center and digital dome theater TELUS World of Science, depicted here in an and support for planetarium professionals. artist’s concept, is now under construction in Calgary, Canada. Courtesy of TELUS World of Science- Calgary. And finally, some sad news to report. It is with great sadness that we report the death of On 7 May 2010, during its annual banquet European/Mediterranean Dr John Griffiths on April 9, 2010. See tribute held in Montréal, the Canadian Association of on page x. Planetarium Association Science Centres (CASC) awarded its CASCADE As another school year drew to a close and Prizes, acknowledging the best Canadian sci- the temperatures soared in Athens, the Eu- Canadian Association of Science ence museums have to offer. The show Gali- genides Planetarium bade farewell to its last Centres leo Live! (Moi, Galilée) was awarded the prize school visitors before the start of the summer In Calgary, work is proceeding apace on for Best Exhibit or Show-Large Institution. season. At the same time, however, the plane- the construction of a new science centre at a This show, written and directed by Alan Dyer tarium staff put the final touches on the Eu- new site, a facility that will contain a digital at the TELUS World of Science Calgary, was genides Planetarium’s latest production, The dome theatre/planetarium as a centerpiece co-produced by the planetariums in Montré- Day Star, which is scheduled to premiere in attraction. The new TELUS World of Science al, Winnipeg, Calgary and Vancouver and pre- October. is expected to open in late 2011. Through the sented at the four institutions during 2009 as On the day of the Summer Solstice (21 June), spring and summer staff began the process of a special feature of IYA09. the longest day of the year, Shawn Laatsch, di- calling for proposals for equipment suppliers Galileo Live! featured a live actor portraying rector of the ‘Imiloa Planetarium of Hawaii for the dome projection system and ancillary Galileo Galilei, as the Italian scientist present- and IPS treasurer, was a guest of the Eugenides sound, lighting and control systems. Mean- ed his discoveries to his daughter, Virginia, Foundation and gave two talks, back to back, while, the existing TELUS World of Science in and defended them against his numerous de- on the Mauna Kea observatories. He intro- Calgary also sought bids for a new mobile dig- tractors. The show was very well received by duced to capacity crowds the planetarium ital planetarium, to replace an aging and well- close to 40,000 spectators in all four cities. show Awesome Light: Seeing the Invisible in its used analog StarLab. The new digital mobile is A survey of more than 250 visitors made first-ever presentation abroad. Steve Savage, expected to hit the road this autumn. in Montréal from November 2009 to Janu- president of Sky-Skan, also present at the time, The old TELUS World of Science (which ary 2010 showed an appreciation rate equal concluded upgrading the Eugenides Planetar- began life in 1967 as the Calgary Centenni- or superior to 92% with respect to the live ac- ium’s software to the latest version of Digital- al Planetarium) is now entering its final few tor component of the show, costumes, direc- Sky 2 and the GIS plug-in. months of operation, transformed again into tion, etc. More than 97% of those polled said a new role as a venue for “blockbuster” trav- they would highly recommend the show to Great Lakes Planetarium eling exhibits. In April the science centre was others. Association gutted of all existing displays to make way for Galileo Live! was made possible through Illinois. This summer, the Lakeview Muse- one of Gunther von Hagen’s BodyWorlds ex- grants from Heritage Canada, the Canadi- um Planetarium presented daily shows, with hibits, a display so big it took over the entire an Space Agency and the National Science 10 different titles in rotation. The summer facility to the extent the science center could and Engineering Research Council of Cana- will end with a special weekend featuring The never fully return to its normal operation and da, with financial and in-kind contributions Skies Over Hogwarts, Year 2. programs. However, the existing building is from the four participating planetariums. The William M. Staerkel Planetarium at scheduled to close in mid-2011 anyway and Contact: Pierre Chastenay, chastenay@astro. Parkland College in Champaign temporari- little if any of the existing exhibits were des- umontreal.ca. ly closed on the Memorial Day weekend for tined to move to the new building. Meanwhile, Robert Appleton of the H.R. its big equipment transition. First, local sound Needless to say, the BodyWorlds exhibit has MacMillan Space Centre in Vancouver pre- engineers installed a new 5.1 system. Then, Ev- proven hugely popular, with attendance soar- sented a bid to host the 2014 IPS Conference ans & Sutherland technicians installed their ing to unprecedented heights. It’s a good way in Vancouver to the IPS Council. Vancouver new Digistar 4 system. Finally, East Coast Con- to end the life of a facility that has served Cal- is excited about the possibility of hosting IPS- trols installed a new LED lighting system. The gary well for 43 years. Exciting times in Cal- 2014 and bringing together their colleagues staff has tentative plans to re-open on the La- gary! Contact: Alan Dyer, alan.dyer@calgary- from Canada and around the world. Contact: bor Day weekend. science.ca. Robert Appleton, [email protected]. With the exception of two “Super Satur-

46 Planetarian September 2010 day” dates, the Cernan Earth & Space Center es, moved under the dome for a show, and at Triton College suspended its weekend pub- ended up with telescope viewing. lic shows for much of the summer, as part of The Bowling Green State University Plan- a campus-wide cost-saving initiative by Tri- etarium wrapped up its 26th year with short ton College. The two Super Saturdays featured encore runs of eight past programs. a children’s show, the monthly Skywatch pro- Wisconsin/Minnesota. The planetarium gram, and a laser concert. The regular week- at Mankato East High School recently wel- end schedule resumed on 13 August. East comed representatives from NASA Goddard, Coast Control Systems installed a new three- who previewed climate curriculum materials screen video system in early August, at which for their 8th grade students. The planetarium time the staff began the process of converting recently held a public show featuring partial its slide-based shows to digital versions. fulldome art portfolios of their high school Indiana. The Indiana Spring Meeting was students. held 20 March at Pike High School Planetar- During the summer months, the plane- ium in Indianapolis. After a series of invit- tarium at Minnesota State University Moor- ed speakers, the meeting adjourned to the In- head switched to live programming. Their diana State Museum to watch the new 3-D programs, which they call Red River Skies, IMAX film on the Hubble Space Telescope. teach people how to use a star map, with each The International Dark-Sky Association month exploring a different theme. The plan- (IDA) gave a Managing Director Special Award etarium recently had its 16-inch DFM tele- to Chuck Bueter and the Penn-Harris-Madison scope refurbished. School Corporation (PHM) for their collective The Daniel M. Soref Planetarium in Mil- Let There Be Night project. The ambitious dark waukee ran its own Galileo: The Power of the sky program, led by Bueter and PHM Planetar- Telescope and Evan & Sutherland’s Invaders of ium Director Art Klinger, included a commu- Mars. To kick off the new show, Dr. Jim Bell nity-wide science experiment that spun off (author of and PPA: This image was digitized and sent toward Postcards from Mars Mars 3-D) resources for planetarians, teachers, and dark- the globular cluster M13 using the Arecibo ra- presented the latest information on Mars. sky advocates. Details may be found at www. dio Telescope in Puerto Rico in 1974. It is still The Paulucci Space Theatre is in danger LetThereBeNight.com. on its way—and was featured in an upcoming of closing. With budget cuts at the state lev- Sci-Fi Science: Physics of the Impossi- The Merrillville Community Planetari- broadcast of el in higher education, the Hibbing Commu- ble. Courtesy Arecibo Radio Telescope. um has added several poster galleries to the nity College can no longer support the plane- hallways of Pierce Middle School that fea- Grand Rapids Public Museum, will soon be tarium. Joel Carlson and his staff are currently ture a wide range of earth- and space-related hosting the exhibit Bodies Revealed, the staff working with local citizens to keep the plane- themes. has begun work on an accompanying planetarium open. The E.C. Schouweiler Memorial Planetari- tarium program that will deal with the effects As of the time this issue went to press, Carl- um at the University of Saint Francis reports of space on the human body. son reports an open house event is being that nearly all of the additions funded by re- Ohio. About 20 Ohio planetarians gathered planned Sept. 18-26 to hopefully entice do- cent grants have been delivered and installed. for their spring meeting at the Anderson Han- nors. The staff is now working to produce their first cock Planetarium of Marietta College. Dr. Ann The University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee’s fulldome productions. Bragg hosted the meeting and demonstrated Manfred Olson Planetarium celebrated the Michigan. The Kingman Museum in Bat- many of the capabilities of the state-of-the-art summer solstice and Father’s Day with a spe- tle Creek recently upgraded to Digistar 4. The GOTO Chronos-E&S D3 hybrid system. cial program called Solstice Social that includ- staff has been busy learning the new system. On Saturday 1 May, a number of Cleveland ed free ice cream for participants. Their new Ann Arbor’s Exhibit Museum Planetarium Regional Association of Planetariums and Friday night program, titled Shooting Stars, ran continues to draw excellent school and pub- Cleveland Astronomical Society members in June. lic attendance numbers despite the economy. joined state representatives for the ground This summer, they ran live star talks and full- breaking of a new 1,000-acre observatory fa- Nordic Planetarium Association dome movies. cility located in the heart of Geauga County. Planetarians from Denmark, Finland and Detroit’s Dassault Systèmes Planetarium The location is one of three in the nation to Sweden participated in IPS’10 in Alexandria, kicked off the summer with “Fun in the Sun,” be named a provisional dark sky observatory Egypt. From Denmark came Lars Petersen, Ori- complete with white light and hydrogen al- site. Several buildings will be erected to house on Planetarium; he chaired the session “Plan- pha solar viewing provided by their local as- a permanent observatory, meeting rooms, and etarium and Astronomy Education” and gave tronomy club. Work on the script for their planetarium. Outside there will be an 18-m an oral presentation on “Close Collaboration new show about NASA’s Solar Dynamics Ob- (60-ft) sundial, lunar phase display, functional with the Local School Authorities.” From Fin- servatory is nearly done. In personnel news, model of Stonehenge, a planet walk, and pads land came Timo Rahunen from Tampere Todd Slisher was promoted to Chief Operat- for portable telescopes. Planetarium and Kai Santavouri, Mika Paavo- ing Officer of the Detroit Science Center (see The Westminster College Planetarium has la and Simo Pirinen from Heureka, the Finnish also page x.) gone digital with the installation of a Warped Science Center. Grand Rapid’s Roger B. Chaffee Planetari- Media spherical mirror projection system ear- From Sweden came Johan Öhlund and four um hosted the state spring meeting on 1 May. lier this spring. They still have their Spitz 512, colleagues from SCISS, presenting their Uni- The meeting included presentations on the but are no longer offering slide shows. view system, and Lars Broman, who conduct- history of astronomy, using social media to The Vandalia-Butler City Schools Planetari- ed a panel session on “Public Understanding promote planetariums, and the Citizen Sky um recently hosted its first annual Space Day. of Astronomy PUA: An International Re- project. Since Chaffee’s parent institution, the The festivities kicked off with rocket launch- search Project for Planetarians” and gave an

September 2010 Planetarian 47 THEY DON’T WANT THE HIGH SEAS. THEY WANT THE UNIVERSE.

A family adventure that puts you into the action. Available March 2010. Contact Mike Murray at [email protected] 48 Planetarian September 2010 801-456-4949 • clarkplanetarium.org/distribution

2245_Clark_SpacePirates_7x10.indd 1 1/21/10 9:20:48 AM tion, see the website www.as- Smolensk. The situation with the Smo- trosociety.org/2010meeting. lensk Planetarium, located in a former religious building, became tougher. The Russian Russian Planetarium Orthodox Church demands that this building Association should again be used for religious activities. Aqtobe (Kazakhstan). Zi- The Board of the Russian Planetarium Society naida Sitkova, chairman of communicated with the Smolensk Municipal the Board of the Russian Plan- Administration on the possibility of design- etarium Association, is finish- ing a new planetarium building. ing discussions on organizing Vladikavkaz. The Muslim community a conference for planetarians also demands that a former mosque occupied in the end of this October at by the Vladikavkaz Planetarium should again the Aktobe Planetarium. The be used for religious activities. The planetar- tentative conference program ium has stopped servicing visitors upon the includes a trip to the Baikonur pretext of repairs. The Board of the Russian launch site. Planetarium Society has communicated with RPA: The Baikonur veteran Vladimir V. Zharinov presents his nu- Nizhny Novgorod. On 5 the local authorities and mass media to help mismatic collection dedicated to cosmonautics to an apprecia- April, the Nizhny Novgorod settle the conflict. tive audience at the Nizhny Novgorod Planetarium. To the right Planetarium was visited by Vladivostok. Plans for construction of the are Zinaida P. Sitkova and Roman M. Suglobov. Photo by Uliana S. famous Russian cosmonauts Far-East University at Russky Island in 2012 Avdeenko. Vladimir Dzhanibekov (five have officially been announced. The univer- oral presentation on “Also Small Planetariums space flights) and Anatoly Berezovoy (com- sity complex will include a modern planetar- Go Digital,” co-authored with his brother Per. mander of the long-term space flight). By ium. Lars Broman also participated as NPA repre- chance, the meeting was also attended by the sentative in the IPS Council Meeting that pre- German participants of the project Essen: the ceded the Conference. European Cultural Capital-2010. The cosmonauts told about their paths to cosmonautics, Pacific Planetarium Association on the long and sometimes tiresome space The Fujitsu Planetarium at the DeAnza Col- training, on their feelings accompanying the lege in Cupertino, California will be appear- first outer space journey, on the beauty of our ing in an upcoming program on the Discov- home planet, on the sunrise observed from ery Channel. The series is called Sci-Fi Science: the orbit, and, of course, on the heavy respon- Physics of the Impossible, hosted by famous sibilities during a space flight. string theory physicist and author Michio International Day of Astronomy was cele- Kaku. In this episode Professor Kaku talks with brated on 24 April when the majority of plan- Seth Shostak of the SETI Institute about con- etariums in Russia organized special events. Dr. tacting other civilizations. Sergey Popov, senior scientist from the Stern- They use the planetarium as a meeting place berg Astronomical Institute, visited the Nizh- and as a place to project images of things like ny Novgorod Planetarium and delivered two the radio message sent to M13 from the Arec- public lectures, “Hypotheses in Astrophysics” ibo radio telescope and the Voyager. Dr. Shos- and “Supermassive Black Holes.” SEPA: Bob Hayward (right) just having received tak even pretended to work the planetarium The results and winners of the Extramu- the Paul Campbell Fellowship award from SEPA President Jon Elvert. Photo by Christi Whit- ral Astro-Space Contest were announced. The controls while Karl von Ahnen, planetarium worth. director, hid under the console and pushed contest is named after Acad. Vitaly Ginzburg buttons. The film crew came from all over and organized annually for schoolchildren. the country and from England. As you know, This year 70 children participated. Southeastern Planetarium filming in a darkened planetarium is not easy. To celebrate International Children’s Association It was fun to watch the professionals working Day of 1 June, the Russian TV company The Adam Thanz and crew at Bays Mountain in a challenging environment. The episode First Channel visited 10 social sites in Nizh- Park Planetarium, Tennessee, hosted a memo- should run in the fall. ny Novgorod related to child care and guid- rable SEPA conference June 8-12. The theme of In Nevada, The planetarium at College of ance. The Nizhny Novgorod Planetarium was storytelling was present throughout the con- Southern Nevada was set to upgrade to Di- in the list. A special festive program was orga- ference. Skyteller Lynn Moroney and others gistar 4SP2HD in August. nized in the big dome of the planetarium for delighted the participants with their captivat- Planetarians get information from many the day, and young visitors got presents from ing stories under the dome, at historical sites, sources, and the Astronomical Society of the the TV guests from Moscow. and in workshops. Nearly 120 participants Pacific is one of the best. For their 2010 edition The Nizhny Novgorod Planetarium has enjoyed a wide range of vendor displays and of Cosmos in the Classroom, the ASP met in been granted a mobile planetarium for servic- presentations, papers, workshops, nature pro- Boulder, Colorado 1-4 August under the theme ing children in remote towns and villages of grams at the park, and field trips to the Gray Earth and Space Science: Making Connections the region. Fossil Site and Museum and historic Rocky In Education and Public Outreach. There were Perm. A few-month pause in the work of Mount, the 18th century home of William hands-on workshops on lunar education re- Perm Planetarium is over. The planetarium Cobb. sources, climate change activities, and dealing is open for the public again after reconstruc- A new slate of officers was elected and will with public fears about “doomsday 2012” as tion of the dome and a partial remount of the assume office 1 January 2011: President Elect well as many other topics. For more informa- equipment. David Dundee, Secretary/Treasurer Patsy Wil-

September 2010 Planetarian 49 son, and IPS Council Representative John Hare. Continuing officers are April Whitt, who will move from president elect to president, and Jon Elvert, who will move from president to past president. The prestigious Paul Campbell Fellowship Award was presented to Bob Hayward. Bob was a founding member of SEPA and served for many years on staff at Atlanta’s Fernbank Planetarium. While there he helped host several SEPA conferences as well as the second IPS conference in 1974. The 2011 SEPA conference will be held 21-25 June at the Rollins Planetarium at Young Harris College. The college is situated in the small community of Young Har- ris, nestled in the high mountains of northern Georgia. Watch for more details in a future issue of the Planetarian. Further information regarding SEPA is available at the website sepadomes.org.. I

International Relations Committee IRC: Above: The gathering of Arabic-speaking planetarians at the IPS Martin George conference in Alexandria. [email protected] Photo by Martin George. The main news from the International Re- At Right: Martin George with Jasmin Al-Saber of lations Committee for this issue is that of a the Kuwait Science Club. very successful meeting held during the IPS Conference in Alexandria. On Saturday, June 26, representatives from planetariums from many Arabic-speaking countries in the region gathered together to discuss the possibility of forming an Arabic-speaking planetarium group, with the future aim of forming an Ara- bic-speaking IPS affiliate. In previous International Relations Com- mittee columns, I have mentioned that Mark Rouleau, who also attended the meeting, has been keen for some time now to set up such a group. At the meeting, chaired by Omar Fikry, nese planetarium group, which were representatives from countries spread is now well established. I fully expect to see so much work. across a geographical region from Iraq to Tu- them apply for affiliate status in the near fu- During early June, I made a visit on behalf nisia, including Sudan. ture! of the IPS and the International Relations Dale Smith, former IPS president and a Committee Member and President-Elect Committee to the two planetariums in north- member of the International Relations Com- Dave Weinrich reports that all is going well ern Croatia (see page 20.). I mittee, and I spoke to the gathering on the lo- with the new plan- gistics of forming an Arabic-speaking group, etarium in Gha- and the advantages of IPS affiliate member- na, and points out ship. Naturally, we are hoping that the group that visits from IPS forms and has regular meetings in the near fu- members would ture so that they can reach a stage at which be most welcome. they can apply to become an affiliate. I intend to make a At the end of the two-hour meeting, there trip there as soon was an agreement to meet again and keep as I can to see the in touch, and I am optimistic that they will results of this very achieve their aims. Having a common lan- worthwhile proj- guage is a natural advantage! ect into which I was also encouraged by comments at the Dave, together Council Meeting from Jin Zhu, of the Beijing with AVI’s Joanne Planetarium in China, relating to their Chi- Young, have put

50 Planetarian September 2010 September 2010 Planetarian 51 create pre-rendered sequences is “If used incorrectly, you will not hear the much easier and has provided vi- human voice. Especially in a 21 m dome, the suals for some of our other media audience always needs to connect; people experiences, such as the Joan of need to feel the human presence and a good Arc show.” actor will fill the space with his presence.” It takes time to program the software in conjunction with the Finale performance and to optimize the Meaningful and effective live program- sound and lighting systems be- ming is evolving throughout the world and fore a show reaches plug-and- IMERSA is tracking the creative and effec- play status. However, “the results tive utilization of the digital dome. As theatri- are worth the effort and the time cal performances move into our domes, care- it takes to manage all of the pro- ful attention to every detail becomes both duction elements such as body the challenge and an opportunity to balance mics, sound levels and queuing,” communication between the performer, the says Neafus. immersion and the audience. A theatrical production has “It doesn’t need to be esoteric,” says Ham- specific and critical lighting needs burg’s Kraupe, “but planetariums can be spir- quite different from other types itual environments where we are touched by of shows, but in agreement with something bigger and can tell stories that cap- Kraupe, “it can be done without ture the spirit.” too much cost using modern LED and automated theatrical fixtures Coming up configured to light the perform- The 2010 Symposium for Media and Mu- ers,” says Neafus. seum Professionals and IMERSA Fulldome In terms of these theatrical Summit will be held 26-28 October. Presented shows, those we spoke to testify by the Denver Museum of Nature & Science that the visitor has a more power- (Gates Planetarium) and the Jackson Hole ful experience than in a tradition- Wildlife Film Festival. This three-day confer- al setting. For those spaces that ence will have workshops, panels, screenings, double as high-tech classrooms, exhibits and pitching opportunities. the added power may translate Session strands will be focused on the new- into educational benefits as well. est in 3D, fulldome, content to go and creative J-Walt describes it as “the dif- fundraising options. The fulldome strand is Joan of Arc in prayer under the Gates Planetarium dome in an ference between driving through sponsored in part by IMERSA. For further de- effective display of lighting and fulldome projection. Photo the country, encapsulated, look- tails visit www.imersa.org or www.jhfestival. by Dan Neafus. ing through the window, and org/jhsymposium. Contact Dan Neafus or Ed stepping out of the car to be ful- Lantz to inquire about participation (papers, (IMERSA, continued from Page 41) ly in that space.” screenings, panels, sponsorship). Kraupe cautions that maintaining a balance ity of the system: six projectors, blended, tiled is very important, especially in preserving the IMERSA website updated and geometrically corrected, with the same live element that is the vital distinguishing IMERSA.org has a new look and new features software running on six computers all talking factor. “Be careful not to knock down the hu- to build online community and help spread to each other simultaneously. man element with this very powerful visual the word about digital dome technology and However, Yu continues, “having animators system,” he advises. immersive media. Check it out. I

52 Planetarian September 2010 September 2010 Planetarian 53 Mobile News

Susan Reynolds Button Quarks to Clusters 8793 Horseshoe Lane Chittenango, New York 13037 USA +1 315-687-5371 [email protected], [email protected] Kerrie Ber- glund using the Skypad Back to basics that the current projector model is 1200x1200 prototype. At this year’s MAPS Conference in Maine, I resolution. The Solo projects a 1K image at Photo pro- met again with several fellow portable plane- 3,500 lumens from the center of the planetar- vided by Digitalis tarium directors who love to share their tricks ium. Solo can be used for Interact! real-time of the trade. This year one of the topics was the modules, included free with the system. Contact Information: Karrie Berglund, kar- care and maintenance of STARLAB domes. Of course, the one bulb and one projector [email protected] The ubiquitous duct tape is a necessary tool mean simple operation and maintenance. for portable domes, and Scott Negley told Contact: Paul Tetu, Sales and Systems Special- A unique marketing idea us about a super strong version that he uses ist, Sky-Skan, +49-221-7788-9072; email tetu@ Alexander Zaragoza wrote to me to say skyskan.com; website: www.sky- “The advertising agency Bail Out hosted a skan.com/products/systems/pro- presentation of fulldome immersive cinema jection/solo. technology at the Muséo Marítimo (Barcelo- na) together with Immersive Adventure with Digitarium SkyPad the purpose of introducing new potential cli- Karrie Berglund reports that ents to the concept of producing commercial “Digitalis has been hard at work show reels and product/brand presentations developing a new user interface: for use in portable domes at trade shows and the Universal Console™. similar events. “The Universal Console is de- “The visitors of the event were mainly signed to give presenters more op- brand/product managers, marketing man- tions for controlling their Digitar- agers and other curious key account manag- ium planetarium system. With a ers handling international accounts. Antares cross-platform, web-based appli- FullDome Productions showcased segments cation interface, users can control from the fulldome productions 3000 Years of their system from any number of Stargazing, The Birth of the Solar System and devices over a wired or wireless Chronicle of a Journey to Earth to show the network. full potential of the dome.” “For example, a fixed dome user For more information, see the blog at blog. Scott Negley (left) and John Meader try to tell me, “Stronger may want to use a PC type console is better….no, wider is better!” Photo by Tom Button antares.es. Contact information: in a control booth. For a more por- Alexander Zaragoza, Product Manager, An- table device, users might choose a tares FullDome Productions, Barcelona, Spain; now. It is called Nashua 357 Premium, and the Digitarium SkyPad™ (an Apple manufacturer boasts that it is “high tensile iPad type of device) or even a strength, very durable duct tape with clean re- smart phone. lease.” Scott says it is the best he has ever used! “The Universal Console is an He orders the 1.89 in x 60 yd (48mm x 55 m) alternative to our unique hand- roll. You can find it easily online by searching held, backlit remote control. for “Nashua duct tape.” It will not replace our remote, However, John Meader claims he needs to which we still believe is the use a much wider tape; he does many more simplest and easiest to use plan- shows than Scott and has the giant STARLAB etarium interface. However, the dome, so he says, “bigger is better!” He gets his Universal Console will have ad- tape at “the tape depot” (www.thetapedepot. vantages for users who want com) and orders the 12 in x 60 yd (255 mm x finer control over their presen- 55 m) roll to keep his dome in repair! tations, or who want to hide any trace of their user interface Definiti Solo from the audience to maximize Also at the 2010 MAPS conference, Paul the immersive experience.” María José Rodríguez (sales representative, Antares FullDome Tetu, Sky-Skan Inc., pointed out to me that Digitalis expects to launch Productions), Víctor Sebastián Toldrà (Sports & Event manager, the Definiti Solo projection system is available this new console by the end of Bail Out Advertising) and Sergio López Borgoñoz (general man- in both fixed and portable configurations and 2010. ager, Antares FullDome Productions) Photo provided by Antar- es FullDome Productions.

54 Planetarian September 2010 +34 933 323 000; email: azaragoza@antares- with audience participation shows full steam movie clips) included as electronic files; fulldome.com; website: www.antares-full- (though no clickers...yet). •• Planetarium Educators Workshop Guide, the dome.com. “We’re also really happy that our audience classic seminal work on the theory of audi- participation shows, that many who have ence participation; Better audience engagement been in the planetarium business a while know •• Activities for the Planetarium (activities Alan Gould posted this on dome-l@google- as Planetarium Activities for Student Success shorter than full-blown shows); and groups.com and it bears repeating. I look for- (PASS), are now re-released in a new electronic •• Using Portable Planetariums (for audience ward to hearing more about how they are format to encourage more than ever audience participation programs). now actively engaging 200 audience mem- participation in the planetarium. When first A set of 15 shows fit on 3 DVDs (and each bers! developed, PASS shows were only available as DVD also is available separately). Especially of Alan wrote: “Like the Lawrence Hall pio- hard copy print booklets of show scripts with interest for those new to the audience partic- neered 25 years ago, active student engage- still images only available as slides. ipation concept, two of the shows, Moons of ment is a great promoter of learning. We do “Now the entire PASS series is available elec- the Solar System and the NASA-funded Strange engagement for 200 at a time, which is more tronically as Interact! PASS Classic, which in- Planets program, are available to download for challenging than if your dome seats 25, like cludes: free.” theirs did. •• Show script booklets (as PDFs) for 15 plan- Contact Information: Alan Gould, “Here are some updates (2010): At Law- etarium programs, easily adaptable and [email protected]. See the Lawrence Hall rence Hall of Science (University of California modifiable for digital or traditional the- of Science Interact! PASS website at www. Berkeley), we now have a 30-ft dome (geodesic aters, with materials/preparation notes, set- lawrencehallofscience.org/pass and the Sky- with negative pressure screen), digital projec- up, and pre/post classroom activities; Skan Interact! website at www.skyskan. tor (Digitarium Epsilon), and are continuing •• All visuals (still images, animations, and com/interact. I

Collecting Data This is an alphabetical list of portable planetarium systems that I have collected. I apologize if the list is not complete. Since things seem to change daily, please Michele is let me know if I need to add something listed in the to this list. I will be posting this on the program IPS Portable Planetarium Committee web of the Na- page and updating it as I discover more. tional Con- ference of Italian Plan- Optical-mechanical Systems: etariums Canopus, www.planetariocanopus.com.ar in Perugia. Cosmodyssee IV, www.rsacosmos.com All photos provided Cubes A-5 and A-20, www.cubex.com.ar by Michele Gambato Model GL800- Wistisen E, www.gambato.it GOTO-NEX, www.goto.co.jp/english/product/pla_nex.html MEGASTAR ZERO, www.me- A Week in Italy: Final Report gastar.jp/en/products/index.php By Michele Wistisen STARLAB Standard and STAR- Casper Planetarium, Natrona County Schools LAB FiberArc, www.starlab.com 904 N Poplar Street Vostok Projector and Sputnik Pro- Casper, Wyoming 82601 USA jector, www.planetarios.com [email protected]

Digital Systems: be placed. A pointer in the center of the board LSS Sphaeric 0.1, www.auladelcosmos. Part 1: The Lesson reminded participants how to look at the com/bloc.htm It took only one presentation to discover sphere from an Earth perspective. As the stu- Digistar Outreach, www.es.com that the students were very reluctant to speak dents made observations at each location, Digitarium, digitaliseducation.com English in a large group. So I changed my pre- they chose a picture that matched what they e-Planetarium, www.e-planetarium.com sentation to encourage students to ask ques- saw and placed it behind the sphere. By par- GeoDome/Elumenati, www.geodome. tions at the beginning of the lesson. This made ticipating in this activity, the students were info a nice segue to the short PowerPoint presenta- able to identify how the amount of light on MirrorDome/Cosmodome, www.astron- tion about myself and where I am from. the moon’s surface appears to change as the omy.swin.edu.au/production and www. My lesson was created to help students con- moon orbits the Earth. cosmodome.com.au front their misconceptions about the phas- After the students completed their obser- Progress Mirror System, www.planetari- es of the moon. I designed it around three Ge- vations, we talked about the similarity of the os.com stalt principles of visual organization, namely: images on the left side of the board, from the SkySkan Definiti PD and Solo, www.skys- Figure Ground, Symmetry, and Similarity. new moon to the full moon; specifically that kan.com I created an 8-in square board with mark- the light is on the right side and the light is STARLAB Digital, www.starlab.com ings to indicate where and how a half-paint- ed sphere, or the illuminated moon, should increasing. Next we talked about the images

September 2010 Planetarian 55 from the full moon to the new moon; specifically that the light is on the left side and is de- creasing. Finally, by comparing the right side to the left side, students observed that the two sides were symmetrical. After the patterns were observed, we discussed the names for each of the phases; at this point the terms waxing and waning make more sense. We also discussed how long it takes for the moon to complete one cycle, i.e. one month. A quick review of angles helped students see the correlation between the angle of the sun, Earth, and moon and how much light is visible on the moon’s surface as seen from the Earth. With this understanding, students could use a moon wheel to determine approx- imately when each phase rises and sets. I transitioned between the mechanical portion of my lesson to the dome presentation with the story about the phases of the moon Top: Students in Gorizia en- called “The Girl Who Married the Moon.”* joyed the planetarium lesson The remainder of my lesson was present- in the portable dome; Right: ed in the dome, were I told traditional Native Students understand and complete the moon phase American stories about the Pleiades, the Big activity; Below: Michel helps Dipper, and Cassiopeia. students use the moon phase manipulatives. Part 2: Comments from students As I previously stated, the students were re- students and President Bittesini, luctant to speak out in the large group. How- not only for her hospitality but ever, when I spoke to them one-on-one, they also for the exceptional structure would chat with me. I tried to speak to as and instrumentation of the obser- many students as possible before and after vatory.” each program. Students who had more experience with English were more likely to seek me Part 3: Impressions out and talk with me. Students who had been Being chosen to be the repre- exchange students were anxious to talk about sentative for the Week in Italy for their experiences in the United States. an American Planetarium Opera- One of the teachers told me that the stu- tor was a dream come true. Fran- dents had no experience with Native Ameri- ces Willard, in her book How I can stories and they found them interesting. Learned to Ride a Bicycle, truly However, I learned that there were things in summed up the experience for the Native American stories that were unfa- me when she said, “No matter miliar and confusing to the Italian students. how one may think himself ac- Animals such as bobcat and wolverine needed complished, when he sets out to to be explained and pictures provided before learn a new language, science, or referring to them in stories. the bicycle, he has entered a new It appeared to me, as I presented my lesson, realm as truly as if he were a child newly born the Castle of Brescia, where I gained knowl- that the students have a good background of into the world.” edge about Austrian oppression and the up- the phases of the moon. Yet they appeared sur- As a guest in Italy, I spent three weeks, much rising that took place in 1849. Through my prised when I showed them that they could like a child, learning many new things each time in Gorizia, I came to understand the tur- predict the rise and set time for the phases and day. It was energizing. bulent history, both religious and political, of thus tell time by the moon. From my earliest recollection, Italy was the land. As I climbed into a bunker and saw Over all, I think that the students enjoyed only a land of ancient cities written about in the trenches at St. Michele, war became a re- the opportunity to be in the planetarium history books. I was familiar with the names ality to me. and hear the American presentations. An ar- of places such as Rome, Venice, and Florence, You cannot really understand a country ticle written by students in Gorizia was sent but I never imagined that I would have the without getting to know the people, places, to me shortly after I returned to Wyoming. Its opportunity to visit these places. Now that I food and culture. I am grateful to all who gave translation stated, “The lessons are in English, have, the long forgotten meaningless lessons of their time to share their knowledge and en- and the students have not been intimidated, from my childhood are replaced with experi- thusiasm for teaching. Heather Smith gave me instead they have participated with enthusi- ences of real people and places. an incredible guided tour of Perugia and Simo- asm leaving very fulfilled from the American In Perugia I learned about Etruscans, Ro- netta Ercoli and her staff are amazing exam- teacher who has been complemented by the mans, and the Salt War. In Brescia I discovered ples of passionate teachers.

56 Planetarian September 2010 Luciano Bittesini and his family were hosts extraordinaire. They allowed me to experi- Observe the moon ence Italy as part of their family. I will forever remember a special birthday party and spend- around the world ing time with their relatives. I am genuinely grateful to Loris Ramponi for engineering and tirelessly promoting the American Operator in Italy program for the Although the official year is over, some of past 14 years. The speedy trip up the moun- the public outreach initiatives begun during tainside to see the observatory, storytelling International Year of Astronomy 2009 con- in the portable dome, news conferences, and tinue their good work. One example is Inter- dinner with Loris’ children has left a lasting national Observe the Moon Night, set for Sep- impression on me. tember 18, 2010. The chance to teach in Italy gave me many InOMN was born as the result of the success new opportunities. I had to analyze my teach- of two NASA lunar missions in 2009. The Lunar ing methods to create a lesson for students Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) Education and Public whose first language is not English. I had to Outreach team celebrated LRO’s success by hosting a pub- adapt 50 manipulatives to fit into carry-on lic outreach event called “We’re at the Moon!” at Goddard Space luggage, which turned out to be a change for Flight Center (GSFC) in Greenbelt, Maryland. the better. That same night on the other side of the US, the Lunar CRater Observation and Sens- For my dome presentation, I was requested ing Satellite (LCROSS) and NASA Lunar Science Institute EPO teams hosted a similar event to tell at least 20 minutes of Native American at Ames Research Center at Moffett Field, California called “National Observe the Moon stories. In the past, I used a blend of tradition- Night” as part of IYA. The goal of both of these events was similar: engage the local public al Greek and Roman mythology with a little and amateur astronomer communities in an event to raise awareness of NASA’s involve- bit of Native American stories in my star talks. ment in lunar research and exploration. This meant that I had to research to find sto- The events were so successful that the EPO teams decided to do it again, but this time ries that could be understood by people from bigger and better. The number of national and international partners have more than dou- a different culture. bled participation, including, among others, missions at Ames, Goddard, and Marshall Space After reading several books about Native Flight Center; the Lunar and Planetary Institute; the Astronomical Society of the Pacific, American star lore, I have a greater apprecia- the Mauna Kea Observatories Outreach Committee, Astronomers without Borders and the tion for the myths and legends that originate Astronomers without Borders International Volunteers group, the Gemini Observatory in from my own country. Chile, the Canadian Lunar Research Network, the European Planetary Science Conference I don’t look at my Italy experience as be- (2010 LOC Rome); and the Canadian IYA Committee, and Greece. ing over. I am in the process of implement- But beyond the official partners, InOMN is open to anyone who is interested in the moon ing some new programs at our planetarium and sharing the excitement of lunar science and exploration. Professional and amateur as- which are the results of what I learned in Ita- tronomers, astronomy clubs, planetariums, science centers and all astronomy enthusiasts ly blended with our technology. Furthermore, worldwide are invited to celebrate the moon. it is my hope that I will have opportunities in Helpful information, downloadable materials, and more can be found at the InOMN the future to collaborate with my new friends website at observethemoonnight.org. I and collogues in Italy. Special thanks to everyone involved with (Destruction, continued from Page 18) the: XXV Convegno Nazionale dei Plane- tari Italiani, Planetario Ignazio Danti, Serafi- ment, but due to the distant location of Aus- tion at the daily input of hurt from around no Zani Astronomical Observatory and Farra tralia for many of us, freight charges may be the world in the media, but when the horrors d’lsonzo. prohibitive. suddenly crash into our own precious world, * “The Girl Who Married the Moon,” www. He’s also aware that many planetarians then wham! we suddenly feel a personal at- indigenouspeople.net/girlwho.htm; also ap- don’t have much money to spare in their bud- tachment to it. pears in a number of anthologies of Native get to send even small amounts by way of a The wanton destruction of Canberra Plane- American literature. I token gesture. But if you still believe you can tarium is a violation of our special kind of sacred help in any way at all, please contact Peter at: space, a rude awakening to the horrors of the (Education, continued from Page 37) Canberra Space Dome and Observatory, Haw- outside world that we try to give our patrons a repeat for centimeter, and millimeter. don Place, Canberra, Australia 2602. +61 (0)2 peek into nature’s wonders. My mind boggles This is a running graph, so each of your 6248 5333. Email: [email protected]. as to how there can be people who have such groups will add to it. I have a spreadsheet that A bit of a glaze comes over our eyes when distain for education, in stark contrast to the I use to record the information so if students we feel that familiar degree of desensitisa- pedestal that you and I place it upon. I want to see what the numbers would x x x x x x x x x x look like represent- x x x x x x x ed in a pie chart or x x x x x x x x stacked bar they x can see it (if you as x a reader are inter- x x ested in this file let me know and I will <75 80 85 90 95 1m 105 110 115 120 >125 cm cm cm cm cm cm cm cm cm cm send it to you). I

September 2010 Planetarian 57 ter as I faced off to open this beautifully bound Book Reviews 1.43-kg behemoth. It is visually enticing, well organized, and so thoughtfully produced that it is a pleasure to read and handle. This is not a traditional coffee table book; indeed, its density of ideas (I/Kg) is very high. April S. Whitt E-readers who presage the eventual doom of Fernbank Science Center the printed book have captured about 1% of 156 Heaton Park Drive NE the world’s readers; this book could well serve as another strong holdout, buttressing the Atlanta, Georgia 30307 USA 550-year-old print tradition. [email protected] John Bally and Bo Reipurth have written a comprehensive text replete with the quali- The Solar System Beyond tions, the physical properties, their formation, ty of astronomical images we get through RSS and any observed peculiarities of some of the feeds from the world’s great observatories and Neptune members of this area. At least several dozen some spacecraft. The authors have chosen pic- Edited by M.A. Barucci, H. Boehnhardt, D.P. objects in the Kuiper Belt have been found to tures from many sources, including their col- Cruikshank, and A. Morbidelli, University of be binaries; others—and we knew about Plu- leagues and themselves. Arizona Press, Tucson, Arizona, USA, 2008, to—appear to have atmospheres, although The general reader will benefit from their ISBN 978-0-8165-2755-7, US $70.00. they are tenuous at best. clear summarization of current astronomical Reviewed by Francine Jackson, Universi- The book also includes Jupiter’s sets of Tro- thought on the birth, life, and destiny of plan- ty of Rhode Island, Providence, Rhode Island, jan objects, the small bodies located in the Jo- ets and stars. Their fine descriptions would USA. vian L4 and L5 Lagrangian points, appear to complement the narratives found in many have had their origins in the nether regions of planetarium productions. Frankly, one could Remember when the solar system beyond the solar system. be tempted to use this book as the foundation Neptune pretty much was the planet Pluto? Finally, there is a chapter by Harold Weav- for a planetarium-based introductory astron- Then, in 1992, the first “classical” Kuiper belt er and S. Alan Stern on New Horizons, the tiny omy course. object, 1992 QB, was discovered. And the rest, craft that, within this decade, will give us our The tables and diagrams provide much use- as they say, is history. Since that time, the pop- first glimpses of Pluto and, hopefully, some of ful information. The overall tone of this tome ulation in our outer solar system has explod- its neighboring Kuiper Belt objects. is both scientific and philosophical. The very ed; in fact, it’s so darned crowded that there While we’re waiting for New Horizons to last paragraph notes that we curious humans are astronomers concentrating on that part of arrive, there appears to be still more to be dis- want to understand our origins and, therefore, our neighborhood alone. It seems right now covered out there, there is an unknown number of bodies lo- and ground-based cated there for them to study—and this book, observatories are printed in 2008, already is ancient history. being dedicated to One hundred one scientists collaborated learning as much on this book. They introduce the reader to an as can be about outer solar system that we never knew, one this outlying part that would have been considered science fic- of our neighbor- tion a very short time ago. Being introduced hood. As a primer to the transneptunian region is like being (or tour book) into dropped into a country that is so new it’s not this region, The So- on your map. lar System Beyond The area that was originally owned solely Neptune, although by Pluto and its satellites is now Plutino land, slightly out of with companion bodies starting to rival Pluto date, is a very good in size. What had been discussed for decades introduction to concerning the reality of the Kuiper area, the what just a short zero point for short-period comets, has now time ago was thought to be the beginning of “the Universe becomes aware of itself.” been confirmed, with the number of objects the end of the solar system. If you are seeking an accurate, clear, care- way over 10,000. fully-crafted description of planetary and stel- Plus, we have the “scattered disk,” icy ob- lar formation, this is the book for you. Star jects in highly concentric and very inclined The Birth of Stars and Planets clusters, dark clouds and the likely scenarios orbits having their perihelion distances be- John Bally and Bo Reipurth, Cambridge Uni- which led to our present universe are present- yond Neptune, and the Centaurs (remember versity Press, 2006, ISBN 13 978-0-521-80105-8, ed in pleasant, understandable mature prose. Chiron?), a term not heard of in recent years, US $52.00. If you only want a beautiful book to hold, those bodies with a perihelion inside Nep- Reviewed by Bruce L. Dietrich, Wyomiss- tune’s orbit. Then, of course, don’t forget Sed- ing, Pennsylvania, USA. this, too, is the one for you. na, Eris, the Oort cloud, and what possibly is still out there waiting to be found. Just when recent improvements in screen The Sun and the Moon The information in this book is incredibly brightness, battery life, and easy network ac- Matthew Goodman, Basic Books, The Perseus extensive. Virtually everything known about cess seemed to doom the printed book to the Books Group, 2010, ISBN 978-0-465-00257-3, this region of our solar system as of its publica- same fate as papyrus and parchment, the post US $15.00, CAN $18.95, UK £8.99. tion is available, from the history of observa- delivered this gem to my door. I was all a-twit- Reviewed by Francine Jackson, Universi-

58 Planetarian September 2010 the delusion that blurting out facts is communicating; “…sometimes the answer isn’t sheer force or straightforward facts. It’s something less literal….Motivate, then educate.” The reader is challenged to keep things accurate and interesting in the chapter “Don’t Be Such a Poor Storyteller.” He compares two films about global warming: Too Hot Not to Handle and An Inconvenient Truth. The author states, “Too Hot Not to Handle was accurate but not popular. An Inconvenient Truth was popular but not accurate. Guess which one was full of scientists?” “Don’t Be So Unlikeable” reminds the reader that name-calling and crude language will hardly win friends and influence people, much less communicate science. In “Be The ty of Rhode Island, Providence, Rhode Island, observations by one of the time’s most nota- Voice of Science,” the author suggests listen- USA. ble astronomers. ing to how we speak—what is “normal vocab- Author Goodman has included one of the ulary” among scientists can be unintelligible When I was first given this book, I didn’t re- most extensive bibliographies and set of notes or off-putting to the public. alize its subtitle was The Remarkable True Ac- I’ve ever seen in a book of this type. Every- All in all, the book is worth reading through. count of Hoaxers, Showmen, Dueling Journal- thing he’s written about “hoaxers, showmen, The stories are entertaining. The suggestions ists, and Lunar Man-Bats in Nineteenth Century dueling journalists and lunar man-bats” has are though-provoking. “New technology has New York, and that “the sun” wasn’t, in fact, been meticulously researched. This unbeliev- brought about many changes in communica- our daytime star, but one of the more popu- able—but true—expose on New York’s early tions, and in the world of science this could lar penny newspapers on the 19th century New news days and the race for readership is well prove to be one of the most profound devel- York city streets. The title comes from the real worth your reading time. opments.” story behind the John Herschel moon “observations” during his time in South Africa dur- Don’t Be Such a Scientist Time for Patriots ing the 1835 passage of Halley’s Comet. Randy Olson, Island Press, Washington, DC, Thomas Wm. Hamilton, Strategic Book Pub- In the 1830s, competition among city news- 2009, ISBN 1597265632, US $19.95. lishing, New York, 2008, ISBN: 978-1-60693- papers was fierce, editors doing everything Reviewed by April Whitt, Fernbank Science 224-7; US $25.00. possible to increase circulation. Enter Rich- Center, Atlanta, Georgia, USA. Reviewed by Sharon Shanks, Planetarian ard Adams Locke, a British immigrant hired editor by Sun editor Benjamin Day to cover the dai- When Gary Tomlinson recommended this ly court scene. Soon wanting to expand his Once in a while one of our own ventures book, I thought, “Oh good. Some tips for writ- writing prowess, and—of course—increase the into publishing. Some books are nonfiction ing planetarium programs!” The subtitle is readership of the paper, Locke learned of Her- (by Martin Radcliffe, for example, State of the Talking substance in an age of style, and it schel’s adventure, and embellished it. Universe 2007: New Images, Discoveries, and sounded like a great resource. Not only did he state that Herschel had in- Events from Springer Praxis Books); in this When I read it through the first time, I was vented a new super telescope able to really case, it’s fiction, specifically the alternate fu- disappointed. Wading through paragraphs of delve into the surface of the moon, but that ture genre. Hollywood name-dropping in search of the he had discovered a whole civilization, in- Imagine how you, as a planetarian, would nuggets of information was frustrating. But as cluding unicorns, water birds (which implies shape the future, knowing what you know to- the author states, “...this book isn’t about mak- he saw riverbanks) and the previously stated day about space exploration, world wars, dis- man-bats. Locke even made up a British jour- ing people think scientists are cool. If that’s all eases, women’s rights, the too-early deaths of nal in which the Sun had “found” the story. you’re looking for, you should go elsewhere. geniuses (what if Mozart had lived longer?) Because this was the 19th century, Herschel It’s about examining the truth, which, by the and all the other global problems that we un- had no idea whatsoever about his alleged dis- way, is what science is supposed to be about.” derstand only as history. Hamilton does this, coveries until an acquaintance traveling in Dr. Randy Olson is a marine biologist who and throws in a planetarium too boot. Cape Town happened to be in the same hotel, noticed that some excellent researchers gave His premise: a physics experiment gone and handed Herschel a copy of the report of disorganized and tedious presentations at wrong sends a military academy and sur- his “great astronomical discoveries.” conferences. When friends asked why he de- rounding area into the United States of 1770. This book is amazing. It not only describes cided to study acting and film-making, he re- The students, their teachers, and other adults in detail the newspaper profession of the ear- plied that, “I’m going to Hollywood because then work to “fix” the future. Herein is my first ly 19th century, but brings into play the reason that’s where the mass communications is.” of two problems with the book: justification. why such a hoax could have been perpetrated. He’s divided his ideas into five chapters. In The characters accept their situation too eas- Included in the mix is a menagerie of players “Don’t Be So Cerebral,” he discusses connect- ily and don’t have a single moment of angst of that time, from Edgar Allen Poe (who was ing with your audience. Presentations can be over whether or not they should be changing originally thought to have penned the story) made from the head (with lots of analysis and the future. However, Hamilton can be granted to the infamous P.T. Barnum and all the news- logic) or from the heart (with passion). The au- this bit of hubris because he, the godlike au- paper publishers of that time who, at first, thor suggests listening both to what you’re thor, gets to decide which future is “better,” were furious with themselves for not getting saying and how you’re saying it. and mostly we can agree with him. first dibs on this most historic of astronomical “Don’t Be So Literal Minded” warns against (Continues on Page 62)

September 2010 Planetarian 59 and the familiarity of the illustrations often is enough to entice a child to pick up a book. They should pick up this one. This book does what good books do: it takes the reader somewhere else through imagina- tion. There’s no law that says that fiction has to be false; fact-based fiction teaches as it en- tertains. It’s sneaky that way. My only “ack” comment: at one point the sun “blazes.” That’s too close to “burns” for my liking. • Moon and Tides by Rob Lang, an Inside Science book from Creative Teaching Press, 2009. No grade level stated other than the listing of National Science Education Stan- dards for Earth and Space Science in grades K-4 and 5-8; my estimation would be 3rd or 4th grades. Where Phases of the Moon starts with a bad graphic, Moon and Tides starts with a good one. It shows the moon and Earth half lit and the moon’s reflected sunlight as seen from Earth. I also liked the “try it yourself” idea that suggests using different balls to see that the moon does rotate. A sound elementary level reference book, Doing no harm with children’s books Moons and Tides covers a number of different concepts dealing with the moon: formation theory, tides, eclipses, etc., all with good By Sharon Shanks Capstone Press, Mankatok, Minnesota, 2007. illustrations. There is minimal moon phase in- Planetarian editor First grade. formation, but what is there—the names and I approach books for children, especially On first appearance, this book seems OK, pictures of the phases—is correct without in- those dealing with astronomy, with primum with its “consulting editor” PhD listed on the troducing misconceptions. It is primum non non nocere. We, as educators suggesting books cover and another professor as consultant. nocere. to teachers and parents (and as parents our- Most of the illustrations are actual photos of • Faces of the Moon by Bob Crelin, Charles- selves), have to keep the "first, do no harm" the moon, a positive point. But soon we’re bridge, Watertown, Massachusetts, 2009. 2nd- rule firmly in mind. faced with the typical drawing of the sun and 3rd grades; also a good read aloud for young- To no other topic does this apply more than Earth with orbiting moon—in phases. Here er students. to books about moon phases. Thanks to sci- comes the first misconception: that the moon If you have the book There Once Was a Sky ence standards that (perhaps unwisely) man- is somehow lit differently by the sun, rather Full of Stars or Chuck Bueter and Art Klinger’s date observing the changing pattern of the than half of the moon being lit all the time. Let There Be Night material that includes the moon in 2nd grade, there are many really bad I asked myself “do I understand moon phas- video version, you already know the name of moon books out there. es?” after reading the book, and discovered Bob Crelin. I can understand the 2nd grade observa- that I did not. It is an introduction to the idea There Once Was a Sky Full of Stars is excel- tion and pattern recognition skills, but there of changing patterns, but it also introduces lent, and Faces of the Moon is as well—and bet- are other occurrences in nature that work bet- misconceptions. We’re doing harm. ter, because the moon book tackles a top- ter at this level and do not introduce miscon- In addition, in the glossary, the sun is de- ic that is difficult for children to understand ceptions. The pattern of day and night and fined as “burning gasses.” This is one of my (whereas light pollution is one that they seem tracking rise and set times comes to mind, and pet complaints because the word burning is to grasp easily). “day side, night side” sets the stage later for the misleading. We know it’s nuclear burning, This book works on multiple levels. Like moon being always half lit. but kids read it as combustion. I never use Sky Full of Stars, the text rhymes, a good mne- But moon phases it is. Maybe it is because a the words “burning hot” or “burning sun;” in- monic device. It has a tab for each moon month fits easily into lesson plans, maybe be- stead, it’s “really hot” or “shining sun.” phase (kids love tabs) and cutouts (ditto) for cause the moon is accessible to all students. • If You Decide to Go to the Moon by Faith each phase. The cutouts not only illustrate the Whatever the reason, simply observing the McNulty, Scholastic Press, 2005. Good read phases, but reinforces the idea that the moon phases without explaining why they occur aloud, elementary self readers. is “whole” at all times and appeals to the tac- plants misconceptions that are difficult to re- It’s not fair, really, to include this book with tile learners. move when the child is ready—if ever—to un- the other titles because it is a fiction picture One illustration shows children doing the derstand concepts in three dimensions. book, but it is factual fiction and it does work traditional “ball-on-a-stick and lamp” demon- I picked out four books at random from toward clearing up some major (even adult) stration, a nice subliminal suggestion to try it my embarrassingly large collection of astron- misconceptions in the process (i.e. the flag on yourself. omy books for children and decided to assess the moon is stiffened with wires, which makes In addition to the “story,” there is excellent their content. From the worst to the best, in it look like it is waving). back matter that provides additional explana- my opinion: Besides, it’s illustrated by Steven Kellogg • Phases of the Moon by Gillia M. Olson, (of The Day Jimmy’s Boa Ate the Wash fame), (Continues on Page 62)

60 Planetarian September 2010 Zula_DTE_addForPrint_8.5x11_Rev0Page 1 4/20/2010 1:21:16 PM

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September 2010 Planetarian 61 7-12 in biology, chemistry, earth science and physics. Not surprisingly, physics had the What’s25 New Years Ago most math and biology the least. Math was then subdivided into algebra, formulas, geom- etry, graphs, and trigonometry. “[L]ack of ex- posure to mathematical skills must be taken Thomas Wm. Hamilton into account when designing ... post-second- HOSS Planetarium ary astronomy educational activities.” 153 Arlo Road Jordan Marché II (North Museum Plane- Staten Island, New York 10301 tarium, Lancaster, Pennsylvania) offered a lesson plan in constructing a 3-D model of an or- [email protected] bit “to acquaint students with the geometric meanings of the six orbital elements of a celes- Vol. 14, No. 3 apolis Science Mu- tial body orbiting the sun.” The Planetarian’s seum Planetarium, James Brown’s What’s New had a gripe third issue of 1985 who was active in about Eastman Kodak’s new packaging of Ko- opened with con- both IPS and GLPA. dalith (remember that?). New books were out tinuing controver- She passed away on on Kitt Peak Observatory and Comet Halley. sies over Star of Beth- Feb. 6, 1985, at the Jane Geohagen Hasting’s column, Jane’s lehem shows. In age of 62. Corner, ended the issue with her usual col- Letters to the Editor, Alan Friedman’s lection of wit and wisdom. Included, a quote Ed Krupp (Griffith President’s Message from Joe Hopkins (Bishop Planetarium in Ba- Observatory, Los An- described an IPS denton, Florida): “in the city you don’t have Maxine and Wallace geles) criticized an ar- Haarstick Council meeting in to bring the coves up slightly; nature does that ticle in issue 1985 #1 over Carl Wenning’s (Illi- Ireland and plans for you!” nois State University Planetarium) suggestion for the 1986 (Flandrau in Tucson, Arizona) September 1985 saw the Soviet Union that the Shekhina was the “star.” (The Shekh- and 1988 (Universe in Richmond, Virginia) IPS launch three cosmonauts aboard a Soyuz to ina is sometimes translated from the ancient general meetings. their Salyut 7 space station, as well as Kosmos Hebrew of the Bible as “the Glory of God.” It John Wharton’s Gibbous Gazette returned 1686 as a supply vehicle to the Salyut. The USA has also been proposed that the Shekhina was after missing an issue to report his McDonnell launched Intelsat 512. the consort of YWHW in the very earliest Star Theater had re-opened. Halley-related On September 10, the prominent Estonian times.) Wenning’s defense also appeared. materials continued its deluge. (Might some of astronomer Ernst Opik died. I In another letter, Douglas Johnson (Califor- the junk have value to collectors in 2061? Will nia) criticized a previous article by Ernest Mar- Antiques Roadshow still be airing then?) The (Books, continued from Page 59) tin on Herod’s funeral. Strasenburgh Planetarium (Rochester, New My second problem, if you can call it that, Gary Stasiuk (Portland, Oregon) gave a list York) had new seating. The Air Force Acade- is the book is much too short! I would have of conjunctions of Jupiter and Saturn from 185 my Planetarium, Colorado Springs, Colorado) liked more description; what did New York B.C. to 114 A.D. He found regular cycles within was being renovated. look like in the 1770s, for example? Several in- these, and asks if these may have been known The Fiske Planetarium, under “new man- teresting side stories were introduced, includ- to the Magi and what would they have made agement” of the University of Colorado’s Lab- ing one tantalizing thread about a spy in New of such cycles. oratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics, Orleans, but not developed fully. I felt like Tim Kuzniar (Ward Beecher Planetarium, had hoped to install an actual satellite opera- Oliver Twist, saying “Please, sir, I want some Youngstown, Ohio) described “how mutu- tions center in the lobby, but it wouldn’t fit! more.” al support between a public workshop on as- In line with not fitting, the Smithsonian Regardless, this book will appeal to those tronomy and a planetarium program on star- had asked for the return of a test Apollo cap- who know the New York area well and to gazing introduced many new people to the sule from the Omniplex Science Museum Revolutionary War buffs—and to us plan- cosmos and provided great public relations.” (Oklahoma City), but the new loading dock etarians, of course. Thomas obviously Veronique Mischler (Strasbourg Planetari- there was too small to accommodate it! picked a moment in time and settings that um, France) gave preliminary statistics from The Sijthoff Planetarium (The Hague, Neth- are dear to him; the most engaging writ- a survey of west and central European plan- erlands) had just installed the fourth Digistar. ing is about what the author knows the best. etariums, to which 37 had responded, includ- GOTO was offering some refurbished GM pro- It’s a fun read, the sort of mind candy that ing 10 from Germany and 7 in France. Eleven jectors for 15-m domes. The closure of the plan- makes you think beyond the story. I countries were represented by just one plane- etarium at Kansas State University and cancel- tarium each. lation of the unopened Hummel Planetarium A formula was derived relating dome size at Eastern Kentucky University were noted. (Do no harm, continued from Page 60) to seating capacity. The number of annu- Regional Roundup by Kathleen Hedges had tions, useful for advanced readers and—more al visitors was not so easily reduced, nor was reports from six regions. importantly—for teachers and parents. There the number of staff. Models included a vari- John Mosley’s Computer Corner had de- is a good illustration of the sun lighting the ety of Zeiss, a few Spitz, a surprising number of tails on how computers of the day could track Earth and moon and a number of rhymes to GOTO, and a few others. the motions of Comet Halley. remember facts (for “waxing moon,” think Rodney Nerdahl (Minneapolis Planetari- Mark Sonntag wrote on the implications “Imagine the moon as a candlestick, each um, Minnesota) and Gary Tomlinson (Grand for astronomy education of how well math is dip in wax will make her thick.”) This book Rapids Planetarium, Michigan) wrote an obit- integrated in secondary level science courses. not only “does no harm;” like a good doc- uary for Maxine Haarstick from the Minne- The study looked at 26 textbooks for grades tor, it cures. I

62 Planetarian September 2010 September 2010 Planetarian 63 Planetarians’ Calendar of Events

2010 May. Annual Conference of the British Association 22-24 September. Annual Digistar Users Group of Planetaria (BAP), Glasgow University and Sci- meeting, Arizona Science Center, Phoenix, Arizo- ence Center, United Kingdom, admin@planetar- na, USA; www.digistardomes.org ia.org.uk 24-26 September. The Dark Universe: A Cosmolo- May. Association of French Speaking Planetariums gy Short Course for Museum & Planetarium Staff, (APLF), Yearly Meeting, Dunkerque-Capelle-la- Chicago, Illilnois, USA, at The Kavli Institute for Grande, France. www.aplf-planetariums.org. Cosmological Physics. More information at kicp. 2-4 September. Nordic Planetarium Association Bi- uchicago.edu/dark2010; contact Randy Lands- ennial Conference in Riga, Latvia. Conference berg at [email protected] host Dace Balode, [email protected] 2-5 October. Association of Science-Technology 8 September. 6th Science Centre World Congress, Cape Town, South Africa. www.astc.org Aloha, Planetarians Centers (ASTC) Annual Conference, Bishop Muse- um, Honolulu, Hawaii, USA. www.astc.org 4-8 September. 6th Science Centre World Congress, The ‘Imiloa Astrono- 5-10 October. Full Dome Film Festival, Imiloa As- Cape Town, South Africa. www.astc.org my Center of Hawai’i will tronomy Center of Hawaii, USA. 15-18 October. Association of Science-Technology be hosting a full dome 6 October. ASTC Post Conference Planetarium Ses- Centers (ASTC) Annual Conference, Maryland film festival from Octo- sions, Imiloa Astronomy Center of Hawaii. Con- Science Center, Baltimore, USA. www.astc.org ber 5-10, 2010 following tact: Shawn Laatsch (slaatsch@imiloahhawaii. 31 December. Deadline for IPS Eugenides Founda- the ASTC conference. org) for more information regarding these three tion Script contest. www.ips-planetarium.org This six-day event will events. feature 50 full length films 20-23 October. Great Lakes Planetarium Association 2012 from around the globe, Conference, University of Notre Dame, Indiana. 31 March. Deadline for application for scholarship and is a unique chance Host will be Dr. Keith Davis at keith.davis.dvt@ funds (IPS support Baton Rouge Conference atten- to view content avail- nd.edu. www.glpaweb.org/conference.htm dance by individuals). www.ips-planetarium.org able for use in digital full- 26-28 October. IMERSA Fulldome Summit, Denver, 20-21 July. International Planetarium Society Coun- dome planetariums. The Colorado, USA. Presented by the Jackson Hole cil Meeting, Baton Rouge, Louisiana. event will have a num- Wildlife Film Festival and the Gates Planetari- 22-26 July. 21st International Planetarium Soci- ber of world premiers, in- um at the Denver Museum of Nature & Science. ety Conference, Irene W. Pennington Plane- cluding Mirage3D’s Natu- This 3-day conference will feature fulldome (digitarium, Louisiana Art & Science Museum, Ba- ral Selection in stereo 3D, tal dome) workshops, panels, screenings, exhibits ton Rouge, Louisiana, USA, [email protected] Hiromitsu Kohsaka’s Hy- and pitching opportunities. Other session strands abusa: Back to the Earth, will focus on the newest in 3D, content to go and Yearly Deadlines for “A Week in Italy” and Matteo Gagliardi’s creative fundraising options. Registration and 15 September. Deadline for the applicants of “A Space Opera, to name a other information at IMERSA.org or email info@ Week in Italy for an American Planetarium Oper- few. Seven of the shows imersa.org. ator”, in collaboration with APLF. will be presented in ste- 19-11 November. Association of Brazilian Planetari- 30 September. Deadline for the applicants of “An ex- reoscopic 3D. ums meeting, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Contact Alex perience in Italy for a British Planetarium Opera- The ‘Imiloa Full Dome Cherman at [email protected]. tor”, in collaboration with BAP. Film Festival is a perfect rj.gov.br For more information on the “Week in Italy,” go chance to screen content to: www.astrofilibresciani.it/Planetari/Week_in_ for your theater, and is an Italy/-Week_Italy.htm International Planetari- 2011 20 March. International Day of Planetaria, www. um Society (IPS) endorsed dayofplanetaria.org. For corrections and new information for the Calen- event. 16-17 April. Italian Association of Planetaria (PLAN- dar of Events, please send a message to Loris Ramponi For registration infor- IT), XXVI National Conference, Crespano del at [email protected]. mation and a full list of Grappa (Treviso) and Padova, Italy, www.plane- the films to be screened, taritaliani.it. Contact [email protected] More details about several of these upcoming events go to www.imiloaha- 29 April-1 May. Immersive Film Festival II at Centro are included in the International News column and waii.org/168/planetari- Multimeios Espinho, Portugal. More information elsewhere in the Planetarian. um-dome-fest-2010. Con- at iff.multimeios.pt or from Antonio Pedrosa at tact Shawn Laatsch at [email protected] The most up-to-date information also is available on- slaatsch@imiloahawaii. 8-9 May. Conference of German Speaking Planetar- line at the International Planetarian’s Calendar of org. ia (ADP), Annual Conference, Wien Planetarium, Events at www.ips-planetarium.org/events/confer- Austria, www.planetarium-wien.at ences.html I

64 Planetarian September 2010 get more show information and see the online Waxing New video at weber.edu/planetarium/xv. And yet another kudos John Schroer Congratulations to Navegar Foundation, Dassault Systèmes Planetarium whose “Camping in the Planetarium” (fea- The New Detroit Science Center tured in the March 2010 issue of Planetari- 5020 John R Street an) was named a “highly commended” activity for the 100 Hours of Astronomy event for Detroit, Michigan 48202 USA IYA2009. Another activity, Dinner on Mars, [email protected] won the award for Most Innovative Event for +1 313-577-8400, Ext. 435 Galilean Nights in October 2009.

Award winning planetarian fisheye videography and fluency in a range Books for Ghana Congrats to Sam Storch, recipient of the of fulldome production techniques. He also The Education & Public Outreach Unit of North Eastern Region of the Astronomical brings enthusiasm for the topics of environ- Cornell University (USA) is running a book League Special Service Award during the old- mentalism and sustainability that motivate drive to aid the Ghana Science Project to im- est amateur astronomy conference in Amer- many of us at the academy, and these themes prove their astronomy outreach efforts. The ica, Stellafane, held in Springfield, Massachu- will drive more and more of the Visualization Ghana Science Project led to the first and only setts. This is after Studio’s production work for the dome and digital planetarium in West, East or Central Sam received the other venues. “ Africa and has appeared numerous times in re- Middle Atlantic Tim will be starting work in San Francisco cent issues of the Planetarian. Planetarium Soci- in late fall 2010. The Ghana book drive is part of AstroBook- ety’s Distinguished Drive, which was founded by Thilina Heen- Service Award at Another round of congrats: atigala (Sri Lanka Astronomical Association) their annual confer- This time to our own Shawn Laatsch, IPS and Prof. John T Clarke (Boston University) in ence this year. treasurer and manager of the ‘Imiloa Astrono- September 2009 as a means of cultivating as- NERAL wrote that my Center’s planetarium, who was elected to tronomy education in developing countries “With his lectures the Board of Directors of the Astronomical So- by donating books. You can read more at as- Sam Storch at New York City’s ciety of the Pacific. trodrive.lakdiva.net. Hayden Planetarium and the Edwin P. Hubble On the board, Shawn joins Edna DeVore Planetarium in Brooklyn, Sam has guided the (second term), deputy CEO and the director Five millennia of eclipses careers of so many astronomy students and of Education and Public Outreach at the SETI Speaking of books: Fred Espenak (whose has pointed some of them to professional ca- Institute in Mountain View, California, and name appears next to the definition of reers in astronomy. His services as vice-presi- Connie Walker, astronomer and science ed- “eclipse” in the dictionary) is offering printed dent and newsletter editor of the Astronomi- ucation specialist at the National Optical As- copies of NASA eclipse publications to plane- cal Society of Long Island, and as the secretary tronomy Observatory (NOAO) in Tucson, Ar- tariums and science centers world-wide. Avail- of the Middle Atlantic Planetarium Society izona. able are: have been substantial. So to Professor Storch, The 3-year terms on the board began on •• Five Millennium Canon of Solar Eclipses: we say we will miss you very much here in the September 1. -1999 to +3000, NASA TP-2006-214141 North East, but your service to astronomy in our region will not be forgotten.” A Hubble “star” We have another award to note, this On the move one to a show. Ott Planetarium’s Expand- Tim Florian Horn, formerly of Planetari- ed View has been recognized as a “Hubble um Hamburg and www.allsky.de, will be join- Top Star.” The Top Stars contest is conduct- ing the Visualization Studio at the California ed by the Institute for Global Environmental Academy of Sciences. Strategies (IGES) in cooperation with Ryan Wyatt, director of the Space Telescope Science Institute. the Morrison Planetari- Submissions were accepted from indi- um and Science Visu- viduals and from teams of up to four alization, reports that members, and included any combination of Tim will be taking text, graphics, video and photos. on a new role as pro- The show, the eighth major production ducer for Earth and from Weber State (Ogden, Utah) Universi- MEGASTAR-IIB, the latest in the line of small, Climate Science Vi- ty’s Ott and the fifth major production with portable planetrium projectors from Megastar, sualization, in which Blender software, was created by AmyJo Proc- arrives in Alexandria for the 2010 IPS Confer- ence. According to Ohira Takayuki, general di- tor, Ron Proctor and Stacy Palen. capacity he will impact rector, the MEGASTAR-IIB is the first projec- Tim Florian Horn numerous projects and pro- The show introduces the electromagnet- tor in the world to apply the ultral bright LED grams throughout the Academy, ic spectrum and multi-wavelength obser- lamp for middle sized domes. It covers up to including the Morrison Planetarium. vation with images from Hubble and other 16m domes with 10 million stars as well as more than 100 deep sky objects and 20 separately- In his official announcement, Ryan writes space telescopes. Audiences learn how images projected and individually-colored bright stars. that “Tim brings tremendous skills and abil- are captured and what the colors tell us about For more information, go to www.megastar.jp/ ities to the team here, including expertise in the composition of deep-sky objects. You can en. Photo by Alexander Zaragoza.

September 2010 Planetarian 65 •• Five Millennium Catalog of Solar Eclipses: ly vendor and system neutral. People doing -1999 to 3000”, NASA TP-2008-214170 live, interactive lessons with any type of plan- •• Five Millennium Canon of Lunar Eclipses: etarium are encouraged to participate.” Ven- -1999 to +3000, NASA TP-2009-214172 dors also are welcome. •• Five Millennium Catalog of Lunar Eclipses: More information will be available to inter- -1999 to 3000, NASA TP-2008-214173 ested vendors and participants by the end of To request a set of these publications just 2010. Contact Karrie at karrie@DititalisEduca- send an email to Fred at Fred.Espenak@nasa. tion.com. gov. Be sure to include your complete postal Not to imply that planetarians’ eyesight is bad, but this keyboard, design for the visually im- mailing address in your email. Requests will be paired, is a useful addition to console comput- Up on the Organization Chart filled in the order they are received until sup- ers. The large black characters on the yellow, Todd Slisher, vice presi- plies of the publications are exhausted. high-contrast keys require a minimal amount dent of Science at the De- OK, Fred’s picture may not be in the diction- of red light to see. No more fumbling in the troit Science Center (De- dark for the right keystroke! Requires Micro- ary, but he is the NASA go-to guy for eclipses troit, Michigan), has been soft Windows 98SE+. We got ours for about and his Goddard Space Flight Center website, $35.00 US at Cyberguys.com; you can also find promoted to the office of eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov/eclipse.html should be in this and other models of Keys-U-See keyboards chief operations officer. everyone’s browser bookmarks. at most larger computer supply stores and on Todd started as planetari- sites that offer special needs devices. um director at the Detroit The first US Mediaglobe II Science Center nearly 9 Todd Slisher It’s “first light” (in the United States) for Su- about an hour from Seattle by car or ferry. years ago, and continues per Mediaglobe II, with the first installation of The conference is open to all planetarians, re- to work with the planetarium staff on show this newest generation of Mediaglobe at the gardless of system or dome. Its goals: production. Natural Science Center in Greensboro, North •• Provide a participatory and practical pro- Carolina. Proud papa Roger Joyner, director, fessional development opportunity focus- It’s all in the name invites all planetarians to stop in and see it. ing on live presentations. What’s in a name? The Half Hollow Hills Super Mediaglobe II is manufactured by •• Offer an opportunity to network with oth- (New York) Central School District knows, Konica Minolta and distributed by Audio Vi- ers doing live, interactive shows. and has named the planetarium at the dis- sual Imagineering, Inc. •• Share information about available resourc- trict’s High School East (in Dix Hills, New es and products. York) the Peter F. Connors Planetarium. Con- Doing live, interactive lessons? •• Share ideas for improving programs: content, nors opened the planetarium in 1967 and was Got LIPS? As in live, interactive plan- teaching tips, classroom management, etc. its director for 31 years, retiring in 1998. I etarium lessons, that is. Digitalis Educa- Explore what is required to start or improve tion Solutions is offering the first LIPS con- an outreach program or business. ference, tentatively to take place Aug. 9-11, Karrie Berglund, director of education, Thomas Edwards Boone 2011 in Bremerton, Washington. Bremerton stresses that although Digitalis is hosting this is west of Seattle, across Puget Sound, and is symposium, “the intent is for it to be absolute- April 6, 2010 Please be informed that Thomas (Tom) Ed- wards Boone Sr. passed away on April 6, 2010 John Griffiths with HRH the Prince of Wales at the opening at age 83. April 9, 2010 of the new Telecommunications Gallery and Tom Boone was the first director of the Members of the was proud, too, of his efforts to save the last Rauch Memorial Planetarium at the Universi- Flamsteed Astronomy Fleet Street printing press for the Museum. ty of Louisville, Kentucky for 25 years, from Society were shocked Around 2003, with money getting tight at 1962 to 1987. and saddened by the the Science Museum, John took the decision He attended both Vanderbilt University news of the sudden to break out and go it alone with a freelance and Western Kentucky University, where he death of Dr John Grif- career in astronomy. received his master’s degree. He also taught at fiths on April 9, 2010. At Greenwich he met then Public Astron- Anchorage (Kentucky) Public School and Lou- Dr John Griffiths John was 57. He was omer Robert Massey and started work at the isville Collegiate. with his wife Kath at ROG. He joined the presenters in the old Caird He was proud to say that over his lifetime their home in El Bosque, southern Spain. John Planetarium (in the dome atop the South he had taught every age child, from preschool died from a heart attack. Building). through university. John regularly taught introductory astron- John will long be remembered for his bub- In retirement, Tom was an avid outdoors- omy courses for adults at the Royal Observato- bling enthusiasm for astronomy, and his pas- man, swimmer and cane collector with over ry (and National Maritime Museum in Green- sion was infectious. He was always ready to of- 700 canes. He will be remembered as a positive wich, London) as well as astronomy GCSE fer help and encouragement. He never made happy man who had a great love for God and classes for children from local boroughs. anyone feel foolish or ignorant. family. John grew up near Swansea in the village There are now hundreds if not thousands He is survived by his wife, Mary Gleason of Ystradgynlais and he was always proud of of people, young and old, who have been in- Boone; children Betsy Boone and Thomas E. his native Wales. He read astronomy at Uni- spired by the fascination of the universe be- Boone Jr., and grand-children Thomas and versity College London and went on to write cause of John. Mary Louise Boone-Abraham and sister Lou- his doctorate in infrared astronomy. This took Your star was the brightest. ise Boone Curry. him downunder to the Anglo-Australian tele- - Mike Dryland - Jim Cheski scope at Siding Spring, New South Wales. Flamsteed Astronomy Society Assistant Vice President for John then joined the Science Museum in (For a more detailed tribute, please see www. Information Technology-Retired London. While there, in 1983 he was pictured flamsteed.info/fasjgriffiths.htm) University of Louisville

66 Planetarian September 2010 ployed there after the war and actively par- Arthur W. ticipated in the development of the Moscow Gielow, Jr. Planetarium through that uneasy time. March 1, 1947 – He initiated the appearance and development of the geographical section, construc- January 30, 2010 tion of original devices, reference materials, The planetarium com- and demonstration aids. munity is truly sad- It is hard to overestimate the contribution dened by the passing of of Boris to the development of Soviet cosmo- a friend and colleague, nautics. For over 15 years, starting in 1960, he Arthur W. Gielow, Jr., Arthur W. Gielow delivered classes on practical astronavigation director of the Buffalo to future cosmonauts. State College Whitworth Ferguson Planetari- The well-known Russian Cosmonaut Alex- um, who died in Buffalo, New York on Janu- ey Leonov often said: “Our road to space ary 30, 2010. passed through the Moscow Planetarium. It Art, who earned an M.S.Ed. in secondary is difficult to find a better place to study cos- education in the geosciences, joined the Buf- mos.” Cosmonauts did not forget their teach- falo State College community in 1970 as a er after their space flights. They returned to technical assistant in the General Science De- the Moscow Planetarium to share their im- partment. He became assistant director of the pressions with planetarians and, later on, with Ferguson Planetarium in 1980, associate direc- visitors during special meetings organized and tor in 1982, and director in 1984. Boris Maksimachev held by Boris Maksimachev. Art fostered the participation of students in He was the co-author, with V.N.Komarov, all aspects of the planetarium, and he assisted Boris Maksimachev of the 1978 book In Stellar Labyrinths (Orien- them in the creation and presentation of pro- March 24, 1923 – July 12, 2010 tation on the Sky, and also the author of many grams. He organized and oversaw many plan- popular scientific articles. His poetry was etarium programs annually, with more than Forty years of the life of Boris Maksimachev nominated twice to the International Litera- 8,000 visitors and students attending each were dedicated to the service to the Moscow ture Prize “Philanthropy.” year. Planetarium, his stellar home. He was one of Boris Maksimachev is very warmly regard- Art also served as the adviser to the Buffa- the most brilliant people there. His personal ed by colleagues from other planetarians, for lo State Astronomy Club and the Buffalo State brightness was overwhelming and appeared example, Lytkarino Planetarium. He was per- Alumni Astronomy Club, and he was a gener- via his manner, debonair, delicacy, and tact. sonally involved in the development of the ous contributor to many campus fundraisers Always benevolent, chicly dressed, in ele- latter planetarium. and events. gant hat, he looked more like an actor than He was a member of the Russian Astronom- In the Western New York community, Art like an educator. However, while taking the ical and Geodetic Society and the Russian Cos- served on the boards of the WNY Science Con- chair or control board of the planetarium monautics Federation. He was awarded thrice gress, Science Exploration Days, and the Muse- dome, he was both actor and conductor. by the Gagarin diploma and has received a um Education Consortium of Buffalo. Lectures by Boris were always extremely number of state orders and medals. The aster- He was also an active member of the Geo- popular, not only because of their content, oid 24647 Maksimachev will orbit the sun for- logical Society of America. He taught courses but also by the lecturer’s artistry. ever. and presented programs at the Buffalo Muse- The entire history of the Moscow Planetar- All who knew and loved Boris Maksi- um of Science and for the Office of Continu- ium after World War II is closely related to machev will hold cherished memory of him. ing and Community Education in the Ken- the name of Boris Maksimachev. He was em- - Moscow Planetarium more-Town of Tonawanda School District. Art was very proud to serve his country and was a former quartermaster with the United Wayne Narron struction in Sacramento, Reno and Stockton. States Navy from 1967 to 1973 and with the April 28, 1010 In the early 1980’s he took a position at Naval Reserves from 1973 to 1997. Wayne was born in Oakland, California in Clever Planetarium at San Joaquin Delta Col- On a personal note, Art was one of the most 1930. He completed one year at Santa Rosa Ju- lege in Stockton, where he was able to use his kind and gentle individuals I’ve ever known nior College before he joined the USAF in 1951. love of science and education. He produced on this good earth. I will sincerely and truly He earned his pilot’s wings at Val Dasta AFB in and gave shows to school children weekdays miss the many times Art and I stood under the Georgia and remained in the Air Force four and to the public on weekends. stars together on the rolling hills of the South- years. Wayne joined the Pacific Planetarium As- ern Tier here in Western New York. We’d gaze Wayne spent two years at St. Bernard’s Mon- sociation and IPS to have contact with oth- in sheer amazement, just wondering about astery in Alabama before returning to Cali- er people in the astronomy/science/planetar- the secrets and mysteries the heavens had to fornia to attend USF in San Francisco, from ium area to improve further his knowledge offer...those were indeed memorable times, which he graduated in 1958. We met there and pass it on to children and adults. He re- with a very special person. while both students. tired from Delta College in 1993. May Art Gielow rest in peace among the After graduation we married and moved to Wayne will be greatly missed, as he was beauty of the stars. Sacramento. Wayne joined the work force at a dear friend to many. He appreciated and - Paul J. Krupinski Aerojet General (these years were very excit- looked forward to all your emails. Your friend- Middle Atlantic ing for him), where he worked on the Gemini, ships meant much to him. Thank you for be- Planetarium Society Apollo etc. programs. ing a part of his life. In 1972 he started to work for Teichert Con- - Kay Narron

September 2010 Planetarian 67 to Dr. Serageldin. With features of both Egyp- Last Light tian and Greek deities, Serapis combined the Apis bull god with others. A statue of a young girl student from 200 BC shows her seated and writing on a thick April S. Whitt tablet held on her lap. “We have to remind Fernbank Science Center the students today that this is not a laptop, it’s 156 Heaton Park Drive NE a slate.” When the poet/philosopher Callimachus Atlanta, Georgia 30307 USA Pinakes worked with the third librarian, Era- [email protected] tosthanes, he was told that poetry was pleasant, but “do something useful. Catalogue this library.” Which he did—by subject, by au- One of the best parts of teaching is former rageldin asked. “Reflect on that for a moment. thor and alphabetically—in a series of 120 vol- students staying in touch and getting to hear You have Aristotle for a tutor and then you umes. accounts of their latest adventures. A young go out and conquer the world. If you haven’t The famous Egyptian ruler Cleopatra, he man who first came to a summer camp when conquered the world yet, you didn’t have the told us, was not particularly beautiful, but she he was in seventh grade is now in graduate right tutor!” was brilliant. She spoke multiple languages school at Harvard, and is just back from field Demetrius of Phaleron told Alexander that and was well educated in science and mathe- work at a crater in Norway and a cratering if he wanted Alexandria to be the greatest city matics. What kind of courting gift would im- workshop in Oslo. in the world, he should bring the best minds press her? Mark Anthony figured the way to He described a Russian physicist, a friend in the world to the city and then give them her heart was a massive donation of 200,000 of his who “walked out of a movie.” Steven nothing to do. It worked. The Library of Al- scrolls of Pergamon. wrote: My favorite moment was during ques- exandria collected knowledge from every- “What kind of woman would be impressed tion and answers with one speaker. The speak- where. Whenever a book was discovered that by that?” Dr. Serageldin asked. “My kind of er said, “That’s interesting; let’s discuss further was not yet in the library, the book was “bor- woman!” after the session.” rowed” from its owner for copying. The origi- Moving to the more modern times, Dr. Se- Boris’ response was, “Discuss?! No. This is nal stayed in the library, and the copy was re- rageldin introduced the next day’s speaker. physics. Nothing to discuss.” turned to the owner. Dr. Farouk El-Baz worked with the Apollo pro- Dr. Omar Fikry and the staff of the Biblioth- Copyists were paid according to the weight gram as secretary of the lunar landing site col- eca Alexandrina hosted an excellent confer- of their writings. Books were literally worth lection committee, and is today director of ence, number 20 in the series. We were invited their weight in gold. When the finance vizier the Center for Remote Sensing at Boston Uni- Back to Alexandria, The Cradle of Astronomy, reported that the library was being cheated versity. and were treated to fascinating speakers, de- by scribes using thick paper and writing large Dr. Serageldin showed a slide of one of Star licious food, excellent vendor presentations, letters, he was told that “what they give us is Trek’s starship Enterprise-D’s little shuttlepods. and the pleasure of meeting new friends. worth much more than what we give them.” “When Hollywood pays homage to someone, When President Tom Mason greeted us Alexander respected the local deities, but you know that’s the ultimate praise,” he said. (wearing a coat and tie, with the statement decided his city needed a new god. Serapis is There on the side of the landing craft was its that, “This is as tidy as I come, so this is an aus- the only god created by committee, according name: El-Baz! I picious occasion”), he listed the “firsts” for this conference. This was the first IPS conference on the continent of Africa, the first in an Ara- bic-speaking country, and the first in an Islam- ic culture. We cannot let it be the last! The first of the key note speakers was Dr. Is- mail Serageldin, director of Bibliotheca Alex- andrina. I’ve wanted to see the Library of Al- exandria since Carl Sagan’s recreation of it on the Cosmos series, back in the last millennium. (The very idea of more books than one could read in a lifetime has tremendous appeal to this voracious reader.) Dr. Serageldin began with a warning: “We’re going through 50 centuries in about 50 minutes. Put on your seatbelts.” He then gave us a whirlwind tour of the library, with a cast of wonderful characters from history. Imhotep, he of the first recorded human name, built the step pyramid at Saqqara more than 4650 years ago. Until the Eiffel Tower was completed in 1889, the pyramid was the tallest structure on Earth. Aristotle was Alexander’s tutor. “Can you A merry band of planetarians in the El-Montazah Gardens during the tour of some historic sites in the imagine having Aristotle for a tutor?” Dr. Se- beautiful city of Alexandria. Where’s Hyontan? (photo taken by our tour guide Mohammad)

68 Planetarian September 2010