Vol. 37, No. 4 December 2008 Journal of the International Planetarium

Vol. 37, No. 4 December 2008

Journal of the International Planetarium Society

The new Nizhny Novgorod Planetarium Page 22 Balancing Our Profession Page 6 LZbV`Z^ik^h^WaZ# Articles December 2008 Vol. 37 No. 4 6 Planetarium Professionals: A Balancing Act to Engage and Educate James Croft Executive Editor Sharon Shanks 17 High School Planetariums: Results of a Survey Ward Beecher Planetarium Larry Krumenaker Youngstown State University One University Plaza 22 The First Digital Planetarium in Russia Youngstown, Ohio 44555 USA Yaroslav Gubchenko +1 330-941-3619 [email protected] 27 A Helping Hand in Chennai Dr. P. Iyamperumal

Advertising Coordinator 28 Let There Be Night Combines IYA and Dark Sky Fran Ratka Awareness Chuck Bueter 1309 Yellowstone Road Cleveland Heights, Ohio 44121 USA 30 On the Shoulders of Giants +1 216-291-4539 John McFarland, Padi Boyd [email protected] www.ips-planetarium.org/planetarian/ratesheet.htm 32 The Future of Fulldome Martin Howe 34 Minutes of the 2008 IPA Council Meeting Membership Lee Ann Henning Individual: $50 one year; $90 two years Institutional: $200 first year; $100 annual renewal 40 Call for Awards Nominations Lars Broman Library Subscriptions: $36 one year Direct membership requests and changes of 41 First Place IPS/Eugenedies Script Contest: address to the Treasurer/Membership Chairman Sky Journey Jiri Holusa

Back Issues of the Planetarian IPS Back Publications Repository Columns maintained by the Treasurer/Membership Chair; 90 25 Years Ago...... Thomas Wm. Hamilton contact information on next page 91 Calendar of Events...... Loris Ramponi 64 Digital Frontiers...... Ed Lantz Index 67 Educational Horizons ...... Steve Tidey A cumulative index of major articles that have 70 General Counsel ...... Christopher S. Reed appeared in the Planetarian from the first issue 86 Gibbous Gazette...... James Hughes through the current issue is available online at 4 In Front of the Console ...... Sharon Shanks www.ips-planetarium.org/planetarian/planetarian_ index.pdf 73 International News...... Lars Broman 92 Last Light ...... April S. Whitt 80 Mobile News...... Susan Reynolds Button Final Deadlines 61 Past President’s Message ...... Martin George March: January 21 June: April 21 57 President’s Message ...... Susan Reynolds Button September: July 21 82 Reviews...... April S. Whitt December: October 21 Index of Advertisers Associate Editors Astronomy for All...... 88 Astro-Tec Mfg., Inc ...... 72 25 Years Ago General Counsel Mobile News Thomas Hamilton Christopher Reed Susan Button Bays Mountain Planetarium...... 92 Carnegie Science Center ...... 31 Calendar Gibbous Gazette NASA Space Loris Ramponi James Hughes News Clark Planetarium ...... 56 Anita Sohus Digitalis Education Solutions, Inc...... 85 Digital International Frontiers Lars Broman Reviews Evans & Sutherland ...... 51, outside back cover Ed Lantz April S. Whitt Global Immersion...... 5 Last Light Education April S. Whitt What’s New GOTO INC ...... 59 Steve Tidey John A. Schroer International Year of Astronomy ...... 20 Konica Minolta Planetarium Co. Ltd ...... 66 International Planetarium Society home page: Learning Technologies, Inc ...... 63 www.ips-planetarium.org MMI Corporation ...... 55 Planetarian home page: Mirage3D...... 63 www.ips-planetarium.org/planetarian R.S.A. Cosmos ...... inside back cover Rudinec & Associates ...... 62 Guidelines for Contributors and Advertisers: www.ips-planetarium.org/planetarian/ Science First/STARLAB ...... 60 guidelines.html Scott Electric...... 4 Sky-Skan, Inc ...... 45, centerfold, 48 On the Cover: It’s not first light, but beautiful light regard- Softmachine...... 15 less on the new Nizhny Novgorod Planetarium. Photo by Spitz, Inc...... 26, 37, 69, 89 Yaroslav Gubchenko; see story on page 22. Zeiss, Inc...... inside front cover

December 2008 Planetarian 1 Affiliate Representatives

Association of Brazilian British Great Plains Planetarium Planetarium Planetariums Association of Planetaria Association Society of India Officers Alexandre Cherman Shaaron Leverment Jack Dunn Position currently vacant Planetário do Rio de Janeiro Explorer Dome: Ralph Mueller Planetarium President R. Vice-Governador Hands-on Science Outreach University of Nebraska-Lincoln Susan Reynolds Button Rubens Berardo, 100 Mailbox 42 210 Morrill Hall Rocky Mountain Quarks to Clusters Rio de Janeiro RJ 22451-070 179 Whiteladies Road Lincoln, Nebraska Planetarium 8793 Horseshoe Lane +55 (21) 2274-0046 ext. 264 Clifton, Bristol BS8 2AG 68588-0375 USA Association Chittenango, New York +55 (21) 2529-2149 fax England +1 402-472-2641 Dan Neafus 13037 USA [email protected] United Kingdom +1 402-475-8899 fax Manager, Gates Planetarium +1 315-687-5371 www.rio.rj.gov. +44 117 914 1526 [email protected] Denver Museum of +1 315-432-4523 fax br/planetario +44 793 035 0805 www.spacelaser.com/gppa Nature & Science [email protected] shaaron@explor- Italian Association 2001 Colorado Boulevard [email protected] erdome.co.uk of Planetaria Denver, Colorado Association of Dutch- information@explor- Loris Ramponi 80205 USA Past-President Speaking Planetariums erdome.co.uk National Archive of Planetaria +1 303-370-8352 Martin George André Milis www.planetarium.org.uk c/o Centro Studi e Ricerche +1 303-331-6492 fax Launceston Planetarium Planetarium of the Royal Serafino Zani [email protected] Queen Victoria Museum Observatory of Belgium via Bosca 24, C.P. 104 www.rmpadomes.org Wellington Street Boechoutlaan 10 Canadian Association I 25066 Lumezzane Launceston 1020 Brussels, Belgium of Science Centres (Brescia) Italy Russian Planetariums Tasmania 7250 Australia +32 (2) 474 70 60 Ian C. McLennan +39 30 872 164 Association +61 3 6323 3777 +32 (2) 478 30 26 fax #404 - 1275 Haro Street +39 30 872 545 fax Zinaida P. Sitkova +61 3 6323 3776 fax [email protected] Vancouver, British Columbia [email protected] Nizhny Novgorod Martin.George@ www.planetarium.be V6E 1G1 Canada [email protected] Planetarium qvmag.tas.gov.au +1 604-681-4790 www.planetaritaliani.it Revolutsionnja Street 20 phone + fax 603002 Nizhny Association of French- +1 604-240-0938 cell Novgorod Russia President-Elect Speaking Planetariums [email protected] Japan +7 831 2 30 51 51 Dr. Tom Mason, Director Agnès Acker [email protected] Planetarium Society +7 831 2 30 51 66 fax Armagh Planetarium Observatoire de Strasbourg www.ianmclennan.com Kaoru Kimura [email protected] College Hill 11, rue de l’université Japan Science Foundation www.planet.nn.ru Armagh BT61 9DB 67000 Strasbourg France Kitanomaru Park, Chiyoda-ku www.apr-site.nnov.ru Northern Ireland +33 3 90 24 24 67 Council of German Tokyo, 102-0091 Japan United Kingdom +33 3 90 24 24 17 fax Planetariums [email protected] Southeastern +44 (0)2837 524725 [email protected] Thomas W. Kraupe www.shin-pla.info Planetarium +44 (0)2837 526187 fax [email protected] IPS contact person Association +44 (0)771 0013453 cell www.aplf-planetariums.org Planetarium Hamburg Middle Atlantic John Hare [email protected] Hindenburgstraße 1 b Planetarium Ash Enterprises www.armaghplanet.com D-22303 Hamburg Society 3602 23rd Avenue West Association of Mexican Deutschland Gloria A. Villalobos Bradenton, Florida Executive Secretary Planetariums +49 0 (40) 428 86 52-21 Director, Robert J. 34205 USA Lee Ann Hennig Ignacio Castro Pinal +49 0 (40) 428 86 52-99 fax Novins Planetarium +1 941-746-3522 Planetarium, Thomas Torres de Mixcoac, A6-702 +49 0 (40) 4279 24-850 e-fax Ocean County College [email protected] Jefferson High School C.P. 01490, México City +49 0 (40) 172-40 86 133 cell College Drive, PO Box 2001 www.sepadomes.org for Science and Technology D.F. México thomas.kraupe@ Toms River, New Jer- 6560 Braddock Road +52 (55) 5500 0562 planetarium-hamburg.de sey 08754-2001 USA Alexandria, Virginia 22312 USA +52 (55) 5500 0583 fax www.rdp-planetrium.de +1 732-255-0400 ext. 2111 +1 703-750-8380 [email protected] +1 732-255-0467 fax Southwestern +1 703-750-5010 fax cosmos.astro.uson.mx/ [email protected] Association of [email protected] AMPAC/AMPACintro.htm European/ www.ocean.edu/planet.htm Planetariums Mediterranean www.maps-planetarium.org Linda Krouse Treasurer and Planetarium Noble Planetarium Association of Spanish Association Fort Worth Museum of Membership Chair Planetariums Manos Kitsonas Nordic Planetarium Science and History Shawn Laatsch Javier Armentia Eugenides Planetarium Association 1501 Montsgomery Street ‘Imiloa Astronomy Planetario de Pamplona 387 Syngrou Avenue Lars Broman Fort Worth, Texas Center of Hawai’i Sancho Ramirez, 2 17564 P. Faliro Teknoland 76107 USA 600 ‘Imiloa Place E-31008 Pamplona Athens Greece Stångtjärnsv 132 +1 817-255-9409 office Hilo, Hawaii 96720 USA Navarra Spain +30 210 946 9674 SE 791 74 Falun, Sweden +1 817-360-0082 cell +1 808-969-9735 +34 948 260 004 +30 210 941 7372 fax +46 2310 177 [email protected] +1 808-969-9748 fax +34 948 260 056 [email protected] [email protected] www.swapskies.org [email protected] +34 948 261 919 fax www.teknoland.se [email protected] www.planetarium.se/npa gestion@pamplonetario. Great Lakes Planetarium Ukranian infonego-cio.com Association Planetariums Dave Weinrich Pacific Planetarium Association Planetarium Association Churyumov Klim Ivanovich Australasian Planetarium Minnesota State Gail Chaid Scientific and Society University-Moorhead 1320 Glen Dell Drive Educational Centre Mark Rigby, Curator 1104 7th Avenue South San Jose, California Kyiv Planetarium Sir Thomas Bris- Moorhead 95125 USA Str. Velyka Vasylkivska 57/3 bane Planetarium Minnesota 56563 USA +1 408-540-8879 cell Kyiv 04053 Ukraine Mt. Coot-tha Road, +1 218-477-2969 +1 408-288-8525 +380 44 287 27 81 Toowong +1 218-477-5864 fax [email protected] klim.churyumov@ob- Brisbane, Queensland [email protected] sites.csn.edu/plan- serv.univ.kiev.ua 4066 Australia www.glpaweb.org etarium/PPA [email protected] +61 7 3403 2578 www.planet.org.ug +61 7 3403 2575 fax mark.rigby@brisbane.qld.gov.au

2 Planetarian December 2008 Standing Committees IPS Permanent Mailing Address Awards Committee Conference Host-2010 Membership Committee Lars Broman, Chair Dr. Omar Fikry Shawn Laatsch, Chair Teknoland Head of Shows & Programs Unit ‘Imiloa Astronomy Center of Hawaii International Planetarium Stångtjärnsv 132 Planetarium Science Center 600 ‘Imiloa Place Society SE 791 74 Falun, Sweden The Library of Alexandria Hilo, Hawaii 96720 USA +46 2310 177 PO Box 138 +1 808-969-9735 c/o Shawn Laatsch [email protected] El Shatby, Alexandria 21526 Egypt +1 808-969-9748 fax Treasurer/Membership www.teknoland.se +20 3 483 9999 ext. 1881 [email protected] Chair +20 3 482 4988 fax [email protected] ‘Imiloa Astronomy Cen- Conference Committee www.biblaex.org Publications Committee ter of Hawaii Susan Reynolds Button Dr. Dale W. Smith, Chair 600 ‘miloa Place Quarks to Clusters BGSU Planetarium 8793 Horseshoe Lane Elections Committee 104 Overman Hall Hilo, Hawaii 96720 USA Chittenango, New York 13037 USA Steve Mitch, Chair Physics &Astronomy Department +1 315-687-5371 Benedum Planetarium Bowling Green State University +1 315-432-4523 fax Oglebay Park Bowling Green, Ohio 43403 USA IPS Web Site: [email protected] Wheeling, West Virginia 26003 USA +1 419-372-8666 www.ips-planetarium.org [email protected] +1 304-243-4034 +1 419-372-9938 fax +1 304-243-4110 fax [email protected] [email protected] Please notify the Editor of any changes on these Finance Committee two pages. President, Past President, Presi- dent Elect, Treasurer, Secretary Contact the Treasurer/ Membership Chair for individual member address changes and general cir- Ad Hoc Committees culation and billing questions. Armand Spitz Job Information Service Planetarium Education Subcommittee Professional Fund (Professional Services Committee) Services Committee Finance Committee Steve Fentress, Chair Mike Murray, Chair Strasenburgh Planetarium Clark Planetarium Education Committee Rochester Museum & Science Center 110 South 400 West Jack L. Northrup 657 East Avenue Salt Lake City, Utah 84101 USA Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Planetarium Rochester, New York 14607 USA +1 801-456-4949 King Science and Technology +1 585-271-4552 ext. 409 +1 801-456-4928 fax Magnet Center +1 585-271-7146 fax [email protected] 3720 Florence Blvd. [email protected] The Planetarian (ISN 0090- Omaha, NE 68110 USA Script Contest Committee +1 402-557-4494 IPS Publicity Coordinator 3213) is published quarterly [email protected] (Publications Committee) Strategic Planning Committee by the International Planetar- webmail.ops.org/~jack.northrup Jacques Guarinos Tom Mason, Chair ium Society. ©2008, Interna- Astronef–Planetarium Armagh Planetarium Full-Dome Video Committee de Saint-Etienne College Hill tional Planetarium Society, Ryan Wyatt, Chair 28 rue Ponchardier Armagh BT61 9DB Inc., all rights reserved. Opin- Director, Morrison Planetarium F-42100 Saint-Etienne France Northern Ireland California Academy of Sciences +33 (0)4 77 34 40 85 United Kingdom ions expressed by authors 875 Howard Street [email protected] +44 (0)2837 524725 are personal opinions and are San Francisco, CA 94103 +44 (0)2837 526187 fax not necessarily the opinions +1 415-321-8156 +44 (0)771 0013453 cell [email protected] Outreach Committee [email protected] of the International Planetar- [email protected] Jon W. Elvert, Chair www.armaghplanet.com ium Society, its officers, or Irene W. Pennington Planetarium agents. Acceptance of adver- History Committee Louisiana Art & Science Museum John Hare, IPS Historian 100 South River Road Technology Committee tisements, announcements, Ash Enterprises Baton Rouge, Louisiana 70802 USA Karen Klamczynski , Chair or other material does not 3602 23rd Avenue West +1 225-344-5272 Education & Training Specialist Bradenton, Florida 34205 USA +1 225-214-4027 fax E&S Digital Theater Division imply endorsement by the +1 941-746-3522 [email protected] 770 Komas Drive International Planetarium So- [email protected] Salt Lake City, Utah 84108 USA ciety, its officers or agents. Planetarium +1 801-588-7409 International Development Group +1 801-588-4520 fax The Editor welcomes Letters Relations Committee Ken Wilson, Chair [email protected] to the Editor and items for Martin George, Chair 9346 Drawbridge Road www.es.com consideration for publica- Launceston Planetarium Mechanicsville, Virginia 23220 USA Queen Victoria Museum [email protected] tion. Please consult “Guide- Wellington Street Web Committee lines for Contributors” at Launceston, Tasmania 7250 Australia Portable Alan Gould, Chair +61 3 6323 3777 Planetarium Committee Holt Planetarium www.ips-planetarium.org/ +61 3 6323 3776 fax Susan Reynolds Button, Chair Lawrence Hall of Science planetarian/guidelines.html. [email protected] Quarks to Clusters University of California The Editor reserves the right 8793 Horseshoe Lane Berkeley, California 94720-5200 USA Chittenango, NY 13037 +1 510-643-5082 to edit any manuscript to +1 315-687-5371 +1 510-642-1055 fax suit this publication’s needs. [email protected] [email protected] [email protected]

December 2008 Planetarian 3 In Front of the Console teaching with Celestia; a report on “Space Con- OK, excuses, excuses. But she was my moth- fidential,” the student show production proj- er, and I miss her terribly at the moment. ect we heard about in Chicago; an update on It’s time to stop writing now. I the Clark Planetarium; Mark Petersen’s “State of the Dome” report, and several more. It is agonizing for me to decide what to For the Record print and what to hold. Sometimes it simply Mike Bruno’s correct email is mbru- comes down to who submitted first. [email protected]. I left out the “inc” after With this issue, we welcome back James spitz in his article about fulldome trends Hughes with Gibbous Gazette. We’re all glad to in the September issue. I also attributed see his return, but I suspect I’m the most grate- the paper to the IPS 2008 conference, but ful. I was a poor substitute. We also say fare- it was presented as part of the 2008 Full- well to the Past President’s column, but Mar- dome Summit that followed the confer- tin George promises to keep us informed with ence. his first-hand observations about the state of I’d also like to make amends to the staff our profession around the world in regular at the Space Telescope Science Insti- contributions to the International News col- tute for my wording about John Stoke’s umn. We’re still mulling around what to call move to a position with the National Ra- his contribution. I’m fond of the Traveling dio Astronomy Observatory. I wrote that Tasmanian, but I don’t think it’s professional John was “our very own connection” at enough. It suits the man, but not the message. STScI. My only meaning was that he had This also is the final installment of Susan come from a planetarium background. Sharon Shanks Button’s President’s Message, and we’ll have Rest assured that John wasn’t our only Martin George’s first column as president in Ward Beecher Planetarium connection; the staff at STScI has always March. Susan will continue writing the Mo- Youngstown State University been there for us and continues to be bile News column. our link to the Hubble. We all owe them Youngstown, OH 44555 USA Finally, an apology for the tardiness of this tremedously for their great work. I [email protected] issue. As I write this it is nearly three weeks past my normal deadline, This column is always the final step in the and I know some IPS mem- lengthy process of producing the Planetarian. bers won’t be reading this — Serving the Academic & Scientific Communities Since 1987— I like to get a feel for the combination of ar- until January. ticles and issues facing planetarians before us- Many of you already ing up my space. know that my colleague at Scott Electric The International Year of Astronomy 2009, the Ward Beecher Planetar- SPECIALTY LAMP DIVISION naturally, is the major thread for this issue, the ium, Richard Pirko, passed last before the year of celebration begins. away unexpectedly in Oc- Planetariums are continuing to adopt full- tober. His tribute appears PROJECTION & STAGE/STUDIO LAMPS dome at a steady pace, but reading between on page 88, along with an- Lamp ANSI Code GE LOW COST the lines, it’s obvious the change is being other one, for Ron Parise, DYS/DYV/BHC $ 8.75 $ 6.10 made by those facilities able to scrape the that was also a loss for my EHG 13.05 11.45 funding together or write creative and com- planetarium. ELC 9.40 8.10 pelling grant applications. One blow like that I ELH 9.10 7.70 There were many excellent presentations at could handle; the second ENH 26.40 10.40 the 2008 Fulldome Summit that followed the blow did me in. My mother ENX 10.85 7.20 IPS Chicago conference and we’re trying to also passed away about two EVD 11.00 8.20 share them through the Planetarian, but I feel weeks later. Her death was frustrated sometimes about the lack of pag- not a surprise because she EXR 9.10 7.70 es that I can devote to them. Martin Howe’s had been in failing health EYB 10.00 5.90 “The Future of Fulldome” is a wonderful ex- for several years, but the FEL 12.40 9.95 ample of the state of the field, and I apologize stress of the bedside vigil FHS 10.75 8.40 to him for having to cut out several sections along with the many new FXL 11.00 6.10 to be able to reprint his paper. I’m sure he’ll be changes at my day job, ar- Shipping & Handling glad to send an unedited version of his paper ranging the funeral and FREE to anyone who’d like to read his comments starting the process of fi- Orders shipped same day they are received! about sound and interactivity in the fulldome nalizing her estate were 1-800-442-8045 FAX: 1-877-837-8906 environment. too much for me, especial- [email protected] I don’t know if this is a good thing or bad, ly right at Planetarian dead- but I had to hold nearly as many articles this line. As a result, this issue is issue as I printed. Already waiting for their late and not edited as well CALL TODAY chance to appear in March are stories about as usual. Request a Complete Catalog for more savings!

4 Planetarian December 2008 December 2008 Planetarian 5 Planetarium Professionals: A Balancing Act to

and

James Croft Harvard Graduate School of Education Cambridge, Massachusetts USA

Submitted: July 1, 2008 Accepted: October 25, 2008

Images: istockphoto.com

6 Planetarian December 2008 Abstract: The planetarium is a hybrid institution: it is an educational space that also strives to entertain. While a number of studies of planetarium usage have mentioned the conflict between educational and entertainment goals, none have made this apparent contradiction, and planetarium professionals’ views of this divergence, the primary area of investigation. This study aims to fill that gap. Through interviews with seven planetarians with different levels of experience in the field, a model is built of how planetarians themselves navigate between these potentially conflict- ing demands. The planetarians’ responses suggest that, contrary to initial expectations, avoiding the temptation to “dumb-down” astro- James Croft nomical content and to focus instead on entertainment to attract more visitors is not the primary challenge they face. Rather, the opposite is the case: the individuals in my study found it far more challenging to make the scientific concepts they are trying to communicate intelligible and meaningful to their audience within the medium of the planetarium.

The dark dome of the planetar- and stressors associated with it. From their in- of planetarium operations at various stages in ium has been illuminated sights and information, I have developed a the development of the planetarium” (p.14). by numerous research studies across the de- model showing some of the ways in which Comparative studies are “those studies which cades, many of which ask similar questions planetarium professionals structure their compare in some manner the planetarium ex- but in different settings. The question “Where work for success. perience to the traditional classroom situa- does the planetarium optimally lie on the To frame my study, I did a literature search tion” (p. 24). spectrum between education and entertain- on planetariums. Significantly, this revealed a Finally, curriculum studies deal with the ef- ment?” is frequently posed by researchers in dearth of contemporary research, with hardly fectiveness of planetarium curricula as modes the field, but rarely seems to achieve a consen- any studies from the 90’s and 00’s. Some useful of instruction in astronomy in and of them- sus of opinion. studies from earlier periods were found, how- selves, or in contrast to other planetarium cur- In order to attempt an answer to this ques- ever. For example, Smith, in his 1974 compre- ricula. This tripartite classification neatly caption, I contacted a number of planetarium hensive review of the literature, organized the tures the majority of planetarium research, professionals who perform a variety of roles existing research at the time into three central but points to a problem implicit in the rein diverse institutions and settings. I conduct- categories: descriptive studies, comparative search I have examined: there appears to be ed in-depth interviews, asking exploring how studies, and curriculum studies. Descriptive a significant disagreement over the proper they conceived their work and the tensions studies “have attempted to describe the status place of the planetarium in academic and other educational settings. A small section of Smith’s review, titled the James Croft a first-year doctoral candidate at the Harvard Graduate School of Educa- “Philosophy of Planetarium Usage,” specifical- tion in Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA. His work focuses on the relationship between the arts and the mind, in particular how artistic media (like planetarium shows) can be ly highlights this issue, and Alter (1941), who used to convey complex concepts. James is privileged to be supported in his work by a discusses some philosophical issues related to Frank Knox Memorial Fellowship. planetarium usage, is cited. However, it is strik- This paper originated in a class on GoodWork: a large-scale effort to identify individ- ing that none of the work Smith cites explores uals and institutions that exemplify good work—work that is excellent in quality, so- the question of the tension between the edu- cially responsible, and meaningful to its practitioners—and to determine how best to increase the incidence of good work in our society. The original paper appears with cational and entertainment goals of the plan- permission of the GoodWork Project: www.goodworkproject.org, and benefited from etarium as its main focus. insightful advice from Prof. Howard Gardner. Downing (1971) highlights some of these potential disagreements over the most effective

December 2008 Planetarian 7 use of a planetarium. He analyzed responses to pressed by the planetariums remained rela- range of tests applied and the comprehensive a questionnaire about adult education activ- tively constant, how they met their goals was analysis of the data over numerous subgroups ities that was completed by 145 planetarium forced to change by outside expectations. As suggest that planetariums can be valuable in directors in the US and Canada. The question- a result, what was considered “education” and educational settings. What it does not eluci- naire elicited data referring to the “types of “entertainment” fluctuated. date are gains in the affective domain, which programs offered, [the] evaluation techniques Similar historical perspectives offered by have been frequently cited among the prima- used to assess the programs and the progress of Norton (1985) and Brill (1982) refer to my re- ry benefits of the planetarium experience (ev- the adult learners” (see abstract to the paper). search question indirectly. Norton (1985) sur- idence to back up this supposition is scant, The participants were also asked to rank veyed the history of planetariums when he however). eight principles of learning applicable to adult asked “Will Planetariums Become Extinct?” Similarly, Sunal (1973) compared the per- learners. The responses revealed disagreement He explored the effect of major historical formance of second-grade children in a wide and divergent practices as well as widely dif- events such as the launching of Sputnik on range of educational goal areas related to as- fering levels of success. For example, while the state of planetarium usage, and tracked tronomy. He studied three groups: one experi- many planetarium directors felt problem-cen- the development of laser rock shows and oth- enced a classroom astronomy unit, the second tered learning was desirable, much disagree- er high-tech entertainments offered under the experienced a combined astronomy-planetar- ment emerged over how important it was to dome. He concluded that the most success- ium unit, and the third had no instruction in involve learners in the development of in- ful planetariums do not stay the same: they astronomy or a planetarium visit. Sunal found structional goals. Even in institutions where change over time to embrace the new desires that students who experienced the astrono- both these principles were ranked highly, suc- of the public and compete with wider enter- my-planetarium unit made gains in all of the tainment offerings while maintaining their ten educational goal areas he measured above core educational mission. those made by the other students. In addition, Similarly, Brill (1982) reviewed the state of Sunal notes that those who attended a plan- planetariums against the backdrop of the con- etarium unit showed “increased perception temporary technological and theatrical inno- and understanding of science principles and vations such as Digistar and theatre and dance processes” (see abstract to the paper) some six weeks after the event, suggesting that educational experiences …while the values expressed by the planetariums re- within planetariums mained relatively constant, how they met their goals was forced to change by outside expectations. As a result, what was considered “education” and “entertainment” fluctuated. may assist students in tackling scientific ma- cess was far from guaranteed: “problem-cen- performances. The rise of a new planetari- terial in areas other than astronomy. tered learning and participation in planning um concept was tracked: the “space theatre.” Pertinent to the topic of this paper, Reed were rarely successfully utilized” (abstract). Brill saw planetariums of the future offering and Campbell (1972) provide a contrasting A number of studies tracked planetariums an expanded range of “artistic visions of the view. They directly compared the effective- across time as priorities and practices change. universe around us” (p33). This notion, of the ness of classroom teaching with a chalkboard Petersen (1989) investigated how planetari- planetarium as a performance venue as well as and astronomical globe to teaching in a plan- ums across the world were affected by new educational space, may offer a unique perspec- etarium. Contrary to the findings previously technology, profiling some which had suc- tive on the education-entertainment ques- cited, they found that the classroom teaching cessfully adapted to keep pace with advanc- tion. It is important to note that, while Nor- situation (with astronomical globe and chalk- es in computerization and the competition ton was somewhat skeptical of recent trends board) was significantly superior to the plan- by cinema and interactive multimedia expe- in planetarium usage, Brill was clearly enthu- etarium teaching situation. They concluded riences. siastic: another example of the lack of a single that planetariums should be most effective reigning philosophy of planetarium usage. when used in conjunction with traditional Historical Picture More typically, “experimental” studies classroom instruction, and should not be used Likewise, Sunal and Sunal (1977) tracked the tend to deal with the education-entertain- as a stand-alone “demonstration chamber” for evolution of the planetarium in education ment question only in passing, if at all. Or- astronomical concepts. (both formal and informal settings) in order to tell (1977) provided a typical comparative Reed confirmed and extended these find- come to a historically-informed picture of the study, comparing the performance of stu- ings in a follow-up study (1973). These results state of the field across three decades. They dents taught astronomy in regular classrooms are consistent with those of Smith (1966); his found that the goals of the planetarium had with those taught in a planetarium. Using of- investigation compared planetarium lecture- remained constant, while the concerns and ficial data provided by two community col- demonstrations with classroom lecture-dem- priorities of wider society molded and reinter- leges, he found that planetarium instruction onstrations with sixth grade students and also preted those goals to fit the economic and ide- was beneficial to all groups of students, and found the classroom setting to be superior. ological pressures of the time. demonstrated how the benefit was more pro- The contradiction between the results of As this trend evolved, the means by which nounced in relation to the comprehension of this research and the previous papers cited is planetariums sought to achieve their goals certain astronomical concepts. striking, and though some of the difference morphed to fit the changing goals and objec- While assumptions were made regarding could be explained by changing practices and tives of the institutions in which they were the validity of test scores and grade point av- research methodologies over the time periods housed. In other words, while the values ex- erages to determine student success, the wide in which the research was conducted, some of

8 Planetarian December 2008 the contradictory results (such as Sunal in1973 leads to the obvious question: how illuminat- I was eager to speak with individuals whose and Reed in 1972) occurred sufficiently close ing can a single-visit, humorous, pre-record- experience with planetariums represented the together that difficult questions remain. This ed planetarium show be when these elements breadth of the field itself. To this end I cast a puzzle is particularly appropriate to the ques- may be educationally invalid? wide net in terms of the types of institutions tion of how planetarium professionals should The “education-entertainment” question (museums, universities, etc.) contacted. address the education-entertainment ques- has been raised more explicitly in other do- Many individuals are involved in the pro- tion: perhaps the differences in effectiveness mains. Weinstein (1998) focused squarely on duction and presentation of programs and of planetarium experiences noted here were this conflict in his study of “Robot World,” events, so I interviewed individuals perform- due to sub-optimal positioning on the ed- an interactive science museum/theme park. ing different functions within their specific ucation-entertainment continuum? Fish- Weinstein’s book looks at the conflict be- institutions. er’s (1997) research (which compared reten- tween the educational and entertainment Finally, one of the benefits of working with- tion rates of astronomical concepts between goals of science museums and other science in a relatively small field is the opportunity a “standard” planetarium show and the same popularization facilities, but does not deal di- to gather the insights of some of the most re- show with “humorous” lines inserted) implied rectly with planetariums. In addition, Hen- spected voices, who represent or have worked precisely that, suggesting that humor in plan- dershot (2004) presented a compelling series within the most significant institutions. etarium shows actually negatively affects re- of studies investigating how the Nickelodeon Therefore I ensured that I asked each partici- tention of astronomical concepts. While sig- television network became a seminal part of pant who they would recommend I speak to nificant questions can be raised about the American and world culture. Particularly rel- and followed up on those leads. I began to feel research methodology used by Fisher (the evant to the question at hand are discussions that my sample had been successfully select- lines introduced to make the standard plane- of how the network shifted its emphasis from tarium show “humorous” were not necessar- more overtly educational programs to those ily very humorous), the results of his investi- with a clearer entertainment focus in order to gation raise important problems seemingly catch a broader market. unresolved by current literature. Likewise, the research of Singhal and Rogers By analyzing the effectiveness of planetar- (2002) also seems appropriate. They provided ium curricula themselves (rather than their differences and relative effectiveness as regards …one of the benefits of working within a relatively small field is the opportunity to gather the insights of some of the most respected voices, who represent or have worked within the most significant institutions. classroom programs), the research alleviates some of the contradictions. By performing a a theoretical model with which to investigate ed when the people I was interviewing recom- meta-analysis of prior research, Sunal (1976) “entertainment-education,” a concept that mended those I had already spoken with. derived a number of implications for effec- was born in the media domain but is begin- I interviewed three planetarium directors tive planetarium usage. He made the sugges- ning to be incorporated by science museums. (who are involved in all aspects of running tion that the traditional single-visit model is Finally, Fisch and Truglio (2000) and Mor- the planetarium, including producing and not effective. Instead, planetarium educators row (2005) investigated how Sesame Street, presenting shows), and two show presenters should look to provide combined classroom- possibly the world’s most famous education- and producers who were not yet in leadership planetarium instruction, pre-visit orientation al TV show, came to be so successful. Includ- roles. In addition, I spoke with one individual programs, and a focus on use of the planetari- ed are discussions of the entertainment-edu- who has worked with many different plane- um late in the astronomy unit, rather than at cation balance that creators of the show deal tariums in overview or consultancy roles, and the beginning. with each day. with the organizer of a large annual planetarium conference. Details of the participants Educational Techniques— What’s Missing? are recorded in Appendix A. Five planetari- Classroom and Dome What is missing from this significant body ums scattered across the US are represented, One further finding of Sunal’s research is of research is a study of how planetarium proof which three are in universities and two in significant: for a planetarium to be effective, fessionals consider their own work, how they museums. educational techniques as just as important in address the education-entertainment conflict, It is important to note at this point that my the planetarium as in the classroom. The plan- and how they navigate the constantly shift- desire to speak with individuals at the top of etarium cannot be considered a stand-alone ing social demands and revolutions in tech- the field may have introduced an element device that will provide educational out- nology chronicled in the research cited above. of bias to the study. Those working within comes “for free.” Research by Reed (1971, 1972), The question explored in this paper, while highly-respected institutions may have more Thompson (1968), and Tuttle (1966) notes that central to so many others, is always on the far flexibility to pursue paths not open to insti- the educational technique found to be most horizon. The current proposed research aims tutions which need to struggle more to raise valuable in planetariums was an inquiry- to fill this gap. attendance. Likewise, individuals recognized based model in which dialogue between the as leaders in the planetarium field may wield students and the instructor is essential. Clear- Methods influence that enables them to sidestep com- ly, this finding has significant implications for For this study I gathered a sample of seven mon constraints and problems. These issues pre-recorded planetarium shows in which no planetarium professionals selected according must be kept in mind when considering the such interaction is possible or is limited. This to the following criteria: conclusions of the current work.

December 2008 Planetarian 9 Figure 1. All figures by author; planets in both figures provided by gallery.artofgregmartin.com

I conducted semi-structured interviews gies for successfully resolving them. All partic- ing. More frequently it was too detailed, in- with all of the participants. The interviews ipants referred to in this paper have been giv- sufficiently relevant to the audience’s level of were scheduled to last between 45 minutes en pseudonyms. understanding and interests, and failed to take and an hour. During the interviews I asked Results account of the unique aesthetic approach the each individual a series of questions designed My initial hypothesis was that planetari- planetarium dome requires3. to explore the various tensions implicit in um professionals would be under strong pres- Also, I found an unexpected, but, among my their work in Planetariums. The interview sure to make their shows more entertaining participants, universally acknowledged “exis- protocol used (Appendix B) benefited from and less educational in order to meet financial tential” component to the work of planetari- suggestions and revision by faculty and teach- demands of a planetarium1. This expectation ans: they all see part of the main responsibil- ing fellows at the Harvard Graduate School of was informed by my knowledge of recent ity of planetarium shows to be the posing of Education. high-profile planetarium closures due to bud- big questions about the meaning and value of The completed protocol asked participants get constraints and a perceived waning inter- human existence. Examples include “Is there to describe: est in space. Examples include the McLaugh- life elsewhere in the universe?” and “How did •• What led them into planetarium work; lin Planetarium in Toronto, closed in 1995, the universe begin?” This finding was strong- •• Their general philosophy of the role of the and the London Planetarium, which now ly related to the unique aesthetic of the plane- planetarium within their institution; hosts shows about a different kind of “star” al- tarium space, which was another aspect men- •• The process of creating a planetarium show, together – wax celebrities. 2 tioned by the entire sample. Through their including a discussion of the educational My results show, however, that resisting insights I have been able to incorporate this goals of the program, its method of presen- the pull of the entertainment world is not the new information into a model of effective tation, and if there were any difficulties in most significant pressure felt by planetarium planetarium work which highlights the dif- reaching these decisions. professionals. The opposite is the case: the in- ferent pressures acting on planetarians. •• How they measured the effectiveness of dividuals in my study found it far more chal- their shows and for their views on the ed- lenging to make the scientific concepts they “Don’t Try to be Funny!”— ucational and affective impact they had; are trying to communicate intelligible and Entertainment vs. Education and meaningful to their audience within the me- Contrary to my initial expectations, the •• The relationship between the planetarium dium of the planetarium. When a planetarium planetarians I spoke with did not feel that and the other educational elements of the show is not successful in the eyes of planetari- they were unduly pressured towards creat- institution in which they worked, such as ans, it was rarely because it was too entertaining programs that prioritize entertainment IMAX theatres or museum exhibits. over education. All of my participants recog- These interviews were recorded and coded 1 See Figure 1 nized that such a conflict potentially existed in relation to a number of key themes, some 2 The London Planetarium was closed as a separate in their work, but none felt it was the most attraction in July 2006, and now functions as an ad- of which I had determined in advance and significant of the problems they faced and all junct to the neighboring Madame Tussauds wax- some of which emerged from early discussions works. The following statement was placed on their were able to overcome it. with the first participants. I paid particular at- website at the time: “In 2006 the Planetarium was re- When this conflict was mentioned, most tention to statements or anecdotes that high- branded and renamed the Star Dome. The Star Dome spoke of it in terms of a pressure to increase lighted the key tensions that the professionals is part of the Madame Tussauds attraction and is included in the ticket price. Please note that we no lon- felt they faced in their work, and their strate- ger show astronomy-based shows” 3 See Figure 2

10 Planetarian December 2008 Figure 2.

attendance in response to Omnimax and tem. Not just Pluto. If we told the powers-that- wards the “entertainment” end of the spec- IMAX. Deana, a planetarium show produc- be that we were doing a show about the so- trum. er, expressed this most clearly, saying “I think lar system they would say “No, Don’t do that. Regardless of the cultural climate, plane- there is some pressure to change–we always That’s too standard, too traditional.” But by tarians seem to keep a strong grasp on their have people pressuring us to build up our at- putting it under the name of Pluto, we can do educational ideals and exercise ingenuity in tendance.” good science and do good teaching and keep packaging their educational content so that it Some were very clear that their institu- people interested. remains attractive. tion or work did not succumb to this pressure. Moreover, events in the wider culture However, two of the planetarians I spoke Mandy, the planetarium director newest to sometimes conspire to allow planetarians to with foresaw a potential shift towards a dif- the field, said “We don’t have any shows at all construct shows to neatly combine educa- ferent type of programming. Mandy spoke that have too much entertainment and not tion and entertainment. John remembers that of a recent conference where “they are do- enough content,” while John, a veteran plan- when “Star Wars had just been released in the- ing some really exciting work... that is more etarium consultant, joked “We were rarely ac- atres, and Carl Sagan’s Cosmos was just starting entertainment and artistically oriented than cused of being too entertaining.” However, he to be on television, and the Voyager spacecraft science oriented. And I think that is an aspect conceded, “It did happen occasionally.” were launched, it was a very exciting time for that would be very important for us in the fu- The planetarians overcame this difficul- space programs.” ture in order for us to get people in the plan- ty through two mechanisms: an extreme- Particularly, popular science fiction shows etarium.” Daniel (the organizer of the con- ly strong commitment to what they saw as seem to serve as a catalyst that enables plan- ference and a planetarium director) agreed, their core educational mission, and ingenuity etarians to fuse the worlds of entertainment making a strong case for expanding the scope in melding the popular with the educational. and education. Deanna described a show based of the planetarium medium. Discussions of John made the strongest statement of the for- around Star Wars as “a perfect blend of enter- the potential of the planetarium to be a space mer, declaring “There are places I would not tainment and science,” while Nadine, a for- for more than astronomy education centered work… if someone just expected entertain- mer planetarium show producer now no lon- on the unique aesthetic experience the plane- ment programs… I couldn’t do them, and I just ger in the field, talked about a show inspired tarium offers, the topic of a later section. wouldn’t do it.” Deanna described a situation by Star Trek: “They were going into a nebula, that exemplifies the latter: looking at pulsars and different types of stars, Bringing the Stars to Earth— What we’re really good at is incorporating supernovas and novas.” The Devil’s in the Details those ideas without changing what we want It can be seen, then, that planetarians con- The single biggest strain experienced by to do. So someone will come and say “we need sider the pressure to be “more entertaining” as planetarians in my sample was the struggle to do a show...about Pluto” – we have been part of the wider issue of the interest of soci- to make complex scientific concepts under- told we have to do something to bring in the ety in space at a particular time. When cultur- standable to their audiences within the aes- public... We want, of course, our attendance al factors converge to make interest in space thetic medium described above. All of my par- to go up, but we don’t want to do it by sac- high, there is no need for them to make any ticipants, when describing planetarium shows rificing our values in production... So, for ex- concessions in their programming to bring in that were not successful, described situations ample, the Pluto subject... we’re certainly go- an audience. When interest wanes, they find in which they had not been able to convey ing to talk about Pluto, but what we’re really more pressure (often from the parent institu- the scientific ideas they had hoped to at the going to do is talk about the entire solar sys- tion in which they are housed) to move to- outset. Deanna described one such show:

December 2008 Planetarian 11 We went with a topic that isn’t tradition- tarium as a place in which people would be with that, but did it teach this concept? Yes, it ally done in the planetarium (the weather)... inspired to want to know more. The plane- gets it across.” we alternated presenter-recording-presenter- tarium was seen as a starting point for future This process of simplification and exaggera- recording – which sounds great, but it’s very discoveries, rather than the end goal. Nadine tion, combined with the limitations and pos- jarring. We tried using demonstrations with stressed this capacity, saying she wanted the sibilities of the planetarium as a medium, gave props and carts... it’s hard to get some difficult audience to think “Oh my God, I didn’t know the planetarians the greatest trouble. We turn concepts to come across. And although the about that!” and “Oh my God, I want to know to this conflict in the next section. dome is a good space for immersing people, as more!” Daniel, similarly, wanted to “change we discovered it isn’t a good place for demon- people’s attitudes and motivations about sci- In-Betweening— strations as not everyone has a good vantage ence” as well as communicate specific pieces The Many Roles of the Planetarian point. A combination of show topic, show of scientific information. When speaking of the process of creating name, format of live presenter/recording—it Finally, Ben suggested that “If a show’s good a show, many of the planetarians recognized didn’t work out very well. enough, it gets them to appreciate science, a tension within their institutions between Daniel outlines another potential pitfall, want to learn more and see how it connects those who understood how to convey scien- to their lives.” The planetarium, therefore, was tific messages to a general audience and those seen as a place to initiate a love of and interest who didn’t. In these situations the planetari- in science that extends beyond the dome it- ans saw themselves acting as a bridge between self, made possible by the immersive environ- their colleagues and the layperson. Indeed, far ment and other aesthetic qualities previously from feeling the pull of the entertainment discussed. world, as explored earlier, many of the participants in this study described the opposite: they felt the “The mistake we always made was trying to do too much...trying to convey too many messages rather than saying something significant about one message.” tug of scientists trying to make their shows more scientifically detailed than they felt their au- remembering that “The mistake we always One particular concern stood out above dience would be able to understand. made was trying to do too much...trying to the others, however: all the planetarians with Daniel described this situation most clear- convey too many messages rather than say- whom I spoke recognized the need to simpli- ly: “I had research astronomers as my steer- ing something significant about one mes- fy their scientific messages for a general au- ing committee. So it was effectively five sage.” Ben described similar difficulties, saying dience, and sometimes had difficulty decid- against one... I had a huge battle with the as- “We have a real problem in our profession of ing how, and how much, to simplify. Indeed, tronomers teaching them the rules and prin- being too enthusiastic, and expecting the pub- while the planetarians considered maintain- ciples of informal scientific education... I had lic to rise to that level.” ing scientific accuracy to be an important, to fight them tooth and nail.” John described A final trap was outlined by John, who de- even vital, component of their task, they similar battles, saying “Sometimes it’s over the scribed the difficulty of effectively visualizing nonetheless all recognized that absolute accu- content ‘Oh it can’t really be like this! Pluto certain concepts: racy must occasionally be sacrificed in order doesn’t really look like this! Pluto is not really The Big Bang... is one (area) where I had a to aid the understanding of those without a a planet!’” Experienced planetarians drew on few problems. Scientists like the microscop- science background. their past mistakes and successes to resist these ic scale… They talk about the microphysics Daniel stated “My judgment was always not pressures, and often had to fight hard for their that’s going on at the beginning of the uni- accuracy so much as the clarity of the state- vision to be realized. verse. The number of times I’ve tried to do ment. You can’t be literal in this stuff...you al- In addition to these conflicts, three of the that – I don’t think the average person can get ways have to take some liberties.” Both Na- planetarians also strove to bring their co- to the microscopic scale and be comfortable, dine and Mandy agreed. Nadine explained workers towards a more audience-friendly po- and understand the nuclear physics that’s go- “Science is ‘pointy,’ with lots of details. As ed- sition. Nadine, for example, told of how she ing on there... I’m very careful not to get peo- ucators, we need to be able to do a good re- had to work hard to convince her colleagues ple into realms that are unimaginable. view that’s understandable by the laypeople. to think from the perspective of the audience A number of difficult considerations that To put it in terms that everybody can under- rather than the perspective of a trained scien- must be weighed for a planetarium show to stand,” while Mandy said “We definitely have tist. Similarly, Daniel described how, through achieve its goals–the show’s topic, name, for- to simplify things.” collaboration over the creation of astronomy- mat and content, are mentioned as hurdles Deanna was likewise concerned with “get- related museum exhibits, he educated his as- that must be overcome. Mistakes in any of ting the gist across. We can’t present it exact- tronomer colleagues towards prioritizing clar- these areas can derail a show, affecting its po- ly… we have to exaggerate a few things.” Like- ity over absolute accuracy. tential for engaging the audience or convey- wise, Ben describes how “you try to find a way, In general, it seems that planetarians are ing its scientific messages. while keeping it scientifically correct, of mak- successful in this leadership role, making ed- ing it palatable – a kernel of understanding. ucators out of their co-workers. Indeed, John A Place of Inspiration This is the main challenge of making a show... described a striking phenomenon which he More than simply conveying certain con- [but] sometimes you do have to throw in the had observed a number of times: “I’ve had this cepts during the show, however, all the plan- towel and say ‘It’s the best I can do in the time happen – almost a role-reversal, where all of a etarians with whom I spoke saw the plane- I have.’ There are things not absolutely correct sudden the designer’s so wedded to the con-

12 Planetarian December 2008 tent that they won’t budge, or the scientist is mersive medium. When you’re in the dome, of the many shows I heard described by the defending aesthetic decisions. I wound up try- and the lights are out, it’s totally different planetarians, none of them ended out in space ing to pull the designer off the science concept from watching a movie. A movie has clear – they all returned home. and trying to convince a scientist he’s not re- rectangular boundaries. And you’re clearly Daniel also spoke about the last aesthetic el- ally a film-maker. And it was my job to stand outside it....But when you’re in a planetarium ement, the peaceful environment, saying “Part in the middle.” the show is all around you – you’re inside it.” of the great benefit [of a planetarium show] is John went on to describe this “in the mid- The feeling of “really being there” beneath that it’s relaxing and quiet...trying to mimic dle” role: “I’m a bit of a hybrid... what I call ‘in- the stars, aided by the theatre’s domed shape, the qualities of naked-eye astronomy or tele- betweening’ – someone who can be in both was a touchstone that all the planetarians re- scope astronomy in a dark, quiet place is def- worlds. I can go out into the experiment lab ferred to repeatedly. Nadine was referencing initely one of its strengths.” Deanna agreed, and talk to the people doing experiments on this immersive quality when she said “I want suggesting that the planetarium’s “pace is a lot neutrinos, and turn around and work on a to give them the experience as if they were in slower” when compared with other forms of children’s book... I think as professionals we space.” entertainment. This slow pace was often con- are in-between, hybrid people.” John spoke to the importance of music. Not This concept of “in-betweening” seems cen- only does he “pay a lot of attention to music,” tral to understanding the work of the plane- but he sometimes uses musical forms as inspi- tarian. The most effective shows, as described ration for the pace of a show. “I do take a lot by the participants in this study, are those of models directly from music. I often think which have a strong grasp of the science al- of the movements in a symphony – you have lied with a deep understanding of the audi- to have some quiet movements, along with ence’s current levels of understanding and potential misconceptions. The plan- “I do take a lot of models directly from music. I often think of the movements in a symphony – you have to have some quiet movements, along with some etarian, to be effec- louder ones.” tive, must play three roles: a scientist, an educator, and, to a certain extent, an enter- some louder ones.” He even recalled one occa- trasted with the faster pace of an IMAX or Om- tainment artist – and it is striking that six of sion in which a whole show was ruined by a nimax movie, and with the pace of society as the seven planetarians considered themselves, score that “sounded like ‘Phantom of the Op- a whole. The planetarium was seen as a space in certain respects, to be artists when creating era.’ Kids came out of the show walking like in which people could slow down for a while, their shows. This concept, the planetarian as Quasimodo! It was a wonderful, spectacular and engage in a more subdued setting. “professional in-betweener” moving between failure.” The most forceful expression of the plan- three worlds, comes close to articulating the All the planetarians expressed a desire to etarium’s unique aesthetic came from John, full, extraordinary range of the work planetar- take their audiences on a journey, and many who likened the experiences offered under ium professionals perform. To understand the of the titles of their shows demonstrate this; the dome to the Kantian idea of the sublime: artistic side of the planetarians’ work, howev- Passport to the Universe and Into the Unknown, Immanuel Kant wrote about the “sub- er, the aesthetic of the planetarium must first are examples. Daniel describes this aspect well, lime,” and it does match and it really guides be considered. saying “We begin with what they had in front my programs. I think it’s one of the keys to of them – the night sky. Then we go further moving people emotionally... and the planetarium can play into that very well. One Starry Sublime— and further out into the sky to see different is called...the mathematical sublime, and things, and communicate different scientific The Planetarium Aesthetic that is where there’s a kind of infinity. The The planetarians expressed remarkably sim- principles on the way.” starry sky fits into that, because you can’t ilar ideas about the “aesthetic” of the planetar- Also importance to the planetarians was count all the stars, and yet they seem to go ium. Themes that occurred repeatedly, and bringing the audience back to Earth before on, and everything seems big. You have a that seem to be key to this aesthetic, were they left – four mentioned this specifically. kind of mathematical or geometric infini- •• The immersion offered by a planetarium Daniel continued: “The important thing for ty when you look at the stars. There’s an- dome; me has always been to ground them. To say other type of sublime, called the dynamical •• The central role of music; ‘This is all effectively available to you if you sublime, of when you have a lot of pow- •• The importance of taking the audience on look up.’ I always bring it back to relevance.” er, as when you watch thunderstorms and hurricanes. This is the dynamical sublime a “journey”; Indeed, the desire to relate the planetarium and planetariums can evoke that as well. •• The presence of a live presenter; and experience to everyday life was frequently ex- I actually think about these things when I •• A peaceful and relaxing environment, aid- pressed, and it seems that this is metaphorical- produce and make [planetarium shows] be- ed by the slow pace of planetarium shows. ly represented in the show itself by bringing cause this is one way to touch people. But Deanna describes the immersive aspect, the audience back to Earth at the end. it’s not a narrative way... It’s based on the explaining that the planetarium “is not like Ben, an experienced planetarium direc- power of the universe. watching something on TV or reading some- tor, expressed the same sentiment, saying It is clear, then, that the planetarium offers thing on the internet when you can’t become “We generally try to bring them home. A so- aesthetic capabilities that are in many ways part of the experience…you can really bring lar system show will end back on Earth. You beyond other educational and entertainment people into the experience.” Mandy echoed always want to connect it back to Earth, and media. The environment of hushed awe this the same principle when she said “It’s an im- humans, and our journey.” It is striking that aesthetic promotes is quite unique, and per-

December 2008 Planetarian 13 Figure 3. haps offers insight into why the planetari- Deanna: We can take people into space minor, but some stand out as potentially sig- ans in my sample felt a strong responsibility and explore these huge questions that peo- nificant. The relationship between the plan- to pose questions probing the relationship be- ple have... Are we alone? How did everything etarium and other entertainment-education tween humankind and the universe. come to be? Do the laws of physics apply ev- spaces (like IMAX cinemas) was seen differ- erywhere? ...We can learn more about our- ently by different participants, for example. Towards the Boundary— selves by looking at these other places...If you Some, such as Deanna and William (based in Posing Big Questions go to the planetarium it makes you think a museum), did see the IMAX as a competi- To me, the most surprising element of the about these deep questions you may not oth- tor with the planetarium for audiences, and ways in which the planetarians in this study erwise have a chance to. wished their institution would allocate the described their work was their unanimous Ben: [I wanted to work in planetariums] to same level of resources to promoting the plan- commitment to asking (and trying to an- be close to those issues like ‘Where does the etarium as they did the IMAX. swer) “big questions,” and to helping audienc- Universe come from?’ and ‘Is there extrater- Mandy, on the other hand (also based in a es come to a fuller appreciation of the beau- restrial life out there?’ museum), felt that the presence of an IMAX ty of the natural world. Each and every one William: The planetarium is an inspiration. cinema in her institution would be beneficial of them articulated this as one of the central It reminds people of these questions. Without to the planetarium, as the IMAX could pro- goals of the planetarium: the planetarium, people wouldn’t think of vide more entertainment-oriented shows for John: I think people come to planetariums these things on their own. those who wanted them, freeing up the plan- for an ‘off the earth experience,’ often dealing It is seems to me that this final element of etarium to focus on more purely educational with the biggest questions... I think discussions the work of the planetarian is fundamentally content: “If we had an IMAX cinema, that is of the Big Bang, which is an edge or a bound- existential in nature. The questions described already a big eye-candy sort of a venue [but] ary, and questions of extra-terrestrial life, in the above quotations are ones of human we are never going to have the funds to have which come up routinely, are about the limits significance within the unimaginably vast an IMAX cinema here, so the planetarium re- of life and life as we know it...where we are in universe; they are questions that have been ally has to do double duty for us – almost like the universe is a boundary question too. posed by philosophers, theologians and scien- an ‘IMAX-lite.’” Nadine: Astronomy’s important because it tists alike. This disagreement neatly encapsulates dif- answers the questions of who we are, what are The planetarium, with its unique aesthet- fering attitudes towards the IMAX and other, we doing here, where are we going. ic allied to an astronomy education goal, is an newer technologies that could be seen to be Daniel: [The planetarium is] a place you extraordinarily powerful space within which encroaching on the planetarium’s space. can go and get some truth, get some quiet, be to pose and confront these perennial dilem- The second area of significant disagreement part of a group of people, some you know and mas of humankind. That the planetarians in concerned the use of the planetarium dome some you don’t know, and be immersed in my sample universally realized and testified to provide non-astronomy content and expe- something that is a story that’s told a bit more to this speaks to their deep understanding of riences. While both Mandy and Daniel were slowly that’s filled with beauty. the potential of their institution, and their re- extremely positive about using the dome in Mandy: To me [working with the planetari- markable skill as professional hybrids. a wider range of ways, John expressed greater um has] been a wonderful, eye-opening expe- skepticism, suggesting that the domed space rience... I look at the sky a lot more now than Discussion was simply not well-designed to offer certain I ever did before, and that’s something I also The planetarians in my study spoke with content. hope to encourage students to do...I really striking agreement on the key issues and con- While Daniel talked with enthusiasm about hope this will change their lives too. flicts that infuse their work each day. Where work he had seen exploring subatomic parti- there were disagreements they tended to be cles in the planetarium, John stated that this

14 Planetarian December 2008 December 2008 Planetarian 15 would not be something he would work on Planetarians do not see their role to be the Interview Protocol without being convinced beforehand that conveyance of completely accurate scientific What drew you to work in planetariums? it could be done effectively. These differing information. They recognize that they must What do you consider the central role of views have implications for Brill’s (1982) con- make allowances for their audience and are the planetarium? cept of the “space theatre” – it seems that the willing to sacrifice absolute conceptual fidel- What factors do you take into account debate over what range of experiences plane- ity in favor of greater clarity. when you’re creating / presenting a new plan- tarium domes can best offer is as current now They hone their ability to decide how etarium show? as it was then. much detail to relinquish over years of expe- Which planetarium show did you enjoy Finally, various levels of enthusiasm were rience, taking note of occasions when they working on the most? expressed towards the shows that mixed pop have not been entirely successful and en- Why was that? culture references with science education, suring they do not make the same mistakes How do you measure the impact of your such as the Star Wars and Star Trek shows dis- twice. Perhaps this finding can alleviate some shows? cussed earlier. While all my participants rec- of Fisher’s (1997) concerns: the primary goal of Does everyone involved evaluate the shows ognized that such shows could be both popu- planetarium shows, according to the partici- the same way? lar and educationally useful, Nadine suggested pants in this study, is not to convey specific Can this create tension? that they should not be too frequent a part of astronomical concepts. Which has been your most successful show a planetarium’s program, while Mandy called Instead, shows are considered a success if here? for a balance of “popular” shows with more they inspire audience members with a de- Why do you think that show might have educational ones. Such concerns did not seem sire to find out more, and imbue them with been more successful than others? to hold sway at Deanna and William’s institu- a greater reverence for the cosmos and the sci- What does a successful planetarium show tion, however; the Star Wars show developed entific process in general. look like? there has been brought back over a number of Finally, the planetarians in my study see Which elements are essential to such a years and is frequently offered. themselves as professional “in-betweeners,” show? Even with these disagreements, though, who straddle three professional domains: they Have there been any shows that you’re from the insights of the seven participants are scientists, educators, and artists working not happy about or that didn’t turn out as in my study, a clear picture of how planetar- within a unique artistic medium. planned? ians conceive their own work emerges. Their When planetarians are successful in nav- What happened? shows succeed, and the true vocation of the igating these treacherous and complex de- Have you seen/ been involved in shows that planetarian in this setting is fulfilled, when mands, the rewards are great. John, describing were too entertainment focused, and which they are able to harness the unique aesthetic his favorite of the shows he had worked on, didn’t have much educational content? medium of the planetarium to present accu- gives powerful voice to this potentiality: Have you seen/been involved in shows that rate, current scientific concepts in a way that I thought the show was successful because a were too scientifically complex, and that peo- is meaningful and relevant to a general audi- lot of people... were really emotionally moved. ple didn’t understand? ence, while posing questions that spur viewers One woman was in tears, and one woman Do you have to simplify scientific concepts to think deeply about their place in the uni- wrote me this letter about how it changed to help the audience understand them? verse. This model of successful planetarium her life. How many people can say a program If so, how do you decide when you’ve sim- work is represented graphically in Figure 3. they’ve worked on has done that? I plified them enough, and ensure you don’t go too far? What can people learn from a planetarium show? Appendix A Which show was the most educational? Participant Information Scale: Beginner (0-5 yrs) Experienced (5-15 yrs) Veteran (15yrs +) Why? What do you want people to be feeling Name Institution Role Level of when they come out of the planetarium? (Pseudonym) Planetarium What does the planetarium offer that oth- Experience er venues (museum exhibits, IMAX theatres, etc.) do not? Ben University Planetarium Director Veteran What would the world be missing without Daniel University Planetarium/ Director, Veteran planetariums? Fulldome Convention Convention Organiser Bibliography Deanna Museum Planetarium Planetarium Show Experienced Alter, D. (1941, December). “Our Galaxy and Producer Beyond.” The Griffith Observer. John Various Consultant/ Veteran Brill, L. (1982, December). Planetarium The- Science Advisor aters: The ‘Playhouse of the Stars’ May Hit the Big Time. Futurist, p. 27. Mandy Museum Planetarium Director of Beginner Downing, G. (1971). A Normative Study of Planetarium Shows Planetarium Directors in the United States and Canada to Determine Current Practic- Nadine Former University Planetarium Show Experienced Planetarium Producer es in Adult Education and Opinions Regard- ing Selected Adult Learning Techniques. William Museum Planetarium Planetarium Show Experienced Producer (Please see Directors on page 25)

16 Planetarian December 2008 High School Planetariums: Results of a Survey

Abstract: Results from a 2007 survey of high school astronomy teachers include statistics on numbers, percentages and usage rates of fixed and portable domes and “planetarium software” in United States high schools. A snapshot is made of a “stereotypical” high school astronomy class with a planetarium available. Planetarium teacher backgrounds are examined in order to Larry Krumenaker generate a standard for “highly qualified” under No Child Left Behind.

Dr. Larry Krumenaker Dept of Mathematics and Science Education 212 Aderhold Hall, University of Georgia Athens, Georgia 30602 USA

Submitted:September 25, 2008 Accepted: October 29, 2008 Images: istockphoto.com

How many high schools have and use fects of the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) if an astronomy course is taught there can- a planetarium with an actual astronomy and its Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) yard- not be directly assumed. Only planetariums 1 course? What influence are portable planetar- stick ; and what materials such as textbooks, that clearly indicated they were in a grade iums in the high school venue? What are the planetariums, and telescopes were used. In this 9-12 high school were counted; it is possible parameters that describe the related astrono- article, results of the planetarium portion are that we missed some because they simply list- my course, such as course size, school specifi- presented. ed themselves by school name (i.e. Central cations, and teacher backgrounds? School) or by just the district name. The Direc- These were some of the research questions Some History tory is not complete; others were found on the behind a spring 2007 survey of high school Of the many planetariums installed during listing of planetariums on a web page of Sky astronomy courses (henceforth called simply the heady years of the space age, there are now & Telescope magazine, www.skyandtelescope. the Survey) that made up the author’s doc- only around 1100 active in the US, of which com/community/organizations, for example. toral dissertation at the University of Georgia only around 350 are in high schools today (Pe- Portable planetariums are harder to pin down, (Krumenaker, 2008). Nearly 300 high school terson, personal communication). The 2005 but we got some help from Starlab sales repre- astronomy teachers, including a number of IPS Directory lists about 275 planetariums that sentatives and others. We believe the figure of International Planetarium Society (IPS) mem- are clearly in high schools (IPS, 2005), though 350 may well be about right. Jeanne Bishop (1980) reported that there bers, responded to an invitation to take part 1 The No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 was designed was almost a one-to-one correspondence in in the 55-question mixed-methods survey to provide some kind of accountability in schools for which had quantitative, categorical and qual- the level of education of their students. Schools are high schools between the existence of fixed itative questions asking teachers to describe rated as Pass, Needs Improvement or Fail depending planetariums and astronomy courses offered on the level of achievement on high stakes testing their high school astronomy courses in some in the 1970s. In Bishop’s time portables were and some other factors, and this is called the Ade- new and rare, and one wonders what effect detail. quate Yearly Progress (AYP) status for the school. Ev- Among the circumstances investigated were ery year the accountability bar rises until in 2014 all this number of portables has on the existence the makeup of the student body; background students are supposed to have 100% achievement of a high school astronomy course today, and information on the instructors; course char- levels. Math and Language Arts are the primary test- even if high schools are using them. Of the 275 ed areas though science was to be instituted into the acteristics such as duration and frequency; ef- high school planetarium listings we tallied in measurements by 2008.

December 2008 Planetarian 17 the 2005 Directory, 10% were portables clearly ry Night” software program and the newslet- ers is actually closer to 4000, with 3200 being owned by the school itself. The natural ques- ter to Starlab portable planetarium operators. what one might call regular classes.. tion, then, is does Bishop’s finding still hold Other planetarium astronomy teachers saw In the Survey, teachers were asked if their today and do portables have the same influ- our announcements on other listservs, such school either (1) owned a fixed planetarium ence on course existence as fixed domes? as ESPRIT (an earth science mailing list), vari- that they could use anytime, or (2) if they used Portables owned by a district (or area edu- ous National Science Teacher Association and a fixed planetarium elsewhere, and for both, cational organization, such as a museum or American Association of Physics Teachers’ re- how often did they use it per course. Also, board of cooperative educational services) gional listservs, and more. (3) did they use a portable planetarium and, available on regular loan may help the teach- We also made our own collection of names again, if so, how often and who owned the er but one could also hypothesize that it will to contact using lists of planetariums found in unit? Finally, (4) did they not use a planetar- be of a lower influence on whether a stand- print and online, such as from the Sky & Tele- ium of any kind, or (5) was there some other alone course exists, akin to field trips, i.e. “bor- scope website, from some of the Starlab deal- option that was not listed? (The “other” cate- rowing” another facility for a day. One can ers, and several American regional planetari- gory gathered some new information, but also hypothesize that portable usage probably de- um groups’ web pages. We also found lists of received a lot of answers that really belonged pends on whether, like a fixed dome, the por- high school astronomy clubs with contacts, with the given choices.) table is always at the high school and available some of which had otherwise “unlisted” plan- The proportion of “own fixed planetarium” when needed, or shared with other schools. etariums. is quite high. If 26% of all high schools with A 1986 survey by Harvard’s Philip Sadler During our solicitation periods we occa- astronomy classes had planetariums, there (1992) was the most recent look at high school sionally received lists of people to contact di- would be around 900 high school planetari- astronomy courses before this study, but plan- rectly and some of these were planetarians. ums in the country. This is three times what is etariums were not examined in his research, We used “snowball sampling,” getting more known to exist. This survey clearly oversam- though some of his general findings would be names from people who already had chosen pled the planetarium part of the high school of useful comparison. to answer the questions. Overall, the list had astronomy population, but this should make 600 names with email addresses. the statistics derived here more statistically The Survey Additionally, we accumulated about 2200 valid, truly representative of the reality. The Survey, performed primarily over the postal addresses which were used in a later Only two “owned fixed” schools reported Web, used a number of sources to identify survey. Although not all responses were com- usage statistics, and those were “every day” planetariums to include in the study. A prima- plete enough to use, still our 237 usable survey and “15x per course.” ry source was the 2005 IPS Directory located in responses constitute a 40% return. Though we It is interesting to see how many portables the Fernbank Science Center library in Atlan- clearly have a minimum of 2800 high school show up in the sample. We have already not- ta. We also had an invitational message post- astronomy teachers, the number is actually ed that the 275 high school planetariums in ed on the Dome-L mailing list and one in the larger; we state without proof at this time that the IPS Directory contained about 10% por- 200,000-subscriber newsletter for the “Star- the number of high school astronomy teach- table units. Out of our 28 “used a portable”

Table 1 - Planetarium Ownership (Number, Percentage)

The final tabulation is in the table below (“plm” is abbreviation for “fixed planetarium”):

Owned Plm Used plm elsewhere Used portable None Other Unknown

62, 26% 57, 24% 28, 12% 60, 26% 26, 11% 2, <1%

Dr. Larry Krumenaker recently earned his Ph.D. in Science Education at the Uni- versity of Georgia in Athens, Georgia, but has been in astronomy and astronomy education since the 1970’s. He started out as an astronomy major at Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio, has taught astronomy at numerous colleges in the Northeast and South, written extensively as a science journalist, and spent 13 years crawling in and out a portable dome as a traveling planetarian in Texas and then New Jersey. The UGA experience came after being a high school physics teacher and adjunct college astronomy instructor in Atlanta.

18 Planetarian December 2008 results, 8 were owned by the school which hadn’t used on the survey, the use of sophis- lic schools. Private schools with astronomy brings the percentage of high school-owned ticated computer software, so-called “plane- courses seem to either own a dome or don’t portables in our sampling equal to 11% of the tarium emulation software” on large-screen use one at all. total of “owned plm” plus “owns portable.” projections, televisions or monitors, or inter- The correspondence between the propor- active boards. This software projects the night Large Schools Offcer Classes tions in our sample and the Directory gives sky, provides accurate planetary system mo- High schools with astronomy classes are confidence that the Survey results do reflect tions and can be used by students as well as large. The average Survey high school size was reality. Even if the Directory is incomplete instructor. about twice the U.S. average (1581 students on portables, and/or there were more fixed The primary choice is the computer pro- versus ~800 students). Fixed dome-equipped domes there than we tallied, clearly the program Starry Night. Also mentioned were Voy- schools with courses are even larger, averag- portions of “missing” domes must be similar, ager 4 and Stellarium. Table 2 lists sources and ing 1792 students; even portable-owning high so one should be confident in concluding that data on the software. schools are large, averaging 1400 students. the proportion of portables directly attached Whether with or without a planetarium, to high schools about 10%. The Classrooms in the Planetarium the class sizes are not so large—22 students We conclude that owning a portable unit Does a planetarium make any difference in per class. The few portable owners’ classes are is a fixture of a minimum of about 3-4% of the makeup of an astronomy course? Does smaller, only 17 students. all high school astronomy courses and they having one help a school’s AYP status? What Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) status for are used at about one-third the rate of fixed are the backgrounds of the instructors? In the the schools, with or without a planetarium, domes in courses of astronomy. results that follow, the information refers to are comparable. Regardless of which of our Twenty-six of the portables-using schools those courses and instructors that use plane- subgroups we looked at, they are all close to or reported usage rates. These were as indeter- tariums and teach a high school astronomy above the Survey’s 77% AYP Pass rate, which minate as “as much as I want” to a numeri- course. in turn is higher than the U.S. Pass rate of 60% cal peak around 20 days per course. Several The statements may not hold for those for the time period. appear to use it for an extended, single time, planetariums where the planetarian serves ev- High school astronomy teachers are a soli- such as “first one, two, or three weeks of the eryone else but the instructor does not teach tary lot, whether they are planetarians or not, course” and various multiples of “5 days” that any actual classes of his or her own at the high and usually don’t get to teach astronomy full appear often. school level. time. Generally he or she teaches 1.8 sections When borrowed from a district or some This subset of the Survey was divided into of astronomy courses, and rarely teaches with other source, the average usage days are small- four groups: another astronomy teacher. We found an aver. Out of 14 appearances of 1, 2 or 3 days of •• those with fixed domes for their class use usage, 10 were when the portable was not the (fixed domers), school’s own. This usage rate is much less like- •• those who have onsite and accessible porta- ly to be seen in school-owned planetariums; ble planetarium units (own portables), only 2 schools out of the 9 reported such low •• those that borrow a portable from some usage. One can conclude that ownership at other owner or site (borrowers), and Table 2 - SOFTWARE CONTACTS the school of a portable unit does imply it is •• those who used software as their planetar- Starry Night used and used frequently at a similar rate to a ium. This last group is too small for any Published by Imaginova, Inc. fixed planetarium (where the astronomy class good statistical value and won’t be consid- www.starrynightstore.com does not normally meet in the dome). ered further. 800-252-5417 Those survey respondents who do teach an The Response to Field Trips astronomy course with a fixed dome are the Voyager Published by Carina Software In the “other” category were found numer- majority (64, counting a couple of “other” that www.carinasoft.com ous references to field trips, with the impli- use fixed and portables), which makes their [email protected] cation in some, and the explicit statement in statistics more likely to be significant. In terms +1 925-838-0695 others, that these were to other planetariums. of geographic distribution, more than half +1 800-493-8555 Quite a few responses included the fact that of the fixed domers are in suburban schools Stellarium this was no longer a good option. Out of 12 (55%), which might be expected as suburban open source such statements, 5 mentioned irregular usage schools are likely to be more affluent than ur- www.stellarium.org if at all, and 7 mentioned that the expense of ban (29%) or rural ones (10%). This differs little a field trip had become too costly. These state- with our overall Survey. CyberSky Stephen Michael Schimpf ments go neither into “used plm elsewhere,” Those high schools that own portables www.cybersky.com where field trips clearly are still done, nor into have a distribution almost identical to fixed “none.” domes but those that borrow are more than RedShift 5 Of those that clearly indicated they used three times likely to be in rural districts. National Geographic TOPICS Entertainment a planetarium elsewhere, 36 used it once per The Survey found astronomy classes in a www.redshift.de/us/_main course. Only once did a school use another fa- pool that is 87% public schools and 13% pri- cility as many as six times and then only be- vate, nicely the same ratio of all schools in the StarStrider cause it was within a nearby former high U.S., whether they have a dome or course or FMJ-Software school building. Nine reported using it 2 to neither. However, fixed domes with cours- http://www.starstrider.com 4 times per course, and one said weekly. The es attached are nearly always public schools (List probably is not complete; majority did not report usage amounts. (94%) and portables are owned more often by omissions are not intentional) There were 14 remaining “other” catego- public schools than private ones, by a 2:1 ra- ries of which 3 were a combination of the tio. regular choices and 9 were a new choice we Borrowers in this sample were strictly pub-

December 2008 Planetarian 19 20 Planetarian December 2008 erage of 1.3 astronomy teachers per school, tronomy teachers were astronomy majors, i.e. wide as a whole (nation). They were asked to which translates into about two-thirds being possess an astronomy bachelor’s degree. Five choose an attitude on a five point Likert scale solo teachers. percent of the fixed domers had an astrono- ranging from 1 for pessimism up to 5 for opti- Since clearly most teachers do not teach my major but some non-majors went back mism. If anything, planetarians in fixed domes just astronomy courses (in the Survey, only and earned masters and even doctorates in as- or with their own portable units are as opti- perhaps 1 in 7 are “full time astronomy teach- tronomy, making 11% of this subgroup “as- mistic or more optimistic for their own cours- ers”), what do they do for the rest of their tronomers” in credentials. es’ futures than the whole Survey pool. For the paychecks? In Sadler’s day, astronomy was None of the portable owners were astron- nation, they are not quite as optimistic; gener- a bonus on top of physics classes. Today, the omy majors, but a third of them earned mas- ally the “center of mass” of the attitude spec- number one “second course” slot for planetar- ter’s degrees in the subject. Borrowers are com- tra is just barely above neutral. ians is filled by earth science; indeed for fixed parable to the Survey, at 6%. By this standard, domers, 38% list this as a course they teach most astronomy teachers are not qualified. Summary and this is also true for 50% of the dome bor- However, of key interest to the planetarium In summary, our survey of high school as- rowers. world should be not just the undergraduate tronomy courses indicated that about 10% Only for portable owners does physics still major but the amount of astronomy training, of all astronomy courses have regular access come to be their “second course,” at 50%, but and therefore content knowledge. In Sadler’s to a fixed dome planetarium. Another 3-4% the statistical bases are small for portable us- survey, most teachers of high school astrono- have continual access when desired to a por- ers anyway. A third place tie between physics my got their knowledge from a hobbyist per- table dome and a similar, and rapidly grow- and physical science exists for fixed domers, spective, not from a major or coursework. ing, percentage use computer “planetarium and chemistry comes last. In this Survey, the situation is vastly better; software” as a substitute. When a dome, fixed But in actual second place for “thing to do” 85% have taken at least one course in astrono- or portable, is owned by the school housing for fixed dome teachers is being the planetar- my at undergraduate, graduate or both levels. the course, it is used up to 3 weeks per semes- ium director, doing shows for other teachers’ But this leaves 15% of all high school astron- ter of the course. When a high school course classes. omy teachers never having taken an astrono- doesn’t have a planetarium but does get to use Bioscience courses rank second for anyone my course at any level. Inside the domes, the one elsewhere (or owned and borrowed from who teaches with a portable. numbers are better—and worse. elsewhere), it is usually but for a single lesson. For the Survey as a whole, physics was still Portable owners do not show even that In a summary form, high schools with as- barely in the lead, 39% against earth sciences well, with 25% never having had an astrono- tronomy courses and some kind of in-house at 35% and physical science teachers number- my course in college at any level. Given that planetarium usage are generally suburban, ing 27%. 33% of them went on to get masters degrees, more in public schools than private ones, and In conclusion, it appears that planetarians portable unit owners are dichotomous; they generally in schools as large or larger than come mostly out of the earth sciences and either have a lot of astronomy or they have then the physics/physical sciences domain, none. (Please see High School on page 25) unlike the teachers of Sadler’s day or the rest By this standard, most teachers are “high- of high school astronomy teachers today. ly qualified,”’ though, in general, most teachers take only two courses of astronomy. There NCLB and Highly Qualified is, though, a significant minority that has not, The No Child Left Behind Act has created a and thus should be considered not highly need for teachers to be “highly qualified.” No qualified. state offers teaching certification in astronomy, so other definitions need to be used to de- The Advantages of Planetariums termine whether a teacher is qualified. Planetarians have at least two advantages If this is defined by the undergraduate ma- over those not so equipped. First, they have jor, then from 75% (the portable owners) up to a much higher classroom budget (excluding 90% (the fixed dome teachers) of these plane- equipment purchases and other purely planetarians are highly qualified, having majors in tarium-operation aspects), averaging $1159 for the sciences or science-specific education ar- a fixed dome classroom and an amazing $1929 eas, comparable to the whole Survey’s teach- if the school owns a portable. By contrast, the er pool’s 83%. average high school astronomy teacher has an Many fixed domers and portable users average budget per course of two to five hun- have masters degrees (77 and 100 percent, dred dollars. respectively)—we counted any kind of mas- Secondly, more often than not, the cur- ters degree, even if not science or education; rent planetarian teacher inherits an existing 63% of the borrowers have earned master’s course. Only 40% of the fixed dome teach- degrees. This means they are more educated ers created their course, compared to 65% of than some other teaching groups, but doesn’t non-domed teachers. Portable users, whether make them “qualified.”’ borrowers or owners, are much closer to non- The number of doctorates is very small domers, 53 or 64 per cent, respectively, in the in number, a mere 8% of the Survey and 6% act of creating their astronomy course, which among the full domers, the only subgroup might be expected as they otherwise are class- large enough for valid statistics here. This is room teachers. not “highly qualifying,”’ but that’s not un- The Survey also queried these teachers on common in any field of science teaching. their perceptions of the future, for their own In the Survey, only 8% of all high school as- local situation (school) and for courses nation-

December 2008 Planetarian 21 The First Digital Planetarium in Russia

Yaroslav Gubchenko Nizhny Novgorod Planetarium Revolutsionnaya str., 20 603002 Nizhny Novgorod, Russia [email protected]

The birth and evolution of planetariums an old Russian monastery. That situation had planetarium led by honorable scientists of began almost one hundred years ago. Plane- a strong influence on planetarium structure our city, many of whom are known in Europe tariums were built in many places, including and its abilities. At the beginning there was in- and the United States. The current chairman Chicago, where the first one in America was stalled a simple optical projector made in Mos- of the council is a Russian Academy of Science build in 1930. The first planetarium in Rus- cow, but it was changed to a Zeiss Skymaster correspondent, professor in astrophysics V.V. sia (or in the USSR, as it was called in those ZKP2 and planetarium worked with it until Kocharovsky. Also Nizhny Novgorod Plan- times) was built in Moscow one year earlier, the reconstruction process. etarium had an initiative to organize a Rus- in 1929. The number of planetariums swiftly The city of Nizhny Novgorod is one of the sian Planetarium Association in 1994 and it increased after the beginning of the Cosmic most industri- Era, inspiring young people and children to al and scien- gather knowledge about the sky and allowing tific centers in them to dream about space exploration and Russia, located traveling in space. Now there are more than about 640 ki- 3500 planetariums in the world and about 40 lometers (400 in Russia. miles) to the Because of the difficult economic situation east of Mos- starting in the 1980, governmental support for cow. The lev- planetariums and many other cultural and ed- el of the city ucational organizations was cut off for a long gives it cause time. Although the rest of the world was devel- for high pub- oping and implementing the new technolo- lic attention gies of digital projection and 3D graphics, Rus- for astronom- sian planetariums were forced to stand down ical educa- and use only what we already had. There was tion and peo- an understanding that if this situation contin- ple interested ued, soon there would be no place for plane- in the sky and tariums in the area of visual entertainment. a s t r o n o m y . Like many other planetariums in Russia, the So, because Nizhny Novgorod Planetarium was found- of that, there ed after World War 2, in 1948. The place of its is a scientific The author in front of the new Nizhny Novgorod Planetarium building. All photos by the author. construction wasn’t good; it was built within council in our

22 Planetarian December 2008 became an affiliate of International Planetar- that we installed a completely real Soyuz multi projection system, is that of edge blend- ium Society. TMA spacecraft training simulator. This ing. Digital projectors can’t give us a real black Nizhny Novgorod Planetarium has ar- spacecraft was recently used by astronauts color; they always produce some grey. If you chived a leading role in Russia among all plan- traveling to the International Space Station have single, good-quality projector you’ll nev- etariums. That gave us the ability to begin and back. There are only three of these train- er see the gray, but in multi projection sys- the process of constructing a new planetari- ing simulators in Russia: in Zvezdniy City, tems the intersection of grey gives us more um building in May of 2005 and receive full where cosmonauts and astronauts are trained; light grey, and everybody can see that. So, in support from city and state authorities. The in Novocherkassk, where this equipment is our case, that problem became our number building would have been impossible with- built; and now in our planetarium in Nizh- one issue because we needed stars on an al- out that support. ny Novgorod. So, every visitor now cannot most black sky. This problem was successful- The process of building the new planetari- only look upon the stars under the dome, but ly solved by Argus. um began at the same time as the reconstruc- also feel like a real astronaut docking with the On the opening event of the new planetari- tion of the Nizhny Novgorod City Circus, lo- ISS or traveling a couple of orbits around the um in October, 2007 we achieved almost ideal cated on same street. There also are a movie Earth. edge blending under the dome. And Mr. Mar- theatre and one of the biggest malls in our city The heart of our planetarium is the new, tin George, the past president of IPS, who was on the same block. Because we have four en- big Star Theatre dome. The construction of at that event, noticed, that the result that we tertainment buildings in a couple of minutes the 54-ft half sphere itself was a very difficult archived is one of the best he’d ever seen. (See of walking distance at the bank of Oka River problem for workers, but they were successful Past President’s Column, December 2007 – ed.) with a beautiful view, we located in a place and in 2006 the dome was installed. Mr. George saw only four projectors cov- that is very good for public attraction. We were then faced with an even bigger ering 75% of sky, but now, with a fully-func- The new planetarium is not just the sim- problem: which fulldome visualization sys- tioning system, we cover the entire dome. ple facility that it was before; we planned and tem to select? We looked for the best solu- As the base for show production software, built a complex of four auditoriums and an tion and tried to choose between the well- Argus chose the open source astronomical ap- observatory. I think the last, the observato- known popular products. But, at the end, we plication Stellarium. It was completely up- ry, is a very rare thing. In Nizhny Novgorod, came to an extraordinary decision. We decid- graded for use in fulldome projection. Stel- with a population of 2 million people, there ed not to buy a readymade system, but to de- larium provides us with the ability to see the are only a couple of observatories: in one in- velop a new one. And here the young Nizh- stars, space and our planetary system with a stitute and on the roof of the astronomy labo- ny Novgorod programming company, “Argus good level of 3D graphics and details. ratory at the state university! Computer Vision,” comes with help. What did we change in Stellarium? First, we The key of our “Argus Digital Planetarium” give it the ability to render video files based The Biggest Achievement system is a six-projector design, composed of on scripting codes that describe actions inside The new building, of course, is a major F30 digital projectors. They provide a sky res- Stellarium. All those actions can be played achievement. But the biggest achievement is olution about 3k x 3k pixels or 9 megapix- and rendered to video. The video file renders the new big dome of new planetarium. The els. Each projector is controlled by a single with 9 megapixel resolution with special fish- planetarium complex consists of four audito- workstation PC, which in turn are synchro- eye projection. riums. The first and main is a new 54-ft dome, nized by a main workstation, which also pro- Secondly, we now can import any video file the “Star Theatre,” that seats about 180. The vides sound playing. There is one more serv- in any scene and show it in any part of dome. second is the “Astronomy” dome, the new er, the most powerful of them all, that is used So, simply, we can watch ordinary movies un- home of the old ZKP2, which still works very for show production. The playback and show der the dome with dome correction. After that well. The third is called the “Planet,” a small production software are so simple and so uni- correction we have the sense that the movie is movie theatre type of facility to demonstrate versal that you can install them on any mod- on a screen and that screen is hanging in the stereo programs. ern PC you have! space under the dome. And the last – the “Cosmonautics” hall – is We also gave Stellarium the ability to im- a special place, not just for Russia but, I think, That Edge-Blending Problem port extra 3D models of spacecrafts and aster- maybe for the rest of the world. It was here The main problem in our case, as in every oids and potentially other things as well. Also

December 2008 Planetarian 23 we now can use inside Stellarium high-reso- files in a standard AVI container, compressed Nizhny Novgorod Planetarium always has lution textures of any object up to 20k x 20k! by open source XVID video codec. The entire had a main role in Russian Planetarium Associ- Little by little we are adding to Stellarium all size of a 20-minute show is less than 2 GB, but ation (RPA) events, and preparation is already the modern 3D graphic technologies now in size strongly depends of the level of action in underway for the celebration of the 400th an- use in computer games and visual effects. the show. niversary of telescopic astronomy and the In- In one of the last stages, we are working to- To transfer a show from one configuration ternational Year of Astronomy 2009. gether with Intel Graphics on an education- to another (or possibly from one planetarium Since opening in 2007 the planetarium has al program which was opened in Nizhny to another) we can use the source file. Possi- produced two big fulldome shows, one for Novgorod State University. bly that option will be very useful when oth- general audiences and other for just for chil- The rendered program, a large file, is cut er digital planetariums open in Russia in the dren, and a number of short programs that into six parts, according to the number of our future. show the stars and constellations during the projectors. The way it is cut is determined by So, that is the way we built the new Nizhny year. Now we are prepare two more complete a special calibration matrix that describes the Novgorod Planetarium, the first Russian mod- fulldome shows about extraordinary objects position of projection. The Argus program ern, digital planetarium. We were very proud in the universe and the Milky Way galaxy. that combines all of the producing functions that the result of our work received a good as- And, at the end of my message, I want to is named “Show Creator.” As I already noted, sessment from Mr. George, and more impor- quote one of the honored guests of our plan- the program can work on any ordinary mod- tantly, from the public and visitors in Russia. etarium, Cosmonaut Victor Baturin, who said ern PC. But using high resolution textures or The planetarium provides hundreds of that he will be not surprised if, after 20 years, HD movies raises the system requirements to events for the public and visitors, including half of all cosmonauts in Russia will be from RAM and VRAM. always celebrating the important dates in Nizhny Novgorod because in childhood they The average rendering speed of a show is the history of space exploration and astron- see the stars under the dome of our planetari- about 1 or 2 frames per second, so to render a omy. Special dates include April 12, the flight um. Because of us, the universe becomes clos- 20-minute program you need approximately of the first man in space, and World Planetar- er. I 5 hours. The final show consists of six video ium Day.

24 Planetarian December 2008 (High School, from page 21) fore one can conclude that if a teacher can get (Directors, from page 16) access regularly to some kind of dome, it will those that have classes without planetariums, be used significantly for education and not a Fisch, S., & Truglio, R. (2000). “G” is for Growing. and larger than the average U.S. high school novelty. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum. overall. They exist in schools at least as AYP Borrowing a portable is no better than a field Fisher, M. (1997). The Effect of Humor on Passing as the entire Survey pool, which in trip, a change of pace but not likely to be a use- Learning in a Planetarium. turn is higher than the U.S. school norm. ful tool overall. Therefore, it seems no surprise Hendershot, H. (2004). Nickelodeon Nation. Teachers teach approximately two sec- that “planetarium emulation software,” a rela- New York: NYU Press. tive newcomer to the astronomy teacher’s ar- tions of astronomy classes, rarely teach along- Morrow, R. (2005). Sesame Street and the Re- senal and easier to obtain, is already up to the side other astronomy teachers in their school, form of Children’s Television. Baltimore, MD: same level of usage as portables. with classes averaging 22 students, except in The John Hopkins University Press. It would be facetious to say that having high schools that own portables where class- Norton, O. (1996, Oct). “Will Planetariums Be- an astronomy class (or a planetarium) will es are smaller. come Extinct?” Sky & Telescope, p. 84. cause the high school to Pass AYP even if high Teachers are highly educated, the great ma- Ortell, E. (1977). The Value of the Planetarium as schools with this status are a higher percent- jority having masters degrees and with sci- an Instructional Device. age than the U.S. norm. It is more likely that ence or science education undergraduate ma- Petersen, C. (1989, September). “There’s No astronomy courses disappear when a school jors. But few are astronomers by their degrees Place Like Dome” Sky & Telescope, p. 255. Fails AYP. This doesn’t mean it can’t hurt to and beyond those, most of the rest took two Reed, G. (1972). Inquiry Teaching in the Plane- have an astronomy class in such a school; the or fewer courses in astronomy; from 11% to tarium. Science Activities, 10. known interest and enthusiasm among stu- 25%, depending on category, (that’s 22% over- Reed, G. (1973, October). The Planetarium Ver- dents with the addition of more language arts all) have had no courses whatsoever, which sus the Classroom-An Inquiry into Earlier and math activities within the class can likely puts increased pressure on their “highly qual- Implications. School Science and Mathemat- help the school get back to AYP. ified”’ status. ics, p. 553. This author is aware of a few cases where Beyond their astronomy classes, the instruc- Reed, G., & Campbell, J. R. (1972, May). A Com- high school astronomy teachers lost their po- tors teach mostly earth sciences, with physics parison of the Effectiveness of the Plane- sitions because they were not highly qualified. usually a strong third place and physical sci- tarium and the Classroom Chalkboard and Since no state offers a teaching certificate in ence or biosciences making up much of the Celestial Globe in the Teaching of Specific astronomy and there are few, if any, masters rest. An exception is among fixed domers, for Astronomical Concepts. School Science and of astronomy education, a new definition of whom being the planetarium director, operat- Mathematics, p. 368. highly qualified needs to be made that can sat- ing the planetarium for others, is the second Singhal, A., & Rogers, E. (2002, May). A Theo- isfy a state licensing board or school district. most likely other activity they do after teach- retical Agenda for Entertainment-Educa- Declaring that a highly qualified teacher ing an astronomy class. tion. Communication Theory, p. 117. needs to have a major in astronomy would Planetarium instructors are generally even Smith, B. (1966). An Experimental Comparison be a disaster for the field; having at least a sci- more optimistic for the future of the courses of Two Techniques (Planetarium Lecture- ence or science education major is a good start. in their local school than they are for the aver- Demonstration and Classroom Lecture- Having a teacher with no astronomy course- age non-dome-equipped teacher, and they are Demonstration) of Teaching Selected Astro- work at all, regardless of major, cannot do a nomical Concepts to Sixth Grade Students. a little more optimistic for courses through- field well. Smith, T. (1974). The Planetarium in Educa- out the nation than most, but not by much. Among teachers in planetariums, there is tion. A Review of the Literature. Finally, did we reach a statistically repre- a significant percentage who has never tak- Sunal, D. (1977). “Analysis of Research on the sentative sample such that we can make these en a course. We propose that the combina- Educational Uses of a Planetarium”. Journal claims with assurance? In regards to planetar- tion of having a minimum amount of course- of Research in Science Teaching, 345. iums, the top four states in the 2005 IPS Direc- work and an appropriate science content or Sunal, D. (1973). The Planetarium in Education: tory are Pennsylvania (81), Indiana (25), Ohio science-domain specific education (e.g. phys- An Experimental Study of the Attainment (21), and New York (17). Our Survey’s top states ics education) degree should make a teacher of Perceived Goals. in terms of responses are Pennsylvania (11), highly qualified. Ohio and Indiana (6), Texas and Wisconsin (5). Sunal, D., & Sunal, C. (1977, March). The Plane- In this regard the survey matches the IPS pro- References tarium in the American School Experience. School Science and Mathematics, p. 203. portions rather well. Bishop, J. (1980). Astronomy education in the Thompson, J. (1968). Investigating the Earth- On the basis of the geographical distribu- U.S.: out from under a black cloud. Griffith Through Student Inquiry. GLPA Projector, tion and the matching proportions of por- Observer, 44, 3, 2. p. 46. table and fixed domes in the Survey and the IPS (International Planetarian Society). (2005). Tuttle, D. (1966). Effects of the Use of the Plan- Directory, we feel this study’s findings are tru- The IPS Directory [Data file]. Smith, D. (Ed.) etarium upon the Development of Spatial ly representative of high school astronomy Krumenaker, L. (2008). The Status and Makeup Concepts among Selected Sixth Grade Stu- courses that use planetarium equipment in of the U.S. High School Astronomy Course dents in Elgin. any of the three categories. in the Era of No Child Left Behind. Unpub- Weinstein, M. (1998). Robot World: Education, lished doctoral dissertation, University of Final Thoughts Georgia, Athens, Georgia. Popular Culture, and Science. New York: Pe- It seems to be that portable planetariums Sadler, P. (1992). High school astronomy: char- ter Lang Publishing. have not had the same influence as fixed acteristics and student learning. In Penny- domes in high schools, despite more than packer, C. (Ed.). Hands-on Astronomy for Ed- two decades of availability and their lesser ucation, Proceedings of the Workshop held 2-4 cost. Yet, when they are owned by a school, November, 1990 in Tucson, AZ. (pp. 52-62). they are used as often as a fixed dome, there- Singapore:World Scientific Publishing.

December 2008 Planetarian 25 BlackHoles_FullPageAd.pdf 4/30/2008 11:49:23 AM

Gobbling up audiences worldwide.

CMY

FULLDOME www.spitzinc.com/fulldome_shows 26 Planetarian SHOW DISTRIBUTIONDecember 2008 Contact: Mike Bruno [email protected] T: 610.459.5200 velop a planetarium programme exclusively for the hearing impaired. For this programme a simple script was developed and it was interpreted by a sign language interpreter. It was filmed and was pro- A Helping Hand in Chennai jected using a LCD projector in a corner of the planetarium dome. After the presentation of each small paragraphs of the script, the appropriate animation or picture or constellation or celestial navigation or special effect presentation was shown.

Show Considerations The following were the considerations for the development of this show: 1. Simple and straight-forward script: in normal scripts we use ornamental descriptive words; here the content is short and the time Dr. P. Iyamperumal is lengthened to enable the students to view Executive Director the pictures as well as the interpreter’s sign language; Tamilnadu Science and Technology Centre 2. Application Oriented: The focus was on B.M. Birla Planetarium, Gandhimandapam Road basic astronomical concepts, such as celestial Chennai 600 025 India navigation, seasons, reason for seasons, etc.; and 3. Illustration Rich: pictures were provid- New discoveries are being made every day Science and Technology Centre, where they ed with texts and pointers. Hearing-impaired in astronomy and astrophysics. Physical sci- visit the science galleries and learn by hands- children score significantly below norms on ences are enriched through astronomical stud- on activities. They also visit the planetariums, language and reading measures. However, ies, and for the fields of physics and chemis- but they do not gain much information mere- some of them who became hearing at later try, the contributions by astronomical studies ly by looking at the images shown there. stages can read text easily. are enormous. To have clear understanding in The first programme thus developed was physical sciences, knowledge of the forces op- Woes of Hearing Loss given the title “Sun and Planets” and was inau- erating in our cosmos is crucial for the future India is a very populous country so the gurated on June 12, 2008. Children from sever- generation. number of deaf people cannot be definitely al schools for the hearing impaired were invit- Further, the society we live in compris- estimated. It is known to be in the millions. In ed to the program. The students gathered for es persons with different professions, differ- children, hearing loss can lead to social isola- at least three jam-packed shows at the sky-the- ent beliefs, different educational backgrounds tion. The child experiences delayed social de- atre. Some of the special schools also have sec- and different age groups. People in our so- velopment that is tied to delayed language actions for vision-impaired students. For these ciety have misconceptions about scientific quisition. In order to bring cheer to the lives students, the script in Braille was circulated to and astronomical facts. To ward off unscien- of such children and to provide education enable them to know the content in advance. tific thoughts, education in astronomy be- on astronomy, the B. M. Birla Planetarium de- After the inauguration, a special show comes necessary. The planetarium is an im- veloped a planetarium show exclusively for is offered at least once a week for the portant place to render astronomy education them. special children. I and thus planetarians have enormous social During the past two responsibilities. years, Tamilnadu Science Using a balanced script narrated through and Technology Centre or- a speaker system, inspiring astronomical in- ganized a good number of formation on recent research, explanation “spend-a-day-in-science-cen- of constellations and methods to identify tre” programmes especially them, mythological information or some oth- for the hearing impaired. In er amusing stories with cartoons, are present- these programmes scientif- ed in a normal planetarium show. Melodious ic facts were taught with the and suddenly fluctuating background music help of a sign language inter- to keep the attention of the viewer, colourful preter. illustrations and animations, special effects, Sign language uses man- etc., are best suited to the requirements of nor- ual communication, body mal visitors. language and lip patterns However, accompanying the normal vis- instead of sound to convey itors we get a good number of visitors with meaning. The programmes hearing impairments. In the state of Tamil- were successful, as they were Students at the Inauguration Day of the new programs for the hear- nadu in India, there are several institutions well received by the special ing impaired with (from left) Mr. K. Ganesan, I.A.S., Secretary to serving the hearing impaired. The students audience. This success was Government, Higher Education Department , Government of Tamil- from these institutions visit the Tamilnadu an inspiration for us to de- nadu; Dr. Kumaresan, ENT Surgeon; and the author. Photos courtesy of the author.

December 2008 Planetarian 27 “Gosh, dim it all!”

Let There Be Night Combines IYA and Dark Sky Awareness

Chuck Bueter the role of a disinterested visitor and asked, project. “Why should I care?” When I was able to sat- To pay for studio production costs, we 15893 Ashville Lane isfy his inquiry, especially when it came to sought to leverage the TAPESTRY grant with Granger, Indiana 46530 USA saving money, it seemed the TAPESTRY grant, additional support from a local Toyota dealer- the planetarium, and the topic of light pollu- ship. In our first visit, after showing the TAP- 574-271-3150 tion were a natural fit and the timing was per- ESTRY guidelines and the “Star Party with [email protected] fect for IYA2009. the Barzdukas” Toyota commercial, our local We proposed a science experiment to quan- dealer quickly said, “We’re in—we’ll match the www.LetThereBeNight.com tify how much of the night sky has already grant.”2 been lost across the entire school district. All students in grades 3-8 would measure exist- When you combine a community exper- 2Although not on the Let There Be Night DVD, ing sky glow in March 2009 in concert with iment to quantify by how much our night this astronomy-themed commercial is avail- Globe at Night (www.globe.gov/GaN), a Cor- sky has degraded, a planetarium valued by its able online at www.toyota.com/vehicles/mi- nerstone Project of IYA2009. school district, and a small grant, then mix all nisite/sequoia/experience/?#/star-party. Based Prior to the community-wide experiment, that with the serendipitous timing of the In- on our favorable experience, you may want all students would visit the planetarium for ternational Year of Astronomy 2009, the re- to consider seeking financial support from an introduction to outdoor lighting issues. sults are Let There Be Night, a collection of dark your local Toyota outlet during IYA2009 in The PHM School Corporation was quick to sky resources for the planetar- exchange for showing the advertisement in- 1 embrace the effort, especially since student ium community. dome through your Internet connection. Art Klinger, director of the involvement entailed real science investiga- Penn Harris Madison (PHM) tion. Planetarium in Mishawaka, While the TAPES- Indiana, and I wanted to pro- TRY grant paid for the mote local astronomy events tools for the commu- that dovetailed with the glob- nity-wide science ex- al celebration, so we turned periment, we wanted to a small grant source with to connect the dispa- which we had had success for rate planetarium mod- the 2004 Transit of Venus program. As it hap- ules with a common pened, when we looked at the 2008 Toyota storyline. Our aim was TAPESTRY grant application, it stated “In En- to keep the show in- vironmental Science, areas of interest include: teractive, making it light pollution; sustainability of natural re- well suited for small sources…” Ah, serendipity, indeed. and portable domes. A production budget Why Should I Care? was not in the origi- While outdoor lighting issues were my nal grant, but GLPA of- monomaniacal pursuit du jour, Klinger real- fered financial support ized not everyone would have the same in- to get a sky show un- terest level as mine. Ever practical, he assumed derway. The result was Let There Be Night, which 1All IPS members are receiving two DVDs that uses Galileo and his are the result of the Let There Be Night project major discoveries as a in this issue of the Planetarian, thanks to the vehicle to introduce support of the National Optical Astronomy light pollution and Observatory (NOAO). However, because we its impact, to describe doubled the discs when we gained notewor- how to quantify the thy content, further free distribution is un- darkness, to ponder the determined as of this writing. In the U.S., con- future of the night, and sult your regional planetarium association. also to tie the project GLPA will distribute individual copies at cost more closely to the ma- Top: Let There Be Night features a narrating Galileo avatar filmed in Second through its online store at www.glpaweb.org/ Life. Bottom: A candle-wielding mouse teleports back in time to visit Gal- jor IYA Globe at Night zencart5. ileo at his villa near Florence. Images provided by author.

28 Planetarian December 2008 Artwork from Second Life In lieu of standard artwork, we created scenes within Second Life (secondlife.com), an online virtual community for mature audiences that is also populated by hundreds of colleges, museums, and other learning centers. There we filmed two animated characters, called avatars, interacting in a digital reconstruction of the courtyard at Galileo’s villa in Arcetri, just outside Florence. The lead characters are Galileo and a visiting mouse from the future who takes him to the modern era and beyond. In addition to capturing video in Second Life, we also sought to drive planetarium guests to the site for a post-planetarium experience. Though Second Life admittedly is accessed by and appeals to a limited audience, we feel the planetarium community could benefit by reaching out through new media such as this. The Let There Be Night build- Visitors to the Let There Be Night dome on the IYA Island in Second Life can summon a recreation of Gali- ing is hosted in Second Life on the Astrono- leo’s villa outside Florence or an urban street scene with adjustable outdoor lights. my 2009 Island, which was contributed by In- terstellar Studios, creators of the PBS program are providing as much material as possible to chapters from the DVD, depending on who is 400 Years of the Telescope (www.400years. dark sky advocates: visiting. For example, with K-2 visitors he be- org) and the planetarium program Two Small •• Stars Above, Earth Below, a video capturing gins by showing There Once Was a Sky Full of Pieces of Glass. the magnificence of the night from Tyler Stars. He then conducts an effective demon- We don’t claim to be slick producers of full- Nordgren’s tour of U.S. National Parks; im- stration with toy cars and a Maglite® in “can- dome extravaganzas, time is constrained, and ages and narration courtesy of Nordgren; dle mode” to convey glare, sky glow, and light our budget nowhere near approaches the req- •• Dark Matters, a general introduction (ap- trespass. Finally, in line with the Globe at uisite funding needed for such a production proximately15 minutes) to outdoor light- Night theme, he plays the Legends of the Night (which was so well conveyed by Mike Bruno ing issues, a video written by John McMa- Sky-Orion laser show from Audio Visual Imag- in “Trends in Fulldome Production and Dis- hon and produced by Danl DuRall; ineering. tribution” in the September 2008 issue of the •• Perpetual Twilight, a PowerPoint presenta- To prepare the PHM teaching staff for the Planetarian). tion from the Illinois Coalition for Respon- March 2009 data collection experiment, the sible Outdoor Lighting; PHM Educational Foundation purchased cop- An Amalgam of Products •• A Stellarium planetarium script on magni- ies of the DVDs for each teacher. Also, Klinger Rather, the Let There Be Night DVD is an tudes and the diminishing starfields, cour- and I have visited each of 14 schools twice amalgam of home-spun products mingled tesy of Karrie Berglund; for 20-minute in-service presentations. In re- with quality material from generous donors. •• DarkSkies, an animated video segment con- sponse, PHM teachers have begun to create Our plan was to gather existing resources and veying the impact of light pollution on side- and share activities and lesson plans that they create some original content for an interac- walk astronomy; courtesy of Tim Brothers; can interweave with their existing curricu- tive planetarium program under small and •• The song “In This Light,” performed by and lum. These will eventually be uploaded to the portable domes. With the permission of the courtesy of John Kaufmann and Dan Den- Let There Be Night website, www.LetThereBe- copyright holders, we proposed sharing the nis of Starball (www.emutt.com:16080/star- Night.com. collection on a DVD with other planetarians. ball); Several groups were quick to step up: •• The song “Lucifer’s Bait,” courtesy of Banda- It’s Still a Community Project •• The Lunar and Planetary Institute (LPI) zian (www.bandazianmusic.com); Although the Let There Be Night project has and storytellers Lynn Moroney and Dovie •• The song “Shoulders of Giants,” courtesy of grown, it still remains, first and foremost, a Thomason shared an audio recording of a the Johannes Kepler Project with words and community experiment to quantify by how Pacific Northwest Nations story about the music by Padi Boyd and performed by The much our night sky is degraded. balance between day and night from LPI’s Chromatics (see story on page 30); and The 2009 Globe at Night campaign is sched- SkyTellers program. •• Globe at Night teacher and family activi- uled for March 16-28. During that time, all stu- •• The Southeastern Planetarium Associa- ty packets and valuable resources from the dents in grades 3-8 in our local district have tion (SEPA) allowed us to reproduce its Sav- National Optical Astronomy Observatory been assigned to visually observe Orion from ing the Night planetarium program, written (NOAO). their backyards, while small teams of students and narrated by David Levy. By having this diverse collection of materi- will quantify sky glow from their 14 respec- •• Bob Crelin and Amie Ziner, creators of the al at their disposal, we hope that planetarians, tive schools with hand-held Sky Quality Me- 3 children’s book There Once Was a Sky Full of teachers, and other users can tailor their pre- ters (SQMs). Stars, digitized their story for distribution sentations to the ages, needs, and interests of To show visually how much of the night in video format. their audience. sky has been lost, the students will plot the Additional digital content has flowed in The Let There Be Night video itself is divid- Globe at Night data with LEGO® blocks on since the beginning of the planetarium pro- ed into ten chapters. In the PHM Planetarium, a local map. Different sky glow values, as sug- gram, so on the Let There Be Night DVDs we Klinger interweaves live segments with select 3 (www.nightwise.org/sqm.htm).

December 2008 Planetarian 29 gested by the limiting magnitudes from the light of new, compelling evidence, so we must Let There Be Night is slightly different. Take Globe at Night data, will correspond to a dif- reprioritize the tradeoffs of outdoor lighting it, use it, make it better. If for educational pur- ferent stack of colored blocks. An interim de- technology. Modern scientific observations poses and the advancement of dark skies, you scription of the 3-D model is at www.LetTher- indicate that, in addition to the heritage of our may copy images from the story of Galileo eBeNight.com/blocks.html. night sky, at risk are natural habitats, personal and Hypatia in other material. Please send us The two Let There Be Night DVD discs in- security, human health, energy, and money. links to your derivative product so we can cluded in this issue of the Planetarian support The planetarium community has a clear role steer others to it. dark sky advocates in the planetarium and be- and obligation to confront this challenge. We also welcome your ideas on how the yond. Disc 1 contains three feature videos that Because of lack of time, not all of the mate- planetarium community can help advocate will appear on a menu upon insertion into a rial Art and I would have liked to share made for dark skies, and we thank the generous con- DVD player. Disc 2 contains five more vid- it to the DVDs. We’d like to add more video tributors for allowing us to share their handi- eos that will automatically come up as menu clips, such as modeling the experiment re- work. We are all stewards of the night, and it’s items on a DVD player. sults with LEGO blocks, a light pollution dem- time we recognize that the old way of lighting Be certain to load Disc 2 into your comput- onstration under the dome with a Maglite® up the night no longer works. The next 400 er, too, where you can access additional valu- flashlight in “candle mode” and a fun dem- years begin now. I able resources, including time-sensitive mate- onstration with a large group of kids simulat- rial for Globe at Night. The compilation on ing turtles hatching on a beach. Look for links Disk 2 includes activities, audio files, Power- for the additional content at website, www. Chuck Bueter is a member the IYA Dark Skies Point presentations, documents, songs, star LetThereBeNight.com. Working Group. count instructions, and more listed at www. LetThereBeNight.com/dvd.html. Users may not alter or publish the original copyrighted material on the Let There Be Night DVD discs Let There Be Night asserts the old model for without permission of the respective owner. The creators of There Once Was a Sky Full of Stars have given permission for limited-use in planetarium programming as part of IYA2009 activities. For ex- outdoor lighting no longer works. Just as Gal- ample, you may use the still images where provided to make slides in sync with the provided audio ileo recognized that the prevailing way of track. However, you may not upload the video to, say, YouTube or sell the video for profit. thinking about the night sky had to change in

just wait until you see that on the Shoulders of Giants...... we’ll see beyond!

Johannes Kepler, aka John McFarland; [email protected] Padi Boyd, for The Chromatics and AstroCappella; [email protected]

The Johannes Kepler Project and The There are four categories: Chromatics are happy to announce the re- 1. Middle School - 8th and below lease of the AstroCappella song “Shoulders 2. High School - 9th and up of Giants.” This song was commissioned by 3. Graduate - 18 years and up the Johannes Kepler Project, written and ar- 4. Artist - original song and video ranged by Padi Boyd, and performed by The The top prize is $500 and a telescope. The Chromatics specifically for deadline for entries is January 7, 2010, 400 the International Year of As- years to the day that Galileo first viewed tronomy 2009, and now is Jupiter’s moons, on January 7, 1610. Com- being made freely available plete contest rules will be posted in January for use by other IYA projects 2009 on the Johannes Kepler Project website around the globe. at www.johanneskepler.org . The song celebrates Gal- In hoping that the song will strike a har- ileo’s first glimpse of the monious cord with people and be used in a heavens through his tele- variety of other IYA projects, The Chromat- scope and the astonishing ics and the Johannes Kepler Project are mak- pace of discovery ushered in ing it freely available for such use, asking by his observation. An earlier version of the only that the appropriate credits be given song debuted at the American Astronomical to the composer (Padi Boyd), the performers Society/Astronomical Society of the Pacific (The Chromatics/AstroCappella) and the Jo- meeting in St. Louis, Missouri, last summer. hannes Kepler Project. Please note, however, “Shoulders of Giants” is being used as part that the use of the song as part of a commer- of the Johannes Kepler Project’s 2009 As- cial project will require a copyright release tronomy Music Video Contest. The contest from the project. The Chromatics, by color: Barry Mahaffey involves making a music video by synchro- (blue), John Meyer (green), Deb Nixon (pur- The song and lyrics can be downloaded ple), Karen Smale (gold), PadiBoyd (green) nizing images to the lyrics and tempo of from The Chromatics’ AstroCappella website and Alan Smale (red). “Shoulders of Giants.” at www.astrocapella.com/IYA. I

30 Planetarian December 2008 8h_d]j^[ikh\WY[e\CWhi jeoekhfbWd[jWh_kc

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lll#8VgcZ\^ZHX^ZcXZ8ZciZg#dg\ December 2008 Planetarian 31 DcZ6aaZ\]Zcn6kZcjZqE^iihWjg\]!E6&*'&'q)&'#'(,#()%% ate light and to modulate the image. CRT projectors fall into this category (which are now The Future of Fulldome almost obsolete), as do some versions of laser projectors. A beam of light is created which Martin Howe scans across the video frame whilst, at the Global Immersion Limited same time, being modulated to create each pixel. The Barn, Hurstwood Grange, Hurstwood Lane Both solutions rely upon a reflective dome Haywards Heath, West Sussex, England surface to create an image. The gain (reflec- tance) of the dome surface has a significant impact upon image performance, both in terms of brightness (luminance) and contrast. A significant factor for fulldome technology is that it is unlikely that the Abstract: Fulldome is the term given to immersive market itself is able to support theaters and spaces where images are displayed the development costs and sus- on a dome-shaped screen. Born out of the need of tain the ongoing development of any dedicated technology. It planetarium theaters to project video images of as- will, therefore, have to rely upon tronomical data, fulldome is rapidly becoming a new developments targeted for other media environment used to present scientific data, applications and adapt them for use in the dome. entertainment shows and unique live presentations. These applications will in- This paper is a technically-orientated perspective of clude uses where image fidelity the current and future trends of fulldome within a is important, such as home cin- Martin Howe five-year horizon. (Paper first presented at Fulldome ema, digital cinema, and simulation. Light valve projectors, be- Summit 2008 in Chicago.) cause of their use across a range of markets, are the most cost effective and mature technology in use today. The more it Changes… jector arrays came a wide range of devices for Other existing technologies and near-term developments may well be suitable for full- The classic saying “the more it changes, the controlling them, and for generating and dis- dome use. Much is talked of LED domes, more it stays the same” applies today to full- tributing the many pixels across the display for instance. LED is an emissive technolo- dome, particularly with respect to display for image blending, signal conversion and for- gy which already offers a broad color gamut technology. The factors that drive fulldome matting, picture-in-picture windowing, and (saturation), contrast, and light output. They display choices are common across large for- other pixel processing features. also have excellent life (tens of thousands of mat displays. In the early 1980’s, CRT projec- So what of fulldome? It has certainly bene- hours) and stable light performance over time. tors dominated the large-screen market (al- fitted from the driving demands of other mar- LED displays are a direct view technology and though large is relative, of course; screens of 2 kets. As projector performance increases and could be applied in such a way as to minimize meters in width were considered large at that prices drop, affordable performance is within scatter (light cross bounce in a dome). time). reach of many theaters. But is it enough? Have However, to get the necessary resolution An emerging alternative came from vide- we yet reached a satisfactory level of perfor- and fill factor (gaps between pixels) to com- owalls, typically comprising an array of large mance so that we can now use the reducing pete with projected solutions along with suit- (28 in) monitors. By stacking monitors in 3x3, costs of technology to free up budget to in- ably graded LEDs1, the price is likely to contin- 4x4 or even larger arrays, bigger, higher bright- vest in much needed quality content? Well, if ue to be prohibitive for the foreseeable future. ness displays could be created. By 1992, very all the other display markets and the trends in Other interesting projector technologies in- large displays were built using this approach, the last 25 years are anything to go by, the an- clude laser scanned light valves. These use a la- culminating in the world’s biggest: the 850 swer is most likely not! ser to create the light source, and work with monitor videowall at Expo in Seville. conventional imaging devices to create the By then, the first high-brightness LCD Technology picture. Another option is the LED projector, projector was launched with 1,000 lumens Various display technologies are employed which simply uses LEDs for the light source. and VGA (640 x 480) resolution. This, many today to create fulldome images. They fall Both approaches promise a very stable, long- thought, spelled the end for making big dis- into two main categories: life light source and a broader color gamut. plays out of many smaller ones as projectors Light valve projectors. Light valve projec- would only get brighter and more resolute. So tors use a fixed light source (lamp) and a set of Resolution it did, and so it continues. optics to focus light onto a single or multiple Using multiple projectors, it is becoming But with it, so did the insatiable appetite for imaging device (multiple devices are used to relatively cost effective to produce fulldome larger screens and more resolution. So instead improve color performance or contrast). The display systems (360° by > 160° field of view) of of these higher resolution, brighter projectors imaging devices modulate light via a fixed ar- ™ ™ between 16 to 18 pixels per degree (3k x 3k) to stealing market share from the multiple mon- ray of reflective (DLP or LCoS ) or transmis- itor/projector displays, they simply served to sive (LCD) pixel modulators. make “bigger and better” even easier. With the Emissive scanned projectors. These projec- 1 Individual LEDs vary significantly in performance; to get a consistent display they are factory graded, explosion in flexible format and multiple pro- tors typically use the same technology to cre- which is a costly exercise.

32 Planetarian December 2008 22 to 24 pixels per degree (4k x 4k). Those with These projectors have a sequential contrast tor for simplicity or cost reduction. However, a higher budget could consider a range of the approaching and exceeding 1,000,000:1. This with the increasing demands of software ap- latest 4k resolution projectors to get close to new benchmark for sequential contrast will plications to run in the theater, care should be 50 pixels per degree. All of these solutions re- continue to increase over the next few years, taken to allow for sufficient graphics process- quire more than one projector and with it, a with figures possibly exceeding 5,000,000:1. ing power for the future. solution for edge blending, projector calibra- The second contrast factor is the ANSI con- Images are either generated in real-time (in tion, and ongoing maintenance. trast ratio of the projector. Rarely quoted, this the same way that a computer game works) Single projector solutions for smaller domes is a standard measurement technique using or are pre-rendered (like a DVD). Real-time are in use today, typically running a maxi- a checkerboard test pattern (a 3x3 array of applications need some storage for the data mum of 5 to 6 pixels per degree (1k) resolution. black and white squares), measuring the av- to be processed and are very demanding on As 4k projectors become more cost effective erage white level and dividing by the average processor power. Already today, data can be in the next few years, small single projector black level. This method takes into account streamed live from the internet (or another domes will be able to make the leap to 10 to the optical path of the projector and its abil- data source) to be processed for display onto 12 pixels per degree. However, they are likely ity to minimize internal scattered light. The the dome, and these domes can be connected to lag multi-projector resolution by a factor of light from the white areas of the image will together to show common data, using remote four until such time as the chase for more pix- contaminate the black area to various degrees. presenters to steer the journey concurrently els abates (which could be a while, if the past The lower the internal scatter, the higher the across multiple theaters. is anything to go by). ANSI contrast. Figures well below 100:1 are This trend is likely to continue pushing the Prototype 8k resolution (8,000 pixels x typical; higher than 150:1 is very good. demand for high bandwidth data pipes into 4,000 pixels) LCoS™ imaging devices have al- The final contrast factor is the dome screen the theaters. An important advantage of real- ready been shown. Expected to be on the mar- itself. By its very nature, the dome is a “light time systems is that they can easily generate ket in the next two to three years, this format scatter machine” that bounces projected light content in the native resolution of the dis- will again raise expectations. in all directions, but mostly back to itself! play, so as display resolution increases, so will When fully lit up, the system contrast falls the content resolution from a real-time sys- Brightness dramatically into single digit figures. Using tem. A topic of some debate. For many years, the same checkerboard measurement process Pre-rendered content typically plays from brightness of a dome has been an issue, pri- that is used for projectors, dome system per- either a computer hard drive or an array of marily due to the use of CRT projectors which formances can be compared; anything above hard drives. Certain image compression tech- have very low brightness2. The typical lumi- 8:1 is very good. So, unlike almost any oth- niques can be used to reduce the file storage nance of a large fulldome theater (say above er display system, contrast in a dome varies size and the pixel throughput capacity, and 18 meters) with a CRT projector would be less massively with content; anything from 10:1 are likely to be used for mid- to low-end sys- than 0.5 ftL (foot lamberts), and sometimes as (a bright video scene) up to 1,000,000 (a star- tems to optimize budgets. low as 0.1ftL. Today it is quite common to ex- field), if the projector is capable. Image fidelity will become increasingly im- ceed 0.5 ftL, and as much as 1ftL or more with In summary, display system resolution is portant as advances in digital cinema raise the light valve projectors. Those familiar with the likely to continue to rise as a direct result of benchmark for audience expectations. Un- cinema industry will expect 8ftL or more, but the increase in native resolution of projec- compressed playback will become the bench- the environment is quite different because of tors. Domes of 100 million pixels are foresee- mark; image bit depth will increase from 8 bit the light scatter created in a dome. After all, able at the high end with multiple projector (16 million colours) to 10 bit (1 billion colours– due of the way the human eye works, bright- solutions. Smaller domes will be served either about 1 billion more than 8 bit!), and image ness is relative. Of more importance is con- by single, high-resolution projectors, or by frame rate will move from 30fps (the num- trast. A dome with 0.5ftL with a high contrast two, three, or four projectors using lower-cost ber of unique new image frames per second) will look significantly better (and even bright- products supported by automatic alignment to 60fps, reducing motion artifacts as images er!) than one with 1ftL and low contrast. systems and dealing with the need for image are panned across the dome. matching as the lamps age. Using technology developed for data in- Contrast Brightness will start to plateau at between tensive applications, hard drive arrays can be It is important to understand the various 0.5ftL and 2ftL, as the need to optimize con- configured for massive storage for varying the criteria that contribute to system contrast in trast will drive screen gain down (trading high pixel throughput required for high reso- a dome. The first is the projector contrast, typ- brightness for much needed contrast), un- lution domes. The production budget increas- ically quoted as sequential contrast (the ratio til a revolution in screen technology comes es significantly as dome resolution, frame rate of a brightness of a full white image divided about. and bit depth increases. New software tools by that of a full black one). Sequential con- and production workflow methods are evolv- trast ratios are improving all of the time. Con- Image Processing ing to reduce the time cost of production, data ventional light valve technologies are in the To drive these high-resolution environ- storage is constantly becoming cheaper and range of 2,000:1, whilst optimized projectors ments, high-performance computing plat- larger (terrabyte drives are already with us), are now exceeding 10,000:1 and approaching forms are typically employed, using hard- and higher resolution cameras will become 30,000:1. Dedicated ultra-high contrast pro- ware graphics engines developed initially for more commonplace. jectors using extra modulation stages or op- HPV (High Performance Visualisation) appli- However, production at 4kx4k resolution is timized optics have been launched recently. cations, and more recently for the gaming expensive, and with a shortage of good qual- industry. Parallel graphics channels are used ity content in the market at present, produc- 2 By today’s standards, yielding only a few hundred to increase performance, where, typically, a tion costs need to fall in the short-term. lumens versus many thousands possible with light graphics pipe (computer and graphics card) valve projectors. Also, as CRTs use a scanning beam, they can create relatively bright spots of light such will be dedicated to serve a single projector. Multiple Sources as stars, but when needed to illuminate the whole Dual-headed (or even quad-headed) machines Already it is becoming increasingly com- image area for video content, the brightness falls can be used to serve more than one projec- significantly. (Please see Fulldome on page 79)

December 2008 Planetarian 33 Minutes of the IPS Council Meeting Conference Room Adler Planetarium Chicago, Illinois USA June 26 & 27, 2008

* indicates action items slav Gubchenko for Zinaida P. Sitkova ing had been previously published in the Southeastern Planetarium Association (SEPA) March 2008 Planetarian. Donna Pierce cor- In attendance: - John Hare rected the spelling of affiliate representative President Susan Button Southwestern Association of Planetariums Tony Butterfield. The minutes were approved President Elect Tom Mason (SWAP) - Donna Pierce as corrected. Past President Martin George Treasurer Shawn Laatsch presented the Treasurer Shawn Laatsch Affiliates not in attendance: Treasurer’s Report. Council reviewed and Secretary Lee Ann Hennig Ukrainian Planetarium Association (UPA) discussed specifics of the 2007 Financial Re- port, the mid-year 2008 Budget, and the pro- Affiliate Representatives: Guests: posed 2008/09 budget. The Audit Report of Association of Brazilian Planetariums (ABP) Larry Ciupik - Adler Planetarium, Chicago, Illi- 2007 was sent to Council members earlier and - Alexandre Cherman (Martin George on nois, USA - IPS 2008 Conference Host confirmed that the treasury is in good stand- June 26) Jon Elvert - Chair, IPS Outreach Committee, ing. Shawn responded in the affirmative to a Association of Dutch Speaking Planetariums and Pennington Planetarium, Baton Rouge, question of whether members could pay for (ADSP) - Chris Janssen for André Milis Louisiana, USA, IPS 2012 Conference Bid their dues in multi-year increments instead of Association of French Speaking Planetariums Omar Fikry - Alexandria Library, Egypt - IPS annually. (APLF) - Dr. Agnès Acker 2010 Conference Host The Treasurer’s Report was filed. Association of Mexican Planetariums (AM- Alan Gould – Chair, IPS Web Committee In the Membership Report, Shawn report- PAC) - Susan Button for Ignacio Castro Pi- Dr. Jacques Guarinos - IPS Media Coordina- ed that total membership as of June 2008 is nal tor and Astronef Planetarium, St. Etienne, 660 (242 International Members and 418 Unit- Association of Spanish Planetariums (APLE) France, IPS 2012 Conference Bid ed States Members). Regarding the Associates’ -Javier Armentia Shoichi Itoh - Japan Planetarium Association Initiative, Shawn reported that 79 people par- Australasian Planetarium Society (APS) - Mark Paul Knappenberger - Adler Planetarium, Chi- ticipated in this endeavor. In reviewing the Rigby cago, Illinois, USA - IPS 2008 Conference initiative it was noted that there were 3, not British Association of Planetaria (BAP) - Shaar- Host 31 Associates in Texas. Council will continue on Leverment (Tom Mason on June 26) Dr. Dale Smith- Chair, IPS Publications Com- to monitor and evaluate this initiative at the Canadian Association of Science Centres mittee Council Meeting in 2009. (CASC) - Ian McLennan Prof. Subramanian - Planetarium Society of In- The Membership Report was filed. Council of German Planetariums (RDP) - dia Past President Martin George presented the Thomas Kraupe Ryan Wyatt- Morrison Planetarium, San Fran- Past President’s Report emphasizing his ef- European/Mediterranean Planetarium Associ- cisco, California, IPS 2012 Conference Bid forts to represent IPS at regional conferenc- ation (EMPA) - Manos Kitsonas Sharon Shanks, Executive Editor, Planetarian es and to introduce IPS to areas with no offi- Great Lakes Planetarium Association (GLPA) - cial ties to the organization. He stressed the Dave Weinrich The meeting was called to order at 9:00 A.M. importance of the interaction of the officers Great Plains Planetarium Association (GPPA) - by President Susan Button. Susan welcomed and Council in maintaining a legacy of con- Jack Dunn everyone to the meeting and introduced IPS tinuity and support within the organization. Italian Association of Planetariums (IAP) - Lars 2008 Conference Hosts Paul Knappenberg- The Past President’s Report will be published Broman for Loris Ramponi er and Larry Ciupik of the Adler Planetarium. in the September 2008 Planetarian. Martin Japan Planetarium Association (JPA) - Kaoru Paul welcomed Council to Chicago and Lar- will continue to pursue the mission and goals Kimura ry presented an update on conference events, of the International Relations Committee as Middle Atlantic Planetarium Society (MAPS) - highlights and general procedures. President its Chair. Gloria Villalobos Susan Button thanked our hosts and their President Susan Button delivered the Pres- Nordic Planetarium Association (NPA) - Lars staff for their hard work on conference prep- ident’s Report. This report will be published Broman arations and for the Council Meeting arrange- in the September 2008 Planetarian. Among Pacific Planetarium Association (PPA) - Gail ments. Following the introductions of Coun- the topics she highlighted were the follow- Chaid cil members and guests, Susan recognized new ing: Planetarium Society of India (PSI) - Dr. P. Council members and reviewed the format •• Expressing thanks to Jack Dunn and Agnès Iyamperumal for the Council meeting as well as changes in Acker for their assistance in producing the Rocky Mountain Planetarium Association the agenda. President’s Update on DVD (RMPA) - Dan Neafus The Secretary’s Report on the Minutes of •• Continuing to publicize IPS and working Russian Planetarium Association (RPA) - Yaro- the 2007 Rio de Janiero, Brazil Council Meet- with other organizations in cooperative ef-

34 Planetarian December 2008 forts Scholarship funds were offered for con- Martin George •• Revitalizing and monitoring the work of ference attendee support this year. President IPS 2008 Fellows: Agnès Acker, Suzanne Committees Susan Button reported on how those funds Gurton, Aase Roland Jacobsen, Lars Pe- •• Appointing Dr. Jacques Guarinos as IPS Me- were dispersed and asked for suggestions from tersen, Raymond Worthy dia Coordinator. Council on how the process could be im- The Past President’s and President’s reports proved. Elections Committee were filed. *The Finance Committee will draft a President Susan Button presented the IPS proposal for guidelines on scholarship Elections Committee report on behalf of Chair Affiliate Reports funds in support of conference atten- Steve Mitch. Steve and the Committee called Written Affiliate Reports were reviewed dance. The proposal shall include a pro- for nominations in March of 2008, and as of and Affiliate Representatives highlighted cedure of policy which addresses applica- May 30, 2008, six individuals were nominat- events and concerns from their respective re- tion, funding, and follow-up/evaluation ed for the office of President-Elect. Only one ports. Past President Martin George presented of the participant/process. replied in the affirmative to accept the nom- his proposal for Standing Rule changes regard- ination. He is: ing Affiliate Representation-discussion was Suggestions from Council included the fol- David Weinrich tabled until Friday. NPA Representative Lars lowing: Planetarium Director Broman asked if the Star Partner members •• offer a standard amount to each requestor Minnesota State University-Moorhead were included within the regional count of (for example, only registration fee, not trav- 1104 7th Avenue South membership and Membership Chair Shawn el/room/board) Moorhead, MN 56563 USA Laatsch replied in the affirmative. Shawn will •• stipulate that the source of the scholarship distribute a survey to IPS Associates and Star be from: host institution (whose budget in- For the offices of Executive Secretary and Partners in an effort to ascertain why they corporates the scholarship funds), vendor Treasurer/Membership Chair, Lee Ann Hen- have not converted to standard IPS Member- sponsors, or other sources nig and Shawn Laatsch were contacted and ship. •• make available lower cost hotel/accommo- asked if they would like to run as incum- In Affiliate News from the floor: dations bents for the offices they currently hold-both SWAP Representative Donna Pierce in- •• provide assistance for roommate arrange- agreed. No other individuals were nominated quired about how we determine the locations ments to run for Executive Secretary or Treasurer/ of portable planetaria. •• require an evaluation/follow-up filed by Membership Chair. Discussion centered on efforts to learn the scholarship recipient At the Business Meeting during the confer- where new facilities are installed and how to •• require participation by the recipient in the ence, additional nominations for the three of- make contact with those and other portables conference (paper/workshop/etc.) fices will be accepted from the floor. that are already in existence. •• strive for excellence and monitor the pro- Upon the conclusion of the Chicago confer- RMPA Representative Dan Neafus report- cess ence, the Elections Committee will contact all ed on the challenges of holding regional con- •• International Relations Committee can as- the nominees to send along their documents ferences and sustaining regional membership. sist in this process. containing biographies and candidate state- Among other suggestions discussed, it was ments. These will be posted on the IPS web- agreed that using the conference to promote Standing Committee Reports site and included with the ballots that will be your planetarium with the public/outreach Standing Committee Reports were pre- mailed in October of this year. The 2004 and arms of your community and emphasizing sented, reviewed and discussed. * Full reports 2006 elections were administered electroni- the benefits of regional membership would and updates will be posted on the individ- cally and the 2008 elections will be conduct- help support those efforts. ual Committee WebPages on the IPS Web- ed electronically as well. PPA Representative Gail Chaid reported on site. the issue of school planetarium closings-her Publications Committee personal experience as well as the issue on a Awards Committee The IPS Publications Committee: Chair larger geographical scale. Chair Lars Broman presented the IPS Dale Smith reported on the activities of the The Affiliate Reports were filed. Awards Committee Report. The IPS Fellows, Committee. IPS Service Award, and IPS Technology and The roster of Associate Editors has grown Conferences Innovation Award honorees will be presented to include: Thomas Wm. Hamilton as editor IPS 2010 Alexandria Conference: Dr. to the membership at the IPS Luncheon. of the “25 Years Ago” column; Steve Tidey has Omar Fikry of the Library of Alexandria, Al- *The procedures for awarding the Pres- moved from “Forum” to the “Education” col- exandria, Egypt reported on plans for the June ident’s Plaque will be added to Appendix umn; Gary Lazich is new editor of “Forum.” 26- 30, 2010 IPS Conference. Council discussed A. Editor Sharon Shanks has completed her sec- the proposed budget, hotel/conference ac- Council discussed the importance of Affil- ond year as Executive Editor and also writes commodations, and conference events. The iate Representatives acting on behalf of their an insightful “In Front of the Console” editori- Finance Committee will be meeting with Dr. membership to nominate deserving candi- al column in each issue. Fikry over the course of the Chicago confer- dates for awards. The Secretary will add a note Chuck Bueter will step down as Advertis- ence and with follow-up meetings prior to the to the Affiliate Responsibilities Document re- ing Coordinator later this year after four years IPS Council Meeting next year. garding Award nominations. of excellent service and Fran Ratka, who also IPS 2008 Chicago Conference: The up- The 2008 IPS award recipients are: serves as GLPA’s Development Chair, will be- date for this conference was delivered earlier IPS Service Award: Shawn Laatsch come the new Advertising Coordinator. A rein the meeting; however, Council discussed IPS Technology and Innovation Award: view of the advertising rate structure and ad other issues related to IPS 2008 and future Steve Savage location policy within the journal will also be conferences. IPS President’s Plaque: Past President undertaken.

December 2008 Planetarian 35 The 2007 IPS Directory, edited by Chair Dale Fulldome Committee rate with astronomy and space education re- Smith, was mailed to all IPS members in De- Council discussed the purpose, objectives lated agencies, and to improve upon the ex- cember 2007. It was distributed in CD for- and future course of the committee. Dan Nea- isting partnerships. Affiliate representatives mat, but was available in print copies to mem- fus spoke on behalf of Chair Ryan Wyatt to will be encouraged to become more involved bers for purchase at cost. The Directory is also some of the details in the report. Council will in the distribution of information to their re- available in the members-only area of the IPS work with the committee to seek ways to gional members. Website. The IPS Directory is published on a bi- collaborate and cooperate in addressing full- ennial basis with updated files available on dome issues. Planetarium Development Group the website between editions-the next edition Committee will be published in 2009. History Committee President Susan Button reported on behalf The Publications Committee is working The IPS History Committee Report was of Chair Ken Wilson. The Planetarium De- with IPS Web Master Alan Gould on the IPS delivered by Historian John Hare. John con- velopment Group Committee continues Web Map Project. tinues with the task of scanning photographs work on the Planetarium Guidebook. Ken re- and slides. He hopes to have a series of thumb- ports that the chapter on sound systems and Special Publications nail images available on the IPS Website in the sound studios from Sandro Gomeshas been The IPS Astronomical Songbook (Jon Bell, Edi- near future. John encourages members to pass reviewed and edited and is back in Sandro’s tor) will be distributed in the Planetarian. on relevant material for the IPS Archives. hands for his approval and possible addi- Science Communication Masters Theses (Lars tions. There is still a need for volunteer au- Broman, editor), texts of masters theses writ- International Relations thors for the chapters on renovation, special ten by students in the Science Communica- Committee effects/multi-image, and participatory plane- tions program at Dalarna University (Sweden) The IPS International Relations Com- taria. Please contact Ken if you are interested directed by Lars Broman. To be released in CD mittee Report was presented by Chair Mar- in joining the effort. format and distributed with a future issue of tin George. Martin reported on the commit- the Planetarian. tee’s efforts to reach out to China in setting Portable Planetarium Committee Status of other documents, publications, up a national organization and to continue to Chair Susan Button presented the IPS Por- and efforts: encourage other regions to participate in the table Planetarium Committee Report. The Proceedings of the IPS 2006 Melbourne global community of planetariums. The com- Since a new editor for the Planetarian column Conference were distributed as a CD set with mittee continues to work on the goal of com- had not been appointed, Susan will contin- the 2007 IPS Directory. pleting the series of translations for the IPS ue to write the column. The Fifth European The archive of past publications is available Membership Brochure and resolving some of Meeting of Small and Portable Planetaria will as a set of 8 CDs: $75 for members and $175 for the issues of translations at conferences. Presi- be held Oct. 9-11, 2008 in Portugal, hosted by non-members. dent Elect Tom Mason reported that transla- Navegar Foundation and the Center for Astro- Dale reported that IPS maintains three re- tions in Polish and Irish have been requested physics of Oporto University. The Committee positories of back publications: the U.S. Re- and Chair Martin George added that Chinese continues to seek contact people in each repository is with Treasurer/Membership Chair and Russian translations have also been men- gional affiliate and news of their activities for Shawn Laatsch; the European Repository is tioned. During early 2008, the Committee publication in the Planetarian. Affiliates are with Chris Janssen at Europlanetarium in gathered a great deal of information about the encouraged to provide information of inter- Genk, Belgium; and the Asian Repository is situation regarding the ongoing closure of the est to portable planetariums in regional news- in Japan at Munakata Yurix Planetarium in Moscow planetarium and discussed the situa- letters and conferences. Fukuoka prefecture, with Osama Kato. Chair tion by email. It has been proposed that the Dale Smith thanked Shoichi Itoh for main- Committee recommend to the Officers that a Professional Services Committee taining the Japanese repository for many strategy be developed for dealing with IPS re- Chair Mike Murray reported that the com- years at the Suginami Science Center. Shoi has sponses to planetarium closures and potential mittee has identified several issues that are moved to the National Astronomical Obser- closures. of interest to planetarians in the digital field: vatory of Japan. operations and training. His committee will On behalf of Council, Thomas Kraupe ac- Outreach Committee continue to investigate funding sources and knowledged Chair Dale Smith and his com- IPS Outreach Committee Chair Jon El- methods of addressing some of these topics. mittee for their outstanding efforts on bring- vert reported that the emphasis of this coming quality and high standards to their work mittee for the past six months has been col- Script Contest Committee for the membership. lecting and announcing ideas, programs and President Susan Button presented the IPS Standing Committee Reports were filed. resources related to the International Year of Script Contest Committee report on behalf Astronomy, most of which has been posted of Chair Steve Tidey. Ad Hoc Committee Reports to the IPS web site. Council discussed ways IPS The winning script for the 2008 Eugenides Ad Hoc Committee Reports were pre- could encourage more collaborative events Script Contest is Michael Lion, written by sented, reviewed and discussed. Complete re- using IYA as a vehicle. President Susan Button, Margie Walter, and the runner up is Sky Jour- ports will be posted on the IPS Website. President Elect Tom Mason, Past President- ney, written by Jiri Holusa. Their prizes will IPS International Relations Committee Chair be awarded at the Luncheon during the IPS Education Committee Martin George, RDP Affiliate Representative Awards Ceremony. Chair Steve Tidey will President Susan Button reported that Jack Thomas Kraupe, and IPS Outreach Chair Jon be stepping down as Chair at the end of July Northrup is the new IPS Education Commit- Elvert will participate in a conference call this 2008. Council discussed how to improve and tee Chair and he will be meeting with his week with IYA representatives. The Outreach revitalize the contest. *Manos Kitsonas will committee during the conference to review Committee will continue to pursue ways to work with the new Script Contest Com- the mission and objectives of the committee. more effectively communicate and collabo- mittee Chair to revise the rules and guide-

36 Planetarian December 2008 December 2008 Planetarian 37 lines for the contest and present it for SR.III.A.4. The organization, in order to main- five institutions/planetariums within the or- Council approval. tain its affiliation with the International Plan- ganization’s general geographical region if the etarium Society, must have on file and/or general geographical region is currently be- Strategic Planning Committe make available to IPS upon request, a copy of ing served by an IPS-affiliated organization(s). Council discussed with Chair Tom Mason its current membership list and a copy of its Rationale: To correct the grammar in the sec- of the Strategic Planning Committee what mission statement, constitution, or set of by- tion. should be the focus of the committee. Tom laws. would like to have a clear consensus from Revised SR: Item 5: Council on how this information is collected SR III.A.4. The organization, in order to main- Original SR: and the issues that are considered by the SPC. tain its affiliation with the International Plan- SR.III.D.2. After affiliation, voting representa- Thomas Kraupe said that it should be the task etarium Society, must: tion shall be maintained provided that the of the committee to come up with the issues a. have on file and make available to IPS organization continues to meet the member to be addressed. Chair Tom Mason reviewed upon request a copy of its mission statement, requirements set out in Section III.B under past references to Strategic Planning propos- constitution, or set of by-laws. which the organization was accepted as an af- als. Secretary Lee Ann Hennig will forward all b. supply an annual report to the IPS filiate. correspondence regarding the committee and Council at or before the time of the Coun- Revised SR: its reports to the Chair so he can review the cil meeting each year, which includes de- SR III.D. 2. After affiliation, all rights relating history of the issues. A survey of the member- noting at least the minimum number of to representation on the Executive Coun- ship will be designed as an on-line task for the IPS members as set out in III.B, together cil shall be maintained provided that the or- membership to determine which issues are with other important information about ganization continues to meet the require- most important to the general membership. the organization and its activities. This ments set out in Section III.A and III.B under report shall normally be completed on a which the organization was accepted as, and Technology Committee standard template provided by the Secre- may remain, an affiliate. No report submitted tary. Rationale: “All rights” includes the ability to Rationale: Sub-point (a) is part of the origi- vote and to make reimbursement claims (pre- Website Committee nal SR, but is joined by Sub-point (b) making it viously, only voting was included here). Also, Chair Alan Gould reported on the IPS Web- mandatory for an affiliate to submit a report the addition of Section III.A here now includes site Committee activities. The committee is to Council. In the past, reports have been sub- the possibility of the organization being ineli- working on implementing an IPS Google Map/ mitted late, or in some cases, not at all. It also gible through failure to submit a report. Earth. Collaboration with other committees encourages the affiliate organization to keep continues with regard to Elections, publica- track of its IPS membership. Original SR: tions, and posting archival material. The com- SR.III.D.3. Organizations not yet affiliated with mittee will address revisions of IPS brochures, Item 3: the IPS or whose number of members no lon- setting up a repository of digital assets for the Original SR: ger meets applicable minimum affiliation re- membership, adding more interesting and SR.III.B.1. The minimum number of members quirements may send a representative to IPS current content (graphics, animations, pod- of a potential affiliate organization shall be Executive Council meetings, but that repre- casts, and movies). Council discussed the feasi- four (4) IPS members each from different in- sentative may not vote and may not receive bility of conference events coverage, perhaps stitutions/planetariums providing the general travel reimbursements from IPS funds. a virtual conference capability, or should that geographical region is not currently served by Revised SR: be a host responsibility. Other ideas included an IPS affiliated organization. (2005) SR.III.D.3 An Organization accepted as an posting keynote speakers/special events, ar- Revised SR: Affiliate but failing to meet the require- chival conference events on the website. SR III.B. 1. The minimum number of members ments set out in III.A and III.B may send Shawn Laatsch moved to accept all Ad of a potential affiliate organization shall be a representative to IPS Executive Council Hoc Committee Reports, seconded by Donna four (4) IPS members each from different in- meetings. However: Pierce and approved by Council. stitutions/planetariums within the organi- a. that representative shall be considered zation’s general geographical region pro- as an observer for the purposes of con- Constitution Matters viding the region is not currently served ducting the meeting. Past President Martin George presented his by an IPS affiliated organization. (2005) b. that representative may not vote and proposals for revisions to the By-Laws and the Rationale: To correct the grammar in the may not receive travel reimbursements Standing Rules relating to Affiliate Status. Af- section. from IPS funds; and ter discussion, the following revisions were c. such an organization will, after failing approved (changes are in bold and under- Item 4: to meet the requirements set out in III.A lined). Original SR: and III.B for two (2) consecutive Council Item 1: SR.III.B.2. The minimum number of members meetings, have its affiliate status revoked. Revised SR: of a potential affiliate organization shall be Rationale: This changes SR.III.D.3 to refer SR.III. Affiliate Organizations ten (10) IPS members from no less than five only to an organization that was previous- Section A. Qualifications needed to become and institutions/planetariums if the general geo- ly, but is no longer, considered an affiliate, remain an affiliate organization of the IPS: graphical region is currently being served by and incorporates SR.III.A. Sub-point (a) clearly Rationale: The addition of “and remain” is to an IPS-affiliated organization(s). states the status of such a person. Sub-point (b) make the purpose of this rule clearer. Revised SR: makes it clear that reimbursements and vot- SR.III.B.2. The minimum number of mem- ing are not allowed. Sub-point (c) allows the Item 2: bers of a potential affiliate organization shall IPS to remove such an organization from its Original SR: be ten (10) IPS members from no fewer than list of affiliates, so that such an organization

38 Planetarian December 2008 will no longer appear in the Planetarian or ignated time. The Chair of the Elections Com- and Planetariums to the world. on the IPS Website. Previously, there was no mittee shall receive and count the votes and Council discussed other ideas concerning rule which allowed this to be done. SR.III.D.4 report to the Officers. The results of the elec- related issues which are also (listed below) allows a non-voting and non- tions shall be announced to the Membership common with IPS commit- reimbursable person to represent an organi- as soon as is convenient. tees: zation, country or region, but without being Rationale: This has been addressed in the pro- a. establishing links among considered to be representing an affiliate. cedures for elections in the SR’s: Appendix B, planetariums/events/non-IPS so to be consistent we need to reflect the ad- entities Item 6: vance of technology since the By-Laws were b. providing publicity in New SR.III.D.4 written. other magazines/journals SR III.D.4.Organizations, Independent about IPS sovereign states or geographical regions Item 2: c. promoting events on the not currently represented by an Affiliate By-Laws: Art.VII.Sec.2 IPS Website, then linking to may send a representative to IPS Council A Council Meeting shall be held annually at the institutions of those events meetings, provided that: the discretion of the President in agreement d. producing position statements similar to (a) that representative or his or her institu- with the Council Members. At any Coun- the “Age of the Earth” IPS Position Statement tion is a current member of IPS; cil Meeting a majority of the Council shall e. encourage members/affiliates/institu- (b) rules 3(a) and 3(b) above apply to such a constitute a quorum. All questions arising at tions to mention IPS when they are hosting representative; and Council Meetings shall be decided by simple an event (c) unless representing an independent sov- majority vote except as otherwise provided f. providing an accreditation/label for plan- ereign state, representation must be made in these By-Laws. A Council Member may ap- etariums on behalf of at least four (4) IPS members point in writing any other member [OF THE g. reminding institutional members to use or persons or institutions eligible to be- SOCIETY] as his/her proxy for Council Meet- the IPS Logo come IPS members. ings, provided the appointed person exercises h. providing basic information sheets on the Rationale: This additional SR. allows coun- only one vote by proxy. IPS Education Web Page- coordinate these in tries with even just one IPS member to send a Rationale: Council has always assumed that conjunction with IYA. person to represent that country as an observ- any member of the Society, not just anoth- President Susan Button will work with er. This rule allows such a person exposure to er member of Council, can hold a proxy, and Chuck Bueter on looking at options for distri- the IPS Council and may encourage further Council has always operated that way. The bution of the Let There be Light planetarium membership in the country or region. It also proposed new words incorporate that explic- program to IPS members. separates the general concept of “defunct” af- itly. IPS Web Committee Chair Alan Gould re- filiates from that of allowing representatives quested funds for upgrading the server/hard from non-affiliates, even though “defunct” af- *Thomas Kraupe moved to approve the drives for storage of digital assets for the Web filiates may still send a non-voting and non- revisions to the Standing Rules, Jack Dunn Site. *Tom Mason moved to approve the ap- reimbursable member to Council. seconded, and Council approved. The By- propriations, Donna Pierce seconded and Laws revisions will be placed on the Fall Council approved. Original SR: 2008 Ballot for consideration by the IPS Alan inquired again about the possibility SR.III.D.4 A listing of current affiliate organiza- Membership. of offering joint IPS/Regional Affiliate mem- tions is provided in Appendix F, which is up- bership dues. Council discussed the impact of dated by the Executive Secretary as necessary. Unfinished Business such an arrangement in terms of: (1997) President Susan Button reviewed the IPS a. how the membership would be discount- Revised SR: This existing SR becomes Conference Documents which will improve ed SR.III.D.5 the planning scope of IPS Conferences. b. the method by which the dues would be Rationale: simple renumbering of the rule Past President and International Relations recorded because of insertion of the new SR.III.D.4 Chair Martin George reported that the MOU c. offering an e-membership option and its template that was originally designed with impact on advertising costs in printed ver- In other Constitutional matters, Secretary Lee NASA in mind is available for use with oth- sions vs. PDF web-hosted versions of publica- Ann Hennig presented the following By-Laws er organizations and will work with Outreach tions revisions for Council consideration: Chair Jon Elvert on implementation. d. complications with accessing web-based Council Members were reminded of the im- memberships Item 1: portance of access and monitoring of the Ya- e. the need to still offer mailings and inserts By-Laws: Art.IV.Sec.5 hoo Groups Council Site for IPS information *The Finance Committee, Publications The Elections Committee shall present the purposes as an additional tool in keeping up Chair Dale Smith, and Planetarian Editor slate of officers to the Membership Commit- with business issues. Sharon Shanks will research this issue to tee for ratification and for distribution to the see how such a proposal would affect costs voting membership at least four (4) months New Business and distribution policy. before expiration of the term of office or at Dr. Jacques Guarinos, IPS Media Coordina- the beginning of the regular biennial meet- tor, spoke about the mission and goals of this Conference Bids IPS 2012 ing of the membership, whichever occurs position under the IPS Publications Commit- IPS 2012 Conference Bids were presented by first. The voting shall be by signed mailed tee. Jacques sees this as an opportunity to pres- the following representatives: [POSTAL OR ELECTRONIC] ballot. The ent a global perspective of IPS with respect to Dr. Jacques Guarinos- Saint-Etienne Plane- candidates with the plurality of votes shall be astronomical events and to promote the role tarium, Saint-Etienne, France. The dates for a declared elected and assume office at the des- of IPS in its action on behalf of Astronomy Saint-Etienne conference would be July 16-22,

December 2008 Planetarian 39 2012. Ryan Wyatt, Morrison Planetarium, San Francisco, California USA. The dates for a San Francisco conference have not yet been deter- Call for Nominations mined. Jon Elvert, Irene Pennington Planetarium, Lars Broman, Award Committee chair Baton Rouge, Louisiana USA. The dates for a [email protected] Baton Rouge conference would be July 22-26, 2012. The International Planetarium Society recognizes outstanding service to its organiza- The potential hosts discussed plans and tion once every two years. The next time recognition will be bestowed will be in 2010, dur- overviews of IPS 2012 and answered questions ing the conference in Alexandria, Egypt. from Council. Each site will post information It is the task of the Awards Committee to prepare the background material from which on the IPS Web Site concerning their bids. the IPS Council can decide which persons will receive awards and which will be named President Susan Button announced that the Fellows of IPS. It is a rather long process, since Council meets a year in advance of the con- vote for the IPS 2012 site would be conducted ference to make these decisions and needs the information by the summer of 2009. at the 2009 IPS Council Meeting. Therefore, now is the time to nominate! Your nominations should reach the Awards Committee no later than 15 May 2009 so we can prepare a recommendation for Council’s Project Reports decision. You can send your nomination to any of the Award Committee members: IYA 2009 will be celebrated in many ven- Jeanne Bishop, [email protected]; ues and in a variety of ways. Council dis- Thomas Kraupe, [email protected]; and cussed how their regions or institutions were Lars Broman, [email protected]. participating in the IYA. Some of the initia- Please include the reasons why you think your nominee should be awarded or named tives included special planetarium programs a Fellow. or events related to teacher workshops, co- IPS has two kinds of awards. First is the classic IPS Service Award, on which our Stand- sponsoring or participating in IYA special ing Rules say: An IPS Service Award shall be bestowed, from time to time, by the Society events (100 hours of Astronomy, including upon an individual or institution whose presence and work in the planetarium field has short (5minute) trailers about Astronomy in been, through the years, an inspiration to the profession and its members. Between 1982 presentations, monthly events/lectures/pre- and 2008, 20 service awards have been given. sentations, concerts highlighting astronomy The second award is the IPS Technology and Innovation Award which, according to themed music, hosting exhibits/amateur as- the Standing Rules, shall be bestowed, from time to time, by the Society upon an individ- tronomy nights, and many others. IPS mem- ual, institution or commercial vendor whose technology and/or innovations in the plane- bers are urged to share their events with the tarium field have been, through the years, utilized or replicated by other members and/or IPS Website Committee and Loris Ramponi planetariums. This is a new award and it has so far been given only once, in 2008. for the IPS Calendar. Deserving members of IPS can be named IPS Fellows. In order to be named a Fellow of Shawn Laatsch presented an update on the IPS, the Standing Rules say that a member must have continuous active membership in History of the Telescope PBS special and the good standing in IPS for at least five years and substantial contributions in at least two of traditional planetarium show that will be dis- the following: (1) Serving IPS in elective office, diligent and/or devoted committee work, tributed free to all IPS members. The project- and the organization of conferences and meetings. (2) Relevant and significant publica- ed date is January 2009 for completion of the tions and /or conference presentations. (3) Cooperation with professional societies, orga- program. nizations and groups which bring attention to the importance of planetariums’ existence. GLPA Representative Dave Weinrich shared (4) The development of new methods in the planetarium field. news of the Ghana Planetarium Project. The Since the mid-1980s, 218 IPS members have been named Fellows of IPS. planetarium is now installed and well on its The names of previous Awardees and Fellows are found at www.ips-planetarium.org/ way to inspiring audiences with the beauty or/fellows+awardees.html. The complete rules are found on page 16 in IPS Bylaws and of astronomy in conjunction with the real Standing Rules, www.ips-planetarium.org/or/rules. I sky. Kudos to Dave and his team on a job well done.

For the Good of the Order Respectfully submitted, President Elect Tom Mason announced that the 2009 IPS Council Meeting will be held in Lee Ann A. Hennig Toulouse, France- dates still to be determined. Executive Secretary, IPS Council expressed its gratitude to Shoichi June 27, 2008 Itoh for the many years of service he has given to IPS both as a Council Representative for HHH the Japan Planetarium Association and other efforts on behalf of the planetarium commu- *Addendum to the Minutes: nity. Shoi has changed jobs and now works at At the General Membership Meeting, Mark the National Astronomical Observatory of Ja- Rigby of the Sir Thomas Brisbane Planetari- pan. um, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia was nom- With business completed, Donna Pierce inated for the office of President Elect of IPS. moved to adjourn the meeting, seconded by His name will be placed on the ballot for the Shawn Laatsch, and approved by Council. election of officers in October. I

40 Planetarian December 2008 Second Place: IPS/Eugenedies Script Contest

Sky Journey

by Jiri Holuša Observatory and Planetarium of Johann Palisa VŠB-Technical University Ostrava 17. listopadu 15 708 33 Ostrava-Poruba Czech Republic [email protected] planetarium.vsb.cz

The subject matter for the 2007 IPS/Eugenides scriptwriting competition was Constella- tions. Jiri Holusa really took this to heart and produced what may be the mother of all constellation shows in his script Sky Journey. And what a journey it is! If you present Jiri’s script in full, I suggest you make sure your pointer’s battery is fully charged, as it will be worked overtime. It was a great pleasure for me to read such a gloriously “old-fashioned” script that centers completely and unashamedly around the one thing that planetariums show better than anything else—the star field. I’ve never seen so many point outs in one show, but that’s great because it reminds both us and the audience why humanity has always had such a fascina- tion with the universe. Jiri’s script is a thoroughly deserving Second Place winning script, and I hope the simplicity of its central idea, and its ease of reading, will encourage you to try your hand, too, at producing a script for the next competition.

Steve Tidey Chair, Script Contest Committee

GOALS: •teach the basic constellations and asterisms visible from the latitude 50° N •explain the difference between a constellation and an asterism •show that different cultures have different constellations and that constellations are inventions of human imagination

December 2008 Planetarian 41 live segment Hello… Welcome to the (name of) Planetarium. The room we are in now is called the sky theater. It is an interesting place. It’s basically a big circle, and when you look up, you’ll notice a big dome above you. Its diameter is …..... meters. And this dome has an important purpose here. It serves as a projection screen for starry skies.

But in order to have a starry sky projection, we need a projector. As you might have guessed already, the projector we’re speaking about is the instrument here in the middle of the theater. It can project about 3500 stars onto the dome above us at once. This is roughly the same number of stars you can see outside in the real sky, too, providing there are good observation conditions.

But, these days, ideal observation conditions are rather rare. You won’t find them in cities or towns, or even in their surroundings … there is just too much light from humans around. But you will find excellent observation condition in mountains or deserts, where humans don’t live and the air is dry. Maybe you have already been in these environments and have experienced a really dark sky, and been in awe of the multitudes of stars shining above you… Maybe this experience is still awaiting you. However, whatever your experience is, we can create a simulation of a really dark sky here at the sky theatre. Here, you can taste what a really dark sky looks like without having to travel to far away places.

And the sky theater can offer you even more. You can take a journey here throughout the year and learn some of the best main lights down known constellations in the sky. If you pay close attention, I music, soft and low, guarantee that you will be able to find some of them on your starts own in the real sky, and even show them to your friends! So, if city panorama – on you are ready for some fun, let’s start our sky journey, OK? star projector – stars Watch out, it’s starting to get dark… on music ends So, it is dark enough for us to see some stars above us now. But, there is also a city on the horizon. The city is full of lights. And now let’s see what happens when the city lights dim… Yeah, we city panorama dims see many more stars … Wow, isn’t the starry sky marvelous? …

Now, where can we even begin in this celestial labyrinth? For better orientation, astronomers have divided the sky into areas that we call constellations. And we will learn about some of them today. I suspect that you might even know a few of them by name already. Today, I’d like to have some fun with you finding them in the sky. Let’s start with one of the best known groups of stars… If you look way up, you’ll find it very high in Big Dipper outline – the sky… Does anyone know what it is called? Yes, that’s right, on it’s the Big Dipper. The Big Dipper consists of seven bright

42 Planetarian December 2008 stars… one, two, three, four, five, six, seven… Excellent. The Big Dipper outline – tetragon represents the bowl and the remaining three stars depict off the handle. Great.

But, what about the Little Dipper? It is not so clearly visible. Nevertheless, it does contain one very famous star. This star is light pointer as not particularly bright, but because the stars around it are much indicated throughout fainter, it is actually quite discernable. The name of this star is in text … Polaris. So how can we find it?

First, we need to find the Big Dipper. Then, we need to locate two stars at the pouring side of the bowl. They are here. Good. Those two stars are sometimes called Pointers, because they point to the famous star we are seeking. Just follow the Pointers upwards and the first star you run into is Polaris, the brightest star of the Little Dipper. Here is its handle and here is its bowl.

Big Dipper and Little Now you can see that the Little Dipper and the Big Dipper pour Dipper outlines – on into each other. Well, you may ask yourself why the brightest star of the Little Dipper is called Polaris. The answer is: because it is the star that is nearest to the North Celestial Pole.

Now you may ask what the heck the North Celestial Pole is. Let me explain this to you this way: if you stood at the North Pole of north celestial pole – the Earth, the North Celestial Pole would be exactly above your on head. And Polaris would be the nearest star to the North Celestial Pole.

Polaris is also called the North Star, because whenever you find compass rose – on Polaris in the sky, you can easily tell which way is north. Of course, the opposite side is the south. When you face south, the east is on your left, and the west is on your right. So knowing this about Polaris can be very practical, whether you are a Viking at sea, crossing the desert on your camel, or simply finding your way home at night some time.

north celestial pole – Now, before I continue, there is something important you need off know. Neither the Big Dipper nor the Little Dipper is a constellation – they are just groups of stars that belong to the constellations of the Great Bear and the Little Bear. So let’s have a look at them.

Look here, at the upper side of the cup. This is the back of the bear, and those three stars to the right represent his head. His front leg has sharp claws, those less bright stars represent his belly, here we have his hind leg with claws, and the handle of the Big Dipper makes up the Great Bear’s tail. So this is the constellation of the Great Bear, which contains a group of stars called the Big Dipper. Such distinctive groups of stars, which are not defined as constellations, are asterisms.

December 2008 Planetarian 43 So you have been with me for only 5 minutes and you already know two asterisms: the Big Dipper and the Little Dipper, and that those two asterisms are parts of two constellations: the Big Bear, and the Little Bear, which is this area here, around the Little Dipper…

Big Dipper and Little And now, let’s continue on our sky journey. Are there any other Dipper outlines – off asterisms in the sky? Of course there are. There is an asterism called the Spring Triangle. It is called so because it is visible during the spring just after sunset.

The three bright stars that form the Spring Triangle belong to constellation outlines three different constellations: the Lion, the Herdsman, and the – on Maiden. Let’s examine the Lion first. Its brightest star is Regulus. One can find it easily using two stars of the Big Dipper. Here is the Big Dipper and when you follow the line connecting two back stars of its bowl downward, you cannot miss Regulus.

constellation outlines Regulus belongs to another asterism, the Sickle. This asterism – off also looks like a reverse question mark. And now imagine the Lion. The blade of the Sickle represents the mane of the Lion. Regulus is its heart and the stars to the east represent its flank constellation outlines and tail. The Lion is a really beautiful spring constellation. – on constellation outlines Now we can go to the next star of the Spring Triangle. Its name – off is Arcturus. We can easily find it again through the help of the Big Dipper. Just follow the arc of the handle of the Big Dipper and you cannot miss Arcturus, the brightest star of the Herdsman. The star pattern of the Herdsman can be viewed as a boy’s great kite.

And now the last star of the Southern Triangle. We can locate it easily in a similar way as Arcturus. Just follow the arc of the handle of the Big Dipper and continue beyond Arcturus. The next bright star you will bump into is Spica, the brightest star of the constellation of the Maiden. Its star pattern resembles a lazy letter Y.

constellation outlines All three constellations, the Maiden, the Herdsman and the Lion, – on are quite large. In fact, they belong among the largest constellations of the sky. But you can also find nice small constellations in the spring sky. Below the Maiden is the constellation of the Crow, which is shaped in a sort of trapezium. The two highest stars of the trapezium can serve as pointers toward Spica. Another small constellation we can find in the spring sky is just east of the Herdsman. It is the Northern Crown, whose main stars form a semicircular arc. One star of this arc outshines all the others; it is called Gemma or the Gem Star.

44 Planetarian December 2008 December 2008 Planetarian 45 46 Planetarian December 2008 December 2008 Planetarian 47 48 Planetarian December 2008 diurnal motion starts So that’s probably enough said about the spring sky. Now, let us look at the summer sky instead. The Lion is slowly setting in the west. The Great Bear is getting lower in the sky and new stars and new constellations rise in the east. constellation outlines – off What we see now is the starry sky of summer evenings. Where diurnal motion ends can we start here? There is a distinct asterism in the sky called the Summer Triangle. Can you find it in the sky? Try it... It consists of three bright stars... The brightest of them is Vega. The other two stars are called Deneb and Altair.

Vega is almost directly overhead. It is the brightest star in the constellation outlines summer sky and belongs to the constellation of the Lyre. Deneb – on belongs to the constellation of the Swan. The Swan is also known as the Northern Cross, as the pattern of its stars suggests. Altair, the brightest star of the constellation of the Eagle, forms the southern end of the Summer Triangle. Under the Swan’s wing lie the stars of the prettiest small constellation in the sky – the Dolphin.

diurnal motion starts When the summer nights become longer and autumn is approaching, the Eagle, the Dolphin, the Swan and the Lyre swing slowly westward across the sky towards the horizon. The Eagle sets tail first, followed closely by the Swan, who dives beak first below the western horizon. constellation outlines – off As nights get colder, we can discern a new asterism in the sky. It diurnal motion ends is called the Great Square of Pegasus and signals the coming of Autumn. Not far from the Great Square of Pegasus is the constellation of Cassiopeia. The five brightest stars of this constellation form the letter W. Again, the Big Dipper can help constellation outlines you find this constellation easily. But where is the Big Dipper at – on this time of year?

Well, during autumn, the Big Dipper is very low above the northern horizon. Now, find the Big Dipper’s pointers, and then trace an imaginary line from them to Polaris, the brightest star of the Little Dipper. And now look on the opposite site of the Little Dipper from the Big Dipper. At an equal distance from the Little Dipper is Cassiopeia, the Ethiopian queen. And there is another aid here: a line drawn from Polaris through west end of Cassiopeia hits a large, nearly perfect square of four stars, the Great Square of Pegasus that we just saw. But as I mentioned before, the Great Square of Pegasus is not a constellation, it is just an asterism.

The star in the upper-left corner of this asterism belongs to the constellation of Andromeda. Andromeda was an Ethiopian constellation outlines princess, daughter of Queen Cassiopeia, and is represented by a – off line of three bright stars. If you continue along this line, you will

December 2008 Planetarian 49 Presenting the Latest Fulldome Movie from Evans & Sutherland encounter an arc of stars, which belongs to the constellation of constellation outlines Perseus. Perseus was a famous Greek hero who slew the head of – on dangerous Medusa. The eye of the Medusa is represented by the star Algol.

constellation outlines When you look at the Great Square of Pegasus, at Andromeda, – off and at Algol in Perseus, you can notice a star pattern similar to the enlarged asterism of the Big Dipper. The Great Square of Pegasus forms the bowl, while the stars of Andromeda and the star Algol of Perseus depict the handle.

Another constellation that we can locate relatively easily is Cepheus, the Ethiopian king. Its star pattern can remind you of a house or throne. The star at the top of the house can be easily found if you draw an imaginary line from Pointers through Polaris and continue a little beyond. Cepheus, the Ethiopian king, is next to Cassiopeia, the Ethiopian queen. They are the constellation outline – only husband-and-wife couple among the constellations. There on is a fun story about them and other figures of the autumn sky.

But first, there is one more constellation that you need to know about. It’s called the Sea Monster... it’s rather low above the horizon and although its stars are not particularly bright, it plays music an important role in our story....

recorded narration Cassiopeia was a very beautiful Ethiopian queen, but she was starts also vain and boastful. One day she dared to claim that she was more beautiful than the Nereids, the sea nymphs, who were renowned for their exquisite beauty. The Nereids complained to Poseidon, the God of the Seas. Poseidon, infuriated, sent a terrible sea monster to ravage the Ethiopian coast. At unexpected moments, this sea monster appeared from the waves at the Ethiopian coast to devour people and their herds. Dismayed at the destruction, King Cepheus consulted the oracle of Ammon to see what could be done to rid his country of this plague. It is hardly surprising that Cepheus’ heart was filled with horror when he learned that the land could only be saved if he were to sacrifice his daughter, Andromeda, to the monster. As king, he had no alternative but to save his people, even at the cost of losing his own daughter.

Thus Andromeda was led to the water’s edge where she was chained to a rock and left to the mercy of the monster. At this moment, the hero, Perseus, was passing by and was immediately The Invasion Begins - July 2008 captivated by the beauty of the young chained woman. He learned why she was chained there and decided to rescue her. For licensing information please contact: When the sea monster appeared among the waves and began to approach the coast, Perseus swooped down and tried to kill the Michael Daut monster with his sword. After a long fierce battle he found out +1 (801)-588-1627 that it is not possible to kill it in this way. Therefore he pulled [email protected]

50 Planetarian December 2008 www.es.com

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Michael Daut +1 (801)-588-1627 [email protected]

December 2008 Planetarian www.es.com51

Invaders_of_Mars_One_Page.indd 1 4/24/2008 10:01:57 AM Medusa’s head out of his leather bag and dangled it in front of the sea monster. The monster instantly turned to rock, as was the fate of anybody who looked at Medusa. Perseus then freed Andromeda from her chains and took her as his bride. recorded narration ends Historians believe the plot of this story is very old and might live segment have originated in ancient Mesopotamia, which was located where today’s Iraq is found. Historians also believe that the oldest constellations we recognize today in the sky come from the same territory. So the origins of some of our constellations are really very old. constellations outlines – off I think it’s time to move toward the next season. As winter diurnal motion starts approaches, the Great Square of Pegasus descends toward the western horizon and new constellations appear in the east... diurnal motion ends The best known among them is the constellation of Orion. Its pattern of stars is one of the most recognizable in the sky. Three constellation outlines stars in a row make up the Orion's belt, which is within a – on rectangle of four bright stars representing his shoulders and feet.

constellation outlines Orion is a hunter, so many animals are around him. We can find – off two of them using Orion's belt. If you draw a line through the belt and continue downwards, the line will lead to the brightest star in the sky – Sirius, the eye of the Greater Dog.

If you draw a line through the belt and continue upwards, it will constellation outlines take you to the reddish star Aldebaran, the fiery eye of the Bull. – on The head of the bull is depicted by a V-shaped group of stars. Two bright stars, that represent the tips of the Bull’s horns, and the star Aldebaran, representing the Bull’s eye, form another, much bigger letter V. The back of the Bull is embellished by a group of stars called Pleiades. They are again roughly on the line of Orion’s belt.

constellation outlines The arc of Perseus leads to Pleiades too. High in the sky, above – off the horns of the Bull, is the star Capella. Again, the Big Dipper can help us find it. An imaginary line drawn from the top stars of its bowl points to Capella, which belongs to the constellation of constellation outlines the Charioteer. Its star pattern looks like a horseshoe, if we – on include the star marking the tip of the Bull’s horn.

constellation outlines Another winter constellation is called the Twins. The outline of – off this constellation is nearly a perfect rectangle, where each long side of the rectangle represents one of the Twins. The brightest constellation outlines stars of the Twins are called Castor and Pollux, to commemorate – on the twin brothers from the Greek myths. Castor is closer to Capella, while Pollux is closer to another bright star, Procyon. constellation outlines Procyon is the only bright star of the constellation of the Lesser – off Dog.

52 Planetarian December 2008 Too many new constellations? Well, there is an aid – it is an asterism which has the shape of the letter G. We can begin with the star Aldebaran from the constellation of the Bull; then we continue toward Capella in the Charioteer; after that, we go toward Castor and Pollux in the Twins; our next stop is Procyon in the Lesser Dog; then the brightest star in the sky, Sirius, which belongs to the Greater Dog; and finally, we finish the letter G with three stars from the constellation of Orion. In this way, the asterism of the letter G can help us identify the brightest stars and their constellations on the winter sky.

diurnal motion starts When the winter is long and cold, we eagerly await the arrival of spring. So, look at the eastern side of the sky. The Big Dipper is slowly getting higher and higher until it is almost directly above our heads... This is the sky we already talked about – it is the spring sky. Lower in the south is the Spring Triangle. diurnal motion ends Now, as we journeyed throughout the year in the sky, we could see some constellations all year round. Can you name any of them? Yes, we could see the Great Bear, probably the best known constellation of all. So how come it is visible throughout constellation outlines the year? Well, this is because the Great Bear is close to Polaris. – on When you look in the sky, you see just now that it rotates around diurnal motion starts Polaris. The constellations that are close enough to Polaris stay above the horizon all the time – they never set and never rise. We call these constellations circumpolar. Among circumpolar constellations, there are the Great Bear, the Lesser Bear, Cassiopeia, and Cepheus. diurnal motion ends Oh, to see them comfortably, we should face north. Here, in the planetarium, we can do it easily. We can put north here just ahead of you. All we need to do is to rotate the star projector. Are you ready for the change? OK, let’s go… star projector rotates So now we’re facing north and can easily identify the circumpolar constellations: the Great Bear, the Lesser Bear, Cassiopeia, and Cepheus. You know, it’s not only modern astronomers that are aware of the circumpolarity of those constellation outlines constellations. – off Native Americans have several sky stories that are based on circumpolarity, as well. One of the most splendid comes from picture: outline of the Iroquois and Micmac of the northeastern part of North Indian (Bear, America. To these people, the bowl of the Big Dipper represents Hunters, Bear’s Den) a bear that is being hunted by seven Indians. All of these hunters and modern (Ursa have bird names: Robin, Chickadee, Moose Bird, Pigeon, Blue Major, Boötes, Jay, Owl and Saw-Whet. Just for your information: today’s Corona Borealis) astronomers place the last four stars into the constellation of the constellations Herdsman and call the brightest of them Arcturus.

December 2008 Planetarian 53 And now, look more closely at the Chickadee, the second hunter. There are actually two stars there, not one. The second star represents a pot, in which the bear will be cooked when it is finally killed. Not far from the hunters is a small arc of stars which modern astronomers call the Northern Crown. But Iroquois and Micmac call this constellation the Bear’s Den. And Indian music this is the place where our story begins: picture – off recorded narration In the spring, when it gets warmer, the bear wakes up from starts hibernation and leaves his den. The hunt begins: all seven diurnal motion starts Indians start pursuing the bear. Nevertheless, the bear successfully escapes from them all summer long. As autumn approaches, the bear slowly descends toward the northern horizon, while the last four hunters are disappearing below it. They are so exhausted that they have given up the pursuit. This leaves only the three foremost hunters – Robin, Chickadee, and Moose Bird – to continue the hunt.

When the bear attempts to stand on his hind legs, the hunter called Robin finally hits the bear with an arrow. The fatally wounded bear sprays blood onto Robin. Robin then shakes himself and thereby colors the leaves of trees blood-red. Because this happens every autumn, every autumn the forests turn red. And because a little bit of blood remains on Robin‘s breast, the Robin got its name Redbreast.

The killed bear is then cooked in the pot carried by the second hunter. After the bear has been eaten, only its skeleton remains in the sky. It lies on its back as it moves up in the winter sky. The following spring, another bear leaves the den and the hunting scene is reenacted. In this way, the Native Americans have linked together, in a splendid myth, cyclical celestial phenomena and the cyclical events of nature around them. recorded narration ends diurnal motion ends compass rose – off Different human cultures have developed different celestial live segment lores. Where Native Americans see a bear and our culture picture: the star imagines the Big Dipper, other nations see in this part of sky pattern of the Big those objects that are close to them. So the people of North Dipper and the Africa see a camel there, Inuit know this star pattern as the outline of the Big Kayak Stool and Reindeer, Ostyaks from Siberia see a Moose, in Dipper the United Kingdom this pattern is known as the Plough, and in outline of the Big Central Europe as the Great Wagon. Dipper – off outlines of So constellations are not the products of nature, they are the constellations of other inventions of human imagination. cultures are projected onto the star pattern of the Big Dipper

54 Planetarian December 2008 picture: distances to Stars in constellations are at different distances and are not stars in a constellation usually physically bounded. Because modern astronomers need to be accurate in their work, they divided the sky into 88 picture: sky chart precisely defined areas that are called constellations. It is like with constellation land that is divided into countries and states. So it is the area boundaries around the star pattern that makes the modern official constellation, not the star pattern itself. picture – off music (soft) As we journeyed around the sky, we dealt with the star patterns of official astronomical constellations. And we also mentioned some common asterisms that helped us get around the sky. But at the end of our sky journey we visited other cultures and discovered what they saw in the sky. The sky is extremely rich with human imagination.

As we finish up with our presentation here, it might be time for you to get your own celestial map and try to find the constellations in the real sky all by yourself. Learn just a few constellations at first, and step by step, you can add others. And then you can even teach your friends or parents how to main lights – on recognize them. If you have any questions, you can always come music louder back at the (the name of) planetarium to find out more. So have a star projector – stars great time on your very own sky journeys! off

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December 2008 Planetarian 55 BLACK HOLES NARRATED BY JOHN DE LANCIE

riosi cu t y en v e t o N

. e p a s c can e

A visually stunning 3-D experience exploring the black holes phenomenon. 56 Now availablePlanetarian in full-length and 23 minute versions. December 2008 Contact Mike Murray at [email protected] • 801-456-4949 confirming that the National Center for Sci- ence Education mentioned us in their news- President’s Message letter. Jason reported, “This message went to thousands of people today and will be re-post- For more about this exciting meeting you ed on blogs and teacher support websites all can read Mobile News in this issue (see page over the world. Your statement and website 80). should see wide exposure from this. I told you NCSE would be pleased. Jason” Evolution Position Paper You never know what will transpire from a I recently attended a lecture sponsored by simple conversation and an effort to connect. the Technology Alliance of Central New York I am glad I spoke with him! (TACNY), given by Dr. Jason R. Wiles of the departments of Biology and Science Teaching at Political Rhetoric Syracuse University near my home. As I write this column a team of IPS mem- The lecture described his journey from be- bers and IPS Media Coordinator Jacques Gua- ing raised in a family and church that taught rinos are developing a statement that address- him a literal interpretation of the Bible to his es the comments of U.S. Senator John McCain, acceptance of evolution. Jason took us step by a candidate for president of the United States step through his higher education experience in November’s election. His denigration of and how his mind was changed. planetariums as “foolishness” presented an Afterwards I expressed my appreciation of opportunity not to be missed. IPS will seize his lecture and also mentioned the IPS posi- this opportunity to raise public awareness of tion paper, “The Ancient Age of the Earth and planetariums and their value to society! It is Susan Reynolds Button Universe” and gave him my card. not the place of IPS to comment on the poli- Later he emailed me and asked for the ad- Quarks to Clusters tics of any country or to promote any candi- dress for the statement on our website (it’s at date, but we do have an obligation to correct 8793 Horseshoe Lane www.ips-planetarium.org/pubs/age-of-uni- the record if planetariums are demeaned in verse.html). Chittenango, NY 13037 USA any way. Hopefully we will increase the pro- He replied, “Awesome. Thanks. I’ve sent the file of planetariums in some way by availing (1) 315-687-5371 URL along to the folks at the National Center ourselves of this occasion to speak out. (1) 315-263-1985 (cell) for Science Education, and they are more than pleased with the statement. They will be add- [email protected] The International Year of ing it to their Voices for Evolution page (www. Astronomy 2009 is Upon Us ncseweb.org/article.asp?category=2). I’m not Do not forget to visit our IPS web page for Meeting in Portugal sure whether they will log it as a statement the IPS Outreach Committee’s latest news President Elect Tom Mason and I recent- from a scientific/scholarly organization (like about IYA 2009 (www.ips-planetarium.org/ ly attended the 5th European Conference the American Association for the Advance- or/comms/outreachcom.html). for Small and Portable Planetariums. We dis- ment of Science and the American Astronom- During the latest conference call of the IPS covered that, of the 54 delegates, those who ical Society) or an educational organization Working Group, under the direction of Pe- weren’t already members were interested in (like the National Science Teachers Associ- ter Michaud, we discussed joining the International Planetarium Soci- ation, the American Association of Physics the “100 Hours of Astrono- ety. We took the opportunity to encourage Teachers, or various museums on this list). my” initiative. This is a cor- our new friends to join and share their expe- “Either way, your organization will be in nerstone project for IYA. 100 riences with the international community as good company and a valuable addition to the Hours of Astronomy, set for well as reap the benefits of membership. list. Now that it will be on the “Voices” list, April 2-5, is a round-the-clock, and the NCSE (the or- worldwide event with 100 ganization at the front continuous hours of a wide line of nearly all evolu- range of public outreach. For tion education battles) more details go to www.as- knows about it, my tronomy2009.org. A sugges- guess is that your state- tion: have a parallel opening event for 100 ment will be one of Hours of Astronomy at your science center/ the first items referred planetarium. to if any planetarium, Members of the IPS Working Group dis- member or not, is chal- cussed the following interesting suggestions lenged by pseudo-sci- for complimentary initiatives and extending entific and/or religious the impact of IYA throughout the year: intrusion into science •• Explore making presentations and observ- education. Good show! ing sessions in unusual settings, such as hos- Thanks again, and let pitals, bus/train stations, airports, other mu- me know if I can ever seums (such as Greek and Roman sky stories be of service to you, at an art museum), shopping malls or out- TACNY, or IPS. Jason” This is a photo is of the Centro Multimeios de Espinho (Navegar Founda- door parks/plazas in a neighborhood; On October 3 I re- tion) in Espinho, Portugal. •• Take advantage of morning dark hours for ceived another email

December 2008 Planetarian 57 Tom Mason - He’s a man ready to take charge. Part of the conference in Portugal involved networking while cruising along the along the beautiful Rio You will be seeing a lot of this posture! Photo Douro! (Photo by Patricia Reiff.) by Susan Button

“Bus Stop Astronomy.” Children waiting for •• Pair up with your local observatory or ama- good word of IPS during your extensive trav- school buses have a several minutes to no- teur astronomy group for local speakers; els. tice and enjoy the morning sky with your •• Obtain and show programs designed for the Thank you also for initiating and writing help; occasion, such as Two Small Pieces of Glass, your Past President’s Message. It is a wonder- •• Network with local community colleges, Let There Be Night, and The Quest of Our Cos- ful addition to our journal. However, I will not universities and observatories; mic Origins. continue that column since I am already able •• Network with libraries by initiating com- •• Use the IYA2009 trailer in your dome and to present news in the Mobile News column munity reading programs, through which museum; see www.astronomy2009.org. and I will also keep our new president post- age-appropriate books are selected and read, •• Remember to inform others about your ac- ed on any news I have for the general mem- followed by get-togethers where people can tivities. Some avenues for communication bership through his column. I do invite you discuss the book(s); of IYA and 100 Hour events at your location to continue with your excellent column, only •• Involve families, like through a monthly include: under another name, perhaps something like community night (work with church and The Planetarian and IPS website; the International Relations Report. We cer- community groups can have a monthly as- Electronic sites, including IPS News, tainly look forward to all the news you can tronomy theme). During these nights you Dome-L, groups.yahoo.com/group/full share on that front. could conduct scavenger hunts, tell stories, dome, the Planetarium Network (planetari- Lee Ann and Shawn: I absolutely would not and invite community members to bring um.ning.com), and the IYA website. have been able to succeed in my work during their questions and receive discounted ad- this presidency without the both of you. You mission or a tee shirt as a reward. Play games Conference 2010 are and have been, for so many years, essential or pose questions such as: “How many prod- The 20th International Planetarium Soci- in helping IPS provide the services that are so ucts can you name that have an astronom- ety Conference (IPS 2010) will be held at the important to our members. I appreciate how ical reference?” Hold a planetarium astron- Planetarium Science Center at the Library of much effort and perseverance it takes to hold omy quiz program. Suggestions for family Alexandria in Egypt, 26-30 June 2010. the positions that you do. Thank You! programs can be found at NASA sites, and The conference website is up and running; And, finally, this is the time when I am de- activity kits are available from the Astro- make sure to visit it often as plans for our lighted to say that we are in for a real treat over nomical Society of the Pacific. next meeting develop. Go to the IPS website the next two years under the presidency of Dr. •• Connect your activities with the Interna- for a link, or go directly to www.bibalex.org/ Thomas Mason! I am truly looking forward tional Day of Planetaria, March 22; Earth IPS2010/home/home.aspx. to his term of office and you should be too. Hour, March 28 (www.earthhour.org); He has been exceedingly helpful during my Globe at Night, March 16-28 (www.globe. Some Final Words presidency. During Council meetings he was gov/GaN); and activities sponsored by As- My dear colleague and mentor, Martin ever alert and at my elbow, offering to assist tronomers without Borders (www.astrono- George, I cannot thank you enough for the me with some task. It was as if he could read merswithoutborders.org); wisdom and guidance I received from you my mind and accurately anticipate the assis- •• Invite community members to bring their during the last four years. As president, you tance I would need every time! IPS members telescopes for an observing night, or hold were a shining example of what IPS needs in are sure to benefit from the attributes, knowl- clinics for people to learn how telescopes a president and as past president, you contin- edge, and experience of Tom Mason. Congrat- work, how to by one and/or how to use the ued to serve me and our members well. Thank ulations Tom, and I hope I can be an effective one they already have; you for being my right hand as you spread the assistant during your presidency. I

58 Planetarian December 2008 December 2008 Planetarian 59 60 Planetarian December 2008 but I have to admit that I found that the thrill of speaking to the media and groups of people Past President’s Message about astronomy was a far greater one than dealing with the mathematics of nonradial the night sky, and we love keeping track of all pulsations of variable stars. that is happening in astronomy and space re- It was pretty obvious to me that working in search and passing it on in ways which can be a planetarium would, therefore, suit me very understood by everybody, of all ages—espe- well and when such a position came up in Tas- cially to young people, some of whom will be- mania, I simply couldn’t resist applying! come tomorrow’s scientists. My life in astronomy started when I was six. Our Work and Our Passion My parents and I then lived in a flat in an in- The main reason I have been reflecting on ner suburb of Hobart, in Tasmania. I used to all of this recently is that, as I have mentioned look out of my bedroom window at the stars, above, we are lucky to be doing something wondering about them. I remember my moth- that is our interest or, in many cases, our pas- er telling me that the light from the stars took sion. Some of my friends and colleagues find years, or even thousands of years, to reach us, it amazing that I choose to spend much of my and I thought that was fascinating. own leave time visiting planetariums or ob- I noticed that the stars moved across the sky servatories in other countries, but my feeling during the night, but wondered if they also is that those people can have their beach re- moved in relation to each other. I drew a chart sorts with the expensive cocktails by the pool, of part of the sky—I think it may have been while I follow my lifelong topic of interest! part of Scorpius—and checked from night to I also reflect on the enormous work we night to see whether the pattern was chang- planetarians do, and will continue to do, in or- Martin George, Curator ing. Of course it wasn’t, and so I began learn- der to try to halt, and reverse, what I see as a Launceston Planetarium ing more about the constellations. Sadly, that trend towards scientific illiteracy around the little chart I drew is long lost. Queen Victoria Museum world. I am personally deeply concerned that the world is heading for a crisis: the propor- Wellington Street Name Dropping Errol Flynn tion of people with adequate grounding in I went to the same primary school as Errol Launceston, Tasmania science and the more basic skills of numeracy Flynn (although not at the same time!). This is and literacy appears to be dropping. Australia not at all significant, except for the fact that a At the risk of offending some educational number of people with some knowledge of the +61 (3) 63233777 institutions and policymakers, I have seen ed- famous actor were aware that he once lived ucational systems at most levels changing, in +61 (3) 63233776 fax in Tasmania. In our school was, of course, an my opinion, for the worse. It is far less com- Australian flag, which includes the Southern [email protected] mon today in Australia, for example, to find Cross. One day I suddenly realised that I had physics and chemistry being taught as sep- When I accepted the nomination for IPS not yet identified the Cross, and dearly want- arate subjects at the high school level as it president in 2002, having six years ahead of ed to have a picture of our flag so that I could was when I was in my third and fourth year me as an IPS Officer seemed like a very long take it out with me at night. It was old Mr Bar- of high school myself (when I was 14 and 15 time. Now, as 2008 draws to a close, I find my- low, who used to run the grocer’s shop at the years old). self reflecting on what seems to have been a end of the street, who came to the rescue for I am sure that I am not alone in my thoughts. very fast six years, my life in astronomy, and me, and that very night I was able to find the Take, for example, the highly respected Brit- smallest constellation of all. on our profession and where it is heading. ish magazine New Scientist, which has run The most important part, to me, of being I had many of my schoolmates fascinated articles recently commenting on the prob- an IPS officer has been the ability to interact with the sky too, and when I was given my lem of scientific illiteracy. To make matters more than ever before with the people of our first telescope, many of them wanted to look worse, in Britain the financial viability of sci- profession—people all over the world who de- through it to see such things as the craters on ence centres is coming into question—a fact vote their lives to the cause of promoting as- the Moon and the rings of Saturn. that was brought to my attention by our col- tronomy and space science through the medi- I found that I really enjoyed speaking to league Dr Glen Moore from Wollongong, Aus- um of the planetarium. others about the night sky and the things I tralia, at this year’s Australasian Planetarium was seeing and experiencing, and this contin- Society Meeting. It is a problem, or a potential It’s All About Devotion ued right through my high school days. I nat- problem, about which we should all be aware And it is, indeed, devotion. We don’t make urally became very involved with the Astro- in our own countries, too. great fortunes by working in our domes and nomical Society of Tasmania—the state-wide We cannot, of course, easily measure the proudly giving our audiences an experience amateur group—and found myself being elect- benefits of our science centres and planetar- to remember, or by all of the other back- ed president at the tender age of 17. iums in terms of a balance sheet! We plane- ground work we do that keeps our planetari- Within a few years the society began run- tarians and other science centre professionals ums going. ning public astronomy nights with members’ know (not just suspect, in my opinion) that We do, however, enrich our own lives as we telescopes, and I found that my favourite ac- we inspire people and engender interest in sci- enrich the lives of other people. tivity was talking about the night sky to the ence. That can only benefit a country (and the And we are lucky, because the vast majority lines of people who were waiting for their world). I am quite certain that our institutions of planetarium professionals are doing what views, entertaining them so that they were have an increasingly important role in scien- they do because they love their work. We love not too bored with the wait. tific progress. By this stage I was part way through a PhD,

December 2008 Planetarian 61 There is no question about it: astronomy is next two (perhaps three) decades, and hope- liked it and how they are keen to look at the a key to getting people interested in science. fully this century will also see people walking sky that night to find for themselves what we And the planetarium environment allows for on Mars for the first time. Undoubtedly, we have pointed out in the live “current night people to have an astronomy expert physical- shall also have many more spacecraft explor- sky” section of our shows (you do all do that, ly present—someone of whom questions can ing the solar system, and there will be many don’t you?). be asked, and someone who can inspire. discoveries made. I am personally very much Part of the enjoyment we deliver is, in a Yes, I’ve said those kinds of things before, looking forward to 2014, when the European way, sad, because it is important for an unfor- but it is something about which I am quite Space Agency’s Rosetta craft finally reaches tunate reason. There are many people around passionate! comet Churyumov-Gerasimenko and the as- the world who see some things only in the To some of you, I may have come over sociated lander arrives on the comet’s surface. planetarium because light pollution in the sometimes as an “old school” planetarian. The Ground- and space-based astronomy, too, will big cities in which they live limits their view truth is that I am always very keen to embrace undoubtedly produce some very exciting and to third or even second magnitude objects, or new developments, although I unashamed- perhaps unexpected results, together with in- worse. I even occasionally meet some plane- ly continue to be influenced by my opinions creasingly spectacular images. tarians who have seen the Milky Way only in about what a planetarium should be setting Projection planetariums have been around the planetarium dome, although, of course, out to achieve. for over 80 years now and I think that they that is not their fault! will continue to be with us for quite some So in this, the last in my series of messag- We Are in Transition time to come. I shall make the bold predic- es, I congratulate you all and urge you to keep If I were to encapsulate my thoughts about tion that optomechanical projectors will still up the good work. We planetarians make the changes we are seeing in our profession, I be used by a significant number of the world’s our mark on the world, and continue to im- would have to say that we are in a transition planetariums at least well into the 2020s. prove the world in our own special, and high- period between domes being built specifically It was recognised, especially in the USA in ly skilled, way. for the planetarium purpose, and domes being the 1960s, that getting the message to the pub- I also wish to convey a huge thank you to used for a variety of purposes, one of which is lic about astronomy and space activities by all IPS members around the world for hav- as a planetarium. using planetariums was very important in ing me as your president in 2005-2006 and for That in itself is not something about which retaining support for what was being done; the two years before and after as president- I feel strongly negative, provided that the “al- this, in my opinion, will not change. I envis- elect and past president. Thank you, especial- ternatives” put the dome to good use. Yes, fi- age that the lion’s share of astronomical and ly, to members of the IPS Council, committee nancially, running such things as music-la- space-based research will continue for a long chairs, and very importantly my fellow IPS of- ser shows can be a great idea; in addition, our time to be done, or at least funded to a major ficers, who work so tirelessly. I shall miss every domes are especially useful for visualisation of extent, by government bodies and that public aspect of working as an officer, and especially scientific phenomena outside of astronomy. support will be vital. missed will be working so closely with Susan I do think we need to be careful, howev- Button, Tom Mason, Shawn Laatsch and Lee er, to keep astronomy as a major topic in our Domes Will Always be Important Ann Hennig, and in previous years with Jon domes, and to ensure that the quality of the The fact that the night sky appears to us Elvert and Martin Ratcliffe. shows and the associated interaction with to be a sphere will never change, and so our I can assure you all that my support of the planetarians is maintained. It is a matter of domes will always be important. The night IPS will continue. I have very much enjoyed keeping up a standard. sky in the year 2108 will look much the same my role in international relations, which I I have often commented about digital sys- as it does right now in 2008, and a realistic sim- shall be happy to continue with presiden- tems producing a less-than-realistic night ulation of it will still be important in order to tial approval, and look forward to contribut- sky, a fact with which nobody can argue, in- explain its appearance and the motions, both ing information on that topic to the Interna- cluding those who sell them. But I am not real and apparent, of celestial objects. tional News Column. I also look forward to against digital systems at all, nor am I against Much of what I have said so far is based on being involved with other IPS activities. You fulldome video shows on our domes. But we educational topics, but there is another thing may even see me at Council meetings and, of must remember that whatever projection sys- we do as planetarians: we bring enjoyment course, I shall be there in Alexandria in 2010! tem we use, it is just a tool. We run it—it does to people. In addition, we bring enjoyment Finally, I wish you all the best for the New not run us! to ourselves. As we all know, there is nothing Year and for whatever celebrations are close Yes, I am looking forward to seeing the de- better than to be told by members of an au- to your heart. My thoughts will be with you velopments to come in digital systems. I re- dience, after seeing a show, how much they all. I main passionate about the wonderful starfields produced by optomechanical projectors, but the digital ones are going from strength to strength. As a very significant example, I was especially delighted at the Technology Award given to Steve Savage at the 2008 IPS Confer- ence in Chicago. I think we are heading for an increasingly bright future in the planetarium industry, provided that we never forget about the reasons why we are here. What will the rest of this century hold for us? In terms of material for presentation in our domes, we can be fairly sure that we shall see humans on the moon again within the

62 Planetarian December 2008 December 2008 Planetarian 63 studios and exhibitors reportedly will up- Digital Frontiers grade some 20,000 multiplex screens in North America to digital projection3 [3]. ly four years of publication. It will be replaced Modern motion picture films themselves by an IMERSA News column designed to keep have benefitted from the digital revolution planetarians up to date with the latest full- with huge advances in digital animation and dome happenings largely outside of the main- special effects. We can now simulate virtually stream planetarium market, including theme anything that the mind can imagine. Howev- parks, art museums, visitor centers and special er, even with all of these advances, the movie events. IMERSA (the association of Immer- theater experience is quintessentially a linear, sive Media Entertainment, Research, Science non-interactive story, whether exhibited via and Arts) is working cooperatively with IPS to film or digital projection. Video games have guide, serve and grow the fulldome industry, the distinction of delivering true interactive both inside and outside of traditional plane- storytelling, and this market is expected to tarium markets. top $57 billion by 2009. However, the out-of- In this final issue of Digital Frontiers, we home segment of this market remains small take a look at where digital domes fit within by comparison, with the video game arcade the greater digital media landscape. market now less than a quarter of its original size when it peaked at $7.3 billion in 1983. Digital Media Explosion Media technologies have changed radical- IMAX Goes Digital ly in the past decade thanks to the digital rev- The digital revolution also has hit closer to olution. The number of television channels home with Imax Corporation’s recent release has more than doubled, the video game mar- of their new digital theater. The company ket has tripled, and the number of internet us- has already sold 170 new digital screens, with Ed Lantz ers worldwide has increased by a factor of 60. about 50 of these expected to be installed by Visual Bandwidth, Inc. People now shop, work, play, and meet one the end of 2008. Richard Gelfond, co-CEO of another online. The popular social network- Imax Corp., told a meeting of IMAX theater Spherical Media Group ing site MySpace, founded in 2003, is now val- operators and filmmakers at the recent Giant PO Box 1737 ued at nearly $20 billion (USD) by some indus- Screen Cinema Association (GSCA) conference that “we don’t think of [IMAX] as the gi- Chadds Ford, Pennsylvania try analysts. The Second Life “metaverse”—an immersive virtual world where people create ant screen.” Rather, he said, “it is the best im- 4 19317 USA self-representational “avatars” that work and mersive experience on the planet.” Imax Corp.’s new digital theater, demon- [email protected] play—boasts 13.4 million members and $25 million USD in actual user-user transactions strated to GSCA attendees at New York City’s per month. The online world offers a plethora AMC Empire 25 multiplex, features two Chris- Digital Domes: From Frontier to of choices, deep interactivity and instant grat- tie CP2000XB projectors with custom lenses Mainstream ification. and a Doremi video server. The two project- Since the first Digistar projector was intro- Today’s new generation of online, in- ed images are overlaid with a 1/2-pixel offset— duced into the planetarium market over 25 teractive entertainment consumers—the a technique often called “super-resolution”— years ago, digital dome projection has been “millennials”—will clearly demand more from which essentially spatially multiplexes a seen as the frontier—if not the fringe—of plan- their out-of-home leisure experiences as well. higher resolution image source to provide an etarium projection technologies. For 85 years The transformation of out-of-home entertain- effective resolution approaching 2800 x 1580 the star projector reigned as the quintessential ment is not proceeding at quite the same pace pixels (4.42 megapixels). A camera-based auto- icon of the modern day planetarium, with all as online media and networking, perhaps due matic alignment system maintains the precise other projection devices—slide projectors, spe- to the more extensive physical infrastructure overlap between the two images and also al- cial effects, even video—taking a second seat required, but the switch to digital technolo- lows remote monitoring of image quality. to the dome-centric (and largely, geo-centric) gies is clearly underway. There are now over According to David Keighley of Imax sub- astronomical simulator. 6300 digital cinema screens in the world, with sidiary DKP/70MM Inc., the contrast ratio The past decade has seen the emergence, nearly 5000 of these in the U.S.1 of the new digital system is 2,700:1 and the rapid growth and maturation of multi-projec- The Stereo 3D digital cinema integrator, Re- brightness is 21-22 foot-Lamberts on the rela- tor edge-blended and fisheye dome displays. alD, recently reported orders for over 5000 tively small 8.5 x 17.7 m (28 x 58 ft) screen. The Digital planetariums have evolved into pow- screens worldwide2, with a currently installed high brightness and contrast adds to the “wow erful immersive visualization environments base of around 1300 screens in the U.S. A re- factor” and at least partially compensates for that now reach every corner of the planetar- cent $1 billion USD deal between Hollywood the lower resolution. Some attendees found ium market, from the largest institutional the DLP “screen door” effect, caused by the domes to the smallest portable planetariums. dark space in between the pixels, objection- 1“There Are Now over 6,300 Digital Screens World- The Planetarian is filled with articles, news and able when sitting in the front rows. Of partic- wide and Major Movies Are Now Distributed...,” Jul talk about the latest fulldome technologies 31, 2008 3:53am EDT, www.reuters.com/article/ ular interest is the near 2:1 screen aspect ratio, and programming. Digital planetariums can pressRelease/idUS95078+31-Jul-2008+BW20080731 3 now rightfully be considered mainstream— (accessed 10/24/08) “Studios reach digital cinema upgrade deal,” Reu- 2 not frontier—planetarium technology. “Cinemark and RealD 3D Announce Exclusive 1,500 ters, Oct 1, 2008 3:07pm EDT; www.reuters.com/ar- Screen Digital 3D Partnership,” Jul 1, 2008 1:00pm BST, ticle/entertainmentNews/idUSTRE4906T520081001 With a sense of accomplishment, I am re- uk.reuters.com/article/pressRelease/idUS114849+01- (accessed 10/24/08) tiring the Digital Frontiers column after near- Jul-2008+BW20080701?symbol=CNK.N (accessed 4“Gelfond: IMAX is not “Giant Screeen,” LF Examiner, 10/24/08) vol. 11, no. 9, p. 1, October 2008

64 Planetarian December 2008 The Global Lambda Integrated Facility is accessed by CineGrid (credits on image). Other versions of this image are available at www.glif.is/publications/maps

which is a radical departure from the 1.43:1 as- and institutions pioneering advanced digi- ical datasets using advanced real-time graph- pect ratio IMAX GT and SR theaters. tal domes and related programming, plane- ics processing units. This is a key capability Many GSCA attendees enjoyed the over- tariums are actually faring quite well. Consid- not found in digital cinemas or giant-screen all experience, likening it to a premium mul- er, for instance, that there are approximately film theaters. I would argue that the real-time tiplex theater. However, Imax Corp.’s mar- 100,000 cinema screens in the world. With interactive features of digital domes sets them keting decision to not differentiate the new only 6300 digital screens, we see that less than firmly ahead of the curve, and positions them digital theater from their larger, more immer- 7% of all cinema screens worldwide have con- to make a giant leap in capability that will sive and higher resolution film-based cousins verted to digital thus far. In contrast, there are clearly differentiate them from competing caused a bit of an uproar. Independent film- around 3,300 planetariums in the world, and out-of-home family-based experiences. makers and institutions alike called for Imax some 483 of them are digital. That’s nearly Imagine the future fulldome theater as a Corp. to clearly designate these new theaters 15% of the entire planetarium market. real-time group immersive portal, a giant web as digital so as not to dilute the giant screen Within the U.S., nearly 5000 of the 37,000 browser of sorts, allowing audiences to: be IMAX brand that many of them spent years movie screens are digital—close to 14%. Amaz- transported into remote worlds via immersive building. ingly, planetariums are keeping up with, if not camera feeds; immersed in simulated envi- None would deny that the future of large- leading, the digital revolution, with an inter- ronments; fly through scientifically accurate format film is clearly digital. As large-format national conversion rate that is double that of datasets of cosmic, microscopic or quantum film theaters increasingly turn to digital pro- digital cinemas. proportions; participate in worldwide video jection, the possibility for convergence with Beyond the fact that they are both digital, game tournaments; watch live events and per- fulldome theaters has obvious advantages there are striking differences between digital formances; participate in cultural fine art perfor both camps. One advantage is access to a cinema and digital dome capabilities. Many formances; and, yes, marvel at the beauty of greater number of giant screen theaters for think that the “next big thing” in digital cine- the night sky. We have all seen how the inter- fulldome programmers, plus increased avail- ma is alternative programming, including live net has brought to our fingertips the accumu- ability of large-format films in digital domes multicast concerts, operas, and sports events. lated knowledge of mankind. Networked dig- of all sizes. A second advantage is the possibil- While there have been early successes, it will ital domes will soon bring this capability to ity of digital large-format theaters incorpo- be some time yet before the networks are in group audiences, delivered not from a desktop rating alternative programming from digital place for digital cinemas to fully exploit these computer, but from the world’s most power- domes, including real-time programming. capabilities. ful media delivery systems. Digital cinemas In contrast, digital domes are already firm- cannot possibly compete with such a system. Digital Domes ly established in alternative programming. In So how are planetariums supposed to com- addition to live multicast events (such as the Realizing the Dream pete with this transforming media land- recent New York Metropolitan Opera screen- While the promise of fulldome theaters has scape? Make no mistake; many public insti- ing at Paris’ La Géode5) and over 100 pre-pro- been apparent for some time, realizing the tutions must compete directly with regional duced linear shows, most digital theaters can dream is a process that will take years. The entertainment venues, including cinemas and also provide live tours of extensive astrophys- steps necessary to succeed are now clear. IMAX theaters for customers. Thanks to the growing number of vendors 5 Le Metropolitan Opera s’invite pour toute la saison (Please see Digital on page 68) à La Géode! www.lageode.fr/NEW/eve_opera.html

December 2008 Planetarian 65 66 Planetarian December 2008 ISS: Plenty of Education Educational Horizons So against that rather lengthy backdrop, I thought it would be instructive to devote this not plain hostile in some quarters, towards it. issue’s column to an overview of the educa- They often ask “what is its purpose?” Surely tional opportunities that are linked, directly we could have obtained the same research re- or indirectly, to the ISS. I believe we owe it to sults by spending less money on earthbound the public to show them another aspect of this projects? project they probably wouldn’t otherwise see. And now the latest mini crisis comes with The station consumes more of NASA’s budget the news that NASA Administrator Mike Grif- than any other project on its books except for fin has warned that he may have to order that the shuttle fleet, so I think we should bring it the ISS be temporarily or permanently aban- in from the fringes of our educational initia- doned in 2012. It all depends on whether or tives. not the U.S. government can be persuaded to You could do worse than start by purchas- renew an agreement (due to expire in 2011) ing a decent scale model of ISS. There are a with the Russian government which allows number of suppliers out there, but I’ve just Soyuz craft to dock at ISS. The Soyuz is effec- picked one at random: Dynamic Modelling, tively the astronauts’ lifeboat, so without that 219 Roma Street, Redlands, California, 92373 they are helpless. USA (www.dynmodel.com/iss.html). A good, Griffin thinks the U.S. government is cool detailed model should be at the heart of your toward the idea of renewing the agreement, educational efforts for visitors. It will generate and so he is rumoured to be considering keep- lots of interest and questions. ing one or two of the shuttle orbiters in service The full complement of ISS laboratories is Steve Tidey beyond their putative retirement in 2010. now almost complete, and the mini science laboratories are operational, too. Earlier this Science Instructor And So the Saga Goes On year, the European Space Agency’s Columbus Mad Science With its chequered history and uncertain module and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Surrey Research Centre future, ISS has been the butt of jokes, reminis- Agency’s Kibo laboratory joined the U.S. Des- cent of what the Hubble Space Telescope en- tiny lab in orbit. 30 Frederick Sanger Road dured in the early days after its mirror’s opti- Guildford cal problem was discovered. “White elephant” More Assembly Missions is the term most often used to describe ISS The few remaining research facilities will Surrey, GU2 7EF, England among its detractors. Yet I feel that, while, yes, travel to the ISS on the handful of assembly [email protected] there are things about the ISS we can justifi- missions left on the shuttle fleet launch sched- ably carp about, its true worth probably won’t ule, available at www.nasa.gov/missions/ be seen and acknowledged for a few more de- highlights/schedule.html. You can catch up Hmmm. What shall I cook for tea tonight? I cades, when we’re at the point when people on the science results from these laborato- think I’ll do a shepherd’s pie, followed by rhu- return to the moon and travel on to Mars. ries at www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/ barb crumble for dessert. Great, that’s the gas- We can only hope that it will have achieved science/index.html. tronomy sorted, now for the astronomy. perhaps a modest revered status by then. Bear Since 1983, dozens of astronauts on the You will note from my contact de- in mind that attitudes change with each gen- ISS and a number of space shuttles have spo- tails above that I have branched out and now eration, so the way we perceive the ISS now ken from orbit to regular citizens all over the work for a company that sends me round to won’t necessarily always be so. world using the ham radio network. Today it UK schools doing curriculum-based science The research onboard the station is a key is officially referred to as Amateur Radio on presentations, many of which are space-re- precursor to NASA’s ambitious long-term the International Space Station, or ARISS. This lated. The kids call me Solar Steve. I’m having goals. But to the general news media it’s bor- initiative is sponsored by NASA, the Ameri- way too much fun. ing, because each of the astronauts involved can Radio Relay League and the Radio Ama- On to the topic for this issue. As you well are only one of dozens who have ventured no teur Satellite Corporation. know, the International Space Station (ISS) further than Earth orbit, and the science ex- As one of the organisers put it, “To see the had a very rough gestation period from the periments aren’t headline-grabbing. Where’s look on the faces of those young students as early 1980s, up to the point when the first the excitement? Where’s the beef? It’s all too the astronaut’s voice first comes out is truly element, Zarya, was launched in Novem- run of the mill for them. overwhelming.” ARISS has facilitated conver- ber 1999. Like the rest of you, sometimes I get frus- sations between station astronauts and people The project has had more lives than trated by the apparent lack of anything of in Russia, Japan, Canada, Europe and the USA. a cat that had got Fate drunk one night and note happening onboard for long periods of Find out more at www.rac.ca/ariss. fooled it into signing a particularly whacky time, but I think we have to trust that the The general public can also make con- pact. The ISS was on the verge of cancellation movers and shakers in NASA knew what they tact with Station astronauts in email form on many occasions. It balanced precarious- were doing when they went ahead and com- by posting questions on a dedicated web site ly on a financial cliff face, yet always found a missioned the project. We educators know at www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/ way to scrape through when all seemed lost. a fair bit more about space travel than your main/qa.html. This page also allows you to And since construction and onboard exper- average person in the street, but those NASA view questions already asked, along with the iments began, the general news media (plus folks know a whole lot more than we do, so answers. many scientists across the broad spectrum of let’s trust in their judgements, guys, at least for There’s a pretty decent array of ISS mul- scientific disciplines) have been very cool, if the time being. Take the long view. timedia options at www.nasa.gov/mission_

December 2008 Planetarian 67 pages/station/multimedia/index.html. Here tion: Student Experiments and Educational Ac- (Digital, continued from page 65) you can view some of the latest onboard still tivities on the International Space Station, 2000– images and take some neat virtual tours of the 2006, which is a project that NASA estimates DomeGrid. High-performance photon- ISS control room at the Johnson Space Center, involved over 31 million U.S. and internation- ic network interconnectivity is vital to this the ISS itself, and the Soyuz craft. Quite inspi- al students from kindergarten to college age. path. Institutions interested in exploring the rational. “Educators have found that students creation and use of a high speed photonic are really motivated when they can com- DomeGrid should attend the upcoming Cine- Watch the ISS Fly Over pare their experiments in the classroom Grid Workshop this December 7-10 at Calit2 To show your visitors how easy it is to spot with similar investigations on the space sta- in San Diego (www.cinegrid.org). In addition the Station flying over your part of the world tion,” said Julie Robinson, ISS program scien- to learning how your facility can access high- with the unaided eye, go to: www.jsc.nasa.gov/ tist at the Johnson Space Center in Houston. performance photonic networks, you will be sightings. Seeing it for themselves from their There is a particularly popular proj- treated to test reels from the world’s highest garden, perhaps, will make the station seem ect currently operating on the station, the resolution digital video cameras and talks on less remote and unattached to their lives. Commercial Generic Bioprocessing Ap- production workflows for 4k digital cinema On the web page spaceflight.nasa.gov/gal- paratus Science Insert, which uses small and beyond. lery/images/station/assembly/ndxpage1.html growth chambers in an incubator to help Model of the Known Universe. Another you’ll find dozens of photos taken from orbit students investigate the effects of liv- important step is the curation of fulldome 3D that show what the station looked like after ing in space on small plants and animals. datasets, models, simulations and clips. The each module was added since 1999. Stringing “These experiments are providing an ex- American Museum of Natural History’s Digi- these together would make for a good Power- traordinary educational experience to thou- tal Universe Atlas, now used by several of the Point presentation in your exhibition area. sands of elementary, middle and high school leading fulldome vendors, is a template for The station is, of course, an international students who otherwise would not have access this curation process as it applies to astrono- mission, and so if you go to www.esa.int/es- to science conducted on board the station,” my and astrophysics. I have been promoting a aHS/education.html you’ll find out what ed- said Stefanie Countryman, Education Program multi-agency, multi-institution, multi-nation- ucational initiatives the ESA is deriving from co-cordinator at the University of Colorado. al Model of the Known Universe Project that its participation. For starters, they have set up would fund and coordinate individual cura- the ISS Education Fund and donated one mil- Take a Look at EarthKam tors of scientific, cultural, historic and artistic lion Euros to it. The initiatives that this mon- By accessing the EarthKam web page (earth- data for immersive projection. Assets would ey funds can be used by educators in all Euro- kam.ucsd.edu), U.S. and international stu- be stored on server farms on major DomeGrid pean community member countries. dents can manoeuvre a special digital cam- nodes and made available to photonic nodes An outgrowth of this is ESA’s ISS Education era mounted in a station window. This allows as real-time streaming video and audio, or to Kit, which is aimed at students ages 12 to 15. them to photograph a wide range of features internet subscribers via download. More information is available at www.esa. on the Earth and later study the photos to learn In addition to immersive theaters, these int/esaHS/ESAYIF8OS7D_education_0.html. more about physical features such as volca- datasets—representing the accumulated her- The development of the Education Kit goes noes, mountain ranges, river deltas and so on. itage of mankind’s knowledge of the uni- back to 2001, when ESA organised a confer- “We are giving students the opportuni- verse—would be accessible via the web and ence for European teachers, TEACH SPACE ty to not only operate something in space, made available to filmmakers, artists and the 2001, which was designed to assess what could but also learn about geography in an excit- general public through a pre-negotiated li- be done to support European educators. The ing way,” said former astronaut Sally Ride censing template. conclusion was that teachers need simple, and EarthKAM’s principal investigator. “It’s Cognitive and Educational Research. Cor- practical, and modular material that is based amazing to see just how many schools are rect application of group immersive visualiza- on European curricula. benefiting from this experiment and gain- tion will require research into what is unique And so, in co-operation with a group of 20 ing a new understanding of the world we live about the medium and effective ways to use educators, ESA commissioned a pilot print in.” More than 82,000 students in 1,260 mid- it. We are already seeing some early studies at version of the ISS Education Kit for Europe- dle schools in the U.S. and 15 other countries the Universe of Plymouth and elsewhere. an secondary schools. In 2002 this was sent to have participated in the EarthKAM project. Industry Standards, Guidelines and Spec- educators throughout Europe for testing and So, the conclusion from my potted and ifications. The fulldome industry is ready evaluation. far from complete efforts, given the limit- to move forward with defining content ex- Based on feedback received, the kit was im- ed space here, is that there are a multitude change specifications, standard terminology, proved and translated into all the languag- of opportunities out there to build up a sig- technical specifications and more. Fulldome es of ESA’s member countries. In December nificant and rewarding ISS education pro- specifications can be harmonized with large- 2006 NASA published the National Laboratory gramme for your visitors. If you put in the format digital cinema specifications through Education Concept Development Report (www. effort, there’s plenty of stuff there to reward both GSCA and White Oak Institute’s DIS- nasa.gov/audience/foreducators/topnav/ma- you. You will be giving your visitors a much CUSS (Digital Immersive Screen Colloquium terials/listbytype/ISS_Education_Plan.html), greater insight into how the large amount for Unified Standards and Specifications) proj- which explored the potential of the station of money assigned to the ISS project is spent. ect, allowing network compatibility with the to engage, inspire and educate students and People will also see the station’s ongoing coming wave of giant screen digital cinema teachers in the areas of science, technolo- ability to be a guiding star, as it were, for the systems. gy, engineering and mathematics. The report ambitions of up and coming scientists of the IMERSA. The association of Immersive Me- concludes that there is huge interest from a di- future, not only in the U.S. but across the world. dia Entertainment, Research, Science and Arts verse list of government departments unrelat- Well, it’s happened again. The Fred Hoyle of was founded to serve and facilitate the growth ed to NASA. Time has just tweaked the nose of Fate (stand of the fulldome medium. IMERSA needs your The report also references another by for the fist fight), which means I’m out support as a sponsor or member. To join, go to NASA publication, Inspiring the Next Genera- of space. I www.imersa.org. I

68 Planetarian December 2008 December 2008 Planetarian 69 General Counsel Online or On Paper Before eCO was launched, the only way to register a copyright was to complete one of several registration forms and mail it to the Office, along with the appropriate payment and a copy of the work for which copyright registration was sought. The whole process took ages, and while registration was effective on the date the registration materials were received by the Office, it was nearly impossible to determine the status of a particular application until a certificate, or a letter requesting additional information, arrived months later. eCO, while still not a model of speed and ef- ficiency, has improved the process dramatically. Now registrants can track the status of their claims online, upload deposit material electronically (the deposit requirement is discussed below), and pay by credit card or elec- Christopher S. Reed tronic check. And the registration fee is low- CSR Media, LLC er; it’s now $35 per registration, versus $45 to file on paper. 1600 South Eads Street For those who still want to file on paper, the #830N Office recently released a new single registration form – Form CO – that replaces the bat- Arlington, Virginia 22202 tery of forms from which registrants previous- USA ly had to select. The form is available online at www.copyright.gov/forms. The fee remains (1) 720-236-3007 $45 for paper applications. Although the Of- [email protected] fice has made its forms available online and electronically “fillable” for some time, Form In the September 2008 issue I discussed the CO is new in that it converts the text to a sin- distinction between copyright protection gle barcode that the Office scans when it pro- and copyright registration, and the benefits cesses your application. of properly and timely registering your copy- A word of caution: mail to the Office can righted works. To recap in brief, registration is take weeks to be properly delivered because a prerequisite to filing suit for infringement, of the security procedures for mail to govern- and timely registration entitles a copyright ment offices. Thus, deliveries by courier, like owner to enhanced damages and attorney’s FedEx and UPS, are the best way to send mate- fees in the event of successful infringement rials to the Office. Regardless of which meth- litigation. Copyright registration also pro- od you select, always use a traceable service, so vides public notice of a copyright owner’s that you have evidence of the date on which Top: The Copyright Office’s old Form PA (for claim, and the registration certificate serves as the Office received your application. works of performing arts) which is still avail- evidence that the copyrighted work listed on able for those who want to use it. the certificate is validly copyrightable, elimi- Registering via eCO Bottom: The Copyright Office’s new, unified nating the need to prove that point at an in- The Copyright Office’s online registration Form CO which can be used to register various types of works. All photos by Chris Reed. fringement trial. portal is located at www.copyright.gov/regis- In this installment I address the mechan- ter. After you create an account and log into three basic steps: the application, payment, ics of copyright registration and offer a brief the system, you will reach the eCO’s homep- and uploading the deposit material. primer on how to use the U.S. Copyright Of- age, from which you may check the status The first step is to determine which type fice’s new online registration system, dubbed of existing registration claims, or start a new of work you seek to register. For planetarians, “eCO” for “electronic Copyright Office,” one. the most commonly used classifications in- which launched in July. The registration process can be divided into clude literary works (books, curriculum materials, exhibition text), works of performing arts (show scripts), visual arts (images, illustrations, photographs), sound recordings (sound- General Counsel is intended to serve as a source of general information on legal issues of interest to the planetarium community. Planetarians seeking information on how tracks), and motion picture and audiovisual the principles discussed in a General Counsel column apply to their own circumstances works (full shows). There are some technical should seek the advice of their own attorneys. peculiarities with the Office’s definitions of each type of work, so be sure to read explana-

70 Planetarian December 2008 tions provided on the Types of Work selec- electronic version. tion page by clicking on each category. If you mail your The eCO system will guide you through deposit, eCO will each question on the application. In the event provide you with a that you are missing relevant information, bar-coded shipping you can simply click “save for later” and come slip to include with back. your deposit ma- Although most of the questions are fairly terials. If you sub- straightforward, there are a couple areas on mit electronically, the application that are worthy of note. In you will be guided “authors” section, you should take care to en- through the upload sure that each author’s contribution is prop- process, which re- erly designated as an individual contribution quires to you select or a work-for-hire contribution, and in the the relevant file or “claimants” section, make sure that the own- files from your hard er of the copyright claim is properly listed. In drive. eCO accepts many cases, the authors may not be the claim- most major indus- ants because the authors’ contributions were try-standard file for- made within the scope of an employment re- mats for data, imag- lationship; the copyright claimant would, es, audio, and text. thus, be the employer. The complete list is The other section of note is the “limitation available at www. of claim” section, which requires you to de- copyright.gov/eco/ scribe what, if any, material is not part of the help-file-types.html. copyright claim. This may be relevant if you intend to register works that are comprised of What Happens components prepared by third parties, or ma- Next terials in the public domain. For example, if You wait. Al- you were registering the copyright in a plane- though processing tarium show, you might need to exclude from times for eCO appli- your copyright claim any images prepared by cations are signifi- NASA. cantly faster than After you have completed the substantive paper-based appli- portions of the application, eCO will ask you cations, it still takes to review a summarized version of the appli- several months for cation. After ensuring that everything is cor- the Office to issue a rect, click the “add to cart” button to begin registration certifi- the payment process. The Copyright Office cate. As with paper- uses pay.gov, a payment portal site used by based applications, numerous government agencies, to facilitate the registration is ef- payment of the registration fee. After working fective as of the date through the prompts there and submitting the copyright office payment, click the “submit payment” button receives the applica- to return to eCO, where you will begin up- tion, but unlike pa- loading your deposit material. per-based applications, you can check Deposit Requirements the status of your U.S. law requires that all applicants submit application at any at least one copy of the work for which regis- time by simply log- Top: The CO homepage. Center: eCO Registration Process Overview page tration is sought. In cases where the work has ging on to eCO. eCO Types of Work selection page been published, the applicant generally must submit two copies of the “best edition.” The Finding More definition of “best edition,” although not par- Information ticularly complicated, is lengthy. Copyright This column pro- Office Circular 7B is instructive, and can be vides basic back- found at www.copyright.gov/circs/circ07b. ground on the eCO pdf. system and the copyright registration in gen- law-related, your circumstances may give rise Generally, in the case of electronic registra- eral. For a more in-depth discussion of the eCO to unique issues, and mistakes in a copyright tion, the deposit requirement can be satisfied registration process, and to see more examples registration can adversely affect your rights by submitting an electronic copy of the copy- and screen shots, take a look at the Copyright should you need to bring an infringement righted work. In some cases, though, you may Office tutorial, available at www.copyright. claim down the road. As usual, it’s always ad- still be required to submit a hardcopy, and gov/eco/eco-tutorial.pps. visable to talk to qualified, competent coun- you always have the ability to submit a hard- Although the copyright registration process sel before filing applications for copyright copy if you simply don’t want to upload an is relatively straightforward, like everything registration. I

December 2008 Planetarian 71 72 Planetarian December 2008 International News ty of the starry sky by our Zeiss ZKP3/B with the versatility of the fulldome video. The system consists of two Barco SIM5H projectors with fisheye optics developed and provided by RSA Cosmos. The installation is done in such a way that we never have a disturb- ing shadow of the starprojector, no matter in what position it is in. The Barcos give a resolution each of 1920 x 1084, so the soft-edged combination gives us an overall 2K in our 24-ft dome. At the moment the planetarium staff is still roaming the market for a first suitable fulldome production, which they hope to present to the general public by the end of the year. For more information, contact Eddy Pirotte, info@beisbroek.be.

Association of French-Speaking Planetariums The APLF web site www.aplf-planetariums.org, Nelly Dumas invites planetarians to the is maintained by Lionel Ruiz (database pro- Lars Broman cessing and development) and Daniel Aude- 25th APLF conference in La Cité des Sciences on (planetarium seeker, left): A huge and cra- Teknoland et de l’Industrie, Paris-La Villette. The confer- zy work with a result really amazing! Photo by ence is planned for 21-24 May, 2009, and will Michel Favret. Stångtjärnsv 132 present in particular fulldome SE 791 74 Falun, Sweden video productions, including types of planetariums; contact [email protected] short (10-minute) sequences. strasbg.fr. The show costs 40 €/seat for full- +46 2310 177 For more information, con- dome theaters and half that price for classical [email protected] tact [email protected]. planetariums. Many French planetariums are presenting exhibitions on the invisible light www.teknoland.se The International Year of Astronomy is being actively to inform the public about spectroscopy and prepared by the French Plan- IR and radio observations in conjunction with As I write this in mid-October, it is fall in etariums. the program. Sweden. There is not yet any snow where I The APLF/ESO IYA09 show A portable device, COSMODYSSEE IV (pro- live, but it has already fallen in northern Swe- The Quest of Our Cosmic Or- jector and dome), will be given by RSA Cos- den, in Lapland. At my latitude there are rath- igins is now available in 6 languages for all mos to the best 2009 project of implement- er dramatic changes at this time of the year. ing a planetarium in France and maintain it Every week, the days get about 1/2 hour short- for three years. er and the nights 1/2 hour longer. When the New planetariums built in and being sky is clear, the fall sky is beautiful! Interest- planned for 2008-2009 are Cosmodyssée ingly, if you keep watching the sky an hour in Rennes (La Couyère, portable, 30 seats); after sunset, it will remain more or less un- Buthiers (near Fontainebleau, 35 seats); Aspres changed for several months in the fall. sur Buech (portable 5 m, and installation of a The International News column is depen- planetarium planned in Savines-le-Lac); and dent on contributions from IPS Affiliate As- St-Michel-l’Observatoire (10 m , to be built in sociations all over the world. Many thanks 2009, information at www.cg04.fr). this time to Agnès Acker, Bart Benjamin, Igna- cio Castro, Gail Chaid, Kevin Conod, Alex De- Association of Italian Planetaria livorias, Alan Dyer, John Hare, Nataliya Kova- In Catania, meetings began in November for lenko, Shaaron Leverment, André Milis, Dan schools and individuals interested in cosmolo- Neafus, and Loris Ramponi for your contribu- gy and astronomy, including some supported tions. Upcoming deadlines are 1 January for with lessons at the Astronomic Observatory the Planetarian of March 2009 and 1 April for in Catania, Etna. More information is avail- June 2009. able from email dsga#politecnicodelmare.it and [email protected]. Association of Dutch-Speaking Lara Albanese reports that for some years Planetariums now the Arcetri Observatory in Florence has The Beisbroek Planetarium in Bruges, Bel- been organizing a program for children about gium, is proud to announce the first Belgian discovering the myths and legends of the sky fulldome video installation. The decision fell The new Beisbroek Planetarium projector. Cour- originating from different parts of the world. upon a solution which can combine the beau- tesy of Eddy Pirotte. The starry sky, in fact, unites children of the

December 2008 Planetarian 73 whole Earth because ev- However, the main effort during ery night the stars twinkle 2008 for the Planetarium of Rome on the heads of each one, has been planning activities for the rich or poor, city dweller International Year of Astronomy or country dweller, big or 2009. They gath- small alike. ered the main as- With the conviction tronomical institu- that every child has a fa- tions of the city in a vorite language with working group and which to communicate produced a proj- and that the multiplicity ect, called Rome, an of languages helps com- Astronomical City, prehension all over the which is currently globe, Arcetri Observa- under evaluation tory staff has decided to by the City Coun- split the program into cil. three stages: the first ded- In parallel with these innova- icated to the observato- tions, the cultural activity of the ry’s itinerant planetarium, Planetarium continued in 2008 the second to a meeting with participation in special events with an astronomer from such as Rome’s Darwin Day, Easter Moon and Hearth hall in Rome Astronomical Museum and Planetarium. Courtesy of a distant country, and the Rome Planetarium at the Museum, and the European third dedicated to an in- Researchers’ Night 2008, organized teractive workshop. in collaboration with the Nation- For the 2008 edition of the Science Festi- •• a program in the planetarium. al Research Council, which drew an audience val in Genoa, held 23 October-4 November, This trail is open permanently to all schools of about 5000 people on the night of 26 Sep- invited speakers were the Indian astronomer and the public. For more information vis- tember. The scientific outreach of the plane- Arvind Paranjpye and the South African as- it www.planetariodanti.pg.it/starlab/index. tarium is ensured by the presentation of talks tronomer Thebe Medupe, who offered obser- html or www.naturavventura.it/Documenti/ at the Annual Meeting on the Communica- vations of African skies in the Starlab plane- Ignazio%20Danti.pdf. tion of Science in Forlì and Bergamo. Finally, tarium. Also offered was a workshop where For the third year in a row, in 2008 the Plan- the Planetarium of Rome has been very active students were able to construct a spectro- etarium of Rome ranked among the 10 most on the national scene, pushing for the birth of scope. For information, visit www.festival- visited science museums in Italy, with a to- the professional Association of Italian Plane- scienza.it/en/programma/diversita.php?area_ tal of about 100,000 visitors per year. The in- taria, now named Planit. tematica=2. tense educational activity for schools (ages A new planetarium opened at the end of Au- range from 3 to 20 years old) increased with Association of Mexican gust in Nus, a small town located in the Alps the introduction of three new show times in Planetariums Mountains. It has a 10-m dome, 65 seats, and the afternoon, due to the extremely high de- AMPAC member planetariums, education- is equipped with a ISS RSA Cosmos 6 channel mand by teachers from the schools of Rome al institutions, amateur astronomical asso- system. To be precise, the planetarium is locat- and central Italy. ciations and many other cultural organiza- ed in the small hamlet of Lignan, 1633 meters Their main effort towards the general pub- tions throughout Mexico have been invited above sea level. Only a few dozen people live lic was Astrosummer ‘08, a two-month long se- to participate on January 31, here, but the hamlet is very focused on astron- ries of night shows during July and August, 2009 in an event denominat- omy due to the presence of one of the biggest when special programs for adults, kids and for- ed “Nuit des Etoiles” or Stars non-professional astronomical observatories eign visitors were presented every night (in- Night, organized by the cul- in Italy. In this observatory, research and pop- cluding two new shows for children and one tural affairs department of ularization of science are carried on through- in English). Astrosummer ‘08 was attended by the French Embassy in Mexi- out the year, and once per year the popular a total of more than 9000 visitors through- co. The event will be simulta- Italian Star Party is hosted. The planetarium out the season, a record attendance compared neously celebrated in all plan- will be open to school pupils and the general with the previous years, when the opening etariums in France as well. public at the beginning of 2009. times were mostly diurnal. The common theme will be In December 2007 the Ignazio Danti Plan- The planetarium used the opportunity giv- “Our Ancestors’ Heavens.” The main objec- etarium in Perugia, annexed to the A.Volta en by Astrosummer ‘08 to start an extensive tives of the event are: I.T.I., organized the event The traces of Ignazio evaluation study of the public, the results of •• transmit to the public the joy of studying Danti in sixteenth century Perugia in collabo- which will be available in the coming weeks. the night sky, ration with the provincial administration, to Continuing the tradition opened by the •• show that science is universal and interna- bring to attention this important cosmogra- Cartellone 2007, the planetarium offered again tional, pher. The following trail has been drawn from several successful formats like the Full Moon •• popularize science, so the public may feel that experience: Gatherings and Astronomers for a Night; they that knowledge belongs to them, and •• a trek through sixteenth century Perugia also began experimenting with the exporta- •• awaken scientific vocations. from the centre to Piscille, where the Insti- tion of their formats and languages to other Two new Evans & Sutherland digital pro- tute is located, non-planetarium locations, like the gardens of jection systems have been installed in Mexi- •• a visit to the permanent exhibition on Ig- Villa Torlonia-Technotown, for a Short Course co. The first one is a Digistar 3 SP2HD, installed nazio Danti at the school, and for Wannabe Astronomers. at the Museo Tecnologico de C.F.E. Planetari-

74 Planetarian December 2008 um. The planetarium is being refurbished and modernized at long last, increasing its projection dome to 12 meters in diameter, installing 84 unidirectional seats, adding E&S 5.5 sound, and changing to all-LED illumination. The updated facility is to be inaugurated by the end of 2008. The second one has been installed in South- ern Mexico, in Tapachula, Chiapas at the Cole- gio de Bachilleres Planetarium. It is a a Digistar 3 SP2, under a 10-m unidirectional dome with a seating capacity of 60. It, too, will have E&S 5.1 sound and all-LED illumination. The inauguration date had not been set. These two new digital E&S projectors now make a total of 6 Digistar projectors being used Photo caption: Chinese constellation artwork by Pak-Keung Wan. Courtesy of Mario di Maggio, Think- in Mexico, including two in mobile planetar- tank UK. iums. AMPAC’s annual meeting was held 19-21 the best from any binoculars and telescopes successes and mistakes and more communica- November at the Technology Museum & they may have gathering dust at home. A tion within our community. Planetarium of Xalapa, Veracruz. More details chance to ask an expert and gain skills and ad- of this meeting will be given in next issue of vice for one’s own personal explorations that Canadian Association of Science the Planetarian. can then last a lifetime. Centres Familiarizing the night sky with local cul- For IYA09, the Consortium of Canadi- British Associations of tural and community relevance is also the key an Planetariums (Montréal, Winnipeg, Cal- Planetariums for a wonderful project in Scotland. Primary gary and Vancouver) is producing a nation- From the Scottish Highlands to the Sussex schools from all over Scotland are being invit- ally-funded planetarium show, Galileo Live!, Downs, planetarium domes across the UK are ed to create a new constellation for IYA 2009, with the Telus World of Science Calgary serv- preparing for their centre-stage role to get the with each school choosing a star and con- ing as lead facility. An initial two-day script message of the International Year of Astron- necting with the other participating schools workshop was held in Win- omy out to the UK public in 2009. Drawing across the country, led on their journey by a nipeg at the end of July, with public attention to the UK contribution to truly magical combination of art and science. representatives from all four astronomy is the Telescope400 project (tele- If you’re interested to find out, visit www.cos- participating planetariums scope400.org.uk). Together with the celebra- micsky.co.uk/psconstellation.htm. in attendance, to finalize the tion of the 400th anniversary From the local to the international—IYA script concept and outline of Galileo’s use of a telescope is also about binding countries around the for this live-actor show. Based to study the night sky, here in world under one sky. Various projects across on the workshop’s conclu- the UK we also have Thomas the UK are using this as an opportunity to ex- sions, a draft script was pre- Harriot–UK’s very own Gal- plore far off lands, educating and inspiring vis- pared by early September for ileo! Thomas Harriot made itors with the myths and legends from differ- a show that opens in March his own observations of the ent cultures across the globe. 2009. Contact: Alan Dyer, alan.dyer@calgary- moon from Middlesex in Thinktank’s Planetarium in Birmingham is science.ca. 1609. He independently dis- developing a new presenter-led show about The Montreal Planetarium hosted the first covered spots on the sun, Chinese constellations, consulting with both meeting of the Advisory Board that was set drew the first plausibly accu- Macao and Hong Kong planetariums to create up to reflect and give advice to the Direction rate map of the lunar surface, viewed the Ple- an accurate and complete set of Chinese con- Committee that oversees the relocation of the iades, and also monitored the motions of Jupi- stellation drawings with 283 constellations in new Montreal Planetarium near the Biodôme ter’s moons (after Galileo’s announcement of all! and Olympic stadium. their discovery). So the UK has something ex- As we stand at the brink of 2009, one of The board made several useful remarks tra to be proud of this coming year! the greatest opportunities to get astronomy about the project as it was presented by Di- Of course, the moon is playing a major role education firmly into the public eye, many rector Pierre Lacombe and Scientific Advisor in observing events and planetarium shows. domes such as Science Dome in Bournemouth Pierre Chastenay. Members of the Advisory Everyone remembers the first view of the are upgrading equipment and writing capti- Board come from a wide range of professions moon through a telescope as it opens itself up vating new shows to take the word of astron- and backgrounds: science research, academia, as a whole new world of craters and ancient omy out to the public. Many large permanent science popularization, multimedia produc- lava seas. The moon is an easy and accessible and mobile planetariums, usually filled to tion, multimedia arts, and education. target for all ages and a great first inspiration bursting with schools groups, are making ma- IPS member Marc Moutin, from Toulouse, to look further into the worlds that glitter our jor concerted efforts across the country to in- France, was present; Ryan Wyatt, director of night’s sky. spire adults and get families to learn together. the Morrison Planetarium in California, ac- Riding on the importance of the telescope IYA gives everybody a focus and an oppor- cepted to be part of the Advisory Board, but in astronomy today and in the past, and in an- tunity to push for excellence and innovation. could not be present at the meeting. An ar- ticipation of the coming year, INTECH plane- It is providing ways to create new communi- chitecture contest for the new planetarium tarium in Winchester was running a free ad- ty links both nationally and international- should be launched later this fall. vice event in October to help everyone get ly and with the continued sharing of stories, In other news, a new Christmas show titled

December 2008 Planetarian 75 North American full dome theater to offer the For its special Christmas show, the Eu- show The Celestial Railroad, a beautiful inter- genides Planetarium selected to screen The pretation by Japanese artist Kagaya of the Jap- Celestial Railroad created and directed by the anese writer Kenji Miyazawa’s infamous The Japanese artist Kagaya. The 38-minute show Night of the Milky Way Train. is based on a story written in the early 20th With the launch of the International Year century by Japanese writer and poet Kenji Mi- of Astronomy early in 2009, Telus World of yazawa. Science is anticipating running the fulldome production of Two Small Pieces of Glass un- Great Lakes Planetarium der development at the time of this writing. Association They are also planning a variety of other IYA Illinois. The William M. Staerkel Planetar- activities for 2009 through partnerships with ium at Parkland College in Champaign will the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada present their live Fall Prairie Skies program, and the local university and colleges. Contact: in addition to three returning favorites. They Frank Florian, FFlorian@telusworldofscien- also began their World of Science lecture series ceedmonton.com. with talks on stem cells, wind energy, and the Milky Way, the latter given by GLPA’s own European/Mediterranean Jim Kaler. The planetarium offered their five- Planetarium Association week Backyard Astronomy public workshop in The Planetarium of the Thessaloniki Sci- late September. To assist with their fundrais- ence Center and Technology Museum (TMTH) ing efforts for a full-dome system, the Park- in northern Greece has just completed an im- land Foundation acquired sponsors to buy a Rob Appleton is the new executive director portant upgrade of its audiovisual equipment Saturn Sky two-door convertible that was raf- of Vancouver’s H.R. MacMillan Space Centre. that will certainly prove invaluable in im- fled off in late-October. Courtesy of Erik Koelemeyer. proving the immersive experience of its visi- This September, the Lakeview Museum tors. A brand new projection system using Bar- Planetarium recently added a show based en- The Longest Night, written and produced by co Sim-5R DLP projectors has been installed tirely on their Uniview software. In Novem- Richard D. Lavoie, premiered at the Montreal and the viewing experience has been further ber, laser light shows from AVI returned, and Planetarium on November 20. Contact: Pierre enhanced by using Astro-Tec’s expertise in ex- their Saturday morning Basic Astronomy Se- ο Chastenay, [email protected]. tending the spherical dome to 180 . Finally, ries included all new presentations using their In Vancouver, the H.R. MacMillan Space thanks to a new translation/second language Uniview software and the Sony Xbox game Centre is pleased to announce the appoint- system and the use of wireless headphones, controller, allowing selected audience mem- ment of Rob Appleton as their new executive foreign visitors will now be able to enjoy all bers to “fly” the planetarium to operator-se- director. Appleton has worked in the non- TMTH’s planetarium shows as well. lected destinations. profit sector for twenty years, the past eight With the end of the summer holidays the The Cernan Earth and Space Center of Tri- years in leadership positions. Before coming Eugenides Planetarium staff in Athens, hav- ton College in River Grove welcomed back to the H.R. McMillan Space Centre, he worked ing recharged their batteries for the busy year former astronaut Story Musgrave as its Big with the Arthritis Research Centre of Canada ahead, once again welcomed the Hellenic pub- Event speaker in late-August. Story’s presenta- and Canuck Place Children’s Hospice. lic with a brand new planetarium production tion, titled EarthLight: the Beauty of our World He is involved as a volunteer with a num- that premiered on Monday 6 October. The 7 Seen From Space, combined stunning orbit- ber of organizations, including the Vancouver Wonders of the World is a fascinating 40-min- al photographs with music and commentary Thunderbirds Minor Hockey Association and ute journey to the furthest reaches of space from this veteran astronaut of six space shut- the British Columbia Hospice Palliative Care and time, from stunning visual reconstruc- tle missions. Association. Appleton has a MBA degree from tions of the fabled 7 wonders of antiquity to Indiana. Established in 1952, the Koch Plan- the University of British Columbia and a BSc the 7 wonders of our solar system and beyond, etarium at the Evansville Museum is Indiana’s degree from the University of Alberta. He is a to the 7 deep sky wonders of the universe. oldest star theater. Plans for a new immersive Certified Fund Raising Executive (CFRE), and Tuesday 18 November was a special day for theater at the Evansville Museum were un- a member of the Association of Fundraising the Eugenides Planetarium as it hosted a two- veiled in May. The medium-sized, full-dome Professionals (AFP) and the Canadian Associ- part presentation featuring traditional Hawai- video theater with a mechanical-optical star ation of Gift Planners (CAGP). Contact: Eric ian sky knowledge and the astronomical ex- projector has a scheduled opening in 2011. The Koelemeyer, [email protected]. ploration of the largest observatories in the planetarium traveled its NSF-funded Outreach The Telus World of Science-Edmonton has world located on Mauna Kea in Hawaii. In the to Space exhibit to fairs and festivals this sum- now completely gone to fulldome video with first part, Master Navigator Kalepa Baybayan mer. During year two of this three-year astron- the purchase of the Sky-Skan Digital Sky II sys- explained how the Hawaiian people used star omy project, over 10,000 people at rural ven- tem that had been originally installed in the lines to navigate the Pacific Ocean in voyag- ues in Indiana saw the exhibit. Margaret Zeidler Star Theatre for demonstrat- ing canoes, while in part two, Shawn Laatsch, The SpaceQuest Planetarium in Indianapo- ing fulldome video technology back in the director of the Imiloa Planetarium of Ha- lis experienced one of the heaviest summer at- spring of 2006. waii and IPS Treasurer, presented the first Up- tendance totals in years. It was thought that The initial schedule of shows chosen for the date from Maunakea planetarium show high- having Far, Far Away: the Worlds of Star Wars theatre included Secret of the Cardboard Rock- lighting the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope, was a large part of that phenomenon. In the et, Molecularium, and The Planets. The Mirage Gemini Observatory, and Subaru Observato- month of July, the show by itself brought in 3D full dome production Dawn of the Space ry. On the same day, Imiloa’s signature show 14,000 visitors! Age was added in the spring and has met with Maunakea: Between Earth and Sky was shown Michigan. Fall offerings at the Kalamazoo rave reviews! In October, they will be the first to invited guests. Valley Museum Planetarium were Sky Legends

76 Planetarian December 2008 of the Three Fires, which featured three Na- At Mayo High School in Rochester, a public tive American stories about the night sky, the open house showcasing the recent renovation live Constellations Tonight show, and Galaxies revolution was held in September. This year’s from Hansen Planetarium. Kalamazoo’s plan- third grade students will be involved in a 2-1/2 etarium will celebrate its 50th anniversary at hour study of the moon, Earth, and Mars us- the end of May 2009. ing the planetarium, the new Magic Planet The Roger B. Chaffee Planetarium in Grand digital video globe, and a student “clicker” re- Rapids, Michigan kept busy this summer with sponse system. an assortment of astronomy-themed sum- As the summer renovations at the Minne- mer camps. They also premiered A Night in the sota State University Moorhead Planetarium Woods, a cross-curricular astronomy/ecology drew to a close, Dave Weinrich returned from themed show aimed at early elementary stu- Africa and the successful installation of a Me- dents. The exhibit staff of its parent institu- diaglobe star projector in Ghana’s first public tion, the Public Museum of Grand Rapids, has planetarium. also been busy improving the planetarium’s lobby displays, including a localized, up-to- Middle Atlantic Planetarium date Powers of Ten display on the scale of the Society universe, and a tributary exhibit to Apollo I Board members were recently elected by astronaut Roger Chaffee. the Middle Atlantic Planetarium Society. The staff of the Dassault Systèmes Plan- They are: Lee Ann Hennig, Thomas Jefferson etarium in Detroit has had a busy summer, High School, Alexandria, Virginia; Steve Rus- with lots of summer campers receiving guid- so, Suits-Bueche Planetarium, Schenectady, ed tours of the Digistar II night sky or learning New York; and Ted Williams, Mallon Plane- how to think critically in their Bad Astronomy tarium, Norristown, Pennsylvania. show. A new Sky-Skan PowerPoint Presenter A Tuorla Observatory telescope building pro- MAPS has also appointed a new chair for system was recently installed, which permits jected inside the Tuorla Planetarium dome. the Education Committee, John Scala of the the use of high definition video through their Photo by Per Broman. Lenape Valley High School Planetarium in Barco 909 video projector. Stanhope, New Jersey ([email protected]). The Cranbrook Institute of Science Plane- The Howard B. Owens Science Center in by 40 years of space missions. The planetari- tarium in Bloomfield Hills debuted Invaders Lanham-Seabrook, Maryland will be the host um also offered a summer class on amateur of Mars! by Evans & Sutherland shortly after site for the 2009 Middle Atlantic Planetarium telescope-making. Phoenix made its successful landing on Mars. Society Conference 13-16 May. Since the Ow- Dr. Ann Bragg has moved from Bowling Cranbrook astronomers have also been busy ens Science Center last hosted the conference Green State University to Marietta College, with astronomy summer camps, weekly ob- in 2003, they have developed and extend- where she now directs the new Anderson- serving sessions in their soon-to-be-renovated ed their partnerships with nearby organiza- Hancock Planetarium, which is due to open observatory, and plan to install a new teach- tions of interest, such as NASA-Goddard and later this year. BGSU Planetarium director ing device co-designed by Head of Astronomy the Johns Hopkins University Applied Phys- Dale Smith enjoyed seeing the Perseid meteor Michael Narlock and a team of engineers at ics Lab (JHUAPL). All planetarium enthusiasts shower under the clear dark skies of East Af- General Dynamics. are invited to gather to share educational ac- rica while on safari in Tanzania in early Au- Finishing off the summer was the 12th tivities and technology in order to help us all gust. Astronomy at the Beach at Kensington maximize the use of our unique learning en- Wisconsin/Minnesota. The University Metropark, an annual astronomy event for vironment. of Wisconsin-Stevens Point’s Allen F. Bloch- the public sponsored by the Detroit Science The conference will include opportunities er Planetarium is showing their local produc- Center’s Dassault Systèmes Planetarium and for members to participate in demos at the Vis- tion Gods of the Solar System along with shows the Cranbrook Institute of Science’s Planetar- itor Center at nearby NASA-Goddard, includ- from Loch Ness Productions and the Minne- ium. Over 5,000 people annually enjoy views ing their Science-on-a-Sphere exhibit. A wide apolis Planetarium. through dozens of telescopes, hands-on activ- variety of speakers from both NASA-Goddard The Manfred Olson Planetarium at the Uni- ities, night sky shows in the DSC’s Starlab, live and JHUAPL will be available. The conference versity of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, in concert tours of the evening sky, and presentations by hotel will be the Comfort Inn & Conference with their theater department, is designing a local amateur astronomers, concluding in the Center in nearby Bowie, Maryland. storytelling course which will emphasize as- keynote talk on radio astronomy by Dr. Mary More information on the conference is tronomy myths as well as narratives about Putman of the University of Michigan. forthcoming. See the MAPS website for the how we explore the cosmos. Ohio. Roy Kaelin reports that recent sky latest information: www.maps-planetarium. The Titanic is docking in Milwaukee’s Dan- shows at the Shafran Planetarium at the Cleve- org. Conference host is Patty Seaton, H. B. Ow- iel M. Soref Planetarium where the Houston’s land Museum of Natural History—Our Solar ens Science Center, Prince George’s County, Burke Baker Planetarium production Night of System: Beyond Belief and the children’s show Maryland, [email protected], phone +1 301- the Titanic will fill the planetarium sky. In Oc- Earth and Worlds Beyond—are tied in content 918-8750. tober, Spooky Skies will return once again with to the debut of the upcoming traveling exhi- new art and animations. bition Beyond: Visions of Planetary Landscapes Nordic Planetarium Association Moving on to the North Star State of Min- from the Smithsonian Institution. The exhi- Recently a new planetarium has opened nesota, Dave Williams and his staff at St. Cloud bition features 35 large-scale prints that have in Nyrölä, some 20 km from the Finnish city State University hosted a well attended 2008 been digitally processed by artist Michael Ben- Jyvääskylä. It is called Kallio-Planetaario, the WIMPS meeting. St. Cloud State is preparing son to create seamless photographs depicting Bedrock Planetarium. The core of the plane- two new shows for the coming year, The Life the natural beauty and reality of space as seen tarium experience consists of a beautiful audi- of a Star and The Milky Way.

December 2008 Planetarian 77 torium, which is surround- tent with other institutions ed by a large planetarium such as the American Muse- dome. The planetarium’s um of Natural History, the advanced video projection San Diego Supercomputer technology makes it pos- Center and the Salk Insti- sible to create an awe-in- tute. In the Science Center, spiring, three-dimension- hands-on exhibits as well as al picture, that encloses the outreach programs will also viewer within. This experi- be expanded. ence is complemented by Dr. Jeffrey Kirsch, execu- a massive sound environ- tive director of Reuben H. ment. In addition to show- Fleet Science Center is quot- ing different star-shows in ed, “In San Diego and around the planetarium, they, as the world we’ve witnessed first in Finland, are also able a tremendous growth in all to show real-time telescope areas of science and tech- footage of the sky. The pro- nology, growth that has led jector can also be used for to changes that profoundly viewing other movie, vid- affect our daily lives. Now eo, and computer material. The new Science Community Center. Courtesy of Yosemite Community College. more than ever, it is impor- For more information, visit tant for the public to under- www.kallioplanetaario.fi/ stand these changes and for en/services. children to embrace science In the Planetarian of 3/2008 (September), planetarium and a student observatory with a at an early age. These goals we have laid out some information was given on another Finn- 16-in Cassegrain telescope. Seiler Instruments in this campaign will allow us to meet these ish planetarium, Tuorla Planetarium, which will install a ZKP4 star projector and a Quin- challenges and inspire future generations of is part of Turku University, and is equipped to digital projection system. The projected scientists and engineers.” For more informa- with a Digistar-3 projector under a 7.5-m Euro- opening date is the autumn of 2011. For infor- tion, visit www.rhfleet.org. dome. In September, Lars and Per Broman vis- mation, contact William Luebke, luebkew@ ited the planetarium and were treated with a yosemite.cc.ca.us. Rocky Mountain Planetarium pre-premiere presentation of The 7 Wonders of LA Valley College Planetarium and Obser- Association the World. vatory will undergo remodeling work. The The IPS’08 Conference was well attended The planetarium staff consists of Aimo Sil- planetarium will feature a new 24-ft Nano by RMPA members, who used the opportu- lanpää, mainly administration; Kari Nils- Seam dome by E&S/Spitz. The seats will be re- nity to hold a business meeting. Dan Neafus son, programming and administration; Pert- placed. The observatory’s 16-inch Celestron (president) was joined by officers David Bin- tu Keinänen, technical maintenance; Hannu telescope will receive a new equatorial fork neweis (secretary) and Aaron McEuen (trea- Karttunen, program production; and Rami Re- mount by DFM Engineering, and eight new surer), Mickey Schmidt (historian) and Mike kola, web pages. Mail addresses are of the form GPS telescopes will be set up for student use. Murray (webmaster). Mike Murray will spear- [email protected] more informa- After the remodeling, those with limited mo- head elections to determine a new president- tion on Tuorla Planetarium, visit www.astro. bility will be able to access the rooftop for the elect to take the reins in 2010. The other offi- utu.fi/planetarium. first time since the planetarium was built in cers will retain their positions. Backyard Cosmos is the name of a small sci- 1963. For information, contact David Falk, RMPA is in the fortunate position of having ence center that has come closer to reality. www.lavc.edu. a healthy budget and of the various proposals Broman Planetarium has recently purchased Fremont Peak Ovservatory Association discussed, has decided to explore a follow-up a small farm in the north of Swedish region awarded Director Andy Newton of Hartnell publication to the Planetarium Primer. It was Dalarna. A planetarium equipped with a Dig- College Planetarium, Salinas, “Educator of agreed that the original had served its purpose ital Starlab projector under a 2.5-m Eurodome the Year” at the association’s annual fundrais- and was sorely in need of updating. It was also plus quite a few hands-on experiments have ing star party on 2 August 2008. Newton was proposed that RMPA members try to sched- been setup in one of the buildings. A web page recognized for his role in establishing and im- ule some one-day regional workshops. Den- is under construction, www.bakgard.se. plementing the Hartnell College student in- ver and Salt Lake City are both committed Two planetarians who are well-known to ternship program, where six Hartnell science to making this happen for members in 2009. Planetarian readers, Aadu Ott and Lars Bro- students staff the observatory for Saturday RMPA also accepted an invitation from Kris man, both became emeriti professors last year. evening public programs. The internship pro- McCall to join SEPA in Nashville in 2009. Now they have initiated a new Swedish acad- gram is supported by Fremont Peak Observa- emy, Strömstad Academy. It is in the early tory and the NASA Curriculum Improvement Southeastern Planetarium process of being built up, and has at the time Partnership Award grant. For information, vis- Association of writing 10 professors from as many differ- it www.fpoa.net. The Western Alliance of Planetariums, ent academic disciplines. More information is The Ruben H. Fleet Science Center in San comprised of GPPA, PPA, RMPA, and SWAP, available at www.stromstadakademi.se. Diego will have extensive renovations. The will join SEPA 16-20 June 2009. The confer- Space Theatre will be upgraded with a new ence host is Director Kris McCall. The site is Pacific Planetarium Association dome and a state-of-the-art fulldome projec- the new 18-m GPTP Hybrid theater in Nash- Yosemite Community College is building tion system that will allow immersive visuals ville, Tennessee. A large turnout is expected; a science community center that will house and realistic simulations. They will also have detailed conference information is being fi- sciences for the college, including a 120-seat the capability to develop educational con- nalized as this is written. Look for conference

78 Planetarian December 2008 details in the next issue of the Planetarian. (Fulldome, continued from page 33) SEPA has chosen Kingsport, Tennessee as the site for the mon for a fulldome theater to have more 2010 conference. Conference than one fulldome source. As the range of po- host will be current SEPA Presi- tential uses for the dome expands, so does the dent Adam Thanz. The host fa- need for flexibility and enhancements. Each cility is the soon-to-be-refur- vendor’s software product offering will have bished 12-m Bays Mountain its own attributes; for instance collaborations Park Planetarium. Since this with the education sector or commercial or- is an IPS conference year, the ganization will dictate the use of a particular dates chosen for SEPA are 8-12 piece of hardware or operating system. Exper- June, slightly earlier than nor- imentation or back-up systems will be add- mal. ed, each of these reasons giving rise to the requirement for more than one fulldome source Ukrainian Planetariums (computer or computer cluster). At the high Association end, there are already a number of fulldome The Ukrainian city Donetzk, systems that use two or more computer clus- for the short time, became the ters. only city in Ukraine where To accommodate this need for flexibility, two planetariums are being the display system needs to be able to han- operated. After the opening dle multiple inputs (much like a home theater of the first digital planetarium system), and ideally integrate them in such in Ukraine, the previous one a way that they are easy to interoperate and (opened in 1962) with a Zeiss are seamlessly presented to the audience. It is opto-mechanical projector possible today to integrate sophisticated im- was still working before being age processing electronics to handle multiple closed soon. The new planetar- computer clusters, cross fading between them, ium has 12-m dome, six multi- and inserting high-resolution video windows media projectors with 3d Bar- around the dome (much like a giant video coReality SIM 5R system, and mixer). This new “multimedia” capability will 84 seats. The InSpace System increase the potential uses for fulldome the- Top: Donetzk Planetarium. Photo by Irina Filippova. aters in the future. includes professional digital Bottom: Maya Guepner, Director of Dnepropetrovsk Planetarium, sound and visual systems, and accepts greetings from Leonid Kadenyuk, first Ukrainian cosmo- the astronomical realtime sim- naut. Courtesy of Dnepropetrovsk Planetarium. Conclusion ulator SkyExplorer and Dome- For the last 10 years the fulldome market has been early adopter territory, with plenty Manager software are being used to operate discuss in a warm, friendly atmosphere activi- of successful implementations (along with a the planetarium, along with the high defini- ties and problems of planetariums in Ukraine number of unsuccessful ones). Recent signs are tion videoplayer ViPlayer HD. and plans for future. Visitors of Dnepro- that the market is slowly approaching a ma- Two programs are currently offered to visi- petrovsk Planetarium could attend programs ture stage, and although leading- and bleed- tors. In the near future, the administration of from different Ukrainian planetariums. A ing-edge technologies are still being show- the planetarium plans to equip an observato- drawing, photography of a space topic, or a cased, there are plenty of installations using ry in a new building, to organize a studio for mockup of a space rocket served as the en- more mature and proven technologies. This making educational movies, and to add a mu- trance ticket for children. The most honorable maturity brings about operational robust- seum of cosmonautics. The building of the guest of the celebration was the first Ukraini- ness (essential for public theaters), price renew planetarium in Donetzk was sponsored an cosmonaut, Leonid Kadenyuk, who of- ductions, market consolidation (a smaller by the local business in conjunction with the fered the planetarium his book on his space number of better vendors), and proven busi- city administration. flight and delivered an exciting story about ness and operational models for theaters. Ukrainian President Viktor Yushenko at- his space impressions. The lecturer who deliv- Hopefully, the desire to have the very latest tended the official opening ceremony on 29 ered the first lecture in new planetarium 40 technology will be balanced by the wisdom to August. The next day, the new planetarium years ago, Swetlana Levchenko, also was pres- ensure that it is dependable and reserving suf- opened its doors to its first visitors. A real sur- ent at the celebration. ficient funds for content. As the market starts prise was prepared for Donezk inhabitants: a Dnepropetrovsk Planetarium operates to stabilize over the next few years, the oppor- direct communication session with the ISS. a Karl Zeiss projector. Yearly the planetari- tunity to improve the quality and quantity of Cosmonaut Alexandr Volkov, who was born um offers not less than a thousand lectures content and presentations for these theaters in the Donetzk region, was present at the and dozens of thousand visitors attend plan- will increase, and will allow fulldome to be rec- opening of planetarium; his son, Cosmonaut etarium shows. The planetarium works is ognized and accepted as the new and viable me- Sergey Volkov, is currently head of the ISS in close collaboration with aerospace soci- dium that it promises to be. I crew. Sergey Volkov congratulated the plan- ety for youth Souzirrya, National Center for etarium opening from orbit. Aerospace Education of Youth, and amateur Dnepropetrovsk Planetarium celebrated its astronomers. Representatives of these orga- 40th anniversary on 19-20 September. Direc- nizations as well as of city governing body tors and representatives of four other Ukraini- came to greet Dnepropetrovsk Planetari- an planetariums came to greet colleagues, to um with its jubilee. I

December 2008 Planetarian 79 italis, Discovery Dome, Global Immersion, future of these systems as bright and exciting. Mobile News Sky-Skan, Spitz, Starlab and Quim Guixa dem- We have more tools and more options about onstrated the latest in projector and dome how to use them. The equipment is becoming technology and educated us on the software smaller and more affordable and with better available for each digital system. They also resolution, which will allow us to invest more gave us a peek into coming attractions and in content and less in hardware. The feeling asked for our “wish list” for future develop- was that small domes can concentrate on ments. teaching the basics/standards, while the big During paper sessions and workshops we domes can present the “blockbusters.” Anoth- learned more about presentation techniques er interesting observation made was that since that work well in our small analog and digital small domes are brighter, they might provide planetarium settings. the best venue for 3D because the equipment We examined real-time tools for use with for them would be more cost effective. digital systems and hands-on activities for an- Some cautions were presented. For the com- alog systems as well as with automation tech- fort of the audience, for example, fulldome for nology. We learned about the capabilities of small—and especially portable—domes needs the freeware Stellarium, Celestia, Audacity, to be made with narration and sound effects and Blender, to name a few. We learned about using lower pitches and with no big changes warping content on the fly vs. pre-rendered in volume. content and enjoyed some movies from Spitz, It was pointed out that we need to careful- Discovery Dome and Robin Sip. ly define our mission and realize that, no mat- Patricia Reiff from the United States and ter what the mission or tools, the presenter is Tom Kwasnitschka from Germany demon- a key ingredient to successful experiences un- Susan Reynolds Button strated how we could capture real images and der the dome. Some live interaction with the Quarks to Clusters video for digital systems using standard fish- audience is essential. We do not need to com- eye cameras and the somewhat (in my opin- pete with the bigger domes; we need to sup- 8793 Horseshoe Lane ion) temperamental RED camera. port them through our work of educating stu- Chittenango, New York We heard about the educational activities dents and the public about basic science. 13037 USA being conducted and the methods used at The conference concluded with heartfelt our two host institutions’ facilities (the Opor- hugs and handshakes and, of course, the fa- (1) 315-687-5371 to Planetarium and the Espinho Planetarium) mous port and other wines of Portugal! (1) 315-432-4523 (fax) as well as from institutions and privately-run Thank you António Pedrosa for stepping mobile planetarium businesses in the Czech forward to host this meeting and for your in- [email protected] Republic, Germany, Portugal, Spain, the Unit- spiration and hard work that made the 5th [email protected] ed Kingdom and the United States. European Conference of Small and Portable One of the most pleasurable experiences of Planetariums such an exceptional experience! 5th European Conference of this conference was, of course, the opportuni- The International Planetarium Society was Small and Portable Planetariums ty for informal interaction with colleagues. well represented throughout the conference António built in many opportunities for that by the president, the IPS Portable Planetarium The biggest news I have for this column to happen through extended lunches and cof- Committee chair, and the president elect. is, of course, the 5th European Conference fee breaks. While in Oporto (Porto), after a half For a list of the delegates, poster presenta- of Small and Portable Planetarium, held 9-11 day of sessions, we experienced an incredible tions and more pictures, go to ecspp2008.mul- October in Portugal. About 50 of us met in “mid conference party.” It began with a deli- timeios.pt. two locations: Centro Multimeios de Espin- cious lunch, a walk through old Porto, a vis- Look for more news in the IPS Calendar ho (Navegar Foundation) in Espinho and the it to the Porto Cálem Wine Cellar, a boat tour about the 6th European Conference of Small Centro de Astrofísica da Universidade do Por- along the beautiful Rio Douro and a magnif- and Portable Planetariums. Tomasz Kisiel is in to (CAUP) in Oporto. icent dinner with every I want to extend a huge thank you to the lo- kind of Portuguese food cal organizing committee for this wonderful and wine you wished to conference. Under the leadership of António sample. Pedrosa (Navegar Foundation) and Filipe Pires As you can imagine, (CAUP), the staff of both facilities went “above it was difficult to return and beyond” to provide an awesome experi- to work the next day, ence for all who traveled to this meeting. Lina but we did put in anoth- Canas, Nuno Carvalho and Pedro Silva from er full day back in Espin- the Navegar Foundation and Nelma Silva, ho! The last session was Jorge Humberto, and Ricardo Reis worked tire- a panel discussion and lessly to meet our every need. chance for open debate This meeting was different from all the oth- organized by Mike Bru- ers! It was a marvelous combination of low- no. The topic was the fu- and hi-tech equipment, software, and presen- ture of small and porta- tation techniques. The diversity of attendees ble planetariums. allowed us to explore all possible avenues for On the whole, dele- working in our small and portable domes. This was our first view of Centro Multimeios Espinho! (All photos by Su- gates reported seeing the Representatives from Aula del Cosmos, Dig- san Button unless otherwise noted.)

80 Planetarian December 2008 the process of organizing the next meeting, tember column, did not come up which will be held in Poland in early Septem- with the original idea for a mirror ber 2009. system (I am sure that she built her planetarium after seeing or hearing Giving Credit Where it is Due about this technology somewhere), I received an email from Ismandy Ali, who but I give her credit for the initiative was inspired to write to me after reading my she took and her perseverance and column in the September Planetarian. She re- ingenuity. Her experience is valu- ferred to the story “Inspiration Under a Home- able information for the rest of us. Made Dome” on page 76. Paul’s innovative way of project- Ismandy wrote, “Hi there Susan, I am one ing fulldome content has changed of the few planetarians in Malaysia and have the market for small and portable been using an old mechanical projector for domes by offering a low-cost al- star projection (15m dome) since many years ternative to the fisheye lens. As il- back. It is really impossible for me to get dona- lustrated by Colleen’s experiment, tions to buy a new fulldome projector due to anyone can build his or her own the daunting cost—in Malaysia the currency digital planetarium with the three exchange could take us to millions—enough component parts (mirror, projector to buy 1-2 bungalows. Well, this is the most fa- and computer). The resolution of mous reason after all faced by many planetar- the resulting fulldome images will ians. depend on the quality of the equip- “But in 2006 I knew a visualization research- ment used. er [Paul Bourke] from Swinburne Universi- A decision must be made about ty, Australia, and he had a great idea: using a the amount you can spend for the spherical mirror for the fulldome effect. Al- mirror, computer, software and vid- though I was somewhat skeptical with what eo projector and whether the results he said at first, a year later, when he was in Sin- are acceptable for your purpose. gapore, I managed to arrange his flight from This requires some research about Singapore to Kuching. He came to our small the available hardware and soft- planetarium in Kuching, Malaysia to tell us ware. The nice part is that you can about the advantages of it. easily upgrade the component parts “He did a demo and the results were out- as funding becomes available. The standing. All of his ideas, experiences, research downside is that the mirror is some- and everything he put on the following web- what fragile and difficult to keep site: local.wasp.uwa.edu.au/~pbourke/. clean in a portable dome situation. “Since he came, his work has changed the I discovered at the meeting in Por- face of our planetarium. Now we managed to tugal that some clever carrying cas- get crowds to come back to the planetarium, es and projection stands have been thanks to his simple, yet affordable, method. developed to help mitigate these His ideas give us a new look and hope. difficulties and a new coating for “In case if you are not sure, all of the equip- the mirror is being developed that ments, settings, a complete array of almost ev- will make it easier to clean without erything in your article ‘Inspiration Under a scratching. Home-Made Dome’ is found in his website and is widely known by many people. Deadlines for applications “I did not find any credits given to him. But for “A Week in Italy” I agree in one thing, credits are usually men- Although the contest for “A tioned in scientific writings, but for public Week in Italy for an American Plan- writings, it is rarely done. etarium Operator” has been discon- “Thanks for sharing. Ismandy Ali (Sultan Is- tinued, there is still the chance for a kandar Planetarium, Kuching, Sarawak Malay- French- or Spanish-speaking plane- sia; email [email protected].” tarium operator to enjoy a fantastic I wrote back to Ismandy to say how happy experience in Italy. The deadlines I was to hear her success story and that Paul for applications are: was such a help to the Sultan Iskandar Plane- 31 August 2009. “A Week in Italy tarium. I explained that I would put her story for a French-Speaking Planetarium Top: Simón Garcia, from Spain, explained his experiences in and comments in my December column. Paul Operator.” building “Planetariums Step by Step.” He told us that this Bourke, of the University of Western Australia 30 September 2009. “A Week in It- was his first planetarium! in Perth, does deserve the credit for creating aly for a Spanish-Speaking Planetari- Next: Quim Guixa and Albert Pla from Aula de Cosmos showed us a dome that can be used for the classroom, old this new technological innovation. The first um Operator.” folks home or for exhibits. time I had heard of this mirror system was at For more information on the Next: Delegates had plenty of time to network. the IPS Conference in Australia. Since then “Week in Italy,” go to www.astrofili- Bottom: António Pedrosa (right), Patricia Madeira (center) this technology has caught on very quickly. bresciani.it/Planetari/Week_in_Ita- and Fabien Cheréau (left) examine the stand and carrying case for the mirror system that Patricia Reiff and Mario Di Colleen McCurley, highlighted in my Sep- ly/Week_Italy.htm. I Maggio (Discovery Dome) demonstrated.

December 2008 Planetarian 81 majority of public. Reviews The name Soyuz is a meaningless foreign word, Apollo a vague memory to the over- 40s, Gemini and Mer- cury just Greek gods. The shuttle is still important, as a symbol of human space exploration. Hope- fully, on their with- drawal from service, the Atlantis, Discov- ery and Endeavour will inspire future generations as exhibits in museums. Robert God- win’s Space Shut- tle Fact Archive is a member of Apogee Book’s series of Pocket major human spaceflight project to follow Space Guides, which aim to cover “the entire the shuttle and includes development of the gamut of space exploration in a user friendly Ares 1 and 5 launch vehicles, the Orion Crew April S. Whitt format.” Each is a modestly-priced small pa- Exploration Vehicle and Altair lunar landing perback with 96 pages, half of which carry module. Assuming future administrations al- Fernbank Science Center full-colour illustrations. low the project to continue, these vehicles will 156 Heaton Park Drive NE The Space Shuttle Fact Archive is exactly maintain America’s foothold in low Earth or- what its title says. If you are going to need to bit and once again allow access to the moon’s Atlanta, Georgia 30307 USA know something about the shuttle program surface more than 40 years since the last peo- [email protected] quickly, you should carry this handy little ple visited our satellite. Beyond lunar orbit, volume in your pocket. If you are just inter- Constellation hardware could play a role in ested in the shuttle as a really neat piece of en- human flights to Mars. Despite its importance, We offer a collage of fine print for your ed- gineering, you should keep it in your desk. At the project seems still all but unknown to the ification and delight, gentle readers. Small what altitude is the shuttle when it jettisons public, but this can only change as time goes books packed with information, thick books the solid rocket boosters? Who were the five on. full of computer code and epigrams, a volume crew members on STS-54? What are all those McElyea’s book very briefly covers Constel- of science fiction from the last millennium, vehicles that surround the orbiter immedi- lation’s political background and the Explora- and the latest astronomical information from ately after it rolls to a halt on the runway? All tion Space Architecture Study which laid out this one. the answers are in this book, along with much the project’s requirements. This is followed With many thanks to our reviewers: Steve more. by descriptions of the new hardware, with most detail on the Orion spacecraft, a sort of Case, Francine Jackson, Colin Johnston, and There are complete lists of shuttle astro- big brother to the historic Apollo spacecraft, Angela Sarrazine. nauts and missions with concise statistics, annotated diagrams of components and full and the Ares boosters, fascinating amalgams of shuttle and Saturn technology. Space Shuttle Fact Archive descriptions of two of the shuttle’s scientific payloads, Europe’s Spacelab and the lesser- There some very provisional details of the Robert Godwin, Apogee Books, Burlington, known SPACEHAB. There is no soul-searching still nebulous Lunar Surface Access Module Ontario, Canada; 2007; ISBN13-978-1894959- into the meaning of the shuttle or consider- (which had not yet been named Altair when 52-0, US $9.95, Can $11.95, UK £6.95 ation of might-have-beens in this book; it is the book was published), and there is a short Reviewed by Colin Johnston, Armagh Plan- just a helpful collection of data in a handy for- entry on Constellation’s robotic precursors, etarium, Armagh, United Kingdom. mat, and as such I find it very useful. the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter and the Lu- nar CRater Observation and Sensing Satellite, The end is now in sight for NASA’s space to be launched together later this year. shuttle program. The remaining orbiter vehi- Project Constellation: Moon, The colour section features mainly CGI ren- cles are due for retirement by 2010. Once the Mars and Beyond derings of the vehicles, but there are also di- epitomes of high-technology human space- Tim McElyea, Apogee Books, Burlington, On- agrams of mission profiles (including a Mars flight, the shuttles are now often dismissed as tario, Canada; 2007; ISBN13-978-1894959-49-0, mission) and photos of components under obsolete, and the whole project as waste of ef- US $9.95, Can $11.95, UK £6.95 UK test. The vehicle designs are still evolving; as a fort, even by pro-space pundits. This seems un- Reviewed by Colin Johnston, Armagh Plan- result, note that that the book’s images of the duly harsh; the project was oversold, yes, but etarium, Armagh, United Kingdom. Orion CEV no longer match the latest config- it taught us valuable technological lessons and uration of the spacecraft. gave NASA a generation’s worth of human Project Constellation: Moon, Mars and Beyond If you want to get up to speed on what may spaceflight. In my experience, the chunky by Tim McElyea is another of Apogee Book’s be the future of spaceflight, this book will be black and white bulk of a shuttle orbiter is the Pocket Space Guides. useful to you. But buy it soon: it will go out of only manned spacecraft recognized by the Project Constellation is to be NASA’s next date quickly!

82 Planetarian December 2008 Edison’s Conquest of Mars (A art for its time. His imagination also includes, recent events in the story of the exploration for the first time in print, many science and of Titan, Saturn’s largest satellite. Sequel to the War of the Worlds) science fiction staples of today, including his The book gives a well-organized history of Garrett P. Serviss, 1898, serialized in the Bos- disintegrator ray, which is probably the ances- discoveries in the Saturnian system, with cov- ton Post, reprinted in 2005 by Apogee Books, tor of the ray gun or Star Trek phaser. In this erage of how the Cassini mission has added to Box 62034, Burlington, Ontario, Canada; ISBN first-person narrative, he has the heroes stop the scientific data set. The first three chapters 0-9738203-0-6, US $12.99 at an asteroid that crosses Mars’ orbit, which present a historical account of what scientists Reviewed by Francine Jackson, University turns out to be a rest stop for the enemy and knew before the Cassini mission, along with a of Rhode Island Planetarium, Rhode Island, for which he sees the potential of future plati- discussion of what scientists hoped to expand USA. num mining. Serviss even uses the newly- dis- upon. covered satellite Deimos as a refuge for the While the book does an excellent job of re- In 1897, after H.G. Wells wrote his amazingly space travelers as they recuperate after an al- counting the scientific saga of the Huygens successful The War of the Worlds, the Earth was most disastrous battle. probe, it also has a more personal facet in the very wary of the Martians still left back home In this 2005 edition, the flavor of the book witty anecdotes incorporated throughout the and sought help from the scientific communi- as it was written at the end of the 19th cen- text. The personal anecdotes add warmth, hu- ty to wreck havoc on the red planet. First, and tury is perfectly kept. In addition to the lan- mor, and personality to a book that is a well- best, to step up to the challenge was Thomas guage, which can never be duplicated today, written documentary on the Huygens probe, Edison, whose “disintegrator” ray proved per- the book is replete with sketches showing the its instrumentation and data collection. fect to the task. Upon international agreement action as never could be imagined, including Some of the language and descriptions in and cooperation, Edison, along with Lord Kel- the huge, monster Martians (which reminded this text are not for the novice. The book in- vin, Lord Reyleigh, Professor Roentgen, and me a little of Gulliver’s giants; could the artist, cludes a fair number of scientifically chal- all the other leading scientists in the world at never acknowledged, have used them as his lenging descriptions of events that require the time, “plac[ed] their services at the disposal template?), and, of course, an Earthling dam- a significant amount of astronomy or phys- of Mr. Edison in any capacity in which, in his sel in distress, who holds the key to Edison’s ics knowledge. However, the highly techni- judgment, they might be useful to him.” For success. cal language interspersed within the chapters most of them, that meant helping him built a Was this book fun to read? Absolutely. By does make the book appealing to a wider au- fleet of spaceships equipped with his lethal in- the way, does Edison really save the Earth dience. vention and accompanying him on his death from any future Martian invasion? You can Overall, Titan Unveiled is an excellent charge to Mars. probably guess he did, but it’s up to you to choice for anyone interested in learning what Sounds like science fiction? Of course it is. read and find out how. is involved in the planning and executing of a After all, what nation would allow all of its scientific mission to any of the objects in the greatest scientists to travel en masse to anoth- solar system. It gives the reader a realistic view er planet, with the ultimate goal of eradicat- Titan Unveiled of the major events and does not fail to men- ing every citizen on its surface? Oh wait—that Ralph Lorenz and Jacqueline Mitton, Prince- tion set-backs, disappointments, and errors was the original idea of the Martians. ton University Press, 41 William Street, Princ- that have to be dealt with along the way. In case you don’t recognize the author’s eton, New Jersey, USA, 08540-5237; 2008; ISBN name, Garrett P. Serviss describes himself as 13: 978-0-691-12587-9, US $29.95, UK £17.95 the “well-known astronomical author,” al- Reviewed by Angela Sarrazine, Fernbank Calendrical Calculations, 3rd ed though he started his working life as a mem- Science Center, Atlanta, Georgia, USA. Nachum Dershowitz and Edward M. Rein- ber of the bar. Like many people in his day, he gold, Cambridge University Press, 32 Avenue was fascinated with space, and spent most of Titan Unveiled is the sequel to Lifting Titan’s of the Americas, New York NY 10013-2473; his life as a fiction writer and science journal- Veil, but one does not have to read the first 2008; ISBN 978-0-521-70238-6, US $29.99 ist. This book, although we might today use book to thoroughly enjoy the second. Titan Reviewed by Steve Case, Strickler Planetari- the word “hokey” for it, was truly a work of Unveiled describes, in detail, some of the more um, Bourbonnais, Illinois, USA

December 2008 Planetarian 83 Calendars are important. They’re especial- tronomical considerations) and “Astronomi- ly important in astronomy, a discipline that cal Calendars.” More than 17 distinct calendar arose primarily as a means of keeping track systems are addressed, including the Gregori- of time. Once “keeping track of time” meant an, Julian, Coptic and Ethiopic, Islamic, He- watching the heavens. Today it normally brew, Hindu, Mayan, Persian, Chinese, and Ti- means checking my computer taskbar. Since betan systems. its origins, astronomy has become divorced The lay reader will have to wade through from this original purpose, and the calendars (or more likely skim over) lots of coding lan- that were created from observations of the guage to find the descriptive nuggets of inter- sky’s motions now seem to have little to do est, but these are interesting enough to make it with them. Calendrical Calculations is a book worthwhile. As to the coding itself, while I’m that brings these topics back together. certainly not an authority, from a computa- Obviously we planetarians pay attention to tional perspective the authors clearly brought calendars. We understand the incommensura- a great deal of mathematical rigor to the top- bility of the length of years and days, and we ic, addressing previous erroneous methods have a pretty good grasp on the leap year rule. and often calculating values (such as lengths We know a bit about the Gregorian reform to of years or months in various systems) to an the Julian Calendar. We “get” time zones. Our exhaustive exactness. Dozens of graphs and ta- planetariums are time machines in which we bles round out the analytic portion, while lib- can control hours, minutes, days, and years. In erally interspersed epigrams added to the his- my planetarium, I can display my local time torical and even literary aspect. (One of these or universal time as well as toggle between to- later also included an amusing typo—the only day’s Gregorian date and its Julian Day. one I spotted—on page 76 involving stars and But what if I was interested in today’s date excrement.) by Hebrew reckoning? Or Persian? Or Chi- On the whole I’d say that Calendrical Calcu- nese? Or Islamic? I can explain how our West- lations seems to represent a complete and au- ern calendars tried to reconcile the motions of thoritative treatment of the topic. Large por- the sky with the daily workings of humanity, tions of the text won’t be easily accessible to but what about other traditions? What’s the someone like me with little programming ex- difference between a solar calendar (like the perience, but the tip of the conceptual and Gregorian), a lunar calendar (like the Islam- computational iceberg that I was able to ex- ic), and a lunisolar calendar (like the Hebrew)? plore was interesting and enlightening. Our What role, if any, does astronomy still play in world is dominated by calendars; it was nice modern calendar system? to see the astronomical roots of this ubiqui- Calendrical Calculations answers these ques- tous topic as well as being reminded that June tions and many more. The book is a compu- 6, 2008 A.D. is known by many other names tational treatment of several current and an- throughout the world. cient calendar systems. While it contains enough historical and non-computational information to be of interest to the casual read- The Story of Science: er, its primary audience is programmers interested in coding that can convert between Aristotle Leads the Way dates of various systems. In the growing realm Newton at the Center of digitization, I can see this being helpful to Einstein Adds a New Dimension planetarians who wish to incorporate this All by Joy Hakim, Smithsonian Books (in as- into planetarium control systems. How en- sociation with the National Science Teachers gaging to be able to present shows in which Association), P.O. Box 37012, MRC 513, Capital significant dates could be presented in the cal- Gallery, Suite 6001, Washington, DC 20013- endars of many cultures or shows addressing 7012; 2007; Aristotle ISBN: 1588341607, Newton the astronomical aspects of significant events ISBN: 1588341615, Einstein ISBN: 1588341623, such as the date of Easter or the beginning of US $27.95 each Ramadan! Reviewed by April Whitt, Fernbank Science The majority of the book is devoted to out- Center, Atlanta, Georgia, USA. lining and expounding upon the LISP coding the authors have developed to make this pos- I could spend an entire column on each of sible. Coding is interspersed through the text, these books separately. They are just wonder- and a hefty appendix contains complete im- ful. I read about them in a National Science plementation. Teachers Association publication and was Not being a programmer myself, I was pri- able to obtain a set for the science center. Writ- marily interested in the historical and descrip- ten with a vocabulary that middle school stu- necting stars into constellations to quantum tive explanations of the different systems. Af- dents could easily follow, Hakim’s sharp wit mechanics and chaos theory. ter a brief but interesting section on “Calendar makes these a most enjoyable read for anyone. In the second volume, author Joy Hakim Basics,” the text is divided into “Arithmetical The books trace what we know and how we tells her readers, “Like all good scientists, New- Calendars” (those no longer based on true as- know it, from the earliest sky watchers con- ton understood that he was involved in a

84 Planetarian December 2008 quest that can never be finished. He knew that them, such as by notching animal bones to She also cautions, “The twentieth-centu- his work would get trimmed and topped…sci- track lunar cycles, noting seasonal star pat- ry was an age of specialization. But in today’s ence keeps building, and when new blocks terns, and making the leap from “This is the information-based world, broad thinking are put in place, that often means throwing way it is” to “What makes it this way?” Col- has become essential. To not know science out or adapting it before heading on – to new orful maps and timelines appear throughout means being out of touch with the basic ideas heights. So there’s nothing dull or static about the book. Sidebars provide background. The that underlie our fast-paced existence. It also science’s story. It’s a tale of exploration, one humorous tone will keep readers young and means missing out on some of the most excit- that will stretch your mind to its limits.” old entranced. ing creativity in human history.” The questions I’m getting from people at Galileo and his insistence on repeated exper- This third volume explores relativity, mag- the end of planetarium programs or by phone iment and careful observation star in Newton netism, radioactivity, quantum electrody- reveal a real lack of basic science understand- in the Center. He’s followed by Kepler and his namics, and the paradoxes and colorful char- ing. The quasi-hysteria a few months ago ellipses, Descartes and his coordinates, New- acters surrounding them. There’s a detailed about the Large Hadron Collider creating a ton and his calculus (that Liebnitz discovered time line of events from 1932 to 1939.There black hole and swallowing Switzerland is an at nearly the same time and published earlier), are political cartoons. There are discussions of example. Roemer and his clocks, Mendeleyev ordering war, peace and the Bomb. There are images of For those of us answering questions from the elements on a periodic table, and all the painting by Magritte and Dali. There are im- the general public, these books are rich re- experimenters with heat and gases and tem- ages from the Hubble Space Telescope. There’s sources. The first volume can be a bit over- perature. entanglement and locality, The Fly and Star stimulating. The excellent text is surrounded Einstein Adds a New Dimension in book Trek. And it’s all described clearly and simply. (and sometimes almost interrupted) by imag- three. In the introduction, one of his quotes, If you have a library at your facility, it needs es, sidebars, factoid boxes, type and graphics “Imagination is more important than knowl- these books. When teachers ask for suggestions of different colors. The second and third vol- edge,” is followed with “But…Einstein had sol- about what their students should read, recom- umes seemed gentler on my eyes, while still id Germanic schooling to feed his astonish- mend these books. If you’re looking for some full of attractive images and graphics. ing imagination.” The author tells her readers background for that International Year of As- In Aristotle Leads the Way, author Hakim “Start with information, ask the right ques- tronomy press release, refer to these books. traces scientific thought from its roots in ear- tions, apply some imaginative leaps, and you The Story of Science series is a must-read. I ly people’s observations of the world around are on the path to creativity.”

December 2008 Planetarian 85 Say It Like You Mean It! Gibbous Gazette Looking for an interesting or awe-inspiring quotation to add to your current live night sky show? If so, surf on over to www.Space.Quo- organ. Each time the lamps fired, I could feel tation.com, “a collection of star-gazing, rock- the heat of those jack-o-lanterns burning on et-riding and moon-walking quotes.” Top- my face, like getting to close to the sun! Rick ics include astronomy, predicting the future, passed while doing what he also loved, get- the moon, Mars, the stars, rocketry, into orbit, ting ready to fly his own plane. Now he’s up Apollo moon missions, space shuttle, look- there soaring through the night skies closer to ing back at Earth, UFOs, wonder and magic of what he loved. And we are all better for hav- space and space colonization. There is even a ing known him. searchable database and an email link to send People On The Move your own suggestions! Kathryn Miller is the new planetarium di- Great Moments of the Space Age! rector at the Robert H. Johnson Planetari- Much was said here and elsewhere around um in the Jefferson County School system in the globe last year about the 50th anniversa- Colorado. She takes over for Jim Beaber, who ry of the launch of Sputnik 1. Commemora- is retiring after 14 years at the planetarium. tions and celebrations were held from Mos- Miller is a recent Fulbright scholarship recipi- cow to Michigan. One important monument ent who spent the summer studying in Egypt. to the start of the space age is an unassuming She had been with the school system for 26 outhouse near Fairbanks, Alaska. It marks the years and has been a campus supervisor, a li- site of the first recorded sighting of Sputnik brary media technician, and also a social stud- in the Western Hemisphere. Its story recent- ies teacher over the course of her teaching ly appeared in the Winter 2008 edition of the career. The facility sees over 40,000 student Great Western Observer and recounts that James P. Hughes visitors each year. significant event back on October 6, 1957. Gary Lazich has left his position as man- Planetarium Producer While seated in his outhouse pondering ager of the Russell C. Davis Planetarium in the glory of the heavens, Mr. Dexter Stege- Buhl Digital Dome Jackson, Mississippi effective September 30, meyer spotted a bright light moving through 2008. He and his wife Cindy have moved to Carnegie Science Center the sky over Fairbanks, Alaska. Nearby, at the a northwest suburb of Chicago, where they Ballaine Lake Field Site of the Geophysical One Allegheny Avenue will be closer to family and where they plan Institute of the University of Alaska, Bob to find teaching jobs. Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania Merritt and a team of volunteers erected an After 13 years at Spitz, Inc. in Chadds Ford, antenna system to capture data from Sput- 15212 USA Pennsylvania, Director of Sales Al Wells re- nik. Their data was sought by the Air Force tired in October (you never know, he may (1) 412-237-3348 Cambridge Research Laboratory. Although crash the next hospitality suite if there is Co- thought to be the upper stage rocket that had (1) 412-237-3359 fax ors Light in the tub). Taking his place with put Sputnik into orbit, the sighting was con- hughesj@ sales is Jeff Whiteside. firmed later by those at Ballaine Lake. The sto- carnegiesciencecenter.org A Song for Florida Planetariums ry is relayed to us by Mr. Stegemeyer’s neigh- bor, Neil Davis, an auroral scientist with the Dr. Norman Dean, science educator, re- Geophysical Institute. I didn’t know Rick Pirko well, but I knew cently composed a song extolling the won- The outhouse now bears a plaque to com- him well enough to know that he loved the ders of Florida skies titled “Gift of the Flor- memorate the event. The plaque was placed planetarium and he made a life of sharing ida Sky.” The song runs about 3 minutes in with the help of fellow scientist and Pacif- his love of the sky with visitors to the Ward length and would be appropriate for any Flo- ic Planetarium Association member Neal Beecher Planetarium in Youngstown, Ohio ridian who would like to create a good dark/ and with the rest of his colleagues in the plan- light adaptation sequence or a slide show addi- etarium community. I can remember one of tion for a show for tourists. Contact Norman the first times I met Rick. It was at a confer- via email at [email protected] and he’ll be ence at his facility where he did a workshop happy send any Florida planetarian a free CD on the fine points of creating special effects copy and sheet music for your use. The song with baby food jars. “How simple”, I thought, is performed by Brent Evans in a somewhat “yet so effective.” country-western style. Today I sometimes pine for those days when Although he is retired now, Norman still some glass, a light bulb and a little opaquing does an occasional planetarium program for fluid could transform the dome into the at- the Watson-King Planetarium at Towson mosphere of the sun or an auroral display. I State University in Towson, Maryland and also remember going to see one of his Nigh- for the Undehill Planetarium at the Mari- lights Halloween light shows where he placed time Institute of Technology in Linthicum carved pumpkins around the planetarium Heights, Maryland. Norman now winters in cove, each one containing a 500-watt fish fry- Florida, and you may remember his popular Sign on Stegemeyer’s outhouse, marking the structure as a historical site. Photo courtesy of er lamp and controlled through momentary comic “Dr. Krocter” that appeared in previ- Neil Davis contact switches that he played like a light ous editions of the Planetarian.

86 Planetarian December 2008 Brown. You can read the whole sto- One unique website called School- ry on page 19 at www.swapskies.org/ yard Geology compares the school- GWO_Issues/GWOWinter2008.pdf. yard to a geological field site. This You can also see the original article program was created by USGS sci- at www.gi.alaska.edu/ScienceForum/ entist Matthew d’Alessio, who ASF1/186.html, and if you Google originated a similar program while “Stegemeyer Sputnik” you will see teaching geology to inmates in San various articles, including tech. Quentin State Prison in California. groups.yahoo.com/group/OAOG/ After discovering how the prison message/9334, which is the Associat- yard could become a geological field ed Press article on placement of the site, d’Alessio developed this online plaque. resource, education.usgs.gov/school- If you’re interested in auroras or yard/, to explain how students can other Alaskan related subjects, visit conduct a geologic field trip in their www.neildavisalaska.com and www. own schoolyard or backyard. alaskascience.com. Congratulations to… Monthly IYA Discovery …the Indian Space Research Or- Guides Now Available ganization (ISRO) on the launch of On October 31, 2008, the Astro- their Chandrayaan-1 Moon Probe nomical Society of the Pacific un- from the Srikharikota Space Cen- veiled its International Year of As- ter in southern India on October 22, tronomy 2009 Discovery Guides! 2008! Sensors on board the probe These monthly guides are interna- were developed by Raytheon and tionally accessible and come com- will be used by Indian scientists to plete with articles, hands-on activ- determine whether there is ice on ities, and finder charts. The ASP, the moon. You can visit their web- Night Sky Network, NASA, the site at www.isro.gov.in. Riding atop IYA USA Committee and the Na- the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle, tional Science Foundation are the probe entered into high Earth or- teaming up to provide a full program bit on October 26 to start a two-year to celebrate IYA with the rest of the mission It will be using eleven sci- Dexter Stegemeyer’s outhouse—site of the first visual observation of entific instruments built in India world. They will also provide a fully Sputnik in the Western Hemisphere. Photo courtesy of Neil Davis searchable online database of Night and five other countries to study the Sky Network activities and other as- Earth‘s only natural satellite. tronomy resources, with many ac- …Suzanne Gurton, the education companied by online videos and a calendar of It is his first work of fiction and has been high- manager at the Astronomical Society of the worldwide and nationwide astronomy events ly praised by reviewers. The story involves a Pacific on receiving the 2008 Professional for you to celebrate. military academy thrust through time by a Award, given each year by the Astronomi- You can preview the January IYA Discov- science fair project gone awry! It can be pur- cal Association of Northern California ery Guide at nightsky.jpl.nasa.gov/download- chased through a variety of sources, includ- to an astronomer who has done outstanding view.cfm?Doc_ID=300. The effort commem- ing Amazon.com and BarnesandNoble.com, work in distinguishing and fostering amateur orates the anniversary of Galileo’s first use of or order directly from the publisher at www. astronomy. A member of the team at the ASP his telescope to observe the universe. strategicbookpublishing.com/TimeForPatri- for the last eight years, Gurton has been creat- The ASP reports it is grateful for the support ots.html. ing and writing activities, holding workshops from the NASA Science Mission Director- for a wide range of educators, and, more re- ate, Space Telescope Science Institute, the Grab Bag of Goodies Available cently, managing the staff of the entire educa- Origins Forum and the Na- Online tion department at the 120-year old ASP. tional Science Foundation to The National Science Teachers Associ- As an astronomy educator, she has spear- make these Discovery Guides ation has a huge list of links to cool science headed several major national educational and other ASP IYA activities classroom activities on their website at www. initiatives that benefit the amateur and edu- possible. You can learn more nsta.org/publications/grabbag.aspx?lid=pub. cational communities in astronomy, includ- about the ASP’s IYA activities Topics range from Mars Rover activities from ing the Night Sky Network project (done in and programs online at: www. the Mission: Space attraction at the Walt Dis- cooperation with JPL and several NASA mis- astrosociety.org/iya and the ney World Resort at disney.go.com/vaca- sions), in which members of over 200 astron- US IYA initiatives at astrono- tions/missionspace/ms_mainflash.html to omy clubs around North America are be- my2009.us. the Earth from Space online exhibit from the ing supplied with education and outreach Smithsonian Institution at www.earthfrom- kits and being trained on how to do school Book ‘em Dan-O! space.si.edu. Other topics include activities and public events with them. Recognized by Long time planetarian Dr. Thomas Wm. about meteorology, hydrology, botany, geol- NASA as one of its most successful education- Hamilton of the HOSS Planetarium in Stat- ogy and paleontology and from other organi- al projects to date, they continue to support en Island, New York, and author of the Plan- zations like the Junior Engineering Techni- and expand it. etarian’s 25 Years Ago column, has just re- cal Society, the U.S. Geological Survey and leased his latest book, titled Time for Patriots. the U.S. Department of Education. (Continued on next page)

December 2008 Planetarian 87 Ronald Parise Richard 1951-2008 Pirko 1952-2008 Ronald Parise, 56, astronomer and space shuttle astronaut, passed away May 9, 2008 after a three-year battle with brain cancer. Born Richard Pirko, May 24, 1951, in Warren, Ohio, Dr. Parise received his bachelor of 55, producer- science degree in physics with minors in astronomy, geology and technician at mathematics from Youngstown State University in Youngstown, the Ward Beech- Ohio in 1973. He received his PhD in astronomy from the Universi- er Planetarium ty of Florida in 1979. at Youngstown After receiving his PhD he joined Computer Science Corpora- State University tion, where he worked on the development of a new space telescope, the Ultraviolet Im- in Youngstown, Ohio, passed away qui- aging Telescope. In 1984 Parise was chosen as a payload specialist for NASA’s ASTRO pro- etly the morning of October 15, 2008, gram. The purpose of the ASTRO flights was to fly the Ultraviolet Imaging Telescope and the result of an attack of cardiac ar- two other ultraviolet telescopes from the bay of the space shuttle. The Earth’s atmosphere rhythmia the week before. absorbs ultraviolet radiation making ultraviolet astronomy impossible from the surface The following was written by his of the Earth. good friend, Dr. Ray Beiersdorfer of the The maiden voyage of the ASTRO telescope package was planned for 1986, but the Y SU Department of Geology and Envi- Challenger explosion delayed the launch until December 1990. During the ASTRO-1 flight ronmental Studies: Dr. Parise and three other astronomer astronauts observed 135 celestial objects: stars, dou- As a passionate educator, Rick spent ble stars, star clusters, galaxies, Jupiter, Comet Levy and the 1987 Supernova in the nearby the past three decades providing sci- galaxy the Large Magellanic Cloud. On the first flight Parise and his colleagues were in or- ence outreach as the producer/techni- bit for 215 hours. cian for YSU’s Ward Beecher Planetari- The second mission in 1995, ASTRO-2, set a record for the longest shuttle flight with a um. In addition to his public and school duration 399 hours (sixteen and a half days). One of its accomplishments was detecting in- programs, he supervised and mentored tergalactic helium, confirming one of the major predictions of the Big Bang Theory. Dr. numerous college students, providing Parise logged 614 hours and 10.6 million miles in space during these two missions. them with one of the most important After the completion of the ASTRO Program he worked on advance planning and com- educational experiences of their lives. munication engineering support for space flight and engaged in astronomical research us- As an accomplished photographer, ing ground based telescopes and space probe data. Rick’s aerial photographs of the Serpent Parise’s interest in science began at an early age. He became a licensed radio operator Mound Archeological Site have been when he was 11 years old. In his teens he became an active member of the Mahoning Val- published by the Ohio Historical Soci- ley Astronomical Society, the local amateur astronomy organization, and learned to pilot ety and displayed at The British Muse- an airplane. While at Youngstown State University he assisting in developing and present- um in London. ing planetarium shows and ran telescopes during public nights at the observatory. As a licensed pilot and co-owner of an Survivors include his wife of 34 years, Cecelia Sokol Parise of Silver Spring; two children; aircraft Rick provided hundreds of chil- his parents, Henry J. and Cathryn A. Parise of Warren; and a sister. I dren between the ages of 8 and 17 their first flight as a local organizer of the Ex- perimental Aircraft Association’s (EAA) (Gibbous, from previous page) Young Eagles program. Rick was a Merit badge counselor for the Astronomy and Aviation Merit A new project, which Gurton also heads, Science and Technology Centers. Badges for the Boy Scouts of America. called Sharing the Universe, will under- I’m sorry I missed a lot of you at IPS 2008 As supporter of the arts, peace, social take research on the factors that allow am- in Chicago this year. I was on family leave justice and the environment, Rick pro- ateur clubs to be successful at outreach and and dealing with some personal issues. Rest as- vided photographic and technical assis- to identify factors that hold clubs back. In an sured, I’m quite all right and I look forward to tance to the YSU Department of Theater older program, Family ASTRO, professional hearing from you via phone or email, so keep and Dance, the Oakland Center for the and amateur astronomers are trained to pres- in touch and I’ll include your news in a future Arts, the Ohio Supermaximum Players, ent family-friendly programs using hands-on edition of Gibbous Gazette! I the Valley Coalition for Peace and Jus- activities, most of them tice, and the YSU Recycling Center. He written or adapted by was a co-creator of Dr. Ray’s Amazing Gurton. She also serves Sideshow of Science which merged the as a tireless ambassador worlds of sideshow and science as a fun between the astronom- way to teach critical thinking and skep- ical community and a ticism. He and his wife, Victoria, grew or- variety of community- ganic vegetables and raised and trained based organizations, in- dressage show horses on their 65-acre cluding the National farm in Trumbull County, Ohio. School Boards Associ- In addition to his wife, he is survived ation, the Girl Scouts, by his mother and four brothers. Plans the National Science are underway to construct a permanent Teachers Association, sundial in his memory. I and the Association of

88 Planetarian December 2008 Zula_FullPageAd.pdf 4/28/2008 1:24:23 PM

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FULLDOME www.spitzinc.com/fulldome_shows December 2008 Planetarian SHOW DISTRIBUTION89 Contact: Mike Bruno [email protected] T: 610.459.5200 bly still hold, although the list of such texts 25 Years Ago and their content will have changed. Some- one might want to cre- Thomas Wm. Hamilton ate a modern equiva- HOSS Planetarium lent list, although are 153 Arlo Road such books really needed in a day with Inter- Staten Island, New York net links to NASA, ob- 10301 servatories, and other sources? [email protected] Sperling also listed essential periodicals, Vol. 12, No. 4 books on observing, Fourth Quarter 1983 and such side issues as the Guinness Book of This issue opened with a letter from Bill World Records and a ref- Gutsch, then the director of New York’s utation of Immanuel Hayden Planetarium. He asked for materi- Velikovsky. als that could be incorporated into a planned Charles Hagar (San half-hour video documentary on planetar- Francisco State Uni- iums. A second letter, from James Rusk, re- versity) outlined ques- turned to the creationist topic from the June tions he proposed to You can still enjoy Squinty today. Betty Whitehouse has transformed the issue, warning that “Americans are incredi- ask in a new survey of script in a children’s book called Squinty, the Squirrel, a Pancake and bly ignorant about science,” and warning that the world’s planetari- the Moon. Go to www2.xlibris.com and indulge in your nostolgia. “most planetarium programs would not be ac- ums. ceptable to creationists.” The Script Section, Sally Ride’s venture into space led Shirley then run by Lauray Yule, had the script and Competing, the Strassenberg Planetarium was Harrison (Nassau County College Planetar- an article for the show Squinty the Squirrel, a running a producers’ seminar in the summer. ium) to write an article on “Women and the children’s show on lunar phases. This show The American Chemical Society was fund- Stars.” In addition to Ride, she mentions Lin- was written by Betty Whitehouse, then the ing a show on Comet Halley, written by Mark da Morabito (Io’s volcanoes), Reta Beebe (Sat- director of the Sayville (Long Island) Public Littman. Loch Ness Productions had a show urn’s “ring spokes”), Winifred Cameron (lu- Schools Planetarium. The show was presented timed to NASA’s 25th anniversary (did any- nar rocks), Nancy Ronan (Yerkes and Hubble at the IPS meeting in Vancouver in 1982 and one do a 50th anniversary show this year?). Space Telescope), Hypatia (astrolabe), Caro- was a real charmer. Strassenberg was also offering a Halley show, line Herschel, Dorothea Klumke, Henrietta Jeanne Bishop’s President’s Message report- while the Chaffee Planetarium was reviving Leavitt, Annie Cannon, Maria Mitchell, and ed on an IPS Council meeting in the Uni- the “comet pills” so popular during the 1910 many others. verse…that’s the Science Museum of Virgin- apparition. These came with a card warning John C. Pogue (Grand Prairie Independent ia’s Digistar, the first one to be installed. The “the museum surgeon general has determined School District Planetarium) reported a new 1986 IPS meeting was announced for the Flan- that worrying about comets is hazardous to product for making slides. The times, they drau Planetarium, quite remarkable consider- your health.” have a changed... ing the controversy about the Flandrau in the Saudi Arabia’s STS, reportedly sitting in Earl Everett (Fleischmann Planetarium) rec- September issue. The laser disk project was be- crates since 1976, may actually open. The Le- ommended a Kodak film as an alternative ing dropped, and Nova had no plans to do a verrier Planetarium in Trois Riveres, Quebec to Kodalith or opaquing. Quelle est le film show on planetariums (they still haven’t). In- would soon open with the A3P recycled from d’antan? stitutional memberships in IPS were newly the Kirkpatrick Planetarium. Other new in- The much-missed Claire and Quent Carr created, to start in 1984. stallations were at Bowling Green, Roanoke, of Herkimer Planetarium described the first The Awards Committee was finally up and and Florence, Italy. Various personnel shifts three of six planned laser disks. The first group running, under Bruce Dietrich. A Crisis Action were noted, and Bill Gutsch of the Hayden covered Voyager, Apollo, and the early Shut- Committee was to have been set up, but seems was chair of the committee vetting proposals tle. Since laser disks were, like the Shuttle, pret- never to have functioned. IPS President-Elect for use of the Amateur Space Telescope. The ty new in 1983, the Carrs explained what laser Alan Friedman was working on an IPS mem- Right Stuff was rapped for having stars twinkle disks were, the different types, and how plane- bership brochure in five languages. while viewed in outer space. There was a law- tariums could control them. John Wharton’s Gibbous Gazette opened suit by the Hummel Planetarium over prob- Norman Sperling (then at the Morrison with an appreciation of the recently deceased lems with their STS. Planetarium) provided a list of 40 books ev- George Abell and his career. John also pre- This issue saw John Moseley begin his long ery planetarium should have available. A cou- viewed some of what to expect at the IPS 1984 running Computer Corner, rating and critiqu- ple were so old that they might still make conference in Monterey de Mexico. (He did ing astronomical software. such a list, such as Elijah Burritt’s Atlas to Il- not mention the small sample bottles of te- Eric Melenbrink was running Creative lustrate the Geography of the Heavens (for those quila that attendees were to receive.) There Corner, in which Joel Maas (Schreder Plan- into classic constellation figures), or J. Norman was more information on the cancellation etarium) suggested promoting your plan- Lockyer’s Dawn of Astronomy. His recommen- of the laser disk project. Spitz was reviving its etarium with an easily-(?!) built model dation of a good college text would proba- summer institute with George Reed in charge. of your star projector. I

90 Planetarian December 2008 Planetarians’ Calendar of Events

2009 International Year of 12-16 September. Astronomical Society of Astronomy the Pacific Annual Conference, Westin 22 March. International Day of SFO, Millbrae, California, USA. www.as- Planetaria. www.dayofplane- trosociety.org taria.org. 16-18 September. Annual Digistar Users 2-5 April. 100 Hours of Astronomy. This Group meeting, Salt Lake City, Utah, USA. is a cornerstone project for the Interna- http://www.digistardomes.org tional Year of Astronomy. 100 Hours of 31 October – 3 November. Association of Sci- Astronomy is a round-the-clock, world- ence-Technology Centers (ASTC) Annual wide event with 100 continuous hours of Conference, Fort Worth Museum of Sci- a wide range of public outreach. For more ence and History, Fort Worth, Texas, USA. details go to: www.astronomy2009.org www.astc.org. 18-19 April. Italian Association of Plane- taria (PLANIT), XXIV National Con- 2010 ference, Naples, City of Science, Italy. June 26-30: 20th International Planetarium www.planetaritaliani.it. Contact: os- Society Conference, Alexandria, Egypt. [email protected]. Contact: Omar Fikry, Head of Shows & 13-16 May. Middle Atlantic Planetarium So- Programs Unit, Planetarium Science Cen- ciety Conference (MAPS), Howard B. Ow- ter, Library of Alexandria, El Shatby, Al- ens Science Center in Lanham-Seabrook, exandria 21526, Egypt, + 203-4839999 Maryland, USA. www.maps-planetarium. (Ext.1881), [email protected], www. org. bibalex.org/ips2010. 15-17 May. Annual General Meeting of the 11 July, total solar eclipse The new Sudekum Planetarium in Nashville, British Association of Planetaria (BAP). 2-5 October. Association of Science-Tech- Tennessee, will host a joint meeting of SEPA Contact: Shaaron Leverment, shaaron@ nology Centers (ASTC) Annual Confer- and the Western Alliance Conference (GPPA, explorerdome.co.uk ence, Bishop Museum, Honolulu, Hawaii, SWAP, RMPA, and PPA) 16-20 June, 2009. 16-17 May. Australasian Planetarium Soci- USA. www.astc.org ety’s APS meeting, Mt. Cook in New Zea- land. 16-18, May. Meeting of ADP, Arbeitsgemein- Immersive Film Festival schaft Deutschsprachiger Planetarien (As- Deadlines for “A Week in Italy” Navegar Foundation sociation of German Speaking Planetari- 31 August 2009. “A week in Italy for a French Speaking Planetarium Operator”. Espinho, Portugal ums), Mannheim Planetarium, Germany. 30 September 2009. “A week in Italy for a 24-26 April 2009 21-24 May. Association of French Speaking Planetariums yearly meeting, Cité des Sci- Spanish Speaking Planetarium Operator”. ences et de l’Industrie, La Villette, Paris, Centro Multimeios Espinho France. Contact: Nelly Dumas. For more information on the “Week in It- The Festival is an event that will gather in- June. Japan Planetarium Association (JPA) aly,” go to: www.astrofilibresciani.it/Plane- ternational productions in the Immersive Conference, Akashi Municipal Planetari- tari/Week_in_Italy/-Week_Italy.htm Cinema field. It is an open invitation to all, um, Hyogo, Japan. www.shin-pla.info. including producers, animators and film- 16-20 June. Southeastern Planetarium Asso- For corrections and new information for the makers, artists, students and teachers in or- ciation (SEPA) annual conference joined Calendar of Events, please send a message to der to participate in this unique event. by Western Alliance Conference (GPPA, Loris Ramponi at [email protected]. IFF will be focused on presenting produc- SWAP, RMPA, and PPA), Sudekum Plane- More details about several of these upcom- tions in this media, along with a compe- tarium, Adventure Science Center, Nash- ing events is included in the International tition among submitted productions that ville, Tennessee, USA. Contact: krismc- News column. made its debut recently. Besides the com- [email protected] The most up-to-date information also is petition and the public screenings, work- 22 July, total solar eclipse available online at the International Plane- shops for young artists and public talks 4-5 September. Nordic Planetarium Associa- tarian’s Calendar of Events at www.ips-plan- will be organized to promote immersive tion Conference, Jærmuseet, Vitenfabrik- etarium.org/events/conferences.html I cinema. Special screenings for primary and ken, Sandnes, Norway. Chair and contact: secondary schools will also be organized. Ivar Reed Nakken, [email protected]. It is intended to be a space to captivate active members of cinema in general into this new media, a space to discuss ideas and to create partnerships, and above all, to work as a catalyst to the development of this area of cinema. I

December 2008 Planetarian 91 Plutos the biggest planet.” learned.” Last Light “Thank you for allowing our Crainiums to “And I didn’t know that ‘Beatljuice’ was a expand.” word.” “I know that Pluto is the coldest planet, but “I know that the sun wsn’t a star… That was it is making me cold saying it.” my fourth time coming there.” “Some of the stuff you taught me I didn’t “I already knew that mars was very hot.” know. But, when you taught me I knew it.” “Now I now more!!” “Thank you for showing us the plantariu- “My favorite part was when we were spin- un. It is very big” (and we only have a 40-foot ning around in circles.” dome) “I’m going to be a scienctist when I get old- “I leand that the galxy is biger than I er like you I’ll be like you, except I’ll be a girl thought.” not a boy.” “It was really cool when the ceiling was “From, Chris (the alien kid)” turning.” “Astronomy rules!” [more than one student “You taught us a lot about space it was cold in one class] and funny.” “Thank you… Sincerley, Alec. P.S. I probaly “At first, I didn’t have interst in the stars, didn’t spell sincerley right.” planets etc. but now I have many wonders.” “I learn that Jupiter has a storm… and it was “Thank you for letting us come to the ato- called the red spot because its red and it’s a toream. It was very long. I almost fell asleep.” spot.” “I might visit the planetteareaum again.” “I loved all of the colors from The Solar Sys- April S. Whitt “I hope we can come again next time. If we tem.” Fernbank Science Center can I will be the first one to wave at you.” “I like the picture you did for me so I can [Overheard on her way out] “I want to stay be smrt…” 156 Heaton Park Drive NE here forever!” “I hope you had as much fun as we did.” Atlanta, Georgia 30307 USA [Two boys came slowly into the dome while “It was nice to tell us about the space time I was working; one pointed at the dome, illu- continuum.” (impressive, except that “contin- [email protected] minated in sky blue] “What’s that?” “That’s uum” had some kind of extra loop between God!” the u’s) [Overheard from a girl on her way out] “I “You shod be an astronot.” One of the fun parts of our profession are can’t wait to go to college!” “Will you teach me more?” the thank-you notes from school classes (or “I got dizzy when the walls moved.” “P.S. I like space now.” I the general public). An academy in our coun- “When you rotated the sun I got dizzy.” ty asked if I would bring the STARLAB down [and I didn’t move anything all that fast] for two days of space this fall with their sec- “Did you know we ond graders. are so small you will be The science curriculum standards list stars scard? I do not really like of different colors and sizes, constellations, that. Do you?” and geometric patterns for this age group, so “do you know all the we started with the Summer Triangle in the galaxies I don’t I know all evening sky, reviewed rotation while moving the planets.” to the early morning sky, found the square “…one thing really of Pegasus and a rectangle along the Gemini scared me you said the twins, and ended with a large triangle of red, sun was going to blo up! I white and blue stars (Betelgeuse, Sirius, and Ri- know its 6 billion or tril- gel). lion years from now but A few days later, a packet of thank-you I’m still scared. Are you notes arrived through the county courier sys- worried are you its real- tem. On several, the students had drawn trian- ly scary that it will hap- gles with red, white and blue dots at the ver- pen I thought god are fa- tices. Many included rainbows, hearts, and ther controled are solier representations of the inflated dome. systume. Would he actul- Do you know how you could tell what di- ly kill us all!!! If he did it rections the teachers gave? One of the notes would be very suprising!” read “Write 1 thing you like. I love the stars.” “My favrot part was That note wasn’t signed, but the next one was. The Seacrot of the Card Edwin wrote, “I like bikes.” bord roket! It was hot and cold!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!” [Yes, 15 excla- Keith Johnson shares more thank-you notes mation marks] from his planetarium in Glassboro, New Jer- “I think after that trip sey: I want to become an “That place was educated.” astrunat.” “Thank you for filling my brain with good- “I was surprised to ies!!!” see how much stuff I “I learned alot, alot about planets...and that

92 Planetarian December 2008

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D4 Announce Planetarian Ad.indd 1 8/7/2008 3:14:31 PM