Vol. 42, No. 4 December 2013 Vol. 42, No. 4 December 2013 Journal of the International Planetarium Society

Home , Digistar, Holst (crater), Live Clipboard, Macau Science Center, Walther Bauersfeld

Vol. 42, No. 4 December 2013

Journal of the International Planetarium Society

Real-time 3D Art in Mobile Domes Page 78

Ten years of digital in Athens Page 10

Articles IPS Special Section December 2013 Vol. 42 No. 4 12 IPS2014: Educating for the Future Zin Zhu 16 Minutes of the IPS Council Meeting, South Tyrol Executive Editor Sharon Shanks Lee Ann Henning Ward Beecher Planetarium 20 Bringing data to the dome: scientific visualization for Youngstown State University all planetariums One University Plaza The Science and Data Visualization Task Force Youngstown, Ohio 44555 USA +1 330-941-3619 24 Teaching the phases of the moon in a digital planetarium [email protected] Pierre Chastenay 28 Interaction and learning outcomes in live public Webmaster planetarium presentations Michael Neece, Amy Sayle, Alan Gould Portia Nleya, Todd Boyette Holt Planetarium 34 Who was Armand Spitz? Verne Rice, Joyce Towne Lawrence Hall of Science 42 Monsters in the family tree Jean Creighton University of California 49 Under One Dome: Ignazio Danti Simonetta Ercoli Berkeley, California 94720-5200 USA 50 Tracing paths of history: Rudolf Straubel, Walter Bauersfeld, and +1 510-643-5082 the projection planetarium Peter Volz +1 510-642-1055 fax 58 Alan Dyer retires after 40 years under planetarium skies [email protected] 62 “Father of laser light shows” reviews high-voltage career 86 Gary Meibaum Advertising Coordinator Dr. Dale Smith (See Publications Committee on page 3) Columns 80 Book Reviews...... April S. Whitt Membership 87 Calendar of Events...... Loris Ramponi Individual: $65 one year; $100 two years 55 Educational Horizons ...... Jack L. Northrup Institutional: $250 first year; $125 annual renewal 10 Guest Editorial...... Lars Broman Library Subscriptions: $50 one year; $90 two years 4 In Front of the Console ...... Sharon Shanks All amounts in US currency 60 IMERSA News ...... Judith Rubin Direct membership requests and changes of 66 International News...... Lars Broman address to the Treasurer/Membership Chairman 88 Last Light...... April S. Whitt 76 Mobile News...... Susan Reynolds Button 14 Partycles...... Alex Cherman Printed Back Issues of the Planetarian 6 President’s Message ...... Thomas W. Kraupe IPS Back Publications Repository 56 Sound Advice...... Jeff Bowen maintained by the Treasurer/Membership Chair; 84 Waxing New...... Sharon Shanks contact information is on next page

Index Index of Advertisers A cumulative index of major articles is available on- allsky.de...... 77 line at www.ips-planetarium.org/?page=plntrn Astro-Tec...... 61 Audio Visual Imagineering ...... 65 Final Deadlines California Academy of Sciences...... 71 March: January 21 Clark Planetarium/Hansen Dome ...... 57 June: April 21 Digitalis Education Solutions, Inc...... 9, 41 September: July 21 Electrosonic/Global Immersion...... 5 December: October 21 Evans & Sutherland ...... 39, 79, outside back cover GOTO INC ...... inside front cover Konica Minolta Planetarium Co. Ltd ...... 23 Associate Editors NSC creative ...... 31 Book Reviews Education Last Light R.S.A. Cosmos ...... inside back cover April S. Whitt Jack Northrup April S. Whitt Sky-Skan, Inc ...... 43-46 Calendar IMERSANews Mobile News Softmachine...... 27, 85 Loris Ramponi Judith Rubin Susan Button Spitz, Inc...... 15,63 Cartoons International Spitz Creative Media...... 33, 59, 75, 81 Alexandre Lars Broman Cherman You Can Do Astronomy...... 8 Zeiss, Inc...... 19

On the Cover: Data_Sea v2.0, by Michael Takeo Magruder with Drew Bak- International Planetarium Society home page: er, Johanna Jarvis & David Steele, 2013. © Takeo 2013. A real- www.ips-planetarium.org time 3D art installation exploring the relationship between astronomy and broadcast media. Supported by Discovery Planetarian home page: Dome Europe and the Department of Digital Humanities, www.ips-planetarium.org/?page=plntrn King’s College London.

December 2013 Planetarian 1 Affiliate Representatives

Association of Brazilian British Association Italian Association Russian Planetariums Planetariums of Planetaria of Planetaria Association Officers Alexandre Cherman Jenny Shipway Loris Ramponi Zinaida P. Sitkova Planetário do Rio de Janeiro Planetarium Manager National Archive of Planetaria Nizhny Novgorod President R. Vice-Governador INTECH Science Centre & c/o Centro Studi e Ricerche Planetarium Thomas W. Kraupe Rubens Berardo, 100 Planetarium Serafino Zani Revolutsionnja Street 20 Planetarium Hamburg Rio de Janeiro RJ Telegraph Way, Morn Hill via Bosca 24, C.P. 104 603002 Nizhny Otto-Wels-Str.1 Brazil 22451-070 Winchester, SO2 11H I 25066 Lumezzane Novgorod, Russia (formerly Hindenburgstr.1b) +55 (21) 2274-0046 ext. 264 United Kingdom (Brescia) Italy +7 831 246-78-80 D-22303 Hamburg +55 (21) 2529-2149 fax +44 1 962 891916 +39 30 872 164 +7 831 246-77-89 fax Deutschland alexandre.cherman@ +44 1 962 868524 fax +39 30 872 545 fax [email protected] +49 0 (40) 428 86 52-21 planetario.rio.rj.gov.br JennyShipway@ [email protected] www.apr.planetariums.ru +49 0 (40) 428 86 52-99 fax planetarios.org.br intech-uk.com [email protected] +49 0 (40) 4279 24-850 e-fax www.planetariodorio. www.intech-uk.com www.planetari.org Society of the German- +49 0 (40) 172-40 86 133 cell com.br www.planetarium.org.uk Speaking Planetariums thomas.kraupe@ Japan Christian Theis planetarium-hamburg.de Association of Canadian Association Planetarium Society Planetarium Mannheim Dutch-Speaking of Science Centres Kaoru Kimura Wilhelm-Varnholt-Allee 1 Past-President Planetariums/PLANed Ian C. McLennan Japan Science Foundation D-68165 Mannheim Kitanomaru Park, Chiyoda-ku Dave Weinrich Andre Milis #404 - 1275 Haro Street Germany Tokyo, 102-0091 Japan Planetarium Planetarium, Royal Vancouver, British Columbia +49 621 419 4220 (phone); [email protected] Minnesota State Observatory of Belgium V6E 1G1 Canada +49 621 412 411 (fax); www.shin-pla.info University-Moorhead Boechoutlaan 10 +1 604-681-4790 ct@planetarium- 1104 7th Avenue South 1020 Brussels, Belgium phone + fax mannheim.de Middle Atlantic Moorhead +324747030 [email protected] www.gdp-planetarium.org Planetarium Minnesota 56563 USA +324783026 fax [email protected] Society Southeastern +1 218-477-2969 [email protected] www.ianmclennan.com Patty Seaton Planetarium +1 218-477-5864 fax Association of French- Chinese Planetarium H.B. Owens Science Center Association [email protected] Speaking Planetariums Society 9601 Greenbelt Road John Hare President-Elect Marc Moutin Jin Zhu Lanham-Seabrook, Ash Enterprises Maryland 20706 USA Paul H. Knappenberger, Jr. Cité de l’espace Beijing Planetarium 3602 23rd Avenue West +1 301-918 8750 P.O. Box 532 Avenue Jean Gonord No. 138 Xizhimenwait Street Bradenton, Florida +1 301-918 8753 fax Edinburg, Virginia BP 25855 Beijing, 1000044 34205 USA [email protected] USA 22824 31506 Toulouse Cedex 5 P.R. China +1 941-746-3522 [email protected] +33 (0)5 62 71 56 03 +86 10-5158-3311 [email protected] +33 (0)5 62 71 56 29 fax +86 10-5158-3312 fax Nordic Planetarium www.sepadomes.org [email protected] [email protected] Association Executive Secretary www.cite-espace.com Aase Roland Jacobsen Southwestern Lee Ann Hennig www.aplf-planetariums.org European/ The Steno Museum Association of Planetarium, Thomas Mediterranean Planetarium Planetariums Jefferson High School Association of Mexican Planetarium C.F. Moellers Alle 2 Rachel Thompson for Science and Technology Planetariums Association University of Aarhus Portable Universe Man- 6560 Braddock Road Ignacio Castro Pinal Manos Kitsonas DK-8000 Aarhus C ager & Presenter Alexandria, Virginia 22312 USA Torres de Mixcoac, A6-702 Eugenides Planetarium Denmark Perot Museum of Na- +1 703-750-8380 C.P. 01490, México City 387 Syngrou Avenue +45 89423975 ture and Science +1 703-750-5010 fax D.F. México 17564 P. Faliro [email protected] 2201 North Field Street [email protected] +52 (55) 5500 0562 Athens, Greece www.stenomuseet.dk Dallas, Texas 75202 USA +52 (55) 5500 0583 fax +30 210 946 9674 +1 214-756-5830 Treasurer and [email protected] +30 210 941 7372 fax Pacific Planetarium rachel.thompson@ Membership Chair cosmos.astro.uson.mx/ [email protected] Association perotmuseum.org AMPAC/AMPACintro.htm sites.csn.edu/ www.swapskies.org Shawn Laatsch Great Lakes Planetarium planetarium/PPA +31 50 363 9347 Association of Spanish Association [email protected] Planetariums Jeanne Bishop Rocky Mountain Transitioning to new address. Javier Armentia Westlake Schools Planetarium Planetario de Pamplona Planetarium Association Check payments of Sancho Ramirez, 2 Parkside Intermediate School Mike George membership fees: E-31008 Pamplona 24525 Hilliard Road 600 East Washington Street Mail to Navarra Spain Westlake, Ohio 44145 USA Phoenix, Arizona 85004 USA Lee Ann Hennig +34 948 260 004 +1 440-899-3075 x2058 +1 602-716-2079 IPS Executive Secretary +34 948 260 056 +1 440-835-5572 fax +1 602-716-2099 fax 7714 Lookout Court +34 948 261 919 fax jeanneebishop@ [email protected] Alexandria, Virginia 22306 [email protected] wowway.com USA gestion@pamplonetario. www.glpaweb.org infonego-cio.com Membership fees also can be Great Plains Planetarium paid online on the IPS website. Australasian Planetarium Association Society Jack Dunn Advertising invoices: Warik Lawrance Ralph Mueller Planetarium Mail to Melbourne Planetarium University of Nebraska-Lincoln Dale Smith Scienceworks/Museum 210 Morrill Hall Advertising Coordinator Victoria Lincoln, Nebraska 104 Overman Hall 2 Booker Street 68588-0375 USA Physics &Astronomy Department Spotswood (Melbourne) +1 402-472-2641 Bowling Green State University Victoria +1 402-475-8899 fax Bowling Green, Ohio 43403 USA 3015 Australia [email protected] +61 3 9392 4503 www.spacelaser.com/gppa +61 3 9391 0100 fax wlawrance@museum. vic.gov.au www.aps-planetarium.org

2 Planetarian December 2013 Standing Committees IPS Permanent Awards Committee Conference Host- 2014 Membership Committee Prof. Lars Broman, Chair Dr. Jin Zhu, Director Shawn Laatsch, Chair Mailing Address Teknoland Beijing Planetarium Transitioning to new address. Stångtjärnsv 132 138 Xizhimenwai Street +31 50 363 9347 International Planetarium Society SE-791 74 Falun Beijing 100044 China [email protected] Sweden +86 10-5158-3007 c/o Lee Ann Henning +46 2310177 +86 10-5158-3312 fax Publications Committee Executive Secretary [email protected] [email protected] Dr. Dale W. Smith, Chair www.teknoland.se BGSU Planetarium 7714 Lookout Court Elections Committee 104 Overman Hall Alexandria, Virginia 22306 Conference Committee Martin George, Chair Physics &Astronomy Department USA Thomas W. Kraupe Launceston Planetarium Bowling Green State University Planetarium Hamburg Queen Victoria Museum Bowling Green, Ohio 43403 USA Hindenburgstraße 1 b Wellington Street +1 419-372-8666 IPS Web Site: D-22303 Hamburg Launceston Tasmania 7250 +1 419-372-9938 fax www.ips-planetarium.org Deutschland Australia [email protected] +49 0 (40) 428 86 52-21 +61 3 6323 3777 +49 0 (40) 428 86 52-99 fax +61 3 6323 3776 fax Please notify the Editor of any +49 0 (40) 4279 24-850 e-fax [email protected] +49 0 (40) 172-40 86 133 cell changes on these two pages. thomas.kraupe@ Finance Committee planetarium-hamburg.de President, Past President, Presi- Contact the Treasurer/Membership www.gdp-planetarium.org dent Elect, Treasurer, Secretary Chair for individual member address changes and general circulation and Ad Hoc Committees billing questions. Armand Spitz International Portable Planetarium Education Fund Relations Committee Planetarium Committee Finance Committee Martin George, Chair Susan Reynolds Button, Chair Launceston Planetarium Quarks to Clusters Education Committee Queen Victoria Museum 8793 Horseshoe Lane Jack L. Northrup Wellington Street Chittenango, NY 13037 Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Launceston, Tasma- +1 315-687-5371 Planetarium nia 7250 Australia [email protected] King Science and Technology +61 3 6323 3777 [email protected] Magnet Center +61 3 6323 3776 fax 3720 Florence Blvd. [email protected] Science & Data Omaha, NE 68110 USA Visualization Task Force +1 402-557-4494 Planetarium Design and Dr. Mark SubbaRao [email protected] Operations Committee Adler Planetarium webmail.ops.org/~jack.northrup Ian McLennan 1300 South Lake Shore Drive #404 - 1275 Haro Street Chicago, Illinois 60091 USA History Committee Vancouver, British Columbia +1 312-294-0348 John Hare, IPS Historian V6E 1G1 Canada [email protected] Ash Enterprises +1 604-681-4790 phone + fax 3602 23rd Avenue West [email protected] Bradenton, Florida 34205 USA [email protected] +1 941-746-3522 www.ianmclennan.com [email protected]

•• Planetarian welcomes submissions of interest to the planetarium community. Preference is given to articles that closely reserved. Opinions expressed by authors late to the philosophy, management, technical aspects, educational aspects, or history of planetariums, and to ideas that are personal opinions and are not neces- can readily be incorporated into planetarium shows. Authors are responsible for obtaining all necessary copyright clearanc- sarily the opinions of the International es, especially for illustrations and photographs. •• Research articles dealing with educational aspects of the planetarium and other topics are highly desirable and will be ref- Planetarium Society, its officers, or ereed if applicable and requested. agents. Acceptance of advertisements, •• Contributors agree that their submission is their own original work and has not appeared elsewhere in print or electronically, nor is not being submitted simultaneously elsewhere in print or electronically. If the submission has appeared else- announcements, or other material does where in print or electronically, permission to re-print must be obtained and a copy of this permission emailed to the Edi- not imply endorsement by the Interna- tor with the article. tional Planetarium Society, its officers •• Once accepted for publication, the contributor also agrees that the copyright for original works not appearing elsewhere is held by the International Planetarium Society. Once a submission has appeared in Planetarian (but not before the printed or agents. The editor welcomes Letters version has been received by members), contributors may post the submission on a personal website, blog, or a website of to the Editor and items for consideration general interest as long as the following appears: Copyright 2013 (or appropriate year) International Planetarium Society; for publication.The Editor reserves the used with permission and provide a link to the IPS. If in doubt, contact the editor with questions. •• The Guidelines for Contributors on the IPS website should be consulted before submitting an article. right to edit any manuscript to suit this •• Potential advertisers are invited to check the Advertising Guidelines and Rate Sheet on the IPS website. publication’s needs. www.ips-planetarium.org/?page=plntrn

December 2013 Planetarian 3 pearing in the March 2014 issue. I was hesitant to accept such a long article, In Front of the Console but agreed to add to the body of research into this essential part of planetarium history. The article underwent several revisions at Sharon Shanks my request to neutrally present the difficult Ward Beecher Planetarium history of doing business before and during Youngstown State University World War II in Germany, especially with Youngstown, OH 44555 USA Jewish employees and those with Jewish ties. One of our favorite stories from the stars is [email protected] recounted by Jean Creighton from the Uni- versity of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Planetarium. Jean has a special place in her heart for Greek Note to self: never schedule a new program Straubel is in a different league. It is a metic- mythology, and tells us the twisted tale of Me- to open at my planetarium at the same time as ulously-researched scholarly piece on the ear- dusa and her equally twisted family. Planetarian deadline. ly history of the Zeiss company and the ma- Another “must read” is the transcript of That lesson learned, I’ll move on to some of jor players at the time that the concept of the Ivan Dryer’s keynote address at the IMERSA the highlights in this rather pudgy issue. projection planetarium was born. Summit this year, which starts on page 62. I In addition to IPS matters, including the It is long enough to require two parts, the enjoyed it immensley two times: hearing it preview of IPS2014 in Beijing, China that first starting on page 51 and the second ap- in person and reading it 10 months later. I starts on page 12 and the ambitious plans that the new Science and Data Visualization Task Force have in mind, we have two educational research papers and two historical items. And, just in time for the holiday season, we have an uplifting family tale of monsters and murders. Pierre Chastenay from Rio Tinto Alcan Planetarium in Montréal shares the results of his method of teaching moon phases to middle-school students. We have to give him ku- dos for being tenacious in his research. Be- cause his dome was projectorless, he brought in a portable to work with the students, leading to a “dome within a dome” situation. Congratulations also must go to Pierre, who used the research as part of his doctoral dissertation and has accepted a professorship in Sci- ence Education at the Université du Québec à Montréal. He promises to continue sharing his research with us. The “fantastic four” from Moorehead Plan- etarium and Science Center at the University of North Carolina shares their research into interactions in live public planetarium presentations. Michael Neese, Amy Sayle, Portia Nleya, and Todd Boyette tackled an extremely difficult aspect of planetarium education to research and came up with a way to measure outcomes. The lives of the people behind two of our field’s oldest star projectors, Armand Spitz and Walter Bauersfeld, are featured in this issue’s history pieces. Verne Spitz Rice returned to her roots in southeast Pennsylvania to visit the company that her father founded and speak at MAPS and Spitz’s Summer Institute. She described looking forward to the visit as a lark. I describe her stories about her father Wow. That was my reaction when I saw this on Robin Byrne’s Facebook page. Robin, who teaches at as a real hoot. Read it, starting on page 34, for Northeast State Community College in Blountville, Tennessee, assigned students to illustrate each of yourself and don’t worry about laughing out the hypotheses behind the moon’s formation, explaining each and noting why or why not it was viable. loud. John Vella, with support from Aaron Blevins and Nathan Mauk, did the assignment with one page. It’s exciting to see a great student respond to an equally great teacher. Many thanks to Robin for sharing the Peters Volz’s research into the life of Rudolf image and to John for allowing it to be printed.

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1.855.YES.LAMPS | +44.1322.282397 | [email protected] December 2013 Planetarian 5 how we present it to our audiences. Since ESO will include a state-of-the art planetarium in President’s Message its new visitor center, which is currently be- Thomas W. Kraupe ing built as part of the extensions of the head- Planetarium Hamburg quarters in Garching, there is consensus that Otto-Wels-Str.1 (formerly Hindenburgstr.1b) IPS and ESO can benefit from working together much more closely. D-22303 Hamburg, Deutschland After a tour of the construction site, we vis- +49 0 (40) 428 86 52 50 ited the image lab and production studio and +49 0 (40) 427 92 48 50 fax saw what ESO outreach already offers for our +49 0 (172) 408 61 33 iPhone educational work: tremendous assets, includ- [email protected], www.planetarium-hamburg.de ing 271 high-resolution panoramas, time-lapse scenes and gigapixel sky surveys. All material Dear Fellow Planetarians: etarium idea. is available online at www.eso.org and visuals How quickly does yet another year pass Delegates and guests really enjoyed stand- can be used freely. All text usually is available by—but what a great finale we have this ing next to the legendary Zeiss Mark I projec- in 21 languages. time—with comet ISON performing “live on tor, which is still on display there, while, next To develop further and harvest these fruits stage” right in front of us! The drama of a com- door, the planetarium theater is being com- of the future, a memo of understanding be- et passing so close to the sun is just the right pletely modernized and will be reopened by tween IPS and ESO is in preparation. I like to stuff for us to engage the minds of people, the end of 2013. It will feature a Zeiss-Velvet thank Lars and his dedicated team for this giving us all opportunities to combine both digital fulldome system. The larger dome at great opportunity and the wonderful hospi- space-based and ground-based observations Forum der Technik is also currently closed tality. I will keep you informed about next with our unique abilities to simulate ISON´s and will be rejuvenated as part of the 2025 steps and joint possibilities. route across our sky and through the solar sys- plans of the museum. tem and link all this to concepts of celestial Three hours at Deutsches Museum were Next came South Tyrol mechanics and astrophysics, from the origin just enough to see just a few of its masterpiec- Continuing from Garching, a three-hour of our solar system to water and the story of es and to whet the appetite for coming back bus ride through southern Bavaria brought us being starborn! again soon! Council into the beautiful Alpine mountain Along with Venus, Jupiter and Mars, we We also agreed to team up with Heckl to scenery and across Austria to our hotel in Bol- even have some more “testimonials” hanging use all the archives and expertise available to zano in South Tyrol (Northern Italy). around to build our case. Hence, how bright look into the early years of planetarium his- The same evening, we had arranged for a or weak the comet will be after perihelion is tory, uncover untold stories, and reveal what really cool surprise for council at the South not really the issue here, because this celestial happened in these pioneering years. This will Tyrolian Museum of Archaeology: museum event creates enough momentum for all of us be perfect for both our magazine and a pos- director Andrea Fleckinger gave us a special af- to showcase “why we need a planetarium.” sible special publication devoted to our own ter-hours tour and introduced the worlds old- Allow me now to report on some items heritage. est mummy, famous Iceman Oetzi (the British which have great potential for the future of But Bavaria and Munich is not just a region dubbed him “Frozen Fritz”). This set the stage our beloved planetariums. of great history and heritage—it is also an are- for our quest to link the story of us—past hu- na for high-tech space sciences of tomorrow. man history and the evolution of the envi- From roots to fruits of the future A huge research hub has been established in ronment and the cosmos we live in. In August this year, IPS Council met in the recent years in Garching, located between South Tyrol can indeed be regarded as a Alpine Region of Europe. Munich ´s interna- downtown Munich and Munich airport. crossroad of human, geological, and cosmic tional airport served as gateway for this off- It features several Max Planck institutes (as- histories. And being bilingual—German and year council meeting, giving delegates the trophysics, extraterrestrial physics) and the Italian (plus English, which is also used prac- chance to get together a few days earlier and headquarter of the European Southern Obser- tically in all public intuitions)—this beautiful receive a warm welcome on Munich’s “Muse- vatory (ESO). Just a few months ago, ESO, the region in Europe can serve as a wonderful ex- um Island“ by Wolfgang Heckl, the charismat- most productive observatory on Earth (head- ample for intercultural collaboration and de- ic director general of Deutsches Museum. to-head with the Hubble Space Telescope) cel- velopment. Ulrich Kernbach, head of exhibition, guid- ebrated its 50th anniversary. I am sure that Council members also wit- ed our special tour of this unique museum, Lars Lindberg Christensen, ESO’s head of ed- nessed that during our meeting, which was which is world´s first science and technology ucation and public outreach department, In- held next to the brand new Planetarium museum and is currently gearing up for a ma- ternational Astronomical Union press officer South Tyrol. This 8-m, high-resolution digi- jor expansion phase. and IAU Commission 55 president, was the tal 3D planetarium is directly attached to the This phase will culminate in 2025, the host during our visit at ESO and gave council school, kindergarten, and community com- museum´s centennial, which will also be the members an overview about this outstanding plex in the village of Gummer (part oft he centennial of our planetarium profession, astronomy organization, which extends way community of Karneid) and works jointly since the projection planetarium was invent- beyond Europe with its new member Brazil with the Max Valier Public Observatory. ed by Zeiss for this museum and the first-ever and certainly with Chile, where all ESO tele- planetarium (after some tests in Munich and scopes are based. At the Council meeting Jena beginning in 1923) as part of the opening The completion of Atacama Large Millime- The Council meeting was truly remark- of Deutsches Museum on May 7, 1925. ter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) and the up- able, since we not only selected the host for The date was chosen to coincide with the coming 39-m European Extremely Large Tele- the IPS conference following Beijing, but also 70th birthday of Oskar von Miller, founder scope (E-ELT) will have a tremendous impact announced IPS Vision 2020 as an important and driving force for the museum and plan- on our understanding of the universe and on step to move our society forward to a health-

6 Planetarian December 2013 ier future. The atmosphere, spirit might give us a new framework for and decisions achieved by Council some new initiatives, but our joint were truly outstanding and I like IYL-panel discussion at CAP re- to thank all Council members and vealed that IYL, so far, seems to lack my fellow officers, with IPS Secre- a clear central focus or historic mo- tary Lee Ann Hennig in particular, ment simple enough to communi- for the dedicated work which will cate well to everybody like Galileo benefit all of us in the future! and 400 years of the telescope. Still, I also want to thank our dear IYL 2015 offers opportunities for friend Shoiche Itoh, who I some- all of us and at CAP 2013 we took times call “Mr. Planetarium of Ja- the first step in the process of join- pan,” for joining Council to present ing forces between IAU and IPS in to us the opportunities offered to this matter. planetariums by the National As- The meeting really demonstrat- tronomical Observatory of Japan. ed how useful some of the newer NAOJ is a pioneer in developing formats for presentation are, like data sets and software (Mitaka) for “unconference” and workshops visualization of astrophysical phe- Hello from China: From left, Candice Cui (MR agent), Xiao Lin (BJP), Dr. sessions as well as interactive plan- nomena in space and time. I am Jin Zhu (Director of BJP), Dr. Dongni Chen (Deputy Director of BJP), Xin etarium shows. They can lead to very pleased that Itoh-san agreed Li (BJP), Dr. Ziping Zhang (BJP), Yuying Song (BJP), Jon Elvert and Thomas more interaction between dele- to be on the team of the new IPS Kraupe. All photos by or provided by Thomas Kraupe. gates and contribute to a better Science and Data Visualization conference experience. Task Force, chaired by Mark SubbaRao, and at Planetarium South Tyrol are in preparation. CAP 2013 also demonstrated that our fu- I expect to see NAOJ´s pioneering work on ture hosts are up to the task of organizing such more domes soon. Two conferences in Warsaw events. Working with the energetic and inno- For more details about our Council meet- Congratulations to Copernicus Science vative team of Copernicus Science Centre to- ing, please have a look at the minutes that Centre in Warsaw (Poland), which was select- wards IPS 2016 will be very rewarding and has start on page 17. But let me just briefly men- ed as host site for our IPS 2016 conference. the potential to move our conference experi- tion two more events arranged during that Their concept of having basically all conference to a new level. meeting. On the first evening, Albin Kofler, ence activities within the science center it- mayor of the community of Karneid, invited self and not at an external conference facility IPS 2014 in China: many firsts all of us to the breathtaking medieval Castle seemed to have been particularly attractive to Speaking of IPS conferences in the future, of Karneid, where all of us had a blast! Council members. our IPS 2014 conference in Beijing is only six Sitting next to the owners, the Duke and However, the two other bidders were both months away (June 23-27, 2014). This issue of Duchess of Karneid, we could reveal that they extremely competitive and all of us wish that our magazine includes an update from our are indeed relatives of Munich´s Oskar von both Telus World of Science (Vancouver, Can- host. (See pages 12-14) More detail and the lat- Miller, the “grandfather” of the first planetar- ada) and Cité de l’espace (Toulouse, France) est updates are available through the IPS web- ium. will consider to bid again for future IPS con- site (www.ips-planetarium.org) and the re- That is why I think that our tour really ferences. I am confident that we will also see spective links to the conference website. beautifully connected heritage and future of IPS conferences at these sites in the future. Also, please make sure you check with the our field. And we certainly paid attention to Just a few weeks ago—October 14-18—Co- Chinese embassy in your country to verify the real sky; our last evening coincided with pernicus Science Centre hosted the 2013 Com- the necessary steps for obtaining visa for your the maximum of the Perseid meteor show- municating Astronomy with the Public (CAP) entry into this rapidly-evolving country er, which traditionally is celebrated in Bolza- conference. CAP is organized by IAU Commis- The IPS 2014 conference will be unique in no/Bozen as Laurentius Nacht, the Night of St. sion 55 and presided by the abovementioned many ways, so you should not miss it! It will Lawrence. Lars Lindberg Christensen of ESO. It was re- be the first ever IPS conference in China and Many delegates joined the fabulous team of ally great to meet several IPS members and (after Osaka, Japan in 2006) only the second the Max Valier Society and spent a late night activists at that meeting, among them two IPS conference to ever take place in Asia. for meteor watching at the public observato- past presidents: Martin Ratcliffe and Martin Never before have we had more than one ry with its breathtaking panorama of the Do- George. large and permanent dome available for the lomites and a marvelous sky with the Milky With around 200 participants from around entire conference to present, not just tech- Way arching over us. the globe, this was the biggest CAP conference nologies but examples of best practice in ed- I am sure that none of us will ever forget ever. Following the previous meetings in this ucating and inspiring audiences in planetar- these days and nights and the heart-warming series, CAP2013 considered challenges in com- iums. Great content is the key for success of people of South Tyrol. Many thanks especial- munication of astronomy and space explora- our planetariums, so we will prepare a specific ly to Mayor Albin Kofler and his enthusiastic tion, as well as the influence of these activities focus on excellent content at IPS 2014. team for inviting us and being such gracious on science outreach and education. hosts to IPS. All transportation to and from New: IPS awards, fulldome festival Munich and during the meeting, plus the fan- Keeping the momentum from IYA The Beijing conference will be the first IPS tastic lunches and dinners, were organized Many discussions developed about how the conference where we present IPS awards for and paid for by Albin Kofler´s community. momentum gained from the extremely suc- planetarium shows and showcase the win- IPS has great friends in South Tyrol and we cessful International Year of Astronomy 2009 ning fulldome productions as part of the con- will continue to cooperate. Opportunities for can be kept alive and be intensified. The up- ference program. professional training and IPS summer schools coming International Year of Light 2015 (IYL) The winners will be selected from the IPS-

December 2013 Planetarian 7 Macao International Fulldome Fes- vendor-neutral fashion for the ben- tival (IPS-MIFF). This festival is open efit of a living and growing plane- to all IPS members, invited guests tarium community. and individuals interested in full- Please check the respective com- dome media. The festival will be mittee web pages if you want to held at the impressive Macao Sci- learn more. See also Mark´s article ence Center on June 18-21 as one of about the first steps of the Science the 2014 pre-conference events. and Data Visualization Task Force The festival will feature films on pages 20-22. suitable for showing in fulldome As I mentioned in previous mes- in 2D or 3D domemaster format sages, I will continue to reshape with a maximum resolution of 8k committees and their tasks so that (8192x8192 square pixels), plus a your membership will hopefully be range of related events. enriched by access to more exper- Special attention will be devoted tise and resources. Your active sup- to the educational aspects of the report is essential in that process. spective productions. Adjudication will be held on 19- IPS Vision 2020 20 June 2014. From 21-29 June, the The Macao Science Center. Photo by Thomas Kraupe. Our profession faces tremendous festival films also will be shown to changes and challenges, it has be- the general public in Macao. through the process of renewal or substantial come obvious that the two-year term of an I am really pleased that the board of Macao technical upgrades. IPS president is quite short in order to design Science Center has the vision to host such an As I feel strongly that any planetarium de- and implement necessary change. international festival in cooperation with IPS. sign and technology can only be successful So I felt it would be best to team up early on Many thanks to Che-Kuen Yip, who has been when it is developed along with the staffing with my successor, President-Elect Paul Knap- essential in moving this forward. and the operations, I asked Ian McLennan, penberger, and work on a joint long-term plan So plan for extra days in China to attend long-term expert in the field, to chair the new- for our organization which we termed IPS Vi- not only this festival in Macao, but also to vis- ly instituted IPS Planetarium Design and Op- sion 2020. it the nearby Hong Kong Space Museum and erations Committee. Every healthy organization plans for its its awesome astronomy park. In addition to the Science and Data Visual- evolution, and 10-year intervals seem to be a Details, including guidelines and rules for ization Task Force chaired by Mark SubbaRao, realistic time frame for strategic planning. In entering your production into the competi- this brand new IPS committee will have the order to be effective, such a planning process tion, should be already listed on the IPS web- purpose to provide high-level guidelines for must be inclusive, providing opportunities site by now. Check also your other options for 21st century planetarium design and manage- for input from all of our members, including pre- and post-conference tours and make sure ment/operational considerations and address individuals and institutions. that your passport and visa will be appropri- “best practices” based on experience gained We want input from all types of planetar- ate for entry and re-entry into the respective from its members as well as relevant outside iums: stand alones, portables, those in natu- territories on these dates. sources. ral history museums, science centers, schools, This committee will also act as a proac- and universities, as well as our vendors and ex- New IPS committee tive technical liaison with other parallel or- ternal partners. A key mission of our organization is to help ganizations, including but not limited to IPS In creating our Vision 2020, we must antic- share experience among our members so that affiliates as well as IMERSA, the Giant Screen ipate what will be different in 10 years and an- we can better serve our audiences and succeed Cinema Association, LIPS, the Association of swer the question “How can IPS better serve in our desire to teach and inspire people on Science-Technology Centers, the Asia Pacific and support its members?” The process of cre- Earth about the cosmos. Network of Science and Technology Centers, ating Vision 2020 provides a means of engag- But IPS, in recent years, did not offer any and the European Network of Science Centres ing our younger members, who have unique dedicated point of contact or forum for help and Museums. perspectives and enthusiasm. in the tricky process of launching or relaunch- One ongoing task for Ian´s committee will Together we will review and update, where ing a planetarium, despite the fact that in re- be to update our publication/guideline “So appropriate, and in a coordinated manner the cent years many planetariums were going You Want To Build a Planetarium” and keep IPS mission, by-laws and procedures; format it up to date on a bian- and effectiveness of Council meetings; con- nual basis, probably in ference guidelines and best practices; standing the form of a web-based committees; awards; and other aspects of the The resource for making “wiki” document. For the ways that IPS serves its community of mem- astronomy accessible upcoming conference in bers. Beijing, we will set up a Vision 2020 can provide the opportunity to visitors with disabilities. session on that subject, to grow and better support IPS membership in showing some of the ma- every region around the world. Watch out for jor pitfalls one should an upcoming survey and stay in touch with Everyone’s Universe avoid when launching your representative on council; we want your new planetariums. input in this step-by-step process which we by Noreen Grice I salute Ian for taking initiated at the council meeting in South Ty- on this important task as rol. www.YouCanDoAstronomy.com chair in a non-biased and As always, onwards and upwards! I

8 Planetarian December 2013 ®

December 2013 Planetarian 9 tival, this time in the presence of some 40 fellows and guests. Among the items of the pro- Guest Editorial gram was an extended session during which we discussed the academy’s strategy for our activities during the coming years, followed The Century of Our Grandchildren by the annual meeting which decided upon an activity plan for the rest of 2013 and 2014. Lars Broman As a result, The Century of Our Grandchil- Professor of Physics and Vice Chancellor, Strömstad Academy dren will be the theme of a major multidisci- plinary project and was chosen as a motto and Falun, Sweden theme for the academy. [email protected], [email protected] www.teknoland.se, www.stromstadakademi.se Randers’ book 2052 Forecasts of our future are quite abundant Most Fellows of Strömstad Academy see the Most of us live in Sweden. The scientific and cover time periods between a few years 21st Century as The Century of Our Grand- competence of the fellows covers almost the and several centuries or longer. Perhaps the children. We, therefore, feel a special respon- whole academic field from humanities to nat- best known and discussed today is the United sibility for the coming 87 years. Jorgen Rand- ural science, from medical to social science, Nations’ Intergovernmental Panel of Climate ers’ book 2052: A Global Forecast for the Next from technology to theology. Change prognoses, with thousands of scien- Forty Years is pessimistic regarding the second Academy activities include the website tists from all over the world contributing to half of the present century. Maybe Stromstad www.stromstadakademi.se, a regular electron- the work on a voluntary basis as authors, con- Academy, with its great academic width, can ic newsletter, publication of the (electronic) tributors and reviewers, regarding the future describe both expected and wanted develop- series Acta Academiae Stromstadiensis, arrang- climate and its development based on differ- ment and thereby, maybe, affect the developing a yearly Academic Festival in Strömstad, ent scenarios. ment between now and 2100. Professionals in Sweden and other meetings, initiating trans- The following may be more important different fields, including planetarians, are en- disciplinary project groups—among them than many of the others. couraged to participate. Public Understanding of Science (PUS, with Norwegian Jorgen Randers, now a profes- Public Understanding of Astronomy-PUA-as sor of climate strategy at the BI Norwegian Strömstad Academy, 2013 a sub-group), Learning on the Brain’s Condi- Business School, was a young PhD at the Mas- As of October 2013, Strömstad Academy tion, Renewable Energy in Strömstad Acade- sachusetts Institute of Technology when he consists of 70 fellows, out of which 60 are pro- my (RESA), and, most importantly and most co-authored The Limits to Growth in 1972, fessors; appointments are unsalaried. recent, The Century of Our Grandchildren. with Donella and Dennis Meadows and Wil- The academy was formed five years ago The Academy is basically virtual, but has liam Behrens III. This book was the first world- offices in Strömstad City wide report by the Club of Rome, itself a glob- Hall. We use Swedish and al think tank similar to Strömstad Academy. English and we invite ap- Now he has returned to long-time forecast- plications to be appoint- ing with his book 2052: A Global Forecast for ed as fellows from all coun- the Next Forty Years. The book is a follow-up tries and all disciplines. to the 1972 book. He relies on present statisti- Most of us have grandchildren of our own, so cal data and trends from 1970 to 2010 and has while few of today’s fel- reached these main messages of 2052: lows will be alive after 1. The global population will peak at 8.1 2030, many of our grand- billion just after 2040 and then decline. children will experience 2. The global gross domestic product the coming turn of the cen- (GDP) will grow but slower than ex- tury, the year 2100. For us, pected, reaching 2.2 times the 2012 lev- it is natural to regard the el around 2050. 21st century as the century 3. The growth rate in global consump- of our grandchildren. tion will slow down and global con- This is why we feel a sumption will peak in 2045. common personal respon- 4. Resource and climate problems will not become catastrophic before 2052. This Swedish summer 2013 family photo includes 4 grandparents as sibility for the develop- well as 8 grandchildren born 1997 to 2010, plus —not so obvious—one ment of the world in a per- 5. The world will be put on a dangerous to be born in 2013 and one in 2014. The author is in the white t-shirt spective that stretches 87 track towards self-reinforcing global on the right. Photo by Eva and Jonas Häggström. years into the future. It is warming in the second half of the cen- in the interest of our gener- tury. ation that the world until 6. Social tension and conflict will grow. for scholars involved in research, develop- then develops so our grandchildren and their 7. The short-term focus on capitalism ment, education, and information. The initial contemporaries will be able to live a good full and democracy will ensure that the thought was that the academy could be a new life and that the planet then be in such a good wise decisions needed for long-term home institution for emeriti, who constitute shape that future generations also can live well-being will not be made in time. 70% of the fellows. Our mean age is 68 years; lives fit for human beings. 8. Population will be increasingly urban the oldest is 82 and the youngest is 42; half of Strömstad Academy, during the days after and unwilling to protect nature for its us are born in the 1940s. midsummer 2013, held its fifth Academic Fes- own sake.

10 Planetarian December 2013 9. Impact will differ in the away. five studied regions: the US, Scholars who are not yet part of OECD (Organization for Eco- Strömstad Academy may want to nomic Co-operation and De- participate and the number of differ- velopment consisting of 34 ent treated future trends will grow. industrial nations, less the According to the preliminary se- US), China, BRISE emerging quence of events, a number of texts economies (Brazil, Russia, In- will be written step by step, first as dia, South Africa, Indonesia, synopses, then as preliminary texts, Mexico, Vietnam, Turkey, maybe in DELPHI fashion, which Iran, Thailand, Ukraine, Ar- permits participants to read and be gentina, Venezuela and Sau- inspired by the others’ texts. di Arabia), and the rest of the At a suitable moment, perhaps in world (ROW). the fall of 2014, participants in the 10. The US and OECD will ex- project will have the opportunity perience stagnant per capi- to present their thoughts and reflec- ta consumptions, China will tions at a joint several-day confer- win, BRISE will make prog- ence, to which others will be invit- ress, and ROW will remain ed. The contributions then will be poor. compiled in a publication. 11. The conditions of the world’s (Note: The DELPHI method is a five regions will differ dra- structured communication tech- matically in 2052. Strömstad Academy has offices in Strömstad’s impressive City Hall, nique, originally developed as a Randers’s forecasts are, to put it built 1912-17, and is supported in many ways by the city of Strömstad, systematic, interactive forecasting mildly, gloomy. Positive chang- situated on the Swedish Atlantic coast near the Norwegian border. method which relies on a panel of Photo by Lars Broman es will come too slowly to prevent experts. Source: Wikipedia) disasters during the second half of As an example of topics for oth- the century. The only exemption er professionals, planetarians might seems to be renewable energy use, which will The research assistant in science of education, want to write on the future trends on Learning; grow rapidly and become largest in 2040. The •• our knowledge of the Universe, data are given in an open access spreadsheet The professor of ethnology, Cross-Border Collabora- tion between People; •• space travel, on www.2052.info, where you also can make The professor of French, Language Development; •• extraterrestrial civilizations, or your own forecasts. The professor of museum science, Cultural Heritage; •• education in planetariums, Our question, then, “Is this the develop- The professor specializing in science centers, Infor- and thereby take part in the project The Cen- ment that we want our grandchildren to ex- mal Learning; The professor specializing in elderly people, Life tury of Our Grandchildren. perience?” Quality at the Age of 100 Years; The professor of energy economics, Physical Plan- Afterword Examples of what fellows may share ning on Energy Smart Buildings; Which forecast, which future trend, are par- The associate professor in renewable energy, Vehic- In connection with this, Strömstad Acad- ticipants supposed to write? A forecast that is emy has a fairly unique position with both ular Traffic without Fossil Fuels; The associate professor in special education, School as realistic as possible; a projection based on great width and great depth. We are scientists for Underprivileged Children; the situation today and the development dur- within so many scientific disciplines that we The professor of science of education, The Chang- ing the last decades, as well as the author’s as- together will be able to describe future proba- ing Learning; sumptions about the development in general. ble and desirable trends from many different The professor of ethics and value research, Human Driving Forces; Another forecast could be a more desirable aspects, and much more than demography, The research associate in pedagogics, Higher Educa- development and which presumptions then economy, and climate. tion; would be required, both in short and long Here follows some examples regarding The associate professor in tourism studies, Culture terms. what fellows of the academy would be able to Clashes; Both will contain a progress report from treat in the development up to the next turn The associate professor in human geography, Traf- fic and Travelling; the year 2100 as a takeoff for the planet’s and of century: The assistant professor in applied climatology, Cli- mankind’s continued development. I have a The associate professor in informatics, Data and mate; feeling that our jointly compiled description Communication; The associate professor in pharmacology, Medica- The research assistant in architecture, Dwelling and tion and Dementia; of the future has a chance to affect our age and Construction; The research associate in solar energy technology, to redirect the development in a way that can The professor of organic chemistry, Environmentally Renewable Energy Production; make the century of our grandchildren a good Harmful Chemicals; The professor of psychiatry, The View of Psychic century. The professor of clinical microbiology, Viruses and Diseases; and Epidemics; The assistant professor in psychology, The View of The professor of physics, Public Understanding of Body and Soul. References Science vs. Religious Conceptions; Broman, Lars (2013). Barnbarnens århundrade. The assistant professor in energy efficient technologies; Energy Use; Doesn’t this sound exciting? In Windahl, Gunnar, Ed., Vår bättre värld, The research assistant in economics, Capitalism; This should, of course, be regarded as exam- Strömstad, Sweden: Strömstad akademi. The assistant professor in German comparative liter- ples of what academy fellows engaged in the Randers, Jorgen (2012). 2052. White River Junc- ature, Books and Electronic Media; project The Century of Our Grandchildren tion, VT, USA: Chelsea Green Publishing. The professor of German, Large and Small Language Locales; may treat. Many of the fellows, maybe most, Strömstad Academy: www.stromstadakade- The assistant professor in pedagogics, The School; may find another focus, and some will drop mi.se, www.stromstadacademy.org. I

December 2013 Planetarian 11 23-27 June 2014 Beijing Skyline, Wimedia Commons

IPS2014 Educating for the Future

Jin Zhu, Director The IPS 2014 Conference, under the theme in Building A of Beijing Planetarium, will be Beijing Planetarium of “Educating for the Future,” will focus on available with 3-m by 3-m booths. A team of Beijing, China the significant role of planetariums in future professional technicians will be ready to ren- [email protected] astronomy education. It will showcase the lat- der any service that may be needed to facili- est advancements in astronomy, planetarium tate setting-up and dismantling. theater management, and technology, while Beijing Planetarium is honored to invite all Beijing Planetarium includes two dome the- members of the International Planetarium So- providing an ideal forum for the exchange of aters, a 4D theater, and three classrooms. The ciety (IPS) to participate in the 22nd IPS Con- ideas on astronomy education and visitor ex- ultimate dome theater, Cosmos theater, with ference, to be held from Monday to Friday, perience. 400 seats, can comfortably admit all members June 23-27, 2014 in Beijing, China. Hundreds of planetarium professionals for keynote speeches. The 4D theater, the Dig- We would like to give you an update and around the world will be brought together ital Space dome theater and the three class- convince you that this will be the event you to exchange ideas on best practices and pres- rooms will be used for poster and parallel ses- and all your colleagues should not miss. All ent new technology. Chinese educational of- sions. the preparations are well underway to wel- ficials and professionals will also be invited to To satisfy vital needs, the two dome the- come you in Beijing. this fantastic gathering devoted to planetari- aters, installed with advanced projection sys- Beijing, capital of the People’s Republic of um development and astronomy education. tem, and the 4D theater will be ready for pre- China, is the nation’s political, economic, cul- sentations by planetarians and vendors. We tural, educational, international trade, and Host facilities will take full advantage of the planetarium communication center. Located in northern Located in the northwest of Beijing, Beijing to hold vendor presentations and some of the China, the city also serves as the country’s Planetarium is the first large-scale planetari- parallel sessions. Plenty of planetarium time most important transportation hub and port um in China. It will be the main venue for all will be the highlight of this conference. of entry. keynote, poster and parallel sessions, as well as As the secondary venue, Hotel Nikko New Both a tribute to China’s proud history and exhibitions and vendor demonstrations. Century Beijing, a 5-minute walk away from a gateway to China’s future, it is an interna- There will be two areas for exhibitions, Beijing Planetarium, will provide an excellent tional metropolis, home to more than 20 mil- both equipped with a high-speed fiber optic environment for the opening ceremony and lion people from all walks of life. Having suc- network. Area I (1200 square meters by 7 me- business meetings. ceeded in hosting the 2008 Olympic Games, ters in height) is now under construction and Beijing is ready and looks forward to welcom- will be suitable for various types of exhibits. Accommodations ing and impressing you in the months ahead. Area II (400 square meters by 4 meters high), A wide variety of hotel options are avail-

12 Planetarian December 2013 School children in the planetarium’s beautiful lobby; waiting for the program to begin in the dome. All photos on this page by Thomas Kraupe. able for delegates at IPS 2014. The official tarium and the two hotels are close to. ning of June 27, when the century-old Beijing conference hotel, Hotel Nikko New Centu- IPS2014 will be held in June, when the Quanjude Roast Duck will surprise your taste ry Beijing, and Xiyuan Hotel, both within a weather in Beijing is the best of the year with buds and traditional performances will amaze 5-minute walk of all conference venues, offer moderate temperature (25-32 degrees C), and you with their authentic Chinese character- up to 1,000 rooms of different sizes at different moderate rainfall creating the best air quality. istics. Anyone who would like to attend the prices. Both are fitted with modern amenities All the food and beverages will be provided dinner needs to pay US $90 which covers the one would expect from a convention hotel. by five-star hotels with consideration of the dinner, performances and transportation. Hotel Nikko New Century Beijing has four different cultural background and food hab- kinds of rooms with prices ranging from its of attendees, so as to create a healthy and Mid-conference tour CNY560 to CNY1,000. Xiyuan Hotel has four green IPS 2014. In the afternoon of June 25, IPS 2014 is offer- kinds of rooms with prices ranging from ing a mid-conference tour. The tour will cov- CNY580 to CNY850. (As of November 1, 2013, Conference program and fees er the fee of transportation from Beijing Plane- 1 CNY= 0.164 USD and 0.12 EURO.) The conference registration fee is US $450, tarium and the entry ticket to the scenic spot. Apart from the above two hotels, there are which includes the welcome reception, open- Route 1 is a tour to the Temple of Heaven other options, including both economic and ing ceremony, keynote speech, vendor dem- and Ancient Observatory. During this tour, luxury hotels. onstrations, exhibit hall access, all sessions, you will visit the Temple of Heaven, an im- Beijing Planetarium and the two hotels are mid-conference tour, a conference satchel and perial construction reflecting ancient Chinese located on North & West 2nd Ring Road, only materials, and all breaks and lunches. astronomical thoughts, and see the oldest as- 27 km from Beijing Capital Airport. You can You will be served with buffet lunches on tronomical equipment in Ming and Qing Dy- easily reach there either by taxi or subway. June 23-26. On June 27, the last day of the con- nasty of China at the Ancient Observatory. Thanks to the well-developed underground ference, we will host you in the banquet hall The other routes are the Palace Museum transport network in Beijing, it is convenient of Hotel Nikko New Century for a luncheon and Beijing Aerospace Town. The Palace Mu- to go anywhere in downtown from the Bei- featuring traditional Chinese round tables. seum is the Chinese imperial palace and one jing Zoo station of Line 4, where Beijing Plane- The gala dinner will be held in the eve- of the greatest palaces in the world, showcas-

The old and the new: the original planetarium dome (left) and the new building.

December 2013 Planetarian 13 ing the luxury of ancient royal life, histori- such important astronomical instruments as soon as they are available. cal antiques and treasures, while Beijing Aero- LAMOST and the 2.16-m optical telescope. space Town is the nerve center of Chinese In this tour, you will also stand on the best Time to start planning space flight technology. (This route is subject place for astronomical observation—the pic- We encourage you to begin planning for to change.) turesque Wuling Mountain—and get a person- the conference and consider presenting and al experience of the largest existing imperial actively participating in the sessions. This bi- Optional tours land and imperial temples in China. ennial conference is the highlight of our pro- (pre/post conference Chengde, with its famous Imperial Sum- fession and literally depends upon your par- You may choose among the three pre- mer Resort, will give you the royal treat- ticipation to make it successful. conference or post-conference tours below, ment during your which we believe will make your stay in Chi- summer stay. The na even better. tour will take two days and cost about Xi’an CNY1,500 per per- Among all the ancient imperial capitals in son. China, Xi’an is the one that had been capital for the longest time, hosted the most dy- Great Wall nasties, and exerted the greatest influence in As a Chinese Chinese history. It is one of the four great an- proverb goes, he cient capitals in the world, the birthplace of who has never been Chinese civilization, the cradle of Chinese na- to the Great Wall tionality, a prominent representative of Chi- is not a true man. nese culture, and the starting point of the Silk Apart from a trip to Road. the Great Wall and Along with attractions such as the Giant the ancient roy- Wild Goose Pagoda and Xi’an Ancient City al mausoleum, this Exterior of the Hong Kong Planetarium, a possibility for a pre- or post-conference visit. Photo by Thomas Kraupe. Wall, the Xi’an tour will take you to muse- route also includes ums where you will experience the Yang- a tour around the shao culture, which existed 5,000 years ago, whole city of Beijing and a trip to Bird’s Nest, It is an opportunity for attendees to ex- see the Terra Cotta Warriors and Horses, visit Water Cube and Wangfujing Snack Street. change ideas, make professional progress, lis- the Yang Mausoleum of the Han Dynasty, and You may also go to Hong Kong and Ma- ten to guests’ speeches, meet new colleagues, learn about the history of Shaanxi. You will cau for a short stay before the conference. We reconnect with acquaintances, and more im- be accommodated in a five-star luxury hotel. have contacted the Hong Kong Space Muse- portantly, to learn and experience what is go- The tour will take four days and cost about um and the Macau Science Center and they ing on in the planetariums field throughout CNY4,500 per person. will provide you with assistance during your the world. trip there. More detailed information will be As documents required for visa application Chengde and Xinglong Station released soon. are different according to countries and re- A visit will be paid to Xinglong Station, (Attention: a visa would be needed if you gions, please contact your local Chinese em- one of the National Astronomical Observa- enter mainland China from Hong Kong or bassies and consulates for information. Please tories under the Chinese Academy of Scienc- Macau.) do not hesitate to contact us if you need an in- es. Affiliated to the open optics lab of the Na- If you want to extend your stay to the vitation letter or other official documents to tional Astronomical Observatories, Xinglong Asian-Pacific region beyond these days, please apply for a visa and we will provide it as soon Station is an optical astronomy observatory, consider visiting also our friends in Japan. The as possible. You can also visit the website of where fixed stars and galaxies are observed IPS suggests an optional post-conference tour IPS2014 for more information. and researched. The station is equipped with to Tokyo. Details will be sent out by the IPS as There will also be media friends and Chi- nese educational officials attending the conference. We hope the conference will be a worthy stimulus on astronomy education. You can make registration for IPS2014 ei- PARTYcles #016 - Dec. '13 Alex Cherman ther online or on-site. It is expected that on- All electrons are I'm tired of Quantum line registration will open in November 2013. indistinguishable... overthinking this Mechanics 101: Discounts are available for online registration. thing... I will never be We look forward to your presence at IPS The observer sure if you are You are you. interferes with 2014 and hope to present a forward-looking really you! Period! the observed... conference where we will envision the future of planetariums together. NEVER!!! It is my decision! Great! I just lifted a huge weight Visit our conference website at www. A very off my shoulders... ips2014.org for updated information. We will That's it, then! quantum decision, keep you informed with more details contin- by the way... What shoulders?!? uously. See you next year in Beijing! I

14 Planetarian December 2013 December 2013 Planetarian 15 Minutes of the IPS Council Meeting South Tyrol Planetarium Meeting Room Gummer, near Bolzano/Bozen South Tyrol, Italy August 9-10, 2013

* indicates action items Southwestern Association of Planetariums Lawrence pointed out a discrepancy in the In attendance: (SWAP) – Rachel Thompson 2012 Report for income that the Treasurer President Thomas Kraupe Not Present: will adjust in the balance column. CASC Rep- President Elect Paul Knappenberger Rocky Mountain Planetarium Association resentative Ian McLennan pointed out that in Past President Dave Weinrich (RMPA) – Mike George reports the term “profit” should be replaced Treasurer Shawn Laatsch with the term “surplus” in keeping with the Secretary Lee Ann Hennig Guests: Society’s not-for-profit status The Audit Re- Jon Elvert - Chair, IPS Outreach Committee, port of 2012 confirmed that the treasury is Affiliate Representatives: and Pennington Planetarium, Baton Rouge, in good standing and the document has been Association of Brazilian Planetariums (ABP) – Louisiana, USA, IPS 2012 Conference Host posted on the Council Group Site. Alexandre Cherman Dr. Jin Zhu – IPS 2014 Conference Host, Direc- The Treasurer’s Report was filed. Association of Dutch Speaking Planetariums tor, Beijing Planetarium, Beijing China As Membership Chair, Shawn reported (ADSP) – Loris Ramponi for Jaap Vreeling Simonetta Ercoli- IAP that the total membership as of June 2013 Association of French Speaking Planetariums Lars Broman- Chair, IPS Awards Committee was 665. Shawn confirmed that automated re- (APLF) – Agnes Acker for Marc Moutin Dr. Dale Smith- Chair, IPS Publications Com- minders are distributed in January and Feb- Association of Mexican Planetariums (AM- mittee ruary to notify membership of dues renewal PAC) – Dale Smith for Ignacio Castro Pinal Susan Button - Chair, IPS Portable Planetarium procedures. Association of Spanish Planetariums (APLE) – Committee The Membership Report was filed. Javier Armentia Celso Cunha- President of Rio Planetarium Past President Dave Weinrich presented his Australasian Planetarium Society (APS) – Foundation, Rio de Janeiro Brazil Past President’s Report which will be print- Warik Lawrance Steve Baker – IPS 2016 Conference Bid, TELUS ed in the September 2013 issue of the Planetar- British Association of Planetaria (BAP) – Jenny World of Science, Edmonton, Canada ian. Dave reviewed the progress on some of his Shipway Marc Moutin- IPS 2016 Conference Bid- Cité presidential objectives and expressed his opti- Canadian Association of Science Centres de l’espace, Toulouse, France mism for completion and extensions for the (CASC) - Ian McLennan Dr. Maciej Ligowski and Monika Malinowska- work on those projects throughout the next Chinese Planetarium Society (CPS) – Jin Zhu IPS 2016 Conference Bid, Copernicus Sci- 2 years. European/Mediterranean Planetarium Associ- ence Center, Warsaw, Poland President Thomas Kraupe delivered the ation (EMPA) - Manos Kitsonas Shoichi Itoh- National Astronomical Observa- President’s Report. This report will also be Great Lakes Planetarium Association (GLPA) – tory of Japan (NAOJ) published in the September 2013 issue of the Jeanne Bishop Planetarian. Thomas outlined his plan for Great Plains Planetarium Association (GPPA) – The meeting was called to order at 9:25 a.m. working with Council and the membership Lars Broman for Jack Dunn by President Thomas Kraupe. Thomas wel- in setting a strategy for moving IPS forward. Italian Association of Planetaria (IAP) – Loris comed the Council Members and guests and A Vision 2020 initiative will address how IPS Ramponi opened the meeting with introductions from can reach the goal of being leaders in the fields Japan Planetarium Association (JPA) - Kaoru everyone in attendance. Thomas recognized of education and inspiration- not abdicating Kimura new Council members and reviewed the for- this role to others. Part of this process requires Middle Atlantic Planetarium Society (MAPS) – mat for the Council meeting as well as chang- a reorganization of the committee struc- Patty Seaton es in the agenda. ture and a more active Council participation Nordic Planetarium Association (NPA) – Aase The Secretary’s Report on the Minutes throughout the year. Roland Jacobsen of the 2012 Baton Rouge, Louisiana Council The Past President’s and President’s Reports Pacific Planetarium Association (PPA) – Susan Meeting had been previously published in the were filed. Button for Benjamin Mendelsohn December 2012 Planetarian. Russian Planetarium Association (RPA) – Lidia The Minutes were approved. Affiliate Reports Dudashkina for Zinaida P. Sitkova Treasurer Shawn Laatsch presented the President Thomas Kraupe reiterated the Society of German Speaking Planetaria (GDP) Treasurer’s Report. Council reviewed and importance of Council Members’ partici- – Christian Theis discussed specifics of the 2012 Financial Re- pation as active representatives of their af- Southeastern Planetarium Association (SEPA) port, the mid-year 2013 Budget, and the pro- filiates—not just at the annual Council - John Hare posed 2014 Budget. APS Representative Warik Meeting, but throughout the year. This re-

16 Planetarian December 2013 sponsibility will be crucial in the strategy * Jeanne Bishop moved to accept the IPS and Planetarium Design and Operation to move IPS forward in the coming years. 2012 Final Report, seconded by Shawn Laatsch Committee-chaired by Ian McLennan. De- Written Affiliate Reports were reviewed and and approved by Council. tails on the missions and objectives of these Affiliate Representatives highlighted events two new committees will be forthcoming. and concerns from their respective reports. In IPS 2014 Conference Standing Committee Reports were presented, news from the floor: Dr. Jin Zhu, IPS 2014 Conference Host, pre- reviewed, and discussed. The full committee ABP Representative Alexandre Cherman sented a report on the plans for the confer- reports will be posted on the individual Com- reported that IPS 2012 had the largest South ence in Beijing China. The Conference is mittee Webpages on the IPS Website. American attendance in the history of IPS. scheduled for June 23-27, 2014, preceded by With the assistance of ABP, these planetari- the Council Meeting on June 21-22. Presi- Awards Committee ums are working diligently on collaboration dent Thomas Kraupe and IPS 2012 Conference Chair Lars Broman presented the IPS Awards and cooperation in forming an organization. Host Jon Elvert met with the 2014 Conference Committee Report. The President’s Award, AMPAC proxy Dale Smith for Ignacio Cas- team in Beijing this spring to review plans. De- the IPS Fellows, and the Innovation and Tech- tro Pinal reported the interest of the Science tails and updates will be posted on the Con- nology Award honorees will be presented to & Technology Councils of various Mexican ference Website and will be published in the the membership at the IPS 2014 Conference. states in supporting construction and renova- Planetarian. Council discussed the nominees presented for tion of planetariums. the Technology and Innovation Award. EMPA Representative Manos Kitsonas an- IPS 2016 Conference Bids * Patty Seaton moved to limit the number nounced that they had invited Alexandria Council reviewed the final proposed bids of awardees to no more than 2, seconded by Egypt’s planetarium to become a member for the IPS 2016 Conference from three sites: Rachel Thompson and approved by Council. of EMPA. Manos also mentioned that they 1. TELUS World of Science, Edmonton, Al- * Shawn Laatsch moved to approve the rec- would organize a session for European Affili- berta (Canada) - presented by Ian McLennan ommendations of the Awards Committee for ates for IPS 2014 in Beijing. and Steve Baker 2 individuals to receive the Technology and GLPA Representative Jeanne Bishop en- 2. Cité de l’espace, Toulouse (France) - pre- Innovation Award, seconded by Javier Ar- couraged Affiliates to review the GLPA As- sented by Marc Moutin mentia and approved by Council. tronomy Standards document and send any 3. Copernicus Science Center, Warsaw (Po- The list of IPS Fellows was presented and comments to her. land) – presented by Dr. Maciej Ligowski and discussion followed. JPA Representative Kaoru Kimura intro- Monika Malinowska * Shawn Laatsch moved to approve the rec- duced Shoichi Itoh of the National Astronom- The first day of the Council Meeting was ommendations of the Awards Committee for ical Observatory of Japan (NAOJ). Shoi gave a adjourned at 6:00 p.m. 7 individuals to be named as IPS Fellows, sec- presentation related to the outreach of NAOJ, The second day of the Council Meeting was onded by Javier Armentia and approved by and will demonstrate 3-D projection system called to order at 9:30 a.m. on August 10, 2013. Council. after lunch. President Thomas Kraupe suggested that MAPS Representative Patty Seaton shared IPS 2016 Conference Bids, continued Council and the Awards Committee ad- the MAPS Position Statement regarding the President Thomas Kraupe declared a closed dress the inconsistencies within the report- value of the Planetarium in terms of Educa- session of Council to allow for discussion and ing of the committee as well as the concerns tion, Community, and Inspiration. voting on the IPS 2016 Conference Bids. After of guidelines for the awards as part of the re- The IPS Affiliate Reports will be posted on much discussion and review, Council voted view structure of all the committees under the IPS Website. to accept the bid from the Copernicus Science the IPS Vision 2020 and revisions of the Stand- The Affiliate Reports were filed. Center, Warsaw, Poland for IPS 2016 Confer- ing Rules. Affiliates are encouraged to submit Affiliate Reports not submitted: ence. nominations for IPS Awards to the Awards Pacific Planetarium Association (PPA) Council thanked the presenters from Ed- Committee. Rocky Mountain Planetarium Association monton and Toulouse for their efforts and ex- (RMPA) pressed the hope that they would submit bids Elections Committee for a future IPS Conference. President Thomas Kraupe shared Elections Conferences Committee Chair Martin George’s IPS Elec- IPS 2012 Conference Standing Committee Reports tions Committee report. The 2012 electronic Jon Elvert, Conference Host for the IPS President Thomas Kraupe discussed with ballot election ran smoothly and is expected 2012 Conference, presented the final report. Council his aim to make the committee struc- to follow the same procedure in 2014. Nomi- This was the largest conference in IPS Histo- ture more effective and goal oriented. As he nations for officer candidates for 2015/16 will ry with 701 registrants from over 45 coun- announced in the June 2013 issue of the Plan- officially close at the annual General Meeting tries. Council discussed Jon’s detailed report, etarian, the following committees are no of IPS in Beijing in 2014. Affiliate Representa- which will serve as a model (as was the Mel- longer viable: Full-Dome, Outreach, Pro- tives are urged to encourage their member- bourne Report) for future hosts’ final reports. fessional Services, Technology, and Web- ship to consider running for an IPS office as The post-conference evaluation meeting at site. The Web Committee will return to its well as participating in the voting process. Baton Rouge provided an opportunity to eval- original function as part of the Publications uate the conference and set up a “best practic- Committee with Alan Gould as Webmas- Publications Committee es” document to be used in the revision of the ter and Sharon Shanks as Website Editor- The IPS Publications Committee Chair IPS Conference Guidelines. Council expressed digital media. Two new committees will be Dale Smith presented his report. Executive appreciation to Jon and his team for an out- formed: Science and Data Visualization Editor Sharon Shanks continues to maintain standing conference. Task Force-chaired by Dr. Mark SubbaRao, the journal’s excellence in conjunction with

December 2013 Planetarian 17 her team of authors, columns and advertisers. 20,000 images will be identified and the com- Constitution Matters The article titled “Under One Dome” contin- mittee is collaborating with Webmaster Alan Secretary Lee Ann Hennig reported that ues from last year, and a practice of including Gould and Editor Sharon Shanks to share the major revisions to the Standing Rules Appen- “Guest Editorials” has recently been initiated. images. dix C: Conference Guidelines were underway The current edition of the Planetarian is avail- The images in the opening video sequence and would be forwarded to Council for elec- able on the IPS Website in the Members Only that was shown a IPS 2012 in Baton Rouge tronic approval. Other changes to consider area, and all previous editions are posted in were from the IPS Archives, and John’s com- will be: revisions/updates in appendices, gen- the open area of the IPS Website. mittee will provide such resources for future eral consistency and clarification edits to keep The Alexandria IPS 2010 Proceedings were endeavors. the document current. distributed in January 2013, and the Baton President Thomas Kraupe thanked the His- Rouge IPS 2012 Proceedings will be distribut- torian for his efforts on preserving the histo- Unfinished Business ed this fall. ry of IPS As part of what we are, our roots, our Survey of Membership will be coordinated The 2013 edition of the IPS Directory (which growth, this is important in research branch- with the IPS Vision 2020. includes the IPS Directory of the World’s Plan- es as well. Awards will be coordinated with the revi- etariums-the “white pages”, and the IPS Re- There will be a Memorial Presentation at sions of Committee structure. source Directory-the “yellow pages”) has be- IPS 2014 for IPS members who have passed gun and will be distributed later this year. The away during the last 4 years. Ian McLennan New Business Directory has been moved from the Members’ and Thomas Kraupe are also involved with MOU (Memorandum of Understanding) Only Area of the IPS Website to the public John’s efforts to maintain a database and cre- with several organizations is underway and area, thereby making this valuable resource ate a digital memorial as a mechanism to rec- will be discussed with Council once draft doc- more widely available. ognize recently passed members. uments are available. Webmaster Alan Gould was instrumental IPS Summer School (professional devel- in facilitating the move and posting prior edi- International Relations Committee opment opportunities): IPS should help ele- tions of the Directory so they are available as Chair Martin George and his committee vate our profession by providing/sponsoring/ archived resources. continue to promote IPS around the world, supporting these endeavors and exploring Chair Dale Smith and his team will be including Ukraine, India, Korea, and Thailand. training/internship/opportunities for poten- working making the Directory more useful Experience with the 2012 Baton Rouge Con- tial planetarium professionals. A proposal with searchable features. ference Scholarships will help with the next should be ready to present to Council in Bei- President Thomas Kraupe on behalf of round of applications for IPS 2014 Beijing. jing IPS 2014. Council expressed appreciation for Dale and The Planetarium Closure procedures devel- Discussion from Council included sugges- his committee’s dedication and excellence in oped by the Committee were utilized in sever- tions regarding existing projects like “A Plane- contributing to the valuable resources for IPS. al circumstances over the last year. The Com- tarian’s Experience in Italy,” National Science Council also recognizes Editor Sharon mittee will continue its investigation into Foundation (NSF) summer institutes in the US, Shank’s commitment to the high standards of providing translation services at conferences, and collaborations with universities. the Planetarian. especially for IPS 2014 in Beijing. IPS Vision 2020: President Thomas Kraupe Standing Committee Reports were filed. described the background for a perspective of Portable Planetarium Committee how IPS can chart a roadmap to the future. A Ad Hoc Committee Reports Chair Susan Button presented her report president’s two-year term is not long enough Ad Hoc Committee Reports were present- on the Portable Planetariums. The Commit- to affect substantial change; it involves more ed, reviewed and discussed. Complete reports tee’s emphasis on live interactive lessons, es- than two years. We are a working, healthy or- will be posted on the IPS Web Site Commit- pecially in small and portable domes, resulted ganization, but how can we be more respon- tee Pages. in several sessions at MAPS, GLPA and Baton sive to the membership and meet the chal- Rouge. It is crucial for the IPS Portable Plane- lenges of our profession as it grows? Education Committee tarium Committee to have a portable plane- The future of our organization depends on The written Education Committee Report tarium representative from each IPS Affiliate. the opinions of our membership as well as from Chair Jack Northrup was reviewed. The This representative needs to be responsible for the officers and Council. President Elect Paul Committee is transitioning material to the periodically sending Susan news and contacts Knappenberger presented a summary of how new IPS Website and continues to focus on for portables located in the affiliate’s region. we can develop a collective vision of what we updating links and utilizing blogs and pod- Please send Susan the name and contact infor- want IPS to be. Every 10 years or so we should casting. Work is progressing on collaborating mation of this individual. evaluate the state of the organization. This is with regional groups on the development and an ongoing process and must be inclusive. In implementation of the U.S. national and state Script Contest Committee order to accomplish this we need to ask the standards for science and astronomy. Chair Thomas Kraupe reported that this following questions: committee’s work will become part of the big- How can IPS better serve and support its History Committee ger mission of the Awards Committee. Ma- membership? Historian John Hare reported that his com- nos Kitsonas commented that the Eugenides How do we strengthen ties with profession- mittee is continuing to make progress on Foundation will maintain its support of IPS al opportunities/other organizations? completing the scanning of slides and pho- and will work with the officers on the details How do we improve professional develop- tographs of archival material (approximate- of the new awards format. ment based on research and best practices? ly 1000 slides remain to be scanned). About The Ad Hoc Committee Reports were filed. (Continues on Page 40)

18 Planetarian December 2013 The moment of inspiration when he decides to ﬂ y to Mars one day. This is the moment we work for.

// PLANETARIUMS MADE BY CARL ZEISS

Inspirations for visitors of the refurbished Laupheim Planetarium, a powerdome ® Sky Theater comprising the latest SKYMASTER ZKP 4 and VELVET Duo hybrid system.

www.zeiss.de/planetariums in US/Canada contact Laura Misajet: [email protected] December 2013 Planetarian 19

Inspiration_engl_Planetarian2013.indd 1 21.01.2013 12:15:40 Science and Data Visualization Task Force

Bringing data to the dome: scientific visualization for all planetariums

Members of the Science and Data Visualization Task Force: Top, from left: Mark SubbaRao, Adler Planetarium and University of Chicago, chair; Lars Lindberg Christensen, European Southern Observatory; Shoichi Itoh, Na- tional Astronomical Observatory of Japan. Below, from left: Tom Kwas- nitschka, GEOMAR Helmholtz-Zentrum für Ozeanforschung Kiel; Matthew Turk, Columbia University; Edwin A. Valentijn, University of Groningenn and the Infoversum; and Right: Ka Chun Yu, Denver Museum of Nature & Science. Background: Worldwide Telescope allows access to the Virtual Observatory, automatically pulling aligning and layering astronomical images form a variety of sources. This is a scene from Cosmic Wonder at the Adler Planetarium. Photo courtesy of Chris Gunn photography, used with permission.

If you’ve been reading the President’s Mes- ization Task Force is to streamline the process protocols, the purpose of these activities is to sage column, you’ve had an introduction to of going from data to dome, increasing the po- enable planetarium presenters and creators to the new Science and Data Visualization Task tential for scientific communication and sto- do their job more effectively. Force. This article is designed to expand upon rytelling in the planetarium. The task force has identified some initial ar- that introduction. In the same way the “Farm to Table” move- eas of activity. These include: For this initative to be successful, we need ment has improved the culinary landscape by Preparing planetariums for the massive both the attention of and feedback from the reducing the middlemen between the farmer stream of data that will come from next gen- planetarium community at every step of the and chef, “Data to Dome” is aimed at reducing eration telescopes, satellites, experiments and process. the effort needed to go from scientific study computational simulations. Between the growth in the capabilities of to planetarium visualization. The task here is significant. The European digital planetariums and the explosion of data We hope to bring the planetarium closer Space Agency’s Gaia mission, for example, will from a variety of sources, we believe that this to the science and to make domain scientists increase the number of stars with measured is a critical time for the planetarium. How do more aware of the power of our immersive vi- distances by a factor of 10,000 to one billion. we best position the community to take ad- sualization tools. Our community has built vi- The Large Synoptic Survey Telescope project vantage of these new and expanding possibil- sualization facilities of incredible potential all will open up the time domain in astronomy, ities? The goal of the task force is to answer across the globe. The easier we make the path issuing alerts for one million changing objects that question, preparing us for the big data era from science result to dome visualization the every night. Over 10 years of operation, it will and positioning us to best exploit new oppor- more fully we will be able to utilize them. generate approximately 200 petabytes of sci- tunities at the nexus of science and education. Communication and storytelling are spe- entific data. cifically called out in this mission statement. Even these huge quantities of data are Data to dome While the activities of the task force will often dwarfed by what is coming out of the com- The mission of the Science and Data Visual- involve technical details of data formats and putational sciences. A simulation used in a

20 Planetarian December 2013 two minute sequence of a recent Redefining interactivity Adler Planetarium show consist- and networking. ed of nearly 400 terabytes of data. To date, interactivity in plan- Creating professional devel- etarium software most often opment opportunities aimed at means the up-front ingestion developing more “data savvy” of data describing a static uni- planetarians. verse that can be switched on or The task force is working to- off, played back and be browsed wards a future where more data with a freely moving camera. Al- will be available from more re- though even just this degree of cent measurements spanning freedom may overwhelm the ma- more scientific domains. This jority of planetarians for lack of broadening of sources and in- intricate knowledge of the data crease in data stream rates will sets and, consequently, lack in put an increased burden on the practice to move about them, re- planetarium professional to un- searchers will find this sort of vi- derstand, visualize and interpret. sualization unappealing. Professional development is A mere data viewer and mov- key to making sure that planetar- ie player is not enough, they need ians are able to take full advan- to be able to manipulate, mark tage of the resources available to and derive metadata from the da- them. These opportunities need tasets displayed. to span disciplines such as sci- The best visualization is one ence, scientific visualization and that creates new data sets along science communication. the way. We, therefore, urge Developing and promoting dome software developers for an best practices for data visualiza- increase in interactive capabili- tion in the dome. ties along with a broadened sup- Visualizing data for the public port of the underlying data sets. presents a unique set of challeng- We envision a planetarian who es. Choices of color, methods of does not merely point at the stars visualizing qualitative or quanti- but pulls apart the universe in tative information, and selection front of the eyes of his audience. effects that are understood by Planetariums are about the professional audiences can be dis- sharing of an experience with tracting or confusing for a public others. Through networked plan- one. Likewise, the fulldome envi- etarium sessions (e.g. “dome- ronment offers unique opportu- casting”), we not only increase nities that need to be studied in our audiences but establish a order to be fully exploited. new communication tool for re- Connecting data suppliers Top: A fisheye rendering of body wave from a simulation of the Tohoku earth- searchers among themselves and with vendors and planetarium quake.The image was rendered using the visualization and analysis package with the public. end-users by setting and recom- yt. Below: Tom Kwasnitschka exploring hypocenters of earthquakes (white) Advocating for the inclu- mending standards for real-time across the Mid-Atlantic Ridge in the ARENA visualization environment. Data sion of dome visualization tools provided by Microsoft Research. (or near real-time) scientific con- in standard scientific analysis and tent distribution: imagery, vid- visualization packages. eos, tabular data, etc. thing in the dome. We’ve seen excellent ex- If part of streamlining the path from data Standards and their adoption are a crucial amples of earth science and a handful of to dome is bringing the planetarium closer factor in achieving the task force’s mission to biology/medical visualizations. Many plan- to the science, the other part is bringing sci- streamline the process of going from data to etariums have presented music shows as an ence and scientists closer to the planetarium. dome. Without clear and well adopted stan- economic necessity, but have not embraced Our visual language (the dome master) is not dards, content producers such as NASA, ESA other scientific topics for lack of in-house ex- yet established anywhere else. Our profes- and ESO will have less motivation to pro- pertise, content and the inherent necessity to sion needs to do more in terms of its visibili- duce products for the planetarium communi- somewhat redefine their identity. ty in the scientific community, and including ty. Without community-endorsed standards, Thus, special efforts need to be made to dis- dome visualization tools in standard scientif- vendors will have to define their own, frag- seminate such content. One possibility may ic analysis packages will increase the number menting our community and reducing op- be the concerted attention to large-scale scien- of scientists collaborating with planetariums portunities for collaboration. tific projects (e.g. the Gaia project in astrono- and also increase the visualizations available Encouraging the visualization of a wide my), such as climate change or genomics. The to planetarians. range of scientific data in the dome (moving fulldome digital planetarium as an all-purpose Encouraging planetariums to make their beyond astronomy). visualization environment is still just begin- facilities available to researchers from their The potential now exists to visualize any- ning to be explored. communities to use as a visualization tool.

December 2013 Planetarian 21 Why is it that many researchers praise the enced positioning of textured 3D models and ties. We would like to encourage you to send capabilities of a newly-installed fulldome sys- of large scale customized terrains, a feature in your own “use cases”! Please forward them tem, but never come back? Because the use of that is rather unique among virtual globes. to the task force chair Mark SubbaRao (msub- any new tool in science requires an up front Programs (tours) complete with narration and [email protected]). expense on their side, most often in the form music can be pre-scripted and easily distribut- Here are some examples of the use cases we of their precious time and research money. ed. The software scales from desktop to multi are currently working on: It comes down to a problem of cost vs. reve- node clusters and is thus suitable for all levels Lars Lindberg Christensen suggests an As- nue, and in reality, the justification for scien- of education while visualizations can also be tronomical Weatherman functionality that tific visualization involving few individuals prepared and tested by researchers who may allows the planetarium operator, every morn- is much weaker than that of the education of only occasionally visit a dome. ing, to select interesting dataset previews large laymen audiences. downloaded overnight—planetary maps, im- Since, for these reasons, it is much more dif- Inclusion with science software ages of sky objects, tabular data, event data, ficult for research to acquire large scale net- packages: the yt project etc.—and mark up the full datasets and meta- work of visualization facilities, our profession yt is a software package for analyzing and data (descriptions, web URLs, licensing) for has now, for the first time, the unique oppor- visualizing volumetric, multi-resolution data download and for possible inclusion in show tunity to give something back to the scientif- from astrophysical simulations, radio tele- segments during the day. ic resources we have always drawn upon. scopes, and a burgeoning interdisciplinary Martin Ratcliffe describes a future super- Allowing these researchers (and some of community. This open source project has nova show based on LSST data. The present- their tools!) to access our facilities would cre- reached out to the dome community, add- er downloads last night’s supernovae discov- ate a richer dialog between science and educa- ing the functionality to create high resolu- eries (in some cases the galaxy identification tion building collaborations that will extend tion volumetric renderings in the domemas- can be included) and the 3-dimensional posi- the reach of the planetarium and hopefully ter format. tion of the supernova creates a location iden- advance science as well. This addition dramatically increases the tity in SDSS. ability of the computational science commu- At the start of a show, the presenter presses a Some steps in the right direction nity to create fulldome visualizations. By em- button and the night sky display shows a sam- Aligning to the Virtual Observatory Stan- bedding visualization tools in the analytical pling of the 1000 supernovae discovered the dards: The WorldWide Telescope: routines and libraries used to conduct anal- previous day. The presenter can fly out of our WorldWide Telescope (WWT) is an emerg- yses for publications, yt hopes to bring the Milky Way and show the relative positions ing planetarium software platform freely dome communities and computational sci- of the host galaxies. Over the longer term of available from Microsoft Research. It is in a ence communities closer together. LSST, a bird’s eye view of the universe could unique position in that it was designed simul- show a realtime time-lapse of supernovae go- taneously as a tool for researchers and for pub- Providing context: the Virtual ing off covering years of data. lic education. Astronomy Metadata Project GEOMAR in Northern Germany is a multi- WWT has adopted many standards from The Virtual Astronomy Metadata Project disciplinary research facility focused on the the virtual observatory (VO). For example, (VAMP) defines an image format for astro- oceans, branching into geology, geophysics, catalog data can be imported as VOTables, nomical public outreach images. Metadata is paleoclimatology, oceanography, atmospher- which have several nice properties. The meta- embedded in the image headers. This not only ic sciences, fisheries, marine biology and bio- data is carried along and described by Unified includes technical information, such as the chemistry. Content Descriptors that precisely define the WCS coordinates needed to position the im- As a common portal to merge scientific re- meaning of a data column, allowing WWT to age on the sky, but also information specific sults, Tom Kwasnitschka operates the ARENA, recognize them as coordinates or brightness to the public images. a visualization environment using WWT ex- values. WWT then automatically suggests A title, description, credits and links to clusively dedicated to scientific audiences. It how to visualize them. more information are all included, greatly turned out that researchers rejected a dome VO data APIs, such as the cone search, are simplifying the work of the content creator. above them since most earth science top- utilized as well. The user can query for cata- There is currently wide support for this for- ics are perceived “on or beneath the ground” logs by sky location and keyword and then se- mat among content providers such as Hubble, in contrast to stars, therefore the ARENA is a lect from the returned lists of datasets for vi- Chandra, Spitzer, and ESA. Thus we recom- lower hemisphere populated by up to four re- sualization. This ease of going from dataset mend full adoption in the planetarium com- searchers at once. discovery to dome visualization is exactly the munity as well. They are currently struggling with issues of “Data to Dome” philosophy. accurate georeferencing and interactive data At the same time, WWT offers a broad inter- How can you help? manipulation. It is planned to use several of face for geoscientific data. Geographic point What should the planetarium of the future these simulators for remote scientific collabo- data can be imported and animated directly look like, and how will planetariums be used? ration as well as for domecasts to the planetari- from text files and even the clipboard. A flex- The task force is in the process of preparing ex- um community. A lack of interest from this side ible API (Narwhal) and an interactive plugin amples of future “use cases,” which will also be currently prohibits the allocation of resourc- for MS Excel allow the manipulation of data used to inform the community on its activi- es towards public content development. I displayed on the dome in real time which is particularly interesting for higher level educa- Learn more about the International Planetarium Society tion and even research. WWT facilitates the import and georefer- at www.ips-planetarium.org

22 Planetarian December 2013 December 2013 Planetarian 23 Teaching the phases of the moon in a digital planetarium

Pierre Chastenay Rio Tinto Alcan Planetarium Montréal, Québec, Canada and Université de Montréal [email protected]

In 2001, the Québec Ministry of Education exactly what is seen under the adopted a new educational program for its ele- real night sky. Indeed, tradition- mentary and secondary schools that sets goals al planetariums present young for astronomy content. Among the required audiences with a single point of subjects teachers must explore with their stu- view of the sky, the geocentric dents are such phenomena as diurnal motion, view we have from Earth’s sur- seasons and lunar phases. This requirement is face. difficult for teachers, who often lack a basic Also, this simulation is basi- knowledge of astronomy. cally two-dimensional, very of- Moreover, most of the astronomical phe- ten reinforcing the naive view A view of the inflatable dome installed at the centre of the nomena covered in the Québec curriculum of the sky as an overturned bowl Planétarium de Montréal theatre. The planetarium had been closed for several months, awaiting its relocation, and the cen- occur outside normal classroom time and placed above our heads with tral Zeiss projector had been stowed away before becoming over fairly long periods (weeks and months), stars “stuck” to its inner surface. an exhibit in the new Planétarium Rio Tinto Alcan (Photo: Pierre and so they are hard for students to observe Chastenay). Background: Galileo’s sketches of the moon. Wiki- directly. Also, Québec schools are usually ill- The research media Commons. equipped to demonstrate the often complex Research in science education, three-dimensional processes behind the most particularly the socio-constructivist perspec- concerns diurnal motion. Many students be- common astronomical phenomena. tive, reveals that when most children (and lieve it results from the sky moving over our Fortunately, a planetarium can make up for many adults) observe the night sky and the heads and carrying celestial bodies from east shortcomings in classroom lessons by present- astronomical phenomena from our exclu- to west. As the history of astronomy shows, all ing extremely realistic simulations of many sive geocentric perspective, they immediate- of mankind long thought the same thing. In- astronomical phenomena at any time of ly build inaccurate personal explanations for deed, it took centuries for scientists and phi- the day. But do these simulations really help these phenomena. These explanations, which losophers to overturn the notion of a fixed young people learn? are usually very different from those accepted Earth located at the centre of the cosmos. We must ask ourselves what type of knowl- by the scientific community, are called “mis- As for the lunar phases, a common miscon- edge students build when they visit a tra- conceptions” and often hinder learning at a ception is that the moon changes appearance ditional, geocentric planetarium, especial- traditional planetarium. because Earth casts a shadow on its satellite. ly since that type of planetarium replicates A classic example of such a misconception This confusion occurs because people see ev-

24 Planetarian December 2013 ery day how shadows of familiar objects form; some of them also know that lunar eclipses involve Earth’s shadow and use that to explain the lunar phases. Finally, the moon’s appearance as a flat disc hung in the sky does not help people grasp the three-dimensional nature of the lunar phases mechanism. Since the same causes usually produce the same effects, can we believe that the knowledge built by students attending a lunar phase demonstration in a traditional, geocentric planetarium will differ from the spontane- ous explanations they build observing the real night sky? Despite the best efforts of those who develop and present these shows, it is very likely that students will leave the theatre with the same personal explanations as before. Students may even be more confused and unable to reconcile what they saw, the explanations they heard, and the mental models they invoked to make sense of their observations.

Breaking the glass ceiling Fortunately, the digital revolution underway in immersive theatres offers a solution to this problem. For the first time in planetarium history, digital video projection systems and sophisticated 3D astronomy software finally let us break the “glass ceiling” of the dome theatre to explore the depths of the sky, the third dimension. These new tools turn the planetarium into a true spacecraft, showing phenomena from new perspectives and different viewpoints. This move from geocentrism to allocentrism1 and from two-dimensionality to three- dimensionality represents a profound paradigm shift for planetariums and it opens up new and exciting possibilities in educational research. This article will look at a doctoral research in science education that I conducted in a portable, digital planetarium with the aim of using this new tool to teach students aged 12 to 14 how the lunar phases occur. Several theoretical sources and many research findings were summoned to help develop the planetarium session I set up as part of this research, and I cite the main ones here. Regarding educational research in planetariums, nearly 50 years of scientific work has shown that a session led by an actual person on site has a clear advantage over a prerecorded show. Participatory approaches, whereby students who observe an astronomical phenomenon are active, engaged, take notes, make sketches and verify their hypotheses in the dome theatre, have also proven successful. Furthermore, research done in planetariums shows that student’s projective spatial abilities are very important when teaching astronomical concepts endowed with a strong spatial component, like the lunar phases or the seasons. Fortunately, these projective spatial abilities can be learned and facilitated by a session in a planetarium. With respect to research in science education, we based our approach on models of conceptual change that regard learners as builders of their own knowledge, using their (mis)conceptions as their only tools to make sense of the world around them. In these models of conceptual change, it is important that learners be aware of their own personal explanations, their misconceptions, so that they understand their limitations and become more receptive to the scientific models put forward. This emphasis on conceptions is made easier in a rich learning environment, which a digital planetarium can be. I also thoroughly studied educational research approaches and findings related to virtual reality devices, particularly in Cave Automatic Virtual Environments (CAVE) and “window-on-the-world” semi-immersive environments. In all cases, research concludes that a large screen, located far from viewers and completely filling their field of vision (the very defini- tion of a planetarium) creates a strong feeling of presence in the simulated environments. Research also shows that a rich audio environment that is spatialized Top: Phases of the Earth as seen from the moon. This scene was a real and synchronized with the movement of the images helps convince users surprise to all participants. Center: As the moon revolves around the of an immersive environment that they are in a realistic and credible uni- Earth, an insert image shows the view an earthbound observer has when looking at our satellite. Our perspective on the moon is very verse. All these factors increase a user’s feeling of presence (the feeling of different, according to where we watch it from. In orbit around the moon, we clearly see our satellite and Earth as spheres lit up by the sun Galileo’s sketches of the moon. Wikimedia Commons to the left. (Images courtesy Sky-Skan Inc.). 1 Allocentric: from allo-, a prefix meaning “other” and -centric meaning “centred on.”

December 2013 Planetarian 25 “being there”) and are strongly corin the planetarium played out. related to better learning when vir- Their conceptions were explored tual environments are used for edu- with a series of written question- cational purposes. naires, including essay questions Finally, I drew inspiration from (text and drawings) and multiple- recent studies on computer-aided choice questions. Hands-on exercis- teaching involving two- and three- es were also included. The question- dimensional simulations of astro- naires examined what they knew nomical environments to design about the moon: its visibility during my own teaching session, which I day and night, its location in space, describe below. These studies con- its size compared with Earth and the vinced me that it was important to sun, the lunar phase process, and the assist learners through proven teach- names of the main phases. ing scenarios and solid conceptual In one exercise, they attempted safeguards and scaffolding through- to place photos of the main lunar out the activity. Otherwise, many phases in the right order. In anoth- new misconceptions are sure to ap- er, they had to show the orbital mo- pear. tions of the moon and Earth around the sun using a golf ball, a tennis ball The session begins and a large beach ball. Finally, each I began my session with six stu- student had to explain aloud in his dents (four boys and two girls) by A scene from the planetarium session when participants were observ- own words how lunar phases occur. briefly presenting the projection ing the moon daily and drawing its shape on their moon calendar. The All these activities were carried telescope and enlarged image show a close-up view of our satellite. Im- equipment used in my study, in- age courtesy Sky-Skan Inc. out before the planetarium session, cluding the computer and the soft- and then repeated immediately af- ware (DigitalSky2 by Sky-Skan Inc.), tual journey” through space, the young peo- terward. They resulted in abundant as well as the central video projector and an ple discovered that the moon is spherical and research material: written answers to the pre- inflatable dome six metres across. This step revolves around Earth in just under a month and post-session questionnaires in addition was designed to familiarize students with the on an almost circular orbit. They saw that the to spoken comments by the researcher and new environment in order to lessen the “mys- moon shines by reflecting light from the sun participants recorded during the pre-session, tique effect” of a new setting that often gets in toward Earth and that because of this, half of dome theatre session and post-session. the way of learning. the satellite is always lit and the other half is I then transcribed and analyzed spoken Next, I asked students to observe the lunar always dark. comments made by students throughout and phases daily for 30 consecutive days (with ac- These concepts are key to understand- compared it with their questionnaire answers celerated diurnal motion) and draw on a lu- ing the lunar phase process, namely that the before and after the session. In five of the six nar calendar how the moon looked each day. moon changes appearance depending on the students, I found significant changes in their This activity, presenting the geocentric point fraction of its sunlit hemisphere visible from conception of the lunar phases. of view on the phenomenon, was intended to Earth. This fraction itself depends on the It would take too long here to go into all acquaint students with the sequence of the moon’s position in its orbit around Earth. my findings, which were the subject of a doc- phases, from one first quarter to the next. When participants travel virtually through toral thesis in science education at Universi- They saw that the moon first waxes till it a three-dimensional and highly realistic sim- té de Montréal accepted in January 2013 and is full and then wanes till it is a new moon. ulation of the solar system, they may extend which will be published in a journal of educa- They also saw that the terminator always what they learn about a given phenomenon tion at a later date. moves from right to left on the lunar disc (in to other similar astronomical situations. the northern hemisphere), that the moon is Hence, after they studied the lunar phases, I Changing conceptions visible in the evening for the waxing phases, asked students to observe Venus and Mercury Let me, however, give two examples of for the entire night around full moon, and in to see whether these planets also show phases these changing conceptions, which can be the morning for the waning phases, and final- when seen from Earth (they do indeed and for linked directly to the use of a digital plane- ly that it is invisible for a few days around the very similar reasons as the moon). Next, we tarium to navigate through a highly realistic new moon. With these observations, my aim landed on the moon to observe the phases of simulation of three-dimensional astronomi- was to show students that the phenomenon is Earth, which greatly surprised students since cal space. 2 regular and predictable. they did not realize Earth could have phases. On the pre-test, 13-year-old Benoît said After students completed their observa- After visiting the moon, we headed back to that the lunar phases resulted from fog hid- tions, I asked them to comment on what they Earth and wrapped up the session. ing our satellite, a fairly common misconcep- had observed and to take a stab at explaining tion similar to that involving Earth’s shadow the phenomenon. The most common mis- Assessing prior knowledge (i.e something hiding or blocking our view of conceptions often take shape at this time, the Because I was trying to measure the impact the moon). moment when they are summoned. of a digital planetarium session on how chil- During the session in the dome theatre, his dren aged 12 to 14 understood the lunar phase conception changed. Benoît now believed A virtual spacecraft process, I wanted to assess the knowledge and that the full moon marked the end of a “fill- I then suggested turning the planetarium conceptions of the phenomenon held by the ing” process whereby a new moon gradually into a virtual spacecraft so that students could six students before, during and immediately (Continues on Page 38) get a closer look at the moon and its intrigu- after the teaching session and to show how ing changes in appearance. During this “vir- their conceptions were evolving as the session 2 All names given are fictitious to protect participants’ privacy.

26 Planetarian December 2013 December 2013 Planetarian 27 Interaction and learning outcomes in live public planetarium presentations

Abstract: We studied the impact of oral formative assessment—as measured by the interactivity between presenter and study participants—on learning success in mixed- audience, live planetarium constellation programs. Audio recordings of ten programs given by five experienced planetarium educators in late 2009 were transcribed and analyzed. Participants attending presentations with either high (79– 96 interactions/hr) or low (19–42 interactions/hr) interactivity scored 7-16% higher on learning assessments than those whose presenters had mid-range levels (56–62 interactions/hr). Because of the study design and sample size, it was difficult to disentangle the influence of the presenters’ interactivity from the influence of the presenters’ other characteristics and behaviors.

formative assessment leads to the following “skywatching shows”), the premise being that effects: reactivating or consolidating prereq- higher interactivity equates to more forma- Michael Neece, Amy Sayle uisite skills or knowledge prior to introducing tive assessment. Portia Nleya, Todd Boyette new material; focusing attention on impor- If interactions during a 45-minute planetar- Morehead Planetarium and Science tant aspects of the subject; encouraging ac- ium program were intended as parts of a larg- Center tive learning strategies; giving students oppor- er conversation focusing visitors on learning University of North Carolina tunities to practise skills and to consolidate the night sky, then those interactions fall into learning; providing knowledge of outcomes what Dochy & McDowell (1997) describe as Chapel Hill, North Carolina and corrective feedback; and helping students being formative assessment: “Where it is as- www.moreheadplanetarium.org to monitor their own progress and to devel- sociated with a dialogue between learner and op self-evaluation skills; guiding the choice of teacher, the initial reliability of the assess- further learning activities to increase perfor- ment need not be high; what matters is that Introduction mance; helping students to feel a sense of ac- a basis is laid for a conversation.” We aimed to Although formative assessment has been complishment.” measure the quantity of formative assessment shown to help teachers cultivate stronger pos- Crooks (1988) states that “the frequency and how variations in that quantity were as- itive student outcomes in traditional class- of teacher questioning has generally been sociated with participants’ learning outcomes. rooms (Oyedeji 1994; Sadler 1989; Shepard shown to be positively related to student Per Dodge (2009), formative assessment in- 2003; Crooks 1988), it appears to be a poorly achievement.” cludes activities such as written assessments, researched topic in a planetarium or science Given that formative assessment in the oral assessments, and teamwork activities. center setting. classroom setting has been shown to im- The type of formative assessment most com- Bell and Cowie (2001) describe formative prove learning outcomes, we were interested mon in a live planetarium presentation is oral assessment as “assessment which provides in whether formative assessment in the infor- assessment, sometimes referred to in a class- feedback to students (and teachers) about the mal setting of the planetarium might similar- room setting as recitation. learning which is occurring during the teach- ly improve learning outcomes. While we can envision participants in a ing and learning, and not after. The feedback We designed this study to measure the planetarium presentation working together, or dialogue is seen as an essential component amount of interaction between planetarium writing responses on index cards, sorting in- of formative assessment interaction.” educators and the visitors who participated formation graphically, or many of the other Gijbels and Dochy (2006) summarize the in live planetarium Carolina Skies presenta- superb classroom-based formative assessment benefits of formative assessment: “increasing tions (often dubbed “constellation shows” or activities, we feel that many of these would either have to be modified substantially and others abandoned for fear of violating partic- A version of this paper was presented at the American Astronomical Society’s Meeting #221, Jan- uary 6-10, 2013, Long Beach, California. ipant expectations or because of constraints inherent in our environment.

28 Planetarian December 2013 Data Collection Tool 1: Demographics and Characteristics Survey Initial Survey

Why did you attend this show? (Please check all that apply) □ I enjoy sky watching and astronomy. □ I want to learn more about sky watching and astronomy. □ I want to enjoy a unique experience. □ I want to be entertained. □ I am here for a class project or for a scouting badge. □ I wanted to invite my friends/family members to see this show. □ I am here with a friend/family member or someone who invited me. □ Other: ______.

How old are you? ______years old

Please indicate your sex. (Circle One) Male Female

What is the highest educational level you have completed? (Circle One) Grade: K 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 Some Bachelor/Assoc Masters Doctorate college Degree

How much do you already know about astronomy, sky watching, and space science? (Circle only the single level that you think is closest)

1 - Beginner Not sure how to find constellations; not sure how to explain why the Moon has phases.

2 - Casual amateur

3 - Engaged amateur Know some different constellations and how to explain some of what I’m seeing in the night sky 4 - Avid amateur

5 - Professional Extensive background in sky-watching, devoting time to educating others about sky-watching.

Oral assessment, particularly interactions more formative assessment can, and likely tation assessment, leaving 90 participants. between presenter and participants, leaps to does, take place. The 90 participants had the following dis- the fore as the most obvious, most easily mea- A verbal handoff was counted in two ways: tributions by gender, age, highest grade com- sured, and possibly most interesting type of Type 1 handoff: Any moment when a new pleted, and reasons for attending as shown in formative assessment to explore. voice was heard in the conversation in place Figures 1–4. of the immediately preceding voice, and Table 2 shows the interactivity for each Methods Type 2 handoff: Any moment when the presentation. Presenters tended to keep simi- Over the course of 10 planetarium presen- presenter asked a question with clear intent to lar interactivity from presentation to presentations given by five experienced educators get participant response (that is, not merely a tation. Presenters 3 and 5 gave only one pre- from October to December of 2009, we used rhetorical question). sentation each, while Presenter 1 gave four. an audio-recording device to capture all inter- In Table 1, a sample of verbal handoff dia- Table 3 shows that Question 2 (identifying actions between the educators and their audi- logue captured during one presentation dem- a particular planet) garnered the lowest num- ences. We collected information about the de- onstrates both types of verbal handoffs. ber of correct answers: 75. It also reveals that mographics and characteristics of the subset We defined the number of interactions per Question 4 (identifying a particular constella- of audience members who agreed to partici- hour as being the “interactivity” during each tion) garnered the highest number of correct pate in the study, and we measured learning program. We considered how each presenta- answers: 87. outcomes by administering a post-presentation’s interactivity was associated with aver- To determine the relationship between in- tion assessment with six questions. age learning outcomes among all participants teractivity and learning outcomes, we com- Data Collection Tool 1 shows the questions in that presentation. pared participants’ average scores at each pre- we asked to measure participants’ characteris- To capture information about the take- sentation, shown in Figure 5: Average Score vs tics. away knowledge and skills of our participants Interactivity. How can you capture formative assessment in each presentation, we asked participants to in a dark room? Because formative assessment complete the following form immediately af- Discussion often takes the form of dialogue between stu- terward. In this study, high interactivity and low in- dents and teachers, we used measures of oral teractivity were associated with better learn- interactions between presenters and audience Results ing outcomes than was medium interactivity members as a surrogate for formative assess- Out of 328 presentation attendees, 110 par- (see Figure 5), whereas we had expected that ment. We recorded and transcribed the au- ticipated in the demographics and baseline interactivity would be associated with learn- dio of 10 presentations and counted the num- characteristics collection portion of the study. ing outcomes in a dose-response manner. ber of “verbal handoffs” in each. We assumed We removed from the analyses the 20 partic- One possible interpretation of the results is that the more oral interactions that occur, the ipants who did not complete the post-presen- that a medium level of interactivity facilitates

December 2013 Planetarian 29 Table 1: Examples of Interactions Presenter: Okay, I never get tired of looking at the beautiful night sky. This is your night sky you know. This is the night sky that will be over your head your entire life and if you haven’t already this is a great night to make friends with it. Get to know your way around. Yes? I have a question already…

Audience Member: Where is the Big Dipper? Type 1 Verbal Handoff

Presenter: Where is the Big Dipper? Anybody have an idea of where we would look for the Big Dipper out Type 1 Verbal Handoff here? (pauses, waits)

Audience Member: (No response) Type 2 Verbal Handoff

Presenter: Okay, I will give you a hint. The Big Dipper is really hard to find right now… Type 2 Verbal Handoff

learning better than low or high levels. Alternate interpreta- Data Collection Tool 2: Final Assessment tions which are more likely are that 1) there were too few par- 1) The laser pointer is indicating a cardinal direction. Which direction is it? ticipants overall, and too few presentations by any presenter, a. East b. North c. South d. West e. Not sure but especially by Presenters 3 and 5; and 2) there were characteristics of how each presenter presents (e.g. speed of presen- 2) The laser pointer is indicating a local object in the sky. It is: tation, difficulty of material presented, laser-pointer usage, a. Jupiter b. Mars c. Saturn d. Venus e. Not sure teaching “to the test”) that cannot be disentangled from their 3) Why is the North Star always in one spot in the sky? presentations that simply outshine the importance of inter- a. It orbits Earth in a synchronized fashion. activity. b. The Earth’s north pole points at it. To our knowledge, there has been no examination prior c. It is the brightest star in the night sky. d. It is closer to Earth than any other star. to our research of how the interactivity between presenter e. Not sure and participants might affect learning outcomes. Given that this is the first such investigation into impacts of interactiv- 4) The laser pointer is now pointing to the major stars in a constellation. ity during planetarium presentations, new tools and meth- Which constellation is it? ods had to be developed in order to measure formative assess- a. Cassiopeia b. Orion ment, such as: c. Pegasus •• Use of interactivity, the hourly rate of interactions d. Ursa Major/The Big Dipper within the learning environment, as a surrogate for e. Not sure formative assessment; and,

5) The Moon’s phase currently is •• The concept of verbal handoffs captured within audio a. New recordings of each show. b. Crescent •• This study’s limitations included: c. Quarter •• Each participant only received a single session of inter- d. Gibbous action within this study, that session being a presenta- e. Full f. Not Sure tion lasting less than one hour. •• The learning outcomes assessed were fairly low-order, 6) The laser pointer is now indicating a bright star. The name of that star is: rote-memory in nature. a. Aldebaran •• Small sample size. b. Betelgeuse c. Polaris, the North Star •• Possible confounding by presenter’s techniques for d. Vega presenting. e. Not sure In order to prevent any confounding of interactivity by presenter characteristics, future research could involve having each presenter giving multiple presentations with inter- Table 2: Interactivity by Presentation activity that varies. For example, Presenter 1, who always presented with the highest interactivity compared with all other Presentation Interactivity Presenter presenters in this research, would give eight presentations: Date (Interactions/hr) two with no interaction, two with low interaction, two with Oct 10, 2009 Presenter 1 79 medium interaction, and two with high interaction. All other presenters would follow suit. Oct 17, 2009 96 Thus, by grouping all presentations by interactivity lev- Oct 24, 2009 92 el, the effects of interaction could more easily be decoupled Nov 7, 2009 from a given presenter and thus examined in isolation from 92 other variables. While this would present many challenges, Nov 14, 2009 Presenter 2 19 including asking presenters to present outside of their “usual Dec 4, 2009 21 modes,” and getting sufficient theater time to allow multiple presenters enough presentations, the impacts of interactivity Dec 11, 2009 Presenter 3 56 could be much more easily determined with so many more Dec 12, 2009 Presenter 4 41 participants and presentations to draw from. Dec 18, 2009 While we cannot conclude with any confidence that in- 32 crease or decrease in interactivity impacts learning outcomes Dec 19, 2009 Presenter 5 62 for planetarium audiences on the whole, further investiga- (Continues on Page 32)

30 Planetarian December 2013 December 2013 Planetarian 31 Table 3 – Participant Scores on Assessment Questions by Presentation Number of Participants with correct answers to:

Question 1 Question 2 Question 3 Question 4 Question 5 Question 6 Presentation Number of Cardinal Planet Polaris Constellation Moon Phase Bright Star ID Average score Date Participants Direction Indicated position ID (out of 6) reason Oct 10, 2009 6 6 6 4 6 3 5 5.0

Oct 17, 2009 8 7 8 5 6 8 7 5.1

Oct 24, 2009 12 11 11 11 12 11 10 5.5

Nov 7, 2009 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 6.0

Nov 14, 2009 4 3 4 4 4 3 4 5.5

Dec 4, 2009 10 14 11 11 14 13 14 5.5

Dec 11, 2009 14 9 4 7 10 10 3 4.3

Dec 12, 2009 10 10 4 7 9 10 10 5.0

Dec 18, 2009 5 17 11 17 17 16 16 5.5

Dec 19, 2009 17 4 5 5 5 0 4 4.6

Across All 90 Participants 85 68 75 87 78 77 5.2

Interactivity, continued from page 30 Figure 1: Participants by gender Figure 2: Participants by age groups tion, possibly across multiple planetariums, could help make such a determination.

Acknowledgments We wish to acknowledge the presenters at Morehead Planetarium and Science Center (University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill) who devoted their time to this research. We also wish to thank the leaders at Morehead Planetarium and Science Center who made equipment and facilities available and assisted with the initial design of the graduate research upon which this article is based, including: Denise Young, Richard McColman, Elysa Corin, Mickey Jo Sorrell, Gabrielle Scronce, and Todd Boyette.

References Figure 5: Average Score vs Interactivity Anderson, D., Storksdieck, M., & Spock, M. (2007). The long-term impacts of museum experiences. In J. Falk, L. Dierking, & S. Foutz (Eds.), In Principle, In Practice-New Perspec- tives on Museums as Learning Institutions (pp. 197-215). Walnut Creek, CA: Alta Mira Press. Baleisis, A. & Magee, M. (2007). Audience response in the planetarium: Instruments for social learning. Proceedings of the triple conjunction conference: 43rd annual GLPA conference, 42nd Annual MAPS conference, 36th annual SEPA conference. Bell B., & Cowie, B. The characteristics of formative assessment in science education. Science Education [serial online]. September 2001;85(5):536. Available from: Academic Search Premier, Ipswich, MA. Accessed Jan- uary 27, 2011. (Continues on Page 40)

32 Planetarian December 2013 Supervolcanoes_8_5x11_WithAwards_Option01.pdf 1 10/24/2013 10:03:04 AM

CMY

December 2013 Planetarian 33 Who was Armand Spitz?

Father, husband, educator, innovator

Early Life with Armand Spitz: A Summer Planetarium History Adventure Verne Spitz Rice, California Joyce Towne, Spitz, Inc. Chadds Ford, Pennsylvania

Spitz A-1 sketch, courtesy Owen Phairis, Planetarium Projector and Science Museum

34 Planetarian December 2013 “Prepare for Visitors from Outer Space.”

Verne: That’s how I began a message I sent vanians, going east from California was tanta- to various friends and relations in May, short- mount to visiting from Outer Space. ly after I made up my mind to accept Joyce JT: “We’ll hear about the man Armand Top left: Baby Verne with Armand’s telescope, Towne’s invitation to go east in July and talk Spitz was before he became a planetarium and (below) as a young girl; top right: Armand about my father, Armand Spitz. A chance to innovator and our company founder,” I ex- to the right of Albert Einstein and winners of describe him, as seen through my childhood plained to my boss. It would be an opportu- the Franklin Institute Science Fair in a pho- to taken at Princeton. Used with permission eyes, to tell some stories and to set some re- nity for us to meet and host Verne (Spitz) Rice, of Verne Rice. Bottom: History exhibit on dis- cords straight. What a lark! one of the only people on the planet who can play at Spitz Inc. this past summer included Ar- Spitz Inc. would be participating in the Mid- share accurate stories and information about mand’s prototype soft soap can star “ball” and dle Atlantic Planetarium Society meeting in Armand. At 77, Verne doesn’t travel out of Cal- a Spilhaus clock which was a gift from the Rices to Spitz, Inc. Photo by Joyce Towne, used with Maryland, and later would be holding the an- ifornia very often, so no time like the present. permission. nual Summer Institute in Chadds Ford, Penn- She warned me she knew nothing about Facing page: Top: Armand at the weather map, sylvania. Joyce thought attendees at both star projector design, the current state of plan- likely taken at the Franklin Institute weather events might enjoy hearing what it was like etariums, or the business side of her father’s center. Used with permission of Spitz, Inc. Be- to live with a father whose greatest love was years founding Spitz Laboratories, way back low: Verne looking up at 30-ft dome. Photo by Scott Huggins; used with permission. the sky, and the stars and outer space. Having in the 1940s and 50s. inherited some of his corny sense of humor, it Her first stop, the day after she flew east, was had struck me that, as transplanted Pennsyl- our manufacturing facility in Chadds Ford,

December 2013 Planetarian 35 torted image. The solution: a dodecahedron, created at first from twelve plastic pentagons (later brass,) which became the basic structure of the first A-1 Spitz planetarium and a subse- quent model. JT: Later we drove to Columbia, Maryland, near where the Middle Atlantic Planetarium Society was to meet at the beautiful Robin- son Nature Center. Spitz Inc. had helped design the NatureSphere. The theater, and the SciDome planetarium, are key parts of the Na- ture Center, offering a roster of demonstrations, classes and shows about astronomy, birds, bugs, bats and more. Verne: (Speaking of insects: right after Joyce met me at the airport, she’d mentioned fireflies. I hadn’t seen one in 44 years. She arranged a special al fresco display for me shortly thereafter.) The only problem with our day at the Na- ture Center was not enough time to tour it. I got my first chance to see a digital planetarium in action—many generations younger and incredibly evolved from the ones I grew up with. Could this black box, about the size of a hotel-room refrigerator, really be a planetarium?

The soap can projector grows up I knew Armand would have been delighted to see how remarkably his original soap-can vision of a projector had matured. I think he’d have been thrilled to see the way his passion for teaching astronomy had “exploded” into a Top: Thomas Massey House in Pennsylvania, the house in which the Spitz family lived, located just outside of Philadelphia. The home is now open to visitors medium for teaching about a universe of new as an historic site that details the early settling of the area. For more informa- areas of science. tion, go to www.thomasmasseyhouse.org. Photo used with permission. Below: I can’t begin to describe what it was like for Robinson Nature Center, Columbia, Maryland. Photo by Brad Rush, used with me to give the talk that afternoon. My audi- permission. ence was 50 or 60 “stars,” mostly planetarium professionals; bright, shining and respon- which she was about to see for the first time. ages I hadn’t seen before, including one pho- sive. I opened with “my father’s whole world Verne: I had to admit, right off the bat, the to taken at Princeton, of Armand posing with revolved around science, even to the point only reason I recognized the soft soap can, my winners of the Franklin Institute Science Fair, of naming his daughter after a certain well- father’s prototype instrument, in the lobby which he’d organized. Standing front and cen- known 19th century science fiction writer.” display was that I’d heard about it so much. ter with them was none other than Albert Ein- They got it (and my ego puffed up a bit in But first-hand memory of it? Not a chance. stein. magnitude.) One of the neatest benefits of this personal ad- I told stories of Armand’s pre-planetarium venture in time travel—going backwards—was Dodecahedron memories (sometimes a bit peculiar) projects and mini- that it brought back memories I’d previously Verne: First of all, I was sort of stunned lectures, all preludes to the contributions he been unaware of. when Joyce said that I was on the schedule for later made. One story went that when he and I certainly remembered what A-1 looked a lunch talk for Spitz staff. If I’d known ahead, my mother, Vera, were courting, she had won- like—but meeting one face-to-face after so I’d have had very cold feet, but it was a true dered aloud about the name of a particularly many years was a real kick. As a card-carrying blessing in disguise. My only rehearsals had bright star. He said he didn’t know, but he’d adult, I went back to school and became a psy- been on home turf with a few close (and pre- find out. chotherapist. I can attest to the fact that even dictably forgiving) friends. In Chadds Ford it Hence began his first explorations into stars gathering photos and data about Armand for took only a few minutes to fall in love with and planets and galaxies; he’d never had any the talk was a flabbergasting joy: it far sur- the Spitz people, whose attentiveness, ques- formal training whatsoever in astronomy. passed therapy (and it was cheaper, too). tions and laughter were warm enough that Nor had he studied meteorology, nor phys- JT: We gave Verne a whirlwind tour of the cold feet weren’t a problem. ics, nor music, but there was something of the plant, and she met our staff, including several I shared with them the fact that not until fundamental teacher in him. people who’d been at Spitz since its very early I prepared my talk did I learn that (alleged- Even more fundamental was that he was days (then called Spitz Laboratories). ly) Armand had consulted with Dr. Einstein an ardent collector of the famous “one-man’s Later, she talked at an informal luncheon. It about the best way to create a near-sphere trash” which becomes another man’s trea- was a fascinating collection of stories and im- through which to project the stars in an undis- sure. I described the ancient, mostly bro-

36 Planetarian December 2013 ken-stringed zither he acquired, heavily lad- her daughter Lisa Roney’s family spent many en with dust. It was too tired and warped to Sundays visiting and engaging Armand in make music, but he could (and did) demon- long conversations, mostly about astronomy. strate that the more tightly he wound the This caring contact helped keep his never-dis- metal strings (until they broke) the higher the abled mind alert and enthusiastic. Lisa’s hus- tone they emitted when plucked. band, Milt Roney, teaches astronomy to se- niors (through the Osher Lifelong Learning A wheezing treasure Institute) at Rock Creek Park Planetarium. It got worse, I said, when he brought home a fairly large, very ill, pipe organ. Mind you, Back to the Franklin this to a fairly small house. This treasure, too, We moved on to Philadelphia, and a high- did not make music; it wheezed. Childhood light of our Armand Tour was going back to friends took great pleasure in creating haunt- the Franklin Institute, where I’d spent many ed-house sounds by treading vigorously on its hours of my childhood. As a former journalist, worn-down pedals. And the harder they ped- my father had been hired as a writer and pub- aled, he showed them, the higher the wheezy licist; he later became Director of Education notes became—illustrating something about and a lecturer at the Fels Planetarium. how wind instruments worked. JT: Back in the 1930s and ‘40’s, all planetar- He hadn’t studied psychology either, but ium shows were live, and the Franklin Insti- he developed what I called a very effective tute had a strict policy that only degreed as- behavioral intervention. When I was young, tronomers could present Fels Planetarium maybe five or six, I was scared of lightning lectures. Armand knew he had what it took to and thunder. He taught me that when I saw enthrall an audience, and he worked diligently to practice, demonstrate, and finally get the lightning I was to begin counting “this second Verne with the audience after her talk. Photo is one, this second is two”, and clap my hands by Scott Huggins, used with permission. policy waived in order to add planetarium lec- as hard as I could, and yell “NATURAL PHE- turing to his repertoire. NOMENON” as loudly as I could. His theory Holocaust Museum for several years. We were Verne: The most interesting part of our was that I’d drown out the thunder, thereby deeply moved, and I thought my father would Franklin Institute tour was seeing the room taking control of the situation, so I had noth- have been much impressed with the way this that our hosts thought might have been Ar- ing to fear. museum told its story accurately, poignantly mand’s office. It was flush up against the out- I couldn’t have been more pleased at the au- and with consummate taste. side of the planetarium dome. During my high dience’s response. Several people remembered school years, I’d walk to the Institute and do Armand’s early work or had known him per- Enjoying the firefly show my homework while waiting for a ride home. sonally. I’d have loved to spend hours with On a brighter note, the visit with our Vir- Often classmates came with me to do algebra. them—they had rich and fascinating tales ginia friends brought the second run of the When the show of the month was “A Trip to tell me. And we had some handouts for Firefly Show Joyce had reminded me about to the Moon,” a door from the corridor out- them—one was an article that had appeared in and took me to, right after I arrived. I’d re- side the office would open. Quietly, a space- the Franklin Institute News (December 1943), membered fireflies fondly within minutes of man (clad in a uniform, remarkably out of which I thought so brilliantly described him first meeting her face-to-face. Fireflies, by the the 60s and 70s, which were still a couple of that I ended my talk by quoting it. (Copies way, may not be quite as stellar as stars are, but decades in the future) would stride across available on request. Hint: there’s a pretty neat they have the good wisdom not to colonize in the office. He’d open another door to a plat- story about the genesis of this article as well…) California, where all is neon and synthesized! form backlit so it showed through the dome, But the MAPS schedule had plenty of great Later on in our travels, I also spent time with and demonstrate how to steer his craft direct- sessions yet to come that afternoon—and new friends who were inextricably linked ly moonward. My classmates were duly im- I had a ride to Virginia, to embark on my to Armand, his work and his many and var- pressed, and I was certainly the only student next step as a Visitor from Outer Space. Sev- ied passions. A bit of romantic history: In his at school who could offer them this particular eral old friends from the DC area had come later life, my father married Grace Scholz, an after-school treat. to Maryland, and in the 10-day interlude be- acquaintance of many years who had been a JT: That early planetarium show is legend- tween MAPS and the Spitz Summer Institute, pillar, and at one time president, of the Astro- ary; I had heard about it when I worked at Fels. my daughter, Abigail, and I planned to visit nomical League, the largest and most influen- The rudimentary special effect was very dra- friends, relations, and several Armand-related tial of several groups of amateur astronomers. matic. If you illuminate the area behind the scenes of my newly awakened astromemories. After Armand was appointed as a special Fels dome, you can still see the door with the Revisiting Washington was a treat—so consultant to the National Science Founda- circular airlock hatch “handle”, about half much had changed since we made trips there tion and director of Project Moonwatch’s vi- way up to the zenith, leading from the rear when I was a kid, but so much was the same. sual satellite tracking activities, he and Grace work room (floor 2.5) to the catwalk behind The nuclear Spitz family never had vacations; recruited the lions’ share of the amateur as- the dome. we’d gone to museums and planetariums in- tronomers who constituted the national and Verne: On another day, we visited our Old stead. In DC, we’d actually gotten to see a bit international tracking teams. House, where Armand fielded Vera’s question of non-scientific history as well as total Smith- Grace had a good friend, Mabel Smith, a about the name of the star she saw. Then deep sonian immersion, with a distinct focus on colleague from her years at the Department in the countryside and in primitive and shab- aerospace. of Health, Education and Welfare. I saw her by condition, it has been restored and is now Apart from spending time with good old while I was in DC. She has a remarkable mem- called the Thomas Massey House, headquar- friends, we re-entered the museum world ory for interesting Grace-and-Armand sto- ters of the Delaware County Historical Soci- with their daughter, who had worked at the ries. During my father’s long illness, she and ety. We needed to see it because it was the site

December 2013 Planetarian 37 by the fertile ground on which the House was ically. We share an infatuation with another built—and the absence of lights and smog— kind of Star, so we made a hasty trip to Man- grew into being a fledgling astronomer, teach- hattan and Times Square to see a show open- er and planetarium innovator. ing on Broadway. About building a 5-foot model of the moon, The Grand Finale to our trip was back at with realistic craters right where they be- Spitz Inc., where I spoke at the company’s longed, my mother Vera wrote: Summer Institute. This time the setting was “There is something to be said for a man inside a 9-meter dome, which gave me goose- who can make messes in the kitchen boiling bumps because it felt like a back-to-the-womb cream of wheat in order to watch it bubble experience. I felt as if everyone there—most- and break so that he can get a line on crater ly people I’d never met, who’d come to learn formation.” how to teach with digital planetariums—was About building his first telescope: part of my family. “Taking down the stoves (the first part of They were there to honor Armand, to hear the house was built in 1696) had given him about how he came to make the contribu- an idea and, inspired by the lovely contours tions he had, and to be as awed as I am about of a piece of stovepipe, he had started to build what’s happening now and about the future a telescope. . . . He used bits of this and that and Spitz promises to the world of astronomy ed- the flat top of the big round stove was turned ucation. into a grindstone. On it he ground the mirror, I told them I thought that they—astrono- which took 40 hours devotion and much per- mers, planetarians, educators, museum staff- spiration, and after many weekends he had as- ers, those who were at the Summer Institute, sembled the telescope, and it worked.” even people who just love to look into the When we left the Old House, I thought of sky—all were Armand’s legacy. how it linked to the reason for our making What he wanted most to do was to make this trip in the first place: to talk about Ar- the beauty, as well as the science, of the stars, mand-before-the-planetarium. The words the planets, the galaxies and the universe that came to mind were: It all started here. available to the eyes and hearts of all. Verne during her talk for the MAPS conference. The Visitors from Outer Space spent anoth- And in my audience were the people who Photo by Scott Huggins, used with permission. er week or so exploring Philadelphia, catching would carry this legacy to the world. up with old friends, visiting my Penn room- JT: A recording of one of Verne’s sum- and the source of many of Armand’s whims, mate (Armand had gone there too), admiring mer presentations, “Growing up With Ar- all of his curiosity about the heavens, and it and coveting east coast architecture and won- mand Spitz” can be viewed at www.you- was the engine driving his immense creativ- derful and affordable places to live. Perennial tube.com/watch?v=6vVABX8ru9U ity. Foodies, we reveled in scrapple, hoagies, and and includes many more stories. My mother wrote a novel called Earth- Bassetts ice cream, Armand’s lifelong favorite. Verne can be emailed at [email protected] shine, never published because of the advent We are theatre lovers. (My father, who and is interested to hear from the planetarium of World War II. It was partly a story of life played Hamlet in high school, got me addict- community (especially if you have Armand in the Old House, but largely a memoir of the ed early on to drama—or to anything that stories to share). I young Armand who, inspired and nurtured happens on the stage.) Abi comes by it genet-

Moon Phases, continued from page 26 filled to become a full moon. The influence of After the session, he had a stronger under- proach of design-based research—in other language is evident: the word “full” suggested standing and knew the right names for all the words, a series of iterations whereby a teach- to Benoît that the moon was like a vase that lunar phases, including the gibbous phases, ing session is tested, revised in light of its ini- could be filled up. But clearly he also assimi- which had caused some problem for partici- tial results, and then retested until it achieves lated the fact that the moon changes appear- pants. its theoretical and pedagogical goals. ance in a regular and predictable fashion, even But his most remarkable comment oc- With the opening in April 2013 of the Rio though the sequence of the phases and the curred during the post-session discussion: Tinto Alcan Planetarium and its two 18-m dig- causes behind them were still misunderstood. when I asked students for ways to improve ital theatres, I will be able to continue my re- At the end of the session and in the post- the dome theatre session, Bernard suggested search and adapt the teaching session to en- test, Benoît was finally able to explain the lu- we visit Jupiter to see the phases of its main vironments that can accommodate a larger nar phase process by using the scientific mod- satellites. Without any prompting, he spon- number of students. el. As Benoît said himself, seeing the spherical taneously transferred what he had learned The lessons I learn will help me refine my moon revolve around Earth in space helped about lunar phases to the situation of anoth- lunar phase session and also develop similar him discard his mistaken notion and adopt er planet circled by satellites. Such a transfer is approaches to explore the cycle of the sea- the scientific explanation. extraordinary and, in our opinion, directly re- sons, eclipses (closely related to the phases of At the start of the session, 12-year-old Ber- lated to the better visualization provided by a the moon) and many other astronomical phe- nard could already adequately explain how digital planetarium. nomena with a strong spatial component. the lunar phases occur. He was among the first These two examples are very encouraging, The digital planetarium will certainly be- to place the photos of the phases in the right as are my other findings (which I do not have come the best tool for teaching common order and had no trouble demonstrating the space for here). What will the next steps be? and often difficult astronomical concepts to motions of Earth and the moon around the Note that this work is part of a longer research the larger number of students—and teach- sun. project founded on the methodological ap- ers!—visiting our institutions. I

38 Planetarian December 2013 NOW AVAILABLE FOR YOUR FULLDOME AND PLANETARIUM THEATER!

www.es.comDigital Theater December 2013 Planetarian [email protected]

Robot Explorers Ad.indd 1 11/18/2013 9:34:44 AM Interactivity, continued from page 32

Brody, M., Bangert, A. & Dillon, J. (2007). As- sessment practices and stu- sessing learning in informal science con- dents’ understanding in the texts: commissioned paper by the Nation- context of scientific inquiry. al Research Council for Science Learning Journal of Research in Science in Informal Environments Committee. Re- Teaching, 44, 57. doi: 10.1002/ trieved April 24, 2009 from www7.nation- tea.20163. alacademies.org/bose/Brody_Commis- Sadler, D.R. (1989). Formative sioned_Paper.pdf. assessment and the design Croft, J. (2008). Beneath the dome: Goodwork of instructional systems. In- in planetariums. Project Zero: GoodWork structional Science, 18, 119– Project Report Series, Number 58. Cambridge, 144. MA: Harvard Graduate School of Education. Shepard, L. (2003). Reconsid- Croft, J. (2008). Planetarium professionals: A ering large-scale assessment Figure 3: Participants’ Highest Grades Completed balancing act to engage and educate. Plan- to heighten its relevance to etarian, 23-45. learning. In J.M. Atkin & J.E. Crooks, T. J. (1988). The impact of classroom Coffey (Eds.), Everyday assess- evaluation practices on students. Review of ment in the science classroom Educational Research, 58 (4), 438-481. (pp. 121–146). Washington, Daly, L. (2002). What effect are we having? DC. National Science Teach- Proceedings of the 38th annual GLPA con- ers Association Press. ference. Teachscape, Inc. (Produc- Dochy, F. J. & McDowell, L. (1997). Introduc- er). (2007). Strategies in action: assessment as a tool for learning. Stud- tion: The role of assessment ies in Educational Evaluation, 23 (4), 279-298. [Streaming video]. San Fran- Dodge, J. (2009). 25 Quick formative assess- cisco, CA. ments for a differentiated classroom. Tran, L. U. Teaching science in Scholastic Teaching Resources. Retrieved museums: The pedagogy and July 17, 2013 from store.scholastic.com/ goals of museum educators. content/stores/media/products/sam- Science Education. Volume ples/21/9780545087421.pdf 91, Issue 2, Date: March 2007, Figure 4: Participants’ Reasons for Attending Friedman, A. (Ed.). (2008). Framework for eval- Pages: 278-297. I uating impacts of informal science education projects. Web site: insci.org/resources/ Eval_Framework.pdf. IPS Council meeting minutes, continued from page 40 Gijbels, D., & Dochy, F. (2006). Students’ assess- How do we generate more opportunities Project Reports—none ment preferences and approaches to learn- around the world? For the Good of the Order ing: can formative assessment make a differ- How do we expand international collabo- Jeanne Bishop, on behalf of Council, ence? Educational Studies (03055698), 32(4), rations? thanked President Thomas Kraupe for the ar- 399-409.doi:10.1080/03055690600850354 How do we get greater recognition for ef- rangements for the Council Meeting. Knight, P. (1996). Quality in higher education forts that all of us do to increase interest in With business completed, Shawn Laatsch and the assessment of student learning. In- STEM? moved to adjourn the meeting, seconded by vited paper at the Third European Electron- IPS Vision 2020 would allow us to provide John Hare, and approved by Council. ic Conference on Assessment and Evalu- opportunities that will (a) involve younger Respectfully submitted, ation, March 4-8, EARLIAE list European members in IPS, (b) review our mission, by- Lee Ann A. Hennig Academic & Research Network (EARN) laws, and procedures, and (c) update and revise Executive Secretary, IPS (EARLI_AE on [email protected]). those areas as appropriate in a coherent manner. August 10, 2013 Lieberman, A., & Miller, L. (2004). Teacher lead- If this is done well, it will lead to growth in IPS ership. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. around the world. The officers have been dis- Addendum to the Minutes: Mills, G. E. (2007). Action research: A guide for cussing a timeline, strategies, methods to en- October 1, 2013: Rocky Mountain Planetar- the teacher researcher (3rd ed.). Upper Saddle gage affiliates in the planning as a team, and ium Association (RMPA) submitted an annu- River, NJ: Merrill/Prentice Hall. a budget to support the effort. A proposal out- al report. Oyedeji, O. A. Effect of the use of formative lining the details, timeline, and specific objec- October 22, 2013: Pacific Planetarium As- evaluation on some cognitive and non-cog- tives will be submitted to Council for review sociation (PPA) submitted an annual re- nitive student learning outcomes in sec- and comment. port. I ondary mathematics. Studies in Educational Evaluation, Volume 20, Issue 2, 1994, Pages on.fb.me/PlanetariumTweets •• My mums ring reflected light onto the ceil- 223-225 ing so she yells “we have our own planetari- Plummer, J. (2009). Early elementary students’ um, we are rich !” If only it was that easy mum development of astronomy concepts in the •• today I saw a toilet that played music and planetarium. Journal of Research in Science •• My mom wants to take us to the planetari- a planetarium in a bedroom.. I wish I could Teaching, 46(2), 192-209. um and she knows I hate them live this life #sweetlife Ruiz-Primo, M. A., & Furtak, E. M. (2007), Ex- •• the planetarium was awesome!!! satisfied •• The real stars are so much better than my ploring teachers’ informal formative as- my love of stars and astrology! :D fake planetarium stars, guys.

40 Planetarian December 2013 ®

December 2013 Planetarian 41 Love, lust and severed heads: It must be Greek mythology Monsters in the family tree

Jean Creighton, Director University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Planetarium Milwaukee, Wisconsin [email protected] istockphoto.com

Most people appreciate the beauty and bringing any children into the world by lock- Perseus was so relieved that his mother mystery of the night sky. They know some ing her up in a dungeon. would finally be left in peace that he declared: of the patterns of stars in the sky and they Danaë’s extraordinary beauty did not es- “Unfortunately, I cannot afford to give you a might even know they are connected to a sto- cape the attention of Zeus, the king of the horse; but I am so pleased that you don’t wish ry. Many of these stories are associated with gods with the roving eye. No prison walls to marry my mother that I could bring you Greek myths. could dissuade him. In this case, Zeus became the head of Medusa if you so desire.” This ex- I feel the richness of these myths because I a shower of gold, his most ingenuous transfor- pression was a common saying at the time to grew up in Greece. Not only do I know how mation of all, to be able to enter Danaë’s pris- indicate that a person would do something to spell and pronounce the characters’ names, on and woo her. Nine months later she deliv- impossible such as “I will move Heaven and but, more importantly, I have a sense of the ered a baby boy, Perseus. Earth.” depth of these stories. I have some context: I King Acrisius was angry that Danaë had a King Polydectes saw his opportunity. He have smelled the thyme, gazed at the olive baby despite all his precautions. Obviously told Perseus that the head of Medusa would be groves, felt the heat, tasted the salt of the Med- he couldn’t simply dispose of Zeus’s son with- greatly appreciated, but he didn’t think that iterranean, and admired the Parthenon. out bringing upon himself the thunderbolt of the young man could accomplish such a feat. Although I am not a scholar specializing the mighty god. So the King had to think of a Perseus, with the boldness of youth, assured in mythology, I have always been fascinated more subtle way to get rid of his daughter and the whole party that he would set out at once with these myths and have researched them her child: he put them in a wooden ark and set to kill Medusa and that he would not return both in Greek and English sources. I hope that them adrift at sea in the hope that they would until he had accomplished his task. what follows will help you appreciate the tex- perish. And yet they survived. The goddess of wisdom, Athena, who al- ture of the myths associated with fall and win- The mother and babe were washed ashore ways showed a soft spot for spirited brave ter constellations and many famous monsters on the island of Seriphos,4 where a fisherman men, realized that Perseus was headed to- too. named Dictys5 found them and took care of ward certain death unless she intervened. She them. When the mother and child were stron- showed him images of Medusa and her two Perseus’ family history ger, Dictys presented them to the king of Seri- immortal siblings, Stheno and Euryale. Now A long, long time ago, King Acrisius1 of Ar- phos, Polydectes, who was impressed by Dan- that Perseus knew what Medusa looked like, gos and Queen Eurydice2 had a baby girl, Dan- aë’s beauty and courage. As Danaë spent more he could learn her story. aë.3 Argos was a powerful kingdom in the Pelo- time in court, the King resolved to make her ponnese thanks to its deposits of silver and its his queen. She, however, did not respond to Medusa and her family tree fertile soil, which to this day yields superb cit- his advances. Medusa was one of the three Gorgons who rus fruit. Eventually, King Polydectes changed tac- lived by the Ocean at the edge of the World. Many years went by and the King hadn’t tics. The crafty King stopped pestering her, All of the Gorgons had great black wings, scaly sired a son. What good was all the wealth and and made it known that he had lost interest in bodies, fingers ending in talons, and two great power to the King when he had no male heir, the lovely Danaë. He invited all his friends to fangs. But what made them truly hideous was no successor? In despair, he decided to seek ad- a royal feast, pretending that he was going to that their hair was made of living venomous vice from the oracle. He was told, “Alas, poor ask for Hippodameia’s hand in marriage, and snakes. One look at Medusa’s face was suffi- King, not only will you not sire any male chil- suggested to his friends that they contribute cient to turn you into stone.6 dren, but your one and only daughter will a horse each toward a present for the bride’s (Continues on Page 47) give birth to a boy who will kill you.” family. Panic stricken, the King decided that he 6 Interestingly, there is no consensus on why Medusa was so ugly. In the earlier myths she is described as a would prevent his beautiful daughter from 4 Also spelt Serifos: a barren island in the western woman who was born ugly, but later versions of her Cyclades of the Aegean sea. story portray her as a woman who was born beauti- 1 Also spelt Akrisios, which is closer to the Greek. 5 Dictys is sometimes referred to as being the broth- ful but was turned into a hideous monster as a pun- 2 Some sources have Aganippe as Acrisius’wife. er of King Polydectes, but it seems odd that a hum- ishment by the goddess Athena for bedding Posei- 3 Also spelt Danae. ble fisherman would be the King’s brother. don in Athena’s temple.

42 Planetarian December 2013 Space Exploration Shaping Your Life

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44 Planetarian December 2013 Control planets, suns, galaxies, all of space and time... or just the house lights.

December 2013 Planetarian 45 skyskan.com 46 Planetarian December 2013 Medusa, continued from page 42 petite for people who could not answer her rid- Perhaps it is no wonder she was a monster: dles. she was one of the children of Phorcys and The Lernean Hydra: the Ceto, whose other offspring included Ladon monster with nine snake (the dragon that guarded the golden apples) heads that produced two and the Graeae, who were three old crones new heads when one was who shared one eye and one tooth, which all cut off. This monster gave three used in turn. its name to the largest Perseus hunts Medusa constellation in the sky, Hydra. With this information, Athena hoped to Interestingly, one of impress upon Perseus the difficulty of his mis- the newly discovered sion to kill Medusa. She explained that he moons of Pluto is named could not possibly achieve his goal unless he Hydra, which seems odd was well equipped. To start with, she gave him because there is no obvi- her shiny shield to protect himself by locating ous connection between Medusa by her reflection. Hermes, the messen- the god of the under- ger of the gods, also gave Perseus a diamond world and Hydra. Hydra sickle with which Perseus could cut off the had nine heads, which is a Gorgon’s head. nod to the fact that Pluto The goddess told Perseus that in addition to used to be the ninth plan- her shield and Hermes’ sickle, he would need et, and Hydra starts with three magical items from the Stygian nymphs H to honor the Hubble in the land of the Hesperides: winged sandals Space Telescope, whose that would allow Perseus to escape with haste data was used to discover if he needed to, the invisibility helmet of Plu- Perseus Cycle 7: The Doom Fulfilled, 1888, Edward Burne-Jones. Original the new moons; and last- to to hide from foes, and a magical sack that at Staatsgalerie Stuttgart (State Gallery) in Stuttgart, Germany. Photo- ly, Hydra, with the other could expand to hold the Gorgon’s head. graph of original artwork; Wikimedia Commons moon Nix, have the ini- Too bad that nobody knew where the Land tials of New Horizons, the spacecraft that is on of the Hesperides was, except the Graeae, the was invisible, he was able to escape from the its way to Pluto now. sisters of the Gorgons. cave unharmed. Perseus rushed to the base of the Atlas A small aside about Chrysaor: Chrysaor Perseus and Atlas Mountains in North Africa to ask the Graeae had a son named Geryon, who was the stron- As Perseus flew over North Africa on his where he could find the Land of the Hesper- gest man alive with three bodies joined at the way home, he saw Atlas, the famous Titan ides. The Graeae weren’t interested in divulg- waist, and a daughter Echidna, who was half who bore the sky on his shoulders. Perseus ing this information because they knew that woman and half snake. Echidna mated with had to approach the Titan to admire him up Perseus had as his mission to kill their sister, Typhon, who was the scariest of all the Titans; close, but also to brag to Atlas that he (Perseus) Medusa. he was the only Titan feared by even Zeus. had just killed Medusa. Perseus realized that he would need to ex- This pair of awful creatures produced some Atlas thought this story was just a tall tale tract this intelligence forcefully. He waited of the most famous Greek monsters of all: and didn’t believe that a mere mortal could until the Graeae were most vulnerable: he Cerberus: the three-headed dog that guard- achieve such a feat. To show his worth, Per- grabbed their one eye when they were passed the entrance to the underworld (note that seus revealed that he was the son of Zeus and ing it from one to the next sister. They plead- the less common spelling Kerberos is used for capable of mighty deeds. But that information ed with him to give them back their one and the newly-named moon of Pluto because Cer- made things worse because Atlas knew of the only eye, but he categorically refused until berus had been used for an asteroid already). prophecy that a son of Zeus was going to trick they disclosed the location of the Hesperides. The Nemean Lion: the tricky lion whose him into stealing the golden apples of the Hes- He then flew to the land of the Hesper- skin could not be penetrated by any imple- perides. ides and secured the three additional magical ment; to kill this lion, Hercules had to stran- Atlas wanted no dealings with Perseus and items that he needed to succeed in his quest gle it with his bare hands. To honor the brave refused to believe anything that Perseus told for Medusa’s head. creature, Zeus put him in the sky as Leo. him. Frustrated, Perseus decided to settle this Perseus, now well equipped, was able to fly Orthrus:7 the two-headed dog that guarded argument once and for all. He showed Atlas into the cave in which the Gorgons lived and Geryon’s cattle that Hercules had to kill. Medusa’s head, which petrified the Titan,10 waited, out of sight, for them to fall asleep. He Chimera:8 the fire-breathing female mon- thereby creating the Atlas Mountains in carefully used his shield to see only the reflec- ster with the front of a lion, a serpent’s tail and North Africa. tion of Medusa. Athena guided his hand to cut a goat in between, who was eventually killed Perseus continued his journey east over the off Medusa’s head and put it carefully in the by the hero Bellerophon riding Pegasus. Mediterranean Sea. The myth has it that as the sack. The Sphinx,9 which in the Greek tradition drops of Medusa’s blood hit the North African To Perseus’ surprise, from the body of Me- had a woman’s head, a lion’s body, an eagle’s desert it produced vipers, which is how the dusa two creatures emerged: the winged horse wings, and a serpent’s tail. She also had an ap- (Continues on Page 48) Pegasus (a famous fall constellation) and the giant Chrysaor, who had an interesting fam- 7 Also spelt Orthros and Orthos or Orthus. 10 Audiences who are familiar with the Percy Jackson ily tree of his own. With all the commotion, 8 Also Chimaera or Chimaira. series have seen that Medusa turns people into stone the other Gorgons found their sister decapi- 9 In some sources, she is the granddaughter of Echid- with her eyes. I am convinced this was done for cine- na and Typhon, the daughter of Orthrus and Chime- matic purposes and is not consistent with any of the tated and sought revenge, but since Perseus ra. sources I looked at.

December 2013 Planetarian 47 Medusa, continued from page 47 brother, Phineas,12 who wasn’t willing to be seus’ mother, was free at last. shortchanged since he had a prior claim on myth explains the presence of snakes there. the lovely’s princess hand. Perseus’ fate As he continued his trip, he noticed that So after saving Princess Andromeda from Now that Perseus’ mission was accom- a young woman tied to a rock was being at- certain death, Cassiopeia encouraged her plished, he returned the magical items to their tacked by a vicious sea monster; to Perseus’ brother-in-law to have Perseus killed so they owners. But what was he to do with the head horror, it looked like the creature was going to could proceed according to their original of Medusa? Perseus gave it as a gift to Athena, devour the lovely maiden. Why would such plan. Phineas and his companions ambushed who placed it on her shield.13 a lovely woman be sacrificed to a monster? Perseus, who was so outnumbered that he de- Everything was settled except his grandfa- Here is her story. cided to use the head of Medusa to petrify his ther’s fate. Perseus traveled to Argos to assure Andromeda’s predicament opponents. King Acrisius of his best intentions toward his grandfather. But when Acrisius heard that Per- Andromeda, the young woman who Per- Perseus returns triumphant seus was coming to Argos, frightened that the seus saw, was the daughter of the Ethiopian The hero was now free to take his wife An- prophecy would come true, the King fled Ar- King Cepheus of Joppa11 and Queen Cassio- dromeda from Ethiopia and head back home gos and went to Larissa.14 His grandson fol- peia. Queen Cassiopeia was strikingly beauti- lowed him to Larissa, where he tried to con- ful and she knew it. Unfortunately, the vain vince the King that he meant no harm to him. woman claimed that she was more beautiful While they were in Larissa, Perseus was in- than the water nymphs called Nereids. vited to participate in some games. When he These goddesses were so insulted that threw the discus, the wind pushed it off they demanded that Poseidon, the rul- course and, by the will of the Gods, the er of the sea, plague the kingdom of discus hit Acrisius’ foot and killed him. Ethiopia with the meanest mon- Perseus was so heartbroken that ster he commanded. Poseidon he did not accept his grandfather’s chose Cetus (Ketos in ancient throne of Argos and decided to Greek means a very large sea trade kingdoms with Megapen- creature, like a whale). This thes. Megapenthes became the monster would attack fish- King of Argos and Perseus the erman at sea and bathers by King of Tiryns. Over time, Per- the shore more and more seus enlarged his kingdom, boldly. built Mycenae, and lived hap- Eventually, the Ethiopi- pily ever after with Androme- an people complained to da. This romance is one of the their king and queen and de- few in Greek mythology that manded that something be did not end in tragedy for its done about the monster. The protagonists. royal couple sought the advice One of their sons, Electry- of the oracle, as Perseus’ grand- on, the King of Mycenae, married father had done. Whereas some- Anaxo, a union that produced Alc- times the advice was a bit nebu- mene, who would be the mother of lous, in this case it was very clear: the the greatest hero of all: Hercules. queen had insulted the daughters of the Ocean and for this her punishment was se- Sources vere: she would have to sacrifice her one and Graves, R. (1981). Greek Myths. London: Pen- only daughter, Andromeda, to Cetus. guin. This is an excellent classic reference Obviously, the king and queen were not at Medusa by Caravaggio, located in the Uffizi Gallery in Florence. Photo of original, Wikime- book for anybody who is interested in my- all interested in sacrificing their only child, so dia Commons. thology. they tried to find ways around this prophecy, Kakrides, I. Th. et al. (1986). Greek Mythology. but in the end it couldn’t be helped. Androm- to bring the head of Medusa to King Polydec- Athens: Ekdotiki Athenon (in Greek). This eda was tied to a large rock and was prepared tes. When Perseus arrived in Seriphos, he dis- work is huge: five tomes of Greek mytholo- to give her life to save her people. covered his mother and Dictys hiding in a gy with different versions of the myths and This was the scene that Perseus witnessed temple to avoid being harassed by the king. detailed references from original sources. and came to her rescue. He offered to save her Annoyed, Perseus visited the palace to an- www.theoi.com Athough not as authori- from the monster if her parents agreed to let nounce that he had accomplished the task tative as the previous sources, this web- him marry her; her parents agreed. he promised to do. But this announcement site does have a lot of detailed informa- He flew by the beast and with his trusty dia- was not met with astonishment and admira- tion on Greek myths. I mond sword he was able to kill Cetus and res- tion: it was met with ridicule. King Polydec- cue the princess. He proved his worth and she 13 In fact, the head of Medusa, the Gorgoneion, was tes and his court did not believe for a minute was eager to marry him. This development a very common motif on pots, temples, and other that Perseus had successfully beheaded Medu- did not please Queen Cassiopeia, because she items of every day life. Scholars wonder whether the sa. Their taunting forced Perseus to take the motif was developed long before the myth was es- had promised young Andromeda to the king’s head out of his magical sack to show them, tablished. By the beginning of the 6th century B.C.E., the story of Medusa appeared all through the Greek which of course turned all the men of the world, but the motif is much older. 11 The term Ethiopia in ancient Greece did not desig- court to stone, including the king. Danaë, Per- 14 Larissa is located in the Greek region of Thessaly, nate the same region as modern day Ethiopia in East due north of Argos. Africa. Joppa (now Tel Aviv) is in Israel. 12 Also found as Agenor.

48 Planetarian December 2013 Planetario Ignazio Danti State Technical Institute Tchnology Alessandro Volta Perugia, Italy www.planetariodanti.pg.it

Ignazio Danti: The Man Behind where he built a marble sundial and an equinoctial armilla the Planetarium’s name on the church facade. by Simonetta Ercoli He also calculated the dates of the equinoxes and the astronomical year with these instruments, during which time he realized that the Julian calendar contained a mis- In Perugia, the planetarium bears of the name of Ignazio take: the exact date of the equinox was eleven day before Danti, or Egnatio in older Italian, to honour the memory the 22nd of March. Thanks to this, he became an important of an important figure in the field of astronomy who was figure in the reform of the Gregorian calendar. born in our city. When Cosimo I died, Egnatio had to break off his ambi- Egnatio was born in Perugia in 1536 and was baptized tious project to connect Florence both to the Tyrrhenian with the name of Carlo Pellegrino in the Church of San Sea and to the Adriatic Sea by means of a complex system Domenico, one of the oldest and of canals, lakes and tunnels through the Apennines because most important churches in the Cosimo I’s son and successor did not support him and asked old city. He changed his name for him to be transferred. to Egnatio on 7th March, 1555 In 1576 he taught mathematics at the University of Bo- when he entered the Dominican logna, where he Order to take up the priesthood. built other ane- Although he was born into the moscopes and Rinaldi (or Randali) family, who a gnomon at by tradition were important the church of goldsmiths and architects, Egna- San Petronio. In tio used his family name only oc- 1577, having re- casionally in print, preferring the pseudonym “Danti,” in turned to Um- deference to Dante Alighieri, author of the renowned Di- bria, he made vine Comedy, thereby alluding to the cultural standing of a series of cho- many family members. rographic and As a boy in the family goldsmith’s workshop, his father, topographic Giulio, introduced him to the study of design and mea- maps of the en- suring instruments, while his grandfather, Pier Vincenzo, tire Perugia ter- taught him to construct mechanical devices. Under his ritory, taking aunt Teodora he studied mathematics, geometry and as- angular mea- tronomy. surements with He spent the years from 1562 to 1575 at the Medici court an instrument in Florence, where he taught mathematics and the sciences called radio la- to Cosimo I’s children and where he also painted 53 maps of tino which he the then-known world on the panels of the Guardaroba in had construct- Palazzo Vecchio. Fourteen panels show European regions, ed himself. 11 deal with Africa, 14 depict Asian regions, and another 14, In 1580 he the Americans. Danti painted 35 of them himself and anno- was called to Rome by Pope Gregory XIII, where he became tated coordinates and reduced scale in each of them. the Papal cosmographer and mathematician, and where he During this period he built numerous astronomical in- also worked on the reform of the calendar and planned the struments like astrolabes, globes and anemoscopes, which decoration of the gallery in the west wing of the Vatican can be seen today in the Museum of the History of Science Belvedere, later known as the Map Gallery. (Museo della Storia della Scienza) in Florence. He lived in the Santa Maria Novella Convent until 1571, (Continues on Page 58)

December 2013 Planetarian 49 Opening page of the US patent issued for the “Device for Projecting Stars.” Public record from the United States Patent and Trademark Office. Additional images from the same source on page 52.

50 Planetarian December 2013 Tracing paths of history Rudolf Straubel, Walter Bauersfeld, and the projection planetarium

Peter Volz 7131 Farralone Avenue #48 Canoga Park, California 91303, USA [email protected]

Part 1 relationship between these two entities we As the 100th anniversary (February 24, need to take a short trip back in time to their 1914) of the invention of the concept for the beginnings, especially of Zeiss. projection planetarium approaches, we take this opportunity to revisit the history of this Beginnings of the Zeiss company milestone event, and to explore the leading Carl Zeiss and Ernst Abbe: Optical contributions made to the invention. While workshop joins with physical sciences the name of Walther Bauersfeld (1879-1959) is Carl Zeiss founded the Zeiss Optical Co. in widely known in connection with the plan- Jena, Germany in 1846. The company manu- etarium’s invention, another lesser-known factured microscopes and lenses in an empiri- name is also of significance – that of Rudolf cal (trial and error) process. Not satisfied with Straubel (1864-1943). his production methods, in 1866 Carl Zeiss ap- Rudolf Straubel This article will highlight the persona of proached Ernst Abbe to join the company as Rudolf Straubel, his life, and career at Zeiss. research director. Based in large part on documents found in At the time, Abbe was a lecturer in physics the archives of the Deutsches Museum in and mathematics at Jena University, where to Ernst Abbe. Not having an interest in a sus- Munich and supplemented by published ac- he became a professor in 1870. Abbe succeed- tained private ownership of the company, in counts of Franz Fuchs and Bauersfeld, both of ed in perfecting a scientific approach for mi- 1889 Abbe created the Carl-Zeiss-Stiftung. whom were participants at the crucial event croscope and lens manufacturing, leading to This for-profit foundation/trust was ruled cited above, it will show in detail the rela- more accurate, predictable and economical by an elaborate set of statutes and principles tionships between Zeiss and the museum un- products at the Zeiss workshop. which included: der Straubel’s leadership at Zeiss, along with As a reward, in 1876 Zeiss made Abbe a part- •• no private ownership of the Zeiss Compa- Straubel’s personal impact on the develop- ner in his business. In 1878, Abbe likewise be- ny; ment of the projection planetarium. came director of the astronomical and meteo- •• its assets deeded largely to the University of Using documents from the family archive rological observatories in Jena. Jena; of Straubel relative Linda Langer Snook, the Finally, in 1879, chemist and glassmaker •• management of the company to be han- article will further tell the story of Straubel’s Otto Schott (1851-1935) joined Abbe and Zeiss. dled by four directors on an equal basis; retirement from Zeiss in 1933, his final years, His firm, Schott & Genossen Glass Works of •• balance of the estate donated to the em- and the fate of his family. Finally, we will ex- Jena, founded in 1884, went on to produce the ployees of Carl Zeiss. plore why his name, his contributions to the glass used exclusively in the Carl Zeiss micro- The statutes also prescribe benefits for the development of the planetarium concept, and scopes. employees, including paid vacations, sick pay, his fate, have remained largely unknown. eight-hour work day, invalid and old age pen- Since the first projection planetarium was Ernst Abbe and the Carl Zeiss Foundation sions for workers and their families, represen- built by Zeiss for the Deutsches Museum, in When Carl Zeiss died in 1888, his son Roder- tation to management, banishment of dis- order to better understand the nature of the ick Zeiss sold all assets of the Zeiss Optical Co. crimination based on race, religion, politics, and others. The Stiftung was a business and social ex- Peter Volz (born 1950) is a grandson of Zeiss optical physicist Ernst Wandersleb (1879- periment that, in its content and scope, was 1963), whose family had close ties to the Straubel and Langer families. During his child- way ahead of the times. Important in the con- hood in Germany Volz met the two Straubel sons Heinz and Harald. It was only after more text of this article is the Stiftung’s principle recently contacting Straubel's great-nephew Gerhard Langer in the US that Volz became which aims to “support science and technol- interested in the persona of Rudolf Straubel. This then led to a visit to the archives of the ogy outside as well as within the enterprises, Deutsches Museum in Munich and further research. Volz wrote the article on the sugges- and the participation in projects that served tion of planetarium historian Jordan Marché, a former editor of the Planetarian. the general good.” (10 Gale Directory of Com-

December 2013 Planetarian 51 pany Histories: Carl Zeiss AG; see also: 2 Auer- The couple had four sons: Heinz (b. 1895), Wer- to hire eight to twelve more engineers. Abbe bach) ner (b. 1897), Wolfgang (b. 1899), and Harald (b. appears to have remained skeptical vis-à-vis 1905). Straubel’s prophecy which, however, soon Transition from Abbe to the next In 1901, feeling that his strength was wan- was going to become reality. (20 Schomerus generation: Rudolf Straubel joins the firm ing, Abbe again approached Rudolf Straubel. p. 130) Abbe had hired, in 1884, the young optical This time, Straubel agreed and joined Zeiss From August 1905 to June 1907, Walther physicist Siegfried Czapski (1861-1907) to be in the role of scientific consultant. An anec- Bauersfeld also worked for Zeiss as an engi- his assistant, who then became a close associ- dote reports Abbe as saying “A weight is off neer. Bauersfeld had attracted Straubel’s atten- ate. Another “person of interest” for Abbe was my shoulders, now that Straubel has agreed tion because of his exceptional mathemati- Rudolf Straubel. Here is a short account of his to join.” (26 Wandersleb) Important for Abbe cal and engineering/construction skills. (20 early life and career before joining Zeiss. were Straubel’s scientific and managerial tal- Schomerus p. 171) Straubel was born on June 16, 1864 in south- ents. On April 1, 1908, Straubel succeeded in his ern Thuringia, the son of a protestant pastor. When Abbe resigned from actively lead- effort to have Bauersfeld rejoin Zeiss as the After attending high school in Gotha and Co- ing Zeiss on September 24, 1903, he named leading engineer, and also to join the Zeiss burg, he studied in Jena and Berlin, with ma- Straubel “scientific director for life” on the management team, replacing Czapski, who jors in physics and mathematics and minors four-member management team. The oth- had died on June 29, 1907. in mineralogy and physical chemistry. He er members were Siegfried Czapski (who also first came into contact with Abbe and Otto became “bevollmächtigter,” or power of at- The Carl Zeiss Company and the Schott in 1885. In the summer of 1888, Straubel torney of the Carl-Zeiss-Stiftung following Deutsches Museum received his PhD in Jena, with a dissertation Abbe’s resignation), Max Fischer, and Otto In 1904, the Bavarian entrepreneur and en- on an optical problem suggested by Prof. Ernst Schott. gineer Oskar von Miller (1855-1934) founded Abbe. Ernst Abbe died on January 14, 1905. Rudolf the “Museum of scientific and technical mas- From 1889 until 1901, Straubel pursued a Straubel was Abbe’s hand-picked successor, ter works” in Munich, Germany. His purpose university career in Jena, first as assistant at continuing the role of scientific head of Zeiss was “to portray scientific research in its vari- the Physics Institute until 1896, from 1893 on as established by Abbe. ous development phases, and to show the ef- as adjunct professor; then from 1897 on as full fects that mutually stimulate science and in- professor. He gave lectures and performed re- Introducing Meyer and Bauersfeld dustry from ancient times until today, in a search in numerous areas of physics, in partic- Two other persons need to be introduced as manner as instructive and as easily under- ular optical physics, but also physical chem- they would become important figures in the standable for the common people as possible.” istry, geophysics, geodesy, crystal physics, planetarium story: Franz Meyer and Walther (9 Fuchs pp. 8-9) thermodynamics and electrotechnics. (13Jen- Bauersfeld. For the astronomy department, von Miller tzsch, p. 216) On July 1, 1903, Franz Meyer (1868-1933) thought to present an historic developmental During these years, Abbe consistently kept joined Zeiss, the first engineer with a univer- series of instruments and artifacts; demonstra- an eye on the young scientist. In the late 1880s sity degree hired by the dynamically growing tions of the movements of the stars and celes- and early 1890s he tried to persuade Straubel optical company. The choice of Meyer was in- tial bodies; and a functioning observatory. (9 to come to work for Zeiss. But at that time tended to aid with the construction of large Fuchs p. 38) Straubel declined, preferring instead to be in- astronomical instruments that Zeiss had just The cooperation between Zeiss and the volved in academia rather than industry. added to its product palette. Deutsches Museum began during the year In 1894, Straubel married Marie Kern (b. According to an anecdote, Straubel told of the museum’s inception. In a letter dated 1865), the daughter of a Jewish industrialist. Abbe that, in the near future, Zeiss would need July 16, 1904, Prof. Czapski of Zeiss accepted

52 Planetarian December 2013 his election as member to the presidium sidium board, and we hope that you will board of the museum (“Vorstandsrat”), continue to give us your advice and coop- and he received a letter of thanks from eration as you have done in the past. We von Miller on July 28, 1904. Four months thank you for your already expressed ac- later, in a telegram dated November 22, ceptance of your election, and sign with 1904, Czapski also accepted to lead the assurance of our exceptional respect. section “technical optics” at the museum. Deutsches Museum, Dr. Osk. v. Miller, Dr. (1 Archive DM) W. v. Dyck, Dr. C. v. Linde.” (1 Archive DM) During its initial phase (1904-1905), the It is important to state here that, in museum solicited to observatories all his 1955 article, Franz Fuchs mentions across the country a list of articles desired the donation of the telescope by Zeiss, by its astronomy department, receiving a and quotes the letter signed “Carl Zeiss.” generally warm response. Among the re- However, he does not mention Straubel spondents was Rudolf Straubel’s broth- by name. In Fuchs’s article, Straubel is er-in-law, Otto Knopf, professor for as- mentioned only once, in connection tronomy and head of the university with Zeiss’s acceptance of the planetar- observatory in Jena. Prof. Knopf, who was ium projects in October 1913. In turn, married to Prof. Straubel’s sister Hedwig, Straubel’s membership on the presidium sent an enthusiastic response, but his ob- board is never mentioned by Fuchs. These servatory was too poorly funded he was are omissions to which we will come back unable to donate any desired items. (9 later on in this article. Fuchs p. 11) The planetarium projects The museum finds assistance In order to demonstrate the move- The Zeiss Optical Co. in Jena, being in ments of the stars and celestial bodies, von better financial shape, was able to assist Miller envisioned two mechanical devic- the new museum in its goals. On April 4, es, one heliocentric (or “Copernican”), 1906, Czapski announced that Zeiss would the other geocentric (or “Ptolemaic”). Al- furnish one model each of the most mod- Rudolf in his front yard with his solar mirror. Historical ready in 1905, the Sendtner Instrument ern reflector and refractor telescopes as photos courtesy of the Linda Langer-Snook family archive, Company of Munich had fabricated one used with permission. exhibits to the museum’s astronomy col- table-top-sized model for each of these lection. The telescopes were delivered to “planetaria” according to von Miller’s the museum in August 1908 and November have to inform you that I am still recovering specifications. But by the summer of 1912, von 1909, respectively. (9 Fuchs p. 32) from an illness and that therefore I am unable Miller had drawn up plans for a room-size Co- While the donation of the exhibition tele- to attend the annual meeting of the Deutsch- pernican planetarium with an electric motor scopes for the museum’s instrument collec- es Museum. I regret this even more because I engine, in which, similar to a clockwork, the tion was significant, Zeiss’s later contribution would have liked to thank in person for the planets Mercury, Venus, and Earth revolved to the planned observatory, and particular- honor bestowed upon me, and to personally around the sun, simulated by a light bulb in ly the construction of the Zeiss planetarium, have given you the news that the Carl Zeiss the center of the device. were to become of much greater importance. firm agrees to donate to the museum a tele- Detailed plans were sent to mechanical Donation of a telescope for the museum’s scope for the large West dome. Respectfully and clockmaker shops in Munich and other west dome observatory by Zeiss Prof. Dr. Straubel.” (1 Archive DM) parts of Germany, and were also published in On August 12, 1912, in a letter to Zeiss, the The second letter: “In response to your let- six large-volume specialty periodicals. Sever- museum wrote: “. . . In the large West dome ter from Aug. 12 we happily agree that we will al firms and individuals responded with pro- of the Museum we plan to install a telescope gladly donate for the large West dome of the posals, but all were rejected by von Miller. (9 particularly suited for demonstrations to the museum a telescope, built according to our Fuchs pp. 54-56) Initially the Zeiss firm was public, and we wish we could obtain from special construction methods, and suited par- not considered, possibly because it was spe- you such an instrument, as your company has ticularly well for demonstrations to the pub- cializing in optical products. a special reputation for construction of new- lic. We hope to soon be able to send you draw- When asking for assistance in finding com- er type lens- and reflector-telescopes.” (9 Fuchs ings and description. Respectfully Carl Zeiss.” panies having the know-how necessary for p. 40) (1 Archive DM; 9 Fuchs p. 40) executing his plans for the Copernican plane- Concurrently with the request for the tele- On November 25, 1912, Zeiss sent drawings tarium, on May 15 and May 20, 1913 von Mill- scope by the museum, von Miller had also in- and specifications of the refractor telescope to er wrote letters to Kurt Sorge, engineer and vited Prof. Straubel to become a member of its the museum. Oskar von Miller was said to be director of the Grusonwerke in Magdeburg presidium board (as Prof. Czapski was before “full of joy.” (9 Fuchs p. 40) (a Krupp subsidiary). On May 23, 1913, Kurt him) and to take part at the annual meeting of Slightly before this, on October 23, 1912, a Sorge responded, naming three companies, that board (October 2 and 3, 1912); and more- letter was sent to Prof. Straubel. “Your Excel- in which the first on the list was “Carl Zeiss in over, to become one of three secretaries of lence! This is to let you know that, during the Jena.” (1 Archive DM) that board. On September 29, 1912, two hand- meeting of the presidium board and the com- This could have been the cause for a let- written letters were sent from Zeiss to the mu- mittee on October 2 and 3, you have been ter to the Zeiss firm on July 22, 1913, asking if seum, both in Straubel’s handwriting. The unanimously elected member of the presidi- Zeiss could take on the Copernican planetar- first letter is signed “Prof. Dr. Straubel”, the sec- um board, and simultaneously to its secretary. ium project. But the response from Zeiss, dat- ond letter is signed “Carl Zeiss.” We express our particular delight that you ed July 30, 1913, and signed by Dr. Max Pauly From the first letter: “I sincerely regret to hereby join the leading members of the pre- of the astronomy department, was negative,

December 2013 Planetarian 53 stating that the project was “not in our scope torium of the Royal Bavarian Academy of Sci- the designs proposed by the museum and to of work.” It remains unknown whether Prof. ences in Munich. Prof. Straubel’s presence is view the intended locations in the new build- Straubel was involved in this response or documented in the proceedings, and his role ing of the museum. Now that von Miller final- aware of the request. as one of three secretaries is publicly men- ly had a partner in his plans for the planetari- Von Miller’s plans for the Ptolemaic plane- tioned there for the first time. Von Miller had ums, he felt a sense of urgency to press on with tarium were described on October 1, 1912: already met Straubel the day before and ex- the project. The construction plans for the “In addition to the true movements of the tensively discussed the planetarium projects new museum building needed completion. planets as in the Copernican system, in a sec- with him. Here is an excerpt from the pro- In a letter dated January 15, 1914, von Miller ond planetarium we want to demonstrate ceedings of the annual meeting: wrote: “In reference to the talks between your the rotation of the sky and the movements “…Strangely, and despite multiple efforts Herr Professor Dr. Straubel and the signed pres- of the Sun, Moon and planets as they appear on our part, no firm could be found that was ident, as well as to our letter from Oct. 3, we in the sky when seen from Earth, according willing to take on the manufacturing of these respectfully are inquiring about your progress to the Ptolemaic system. To this purpose, the large, complex and completely new con- in the preliminary work on the two planetar- fixed stars are to be shown transparently on structs (the planetaria). Then, yesterday, we ia. With utmost respect, Oskar von Miller.” (1 a sphere of about 7m diameter. In the center succeeded to convince Herr Professor Straubel Archive DM) of the sphere the observer stands on a plat- that this project would be a task particular- Not receiving a timely response, a telegram form. The sphere signifying the sky is rotating ly well suited for the Zeiss works which com- was sent to Zeiss on February 21, 1914: “Since once daily around its axis which is parallel to mand over excellent scientific and technical decision over planetaria is very urgent be- the world’s axis. This will allow that the fixed resources, as well as over the best mechan- cause of completion of building construction, stars which are visible above the horizon in ical facilities. Furthermore, taking on this we are asking for response via telegram if Dr. Munich can be positioned properly for any task would be completely in the spirit of the Fuchs can obtain the necessary information hour on any date. Furthermore, the Sun, the founders of the company, Zeiss and Abbe. in Jena this coming Tuesday. [signed] Deutsch- Moon and the planets are attached to mov- Herr Professor Straubel has expressed the sup- es Museum.” (1 Archive DM) able arms, so that the apparent movements port of his firm in the construction of the gi- On the same day (February 21), Zeiss re- of these celestial bodies underneath the fixed ant planetaria, and I therefore have no longer sponded: “Dr. Fuchs welcome anytime. stars can be executed in their corresponding any doubt that we can expect superb results [signed] Zeiss works.” (1 Archive DM) times, which will allow the demonstration of with these museum objects as well.” (1 Archive the various conjunctions of the planets.” (1 Ar- DM VB 1912-1913 p. 32) A momentous meeting chive DM) On October 3, 1913, two days after the an- The result of this exchange of telegrams nual meeting, the museum wrote to Zeiss: “In was the momentous meeting on February Discussing projection techniques reference to the talks between your Herr Pro- 24, 1914 in Jena, with these participants: Prof. In the summer of 1913, the instrument com- fessor Dr. Straubel and our president, Herr Dr. Dr. Straubel, Dr. Walther Bauersfeld, Obering- pany Sendtner in Munich again built a mod- Oskar von Miller, we would like to express one enieur (chief engineer) Franz Meyer, all from el according to this description by von Mill- more time our delight over the fact that you Zeiss, and Dr. Franz Fuchs as envoy of the er. But, back in 1912, the first notions of using are willing to construct the two planetaria ac- Deutsches Museum (9 Fuchs p. 61; 3 Bauersfeld optical projection techniques to demonstrate cording to Copernicus and Ptolemy for the p. 75). Note that Oskar von Miller himself was the movements of celestial bodies in a geocen- new building of our museum.” (1 Archive DM) absent from the meeting. tric model had been discussed. One such idea This, in fact, meant that Straubel accepted Fuchs later described the results of the involved using a film to project the move- to take on both the Copernican and the Ptole- meeting with these words: “In Jena I was read- ments of the sun, moon and planets. maic planetariums on Zeiss’s behalf. ily shown the plans for their intended designs. A more significant projection idea origi- That Straubel was able to commit Zeiss’s re- For the Copernican planetarium, they wished nated from Swiss educator Eduard Hinder- sources on such a short notice, without pri- to increase the room height, however this mann, who used “shadow”-like projections or internal discussions at the firm, speaks for wish could not be granted because of our large of the motions of the planets, to demonstrate his enormous influence within the company concrete structures. With respect to the Ptol- their ribbon-like movements when seen from at that time; for his conviction of how impor- emaic planetarium, thoughts were presented Earth. tant he considered the work of the Deutsch- to project the sky onto a white, fixed dome us- Hindermann wrote in a letter to von Mill- es Museum and Zeiss’s support of it to be, in ing high-quality optics, instead of construct- er, dated February 4, 1913: “The idea of using the spirit of Abbe as expressed in the Zeiss-Stif- ing the rotating metal sphere.” (9 Fuchs pp. 61- light projection can of course be applied and tung principles; and lastly, how important he 62) used with advantage when simulating the personally considered the planetarium proj- However, a more in-depth description of view of the world according to the Ptolema- ects to be. this meeting originates from Walther Bauers- ic system, as I will gladly discuss with you.” Of course, having the name of the Zeiss feld, in an article published in 1957: Fuchs, von Miller’s deputy, wrote: “Von Mill- works and their scientific and technological “The author, who had been a member of er wants to preserve the priority and remarks: prowess displayed so prominently at this new the Board of Management in the Zeiss works ‘Fuchs, write down exactly when we received museum could also reap tremendous long- since 1908, attended a meeting at Jena be- this letter, and when the drawings showing term public relations benefits. This would tween Oskar von Miller and the chief engi- the movement of (the planet) Mercury have have been an important factor in his decision neer [Meyer] of the astronomical department been shown to us’.” (9 Fuchs p. 58) as well. of the firm. On this occasion much was discussed about the difficulties of the construc- Oskar von Miller discusses planetarium From acceptance of the plans to the tion, which appeared insurmountable. In this plans with Straubel projection planetarium concept situation I asked the question: ‘Why do you The tenth annual meeting of the presidium On October 7, 1913, less than a week after want to make such complicated and heavy board and committee of the Deutsches Muse- the announcement by von Miller, Zeiss engi- machinery? I think a much better way would um took place on October 1, 1913 in the audi- neer Franz Meyer was sent to Munich to study (Continues on Page 82)

54 Planetarian December 2013 tables that allowed them to fill in the com- Educational Horizons parison topics; students who are vested in the lesson will not have trouble developing these Jack L. Northrup topics. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Planetarium Students who may be struggling with the King Science and Technology Magnet Center topics or are not fully engaged will select top- 3720 Florence Blvd., Omaha, Nebraska 68110 USA ics that are either too difficult to work with or +1 402-557-4494 so vague that they will not develop a reason- [email protected] able depth of knowledge. I found that if you have a table that will compare five traits, and if you give the students four and make it so The solar system on scooters they pick the final topic, then that seems to I was teaching revolution to a group of kin- tion for visual, spatial, and auditory learners, be about ideal to demonstrate if a student has esthetic learners and we decided to get out but interpersonal and kinesthetic learners are suitable depth of knowledge. the scooters and borrow the gymnasium at kind of left out. school. My interpersonal students reach deeper un- Quick writes I placed a large beach ball at the half court derstanding of content by teaching it to oth- Quick writes are brief check points for see- line and set out 8 scooters that were labeled ers ,so when possible we have a little bit of ing if the class, group, or audience is under- for each of the primary planets. Eight students time for small group guided discussion. You standing the presentation. Our biology teach- sat down on the scooters and modeled the so- just have to keep the discussion focused on er likes to use Post-Its to have the students lar system. the topic because it could wander off to dif- summarize the organ, organism, or system At first, when the students were moving, ferent subjects (like: did you know that they that was the topic of the day and post them they were just concerned about keeping the are serving strawberry skim milk in the cafe- on the door. planets in the correct order, making it so Mer- teria?). Our math teach- cury went the slowest and Neptune had to This edition’s focus is not just er uses personal white move very quickly to make sure that they going to be preferred types of boards for the students were the furthest out. learning, but I have recently ap- to write the math rule We stopped and discussed if that was an ac- plied a couple of instructional that was covered that curate model of solar system. Looking at a ta- strategies to my planetarium. day and a couple sam- ble of the planets’ revolutions, the students ple problems using that were able to conclude that Mercury had to Comparison Tables rule. They then pass the move faster than the others and Neptune was Comparison tables are quick board to the student the slowest moving. way for you to guide your next to them to solve One of the students suggested that we start students in organizing their the problem. the planets and use some music to set a plan- thoughts. The table below is one I like to have the stu- et’s speed. You have to enjoy when the stu- that I have started to use for the dents use quartered dents expand on a lesson and make it better. students to prepare informa- sheets of paper to write tion that they can use to make a a summary sentence (I Approaches matched to methods Venn diagram comparing two or three plan- use the instructional trigger “text me about I have seen a great deal of improvement ets. the show”), and two to three keywords about in the student’s application of astronomy You can make comparison tables on a vari- the presentation. knowledge since I started to use a variety of ety of topics: inner planets, outer planets, gal- A social studies teacher I work with inte- different approaches to instruction. The plan- axy classification, elements, or star types. I ex- grated quick writing into her classes’ note etarium does a great job presenting informa- perimented with giving the students blank taking strategies. The reason she wanted the quick writes in with Comparison Table the student’s notes because, at times, the Planet Radius (km) Mass (kg) Composition Atmosphere prompts become part Mercury of the test. Venus I used a similar note format when I was Earth teaching about plan- Mars ets and their moons. I found it useful, when after present- Page 1 Topic 1 Topic 2 Page 2 ing one planet and its moon, to have the stu- Notes Notes Quick writes and • • cues Memory dents describe what it • • would look and feel • • like walking on that • • planet (or its moon if Memory cues • • it was a gas giant). For and writes Quick

• • (Continues on Page 58) Summary Sentence: Summary Sentence:

December 2013 Planetarian 55 feeds the transmitter(s). Almost all modern audio systems now include a digital audio pro- Sound Advice cessor. This provides a hidden benefit to you for ALS. Cory Schaeffer from Listen Technolo- Jeff Bowen gies (www.listentech.com) states: “Some techs will send all audio through the Bowen Technovation ALS system, which may cause intelligibility is- 7999 East 88th Street sues. An ideal solution is to use a separate out- Indianapolis, Indiana 46256 USA put from the digital router/mixer. This allows +1 317-863-0525 for a separate mix to the assistive listening [email protected] transmitter that leaves out things that are un- important to these listeners. For example, the priority should be the emphasis on speech. Once upon a time, long ago, I wrote a col- es. Here is how. The surround channels can be greatly reduced umn titled ”Sound Advice.” If you look or even completely omitted from the ALS through those old yellowed copies of Plane- The hardware mix. After all, subwoofer frequencies can’t be tarian from the ‘90s you’ll see articles about All these systems need: reproduced in a standard ALS ear piece.” all sorts of audio topics. Most were answers to 1. A multiple soundtrack source. I agree with Cory. The audio processor lets questions sent to me by planetarium profes- All-dome systems: Some all-dome systems you select which audio tracks are fed to which sionals. have the capability of providing one, two, or speakers and also which tracks are fed to the Well…we’re back. Since I believe in mini- even more channels of narration tracks in ad- ALS transmitters. The processor also lets you mizing the space taken up by an article in this dition to the primary 5.1 center channel. The mix the levels of each track into the ALS trans- journal, the articles I author will be “skinnied primary language is typically on channel 3, mitter so you can help make the narrative down” to save space. To read a more detailed and channels 7 and 8 are available for alter- channels easier to hear. version, please visit www.bowentechnova- nate languages. I usually make the alternate language track tion.com/ips. If your system is set up for 7.1, that takes up strong with the L-R ALS channels a little low- 8 channels. However, some all-dome systems er, and the Ls-Rs reduced even more in level. Using alternate languages have as many as 16 channels available for au- The topic for this issue is how to implement dio. If not, you can add an external audio de- Transmitter/receiver types alternate languages into your dome shows. vice that runs in sync with the show. There are basically three types of transmit- You have one language that is your prima- Traditional systems: If your system is an ter and receiver systems: ry language and other languages are consid- opto-mechanical system, it will use an exter- 1. RF/FM. FM systems are ALSs that use ra- ered the alternate languages. For example, at nal audio player that runs in sync with the dio-type broadcast technology. They are the Bibliotheca Aleandrina, Egypt, the primary show. How you use the channels can be exact- most common type and offer mobility and language is Arabic and the alternate is English. ly the same as I describe above. If your audio flexibility when used with portable body- At Karneid, Italy the primary is Italian with al- player is only 8 channels and you need more worn receivers. ternate languages in German, Swiss and Eng- for languages, they typically jump from 8- to The transmitter is typically installed in lish. In the United States, the primary is usual- 24-track units. your audio system rack or at the console and ly English and the alternate, usually Spanish. 2. A transmitter converts the audio from has built in or remote antennas for the broad- Most countries have a requirement for ALS your source into radio waves (RF) or infrared casting. You set the transmitter to one or more in public or educational sites (ALS can stand (IR), which is broadcast about the dome. of several selectable channels to send the spe- for Assistive Listening Systems or Alternate 3. The receiver receives the transmission cific alternate language to your visitor. Let’s Language System). I have written about ALS from the transmitter and converts it back into pretend Arabic is on channel 1 and English on in articles in various trade magazines and listenable audio. channel 2. newsletters, so I won’t go into that here. Con- 4. The headset can be earbuds, headphones, The receivers are handed out and are usual- tact me at the email above if you want to read stethoscope style or a hearing aid T-coil. ly little shirt pocket or belt pack types. You set some of these and I’ll send the links. Each of the 5.1 channels from the source these to receive on whatever channel the de- In many cases these systems can be expand- feeds amplifiers and then speakers. The alter- sired language is transmitted. So to hear Ara- ed to provide one or more alternate languag- native language channel(s) from the source (Continues on Page 58)

56 Planetarian December 2013 December 2013 Planetarian 57 many are reserved bands for fire, safety and security, the RF wireless spectrum is more com- Education, continued from page 55 plicated now than ever before. What frequen- older students, I had them describe the rule cy works in one part of the world is illegal to used to name the moons of a planet. use elsewhere.” 2. Inductive Loop Systems. Wide area Lesson plan loop systems use an electromagnetic field When you send a lesson plan back with a to deliver sound. They offer convenience visiting teacher, do you include these compo- to groups of t-coil hearing aid users because nents? those users do not require body worn receiv- Bellwork is a quick 3-5 minute introduction ers. Loop systems can be used by non-hearing that reviews a general idea from the presenta- aid users through use of headphones/earbuds tion. and inductive loop receivers. Objectives need to be “student action” ori- These are very common in Europe and are ented; think “students will be able to…” or catching on very quickly in the USA. Keep in “students will demonstrate skills in…” mind that a loop system must be carefully en- Procedures are the activities you what the gineered and can’t just be put in anywhere. students to do that provides them the oppor- They can even cause interference with your tunity to show their mastery of the objectives. video system if not designed correctly. Summary is how you want to wrap up the 3. Infrared Systems. Infrared systems are lesson and have the students have close up the ALSs that use light-based technology. They instruction. Summary can also be an opportu- are not subject to any RF interference so the nity for you to see how well students are un- Top: RF/FM system from Listen Technologies; quality is excellent. But the receiver must be derstanding how this specific topic connects Below: Infrared system from Wiliams Sound. All in line of sight to either the invisible light to the overarching topic. images images provided by Bowen Technova- source or the reflected IR off the dome surface. Exit is how you want to have the stu- tion Put it in a pocket, and no sound. dents either finish the topic, lead it into an- Sound Advice, continued from page 56 other lesson, or end of the unit. I bic in the above example, set your receiver to In conclusion channel 1. If you set your receiver to channel There are several methods for providing al- One Dome, continued from page 49 2, you will hear English. ternate languages. We have touched on the This means you don’t have to own spe- basics of wireless systems here. In 1583 he became a member of the Aca- cific receivers for specific channels. You can If the audience is composed entirely of the demia di Santa Lucia in Rome, and on No- change the receiver channels anytime you alternate language listeners, a control system vember 11 of the same year Pope Gregory XIII want. can switch your audio routing to play the al- nominated him Bishop of Alatri. Neck loop cables are available for these ternate language track as the primary in the In 1586 he directed the work of erecting the same receivers for visitors that have T-coils theater speakers, meaning the alternate lan- obelisk in Saint Peter’s Square in Rome which installed in their hearing aids. They will not guages do not have to be delivered by a wire- he used as a gnomon and inscribed the solstic- need to wear headphones or earbuds. less transmitter/receiver system unless you es, the equinoxes and a wind rose on its base. Tony Strong from Williams Sound (www. are playing in multiple languages. After finishing the job, while on his way to williamssound.com) suggests that you select As a reminder, you can read a more detailed Alatri, he died. your system carefully: version at www.bowentechnovation.com/ The Ignazio Danti Planetarium is located “With so many different countries world- ips. at the Allessandro Volta State Technical In- wide restricting what RF frequencies are avail- Next topic? Send in your questions to stitute of Technology, and offers programs able for commercial use, and the fact that [email protected]. I to all levels of students and to the public. I

Alan Dyer retires after 40 years under planetarium skies After 20 years working at a succession of three Calgary planetariums and nearly 40 years in the planetarium field, Alan Dyer retired in October, just prior to beginning another chase to see his 15th total solar eclipse. Alan started his planetarium career as the first intern at the Manitoba Planetarium in Winni- peg in 1974. He spent 14 years in Edmonton, first at the original and rather tiny 7-m Queen Eliz- abeth Planetarium, which was then at the Edmonton Space Sciences Centre, a new facility that opened in 1984 with a state-of-the-art 23-m planetarium equipped with a Zeiss Universarium. After a stint as an editor with Astronomy magazine in the early 1990s, Alan returned to Can- ada in 1993 on the lure of a new theatre with a Digistar 1 system at the Calgary Science Centre. Alan helped design and program the Discovery Dome, a 21-m tilt-dome theatre which opened in 1996. He produced dozens of shows, both recorded and live-actor based, for this theatre until its closure in 2011. Alan helped design its replacement, the Digital Dome, which opened in May 2012 at the new TELUS Spark science centre. Alan wrote and programmed the first astronomy shows for the new dome and its Digistar 5 system, his latest being Explore Our Milky Way. Alan intends to keep his hand in planetarium scripting and programming on special proj- Alan Dyer under the dome. Photo by John ects as opportunities arise, but plans to devote time to books, photography, and travel. I Mancenido

58 Planetarian December 2013 DynamicEarth_8_5x11_WithAwards_Option01.pdf 1 10/21/2013 11:07:46 AM

NARRATED BY LIAM NEESON

D Y N A M I C

Exploring Earth’s Climate Engine

CMY

December 2013 Planetarian 59 Planetarium at the Saint Louis Science Center, which was one of the original Laserium ven- IMERSA News ues. The show opened in April 2013 as part of the planetarium’s 50th anniversary celebra- tion. Shows continue to run on Friday nights Judith Rubin through December and possibly beyond. Communications Director, IMERSA.org Brian Wirthlin’s update has included dig- itizing the original analog tapes, and he con- [email protected] tinues to experiment with the imagery and music. 2013 is the 40th anniversary of Laseri- um, and it has also returned to the San Fran- Zeiss, and Google Lunar XPRIZE. Giant Screen Report from ASTC 2013 cisco Bay Area with a November revival at Day was held simultaneously in the muse- There was plenty of planetarium-related ac- Chabot Space Center (Oakland). The shows um’s IMAX theater, giving attendees the op- tivity at the annual conference of the Associ- feature music from Pink Floyd and The Bea- portunity to network and see both kinds of ation of Science-Technology Centers (ASTC), tles. content. held October 18-22 in Albuquerque, New Other companies, such as Laser Fantasy, are Evening activities included the ASTC recep- Mexico, USA. active in the field as well. Six nighttime La- tion, held at three museums. At the New Mex- System suppliers Zeiss, Sky-Skan, Evans & ser Fantasy shows at the Fiske Planetarium in ico Museum of Natural History, the planetari- Sutherland, Konica Minolta and The Elume- Boulder, Colorado include “Laser Gaga,” “La- um was running versions of its popular Friday nati had booths on the exhibit floor. ser AC/DC,” “Laser Radiohead and “Dark Side Fractals show. Related exhibitors included the Franklin of the Moon.” An exhibit at the same museum on the ori- Institute, Google Lunar XPRIZE, Giant Screen Laser Fantasy has installations in numer- gins of the personal computer had Jeri Panek Cinema Association (GSCA), Discovery Dome, ous other cities, including Seattle (Pacific Sci- of E&S revisiting her own connections to the Laser Fantasy, National Geographic Cinema ence Center), Portland (OMSI), Cupertino formative years and innovators such as Alan Ventures, the National Oceanic and Atmo- (De Anza College), Rocky Mount NC (Rocky Kay, who mentored her in the 1970s. spheric Administration, nWave Pictures, and Mount Children’s Museum), Boston (Charles David Beining, founder of the annual Science First/STARLAB. Hayden Planetarium, Boston Museum of Sci- Domefest in Albuquerque, organized a special There were two planetarium-specific ses- ence), Pittsburgh (Buhl Planetarium, Carnegie “Party for the Hemispherically Obsessed” at sions. The first was “Bringing the Planetarium Science Center) and a new one coming in Ti- the UNM ARTS Lab, well attended by plane- to Earth: Community Dialogues for Ecological juana, Mexico (CECUT). tarians, artists and students. Resilience,” led by Ka Chun Yu of the Denver At the ASTC conference, Laser Fantasy’s Jay A subset of the new “Museum Screens” Museum of Nature & Science, with present- Heck observed, “We’re seeing a resurgence; ASTC Community of Practic, spearheaded by ers Jessica Sickler (COSI), Ryan Wyatt (Cali- when dome video came along, people stopped Mary Nucci of Rutgers University, spent the fornia Academy of Sciences), Edward Gardin- running laser shows, but now demand has re- day in a special workshop. Participants includ- er (NOAA Climate Program Office), Matthew bounded.” ed leaders from IMERSA and from the Giant Linke (University of Michigan Museum of The Laserist maintains a list of laser shows Screen Cinema Association. Discussion cen- Natural History) and Jim Rock (Indigenous at www.laserist.org/places.htm. Education Design). tered on the evolving applications of video and film for education in museums. The second was “Hitchhiking to Pluto: Recent fulldome awards The IMERSA Board stayed on in Albuquer- Youth-Designed Planetarium Shows,” led by ‘Imiloa Fulldome Film Festival (Septem- que for an extra day to meet and plan for the Nathan Bellomy (American Museum of Nat- ber 5-7, 2013) at ‘Imiloa Astronomy Center, 2014 IMERSA Summit. ural History) with presenters Rik Pangani- University of Hawaii at Hilo ban (California Academy of Sciences) and Lisa Laser shows: the next generation Best Visuals and Graphics: The Life of Trees, Hoover (Chabot Space & Science Center). Softmachine/Reef Distribution During his talk at the 2013 IMERSA Sum- October 22 at ASTC was devoted to Digi- Best Audio Track: A Planet for Goldilocks, mit, Ivan Dryer (see page 62) announced that tal Planetarium Demonstrations at the New GOTO Inc. laserist Brian Wirthlin would usher in the first Mexico Museum of Natural History, spon- Best Script and Story: Dream to Fly, The Laserium revival in the James S. McDonnell sored by Sky-Skan, Evans & Sutherland, Seiler- Heavens of Copernicus Productions Audience Choice Award: To Space & Back, Sky-Skan & The Franklin Institute Jackson Hole Wildlife Film Festival, September 23-27, 2013 in Jackson Hole, Wyo- ming, USA Best Immersive 3D/Large Format (award sponsored by GoPro): Flight of the Butterflies, SK Films Inc. (Note: Flight of the Butterflies is being released for fulldome) Best Immersive Fulldome: Supervolcanoes, Spitz Creative Media, Mirage3D & Thomas Lu- cas Productions, Inc, in association with Den- ver Museum of Nature & Science Dome Festa at Hitachi Civic Center, part of the 4th International Festival of Scientific Familiar faces at ASTC, Left: Michael Daut and Jeri Panek of Evans & Sutherland; Right: Kelli Buchan and Donna Claiborne of the Franklin Institute. Photos by Judith Rubin. (Continues on Page 64)

60 Planetarian December 2013 December 2013 Planetarian 61 If it was on cue, it got applause. Even the fly. “Father of laser light shows” reviews high-voltage career

Ivan Dryer: 40 years of light

The following is excerpted from Laserium founder Ivan Dryer’s was seen by the Griffith Observatory’s new director, William keynote speech at the 2013 IMERSA Summit in Denver, Colorado. Kaufmann. “Let’s give it a try,” he said, and gave us a permit for The full transcript is available at www.imersa.org. four Monday nights in November. At night and on weekends, Charlie and I worked on the In November 1970, I attended a conference at USC projector and the music track. I like to think of the mu- called “Experiments in Art and Technology.” There, sic as a bridal ensemble. It had something old: four clas- a physicist by the name of Elsa Garmire was show- sical selections from the 16th to the 20th Centuries; ing some of her artwork, created with a laser in something new: art rock by Emerson, Lake, and her laboratory. Palmer; something borrowed: Cal Tjader’s cover A friend and I were invited to film what of “Gimme Shelter” by the Rolling Stones; and she was doing. We went out to her labora- something blue: which, of course, was “Blue tory with a 16mm camera. When I looked Danube,” our signature piece. through the viewfinder, I knew immediately this was not the way to present this We finished building the projector at 5 medium. We were looking at something a.m. on opening day, November 19, 1973. At that required an environmental venue. 8 a.m., I went home and took a shower. That A live presentation using a live laser. morning, I appeared on Ralph Story’s Los In September 1970, we did our first Angeles show for five minutes with a little demonstration for the Griffith Obser- helium-neon projector with a lumia wheel. vatory, where I had worked on and off At 11 a.m., we had our press preview, which for 12 years. They said “No.” But grad- was our first run-through for the show. ually, we were on our way. The com- That first night, we played to two half- pany that was to become Laser Images full houses, amounting to some 700 peo- was incorporated in 1971. That Decem- ple. By the end of that first run, on Decem- ber, we provided some special effects ber 15, 1973, we turned away 500 people for I Dream of Jeannie: the first use of la- from our second show. We got a tempo- ser effects in a TV show. We then did rary, month-to-month operating permit some units for a rock tour with Alice and kept going for 28 years. Cooper: the first use of lasers for a rock tour. We had lasers at Magic Mountain, It turned out that whenever we laserists too. did something that was on cue, the audience would respond—no matter what it was. My new partner, Charlie McDonald, and Such as when Charlie McDonald accidental- I set about building projectors. Elsa Garmire ly touched a high-voltage component. He was graciously loaned us the use of a laborato- being continuously shocked and let out a mor- ry at Cal Tech for a demo in June 1973 that (Continues on Page 64)

Ivan Dryer, 1970s. Photo courtesy Laserium.

62 Planetarian December 2013 December 2013 Planetarian 63 IMERSA, continued from page 60 Dryer, continued from page 62 al ensemble. It had something old: four clas- Visualization, 1 August to 29 September 2013 The following is excerpted from Laseri- sical selections from the 16th to the 20th at science museums, planetariums, and movie um founder Ivan Dryer’s keynote speech at Centuries; something new: art rock by Em- theaters throughout Japan the 2013 IMERSA Summit in Denver, Col- erson, Lake, and Palmer; something bor- Audience Choice Award orado. The full transcript is available at rowed: Cal Tjader’s cover of “Gimme Shel- First place: MUSICA-Why is the Universe www.imersa.org. ter” by the Rolling Stones; and something blue: which, of course, was “Blue Danube,” Beautiful?, Live Company Ltd. Second place: Toyokawa to the ALMA Tele- In November 1970, I attended a confer- our signature piece. scope: An Ongoing Journey into Space, Konica ence at USC called “Experiments in Art Minolta Planetarium Co., Ltd. and Technology.” There, a physicist by the We finished building the projector at 5 Third place: Mt.Fuji, KAGAYA Studio/Kon- name of Elsa Garmire was showing some of a.m. on opening day, November 19, 1973. ica Minolta Planetarium Co., Ltd./GOTO/LI- her artwork, created with a laser in her lab- At 8 a.m., I went home and took a shower. BRA Corporation. oratory. That morning, I appeared on Ralph Story’s First International Fulldome Festival in A friend and I were invited to film what Los Angeles show for five minutes with a Russia, October 21-23, 2013. she was doing. We went out to her laborato- little helium-neon projector with a lumia Planetarium live presentations with real- ry with a 16mm wheel. At 11 a.m., time fulldome visualization: camera. When I we had our press 1. Professor Anatoly Zasov and Planetarium looked through preview, which Cultural Center of the Armed Forces of the the viewfinder, was our first run- Russian Federation, Moscow, Galaxy in which I knew immedi- through for the we live. ately this was not show. 2. Surdin Vladimir and Planetarium Cul- the way to pres- That first tural Center of the Armed Forces, Telescope on ent this medium. night, we played Earth and in space. We were look- to two half-full Fulldome shorts and clips: ing at something houses, amount- 1. Sky-Skan Inc., USA, Relentless Night that required an ing to some 700 2. Novosibirsk Planetarium, Russia, Native environmental people. By the Star venue. A live pre- end of that first 3. Nizhny Novgorod Planetarium, Russia, sentation using a run, on Decem- Oblivion live laser. ber 15, 1973, we Fulldome Music Show: In Septem- turned away 500 Ralph Heinsohn Artworks, Germany, Syn- ber 1970, we did people from our code 360 our first demon- second show. We Fulldome shows: stration for the got a temporary, 1. Sky-Skan Inc., USA, To Space and Back Griffith Observa- month-to-month 2. SOFTMACHINE GmbH, Germany, Life of tory, where I had operating permit Trees worked on and and kept going 3. Saint-Etienne Planetarium, France, The off for 12 years. for 28 years. Blind Man with Starry Eyes They said “No.” But gradually, It turned out Upcoming events we were on our that whenev- Fulldome LA, Vortex Dome, Los Angeles, Cal- way. The compa- er we laserists ifornia. December 6-7, sessions and screen- ny that was to become Laser Images was did something that was on cue, the audi- ings organized by Kate McCallum and incorporated in 1971. That December, we ence would respond—no matter what it presented by c3: Center for Conscious Cre- provided some special effects for I Dream was. Such as when Charlie McDonald ac- ativity in association with Vortex Immer- of Jeannie: the first use of laser effects in a cidentally touched a high-voltage compo- sion, IMERSA and the Millennium Project. TV show. We then did some units for a rock nent. He was being continuously shocked www.consciouscreativity.com tour with Alice Cooper: the first use of la- and let out a mortal cry ‘til I reached over Morrison Planetarium Open House, San Fran- sers for a rock tour. We had lasers at Magic and turned off the switch. The audience cisco, California, USA. 24-25 January 24-25, Mountain, too. thought this was part of the show and ap- plauded. 2014. Enjoy Morrison Planetarium productions Earthquake: Evidence of a Restless Plan- My new partner, Charlie McDonald, and Another time, in 1974, Patty Hearst was et and Life: A Cosmic Story in the theater I set about building projectors. Elsa Garmire on the lam in Griffith Park. Now in those for which they were created, get a behind- graciously loaned us the use of a laborato- days I set up the Blue Danube effects us- the-scenes tour of the California Academy ry at Cal Tech for a demo in June 1973 that ing an old Navy oscilloscope so I could pre- of Sciences Visualization Studio, and learn was seen by the Griffith Observatory’s new set the scan patterns. During the afternoon how the academy uses real-time tools to director, William Kaufmann. “Let’s give it a show, there was a loud bang. Obviously create programs for a variety of audiences. try,” he said, and gave us a permit for four the FBI had cornered Patty close to the ob- All this plus a two-part WorldWide Tele- Monday nights in November. servatory. Charlie and I hit the deck. Then scope workshop hosted by the Microsoft At night and on weekends, Charlie and we noticed a funny smell and saw a plume Research team. Email Paulo Vergara at pver- I worked on the projector and the music of smoke coming up from the old oscillo- [email protected] for more informa- track. I like to think of the music as a brid- scope, which had just given up like toast. tion. (Continues on Page 74)

64 Planetarian December 2013 December 2013 Planetarian 65 bile dome, where many short educative se- International News quences were shown by a new LSS fulldome system. Lars Broman They proposed to set up their small opto- Teknoland and Strömstad Academy mechanical projector (with their JSPM dome) Stångtjärnsv 132 in a room of the school Boucher de Perthes at SE 791 74 Falun, Sweden Abbeville, where it would be useful for all the +46 2310 177 schools wishing to supplement their cours- [email protected], [email protected] es in astronomy. During the Fête de la science www.teknoland.se, www.stromstadakademi.se in Abbeville, Patrick presented his kitchen of stars under the dome. Representatives of the APLF Council met These days I spend much time chairing a So if you have news that you want colleagues with Daniel Schlup in Luzern to prepare the new Strömstad Academy project, the future worldwide to read, please send them to your 30th APLF conference, to be held 1-5 May 2014 study The Century of the Grandchildren. The IPS representative (see page 2). Their deadlines in Luzern. This event will also host the annu- first chance I got to present it outside Sweden are 1 January 2014 for Planetarian 1/2014 and 1 al conference of APLF’s friends, German’s GDP was to the participants in NPA’13 in Tartu, Es- April for 2/2014, so they need your news some and Italy’s PLANIT: a great symposium, hope- tonia, in September. It was an important au- time ahead of those dates. You who want fully with Thomas Kraupe, IPS president, pres- dience, since within this project a multitude to contribute news from parts of the world ent. If IPS members wish to attend, please con- of specialists in different fields will each write where IPS has no Affiliate Association are wel- tact [email protected]. a forecast for the next 87 years on one specif- come to send them to Martin George, martin- ic topic. [email protected]. Association of Mexican There are certainly several interesting top- For contributions to this International Planetariums ics that would be well handled by planetari- News column, I sincerely thank Agnès Ack- As partially reported in the previous issue, ans, so if you think that you might be inter- er, Vadim Belov, Bart Benjamin, Ignacio Cas- the AMPAC XLI meeting took place at the Ger- ested in participating, please contact me at my tro, Alex Delivorias, John Hare, Ian McLennan, man Martínez Hidalgo Planetarium in Pueb- stromstadakademi email address above. (See Loris Ramponi, Aase Roland Jacobsen, Pat- la, Puebla, 26-28 September, gathering repre- Guest Editorial on page 10.) ty Seaton, Zina Sitkova, Christian Theis, and sentatives from 17 planetariums throughout The International News column is built on Michele Wistisen. I wish you and other repre- Mexico. contributions from IPS Affiliate Associations. sentatives back with news for upcoming Plan- Lectures included various topics from The etarian issues, as well as an inter- Large Millimeter Telescope (LMT) or Gran esting new year with, hopefully, a Telescopio Milimétrico (GTM) Alfonso Serra- beautiful Comet ISON in the sky. no, a project developed by the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, and the National In- Association of French- stitute of Astrophysics, Optics and Electronics Speaking Planetariums (INAOE), at 4581 m (15029 ft) above sea level. The new planetarium in Reims Dr. Victor de la Luz, as a radio telescope as- (Champagne-France) opened its tronomer, explained the basic operating prin- gates on 6 September after nearly ciples of the radio telescope and the tasks he 18 months of work. About 400 per- confronts with daily, anticipating explana- sonalities and guests took part in tions for the site visit which followed the this prestigious event. Madam the meeting. Mayor of Reims thanked all those Javier Menchca explained new low-cost being at the origin of the creation productions, including 3D animation, using of a planetarium in Reims, nearly free software; Germán Martínez, from the 35 years ago, and thanked also the Puebla Astronomical Society, explained how municipal services which allowed to use, in astronomy workshops, the bi-week- this project of transfer and mod- ly sky pages supplied under license from Cre- ernization to succeed. ative Commons to find constellations, very The festival continued during popular with children. Other topics presented the two following weekends. More were planetarium low cost production tech- than 6,000 people could admire niques and planetarium funds collecting. the splendid sky done by the new An open invitation to join IPS membership ZKP4 Zeiss projector on the 8-m was made to new and old planetariums. An in- (27-ft) dome, and took part in var- dividual IPS membership has been difficult, ious animations. It was an unfor- due to payment in US dollars. gettable memory for all the team Evans & Sutherland representatives dem- of the planetarium and its leader onstrated its Digistar 5 capabilities in a demo. Philippe Simonnet, all being very Most interesting was that the Veracruz Nau- happy for the continuation of this tical Military School is in the processes of up- AFP: Top: The new Planetarium ZKP4 of Reims. Courtesy of great adventure. Sébastien Beaucourt, Planétarium de Reims. Bottom: Patrick grading its opto-mechanical planetarium pro- The Jeunes Science Picardie Mar- Hamptaux presenting his “kitchen of stars” to members of jector. itime (JSPM) team conducted by the “House For All” of Abbeville. On the apron: “I celebrate AMPAC held elections for President Elect science at the Visiatome.” Courtesy of Patrick Hamptaux, Patrick Hamptaux welcomed chil- 2014-16, resulting in Eduardo Hernández from Jeune Science Picardie. dren and teachers inside their mo-

66 Planetarian December 2013 Planetarium Torreon being elected. He has recently been AMPAC President. He commented that the formal inauguration of his institution will finally take place on 29 January 2014. The AMPAC meeting ended with a visit to the LMT telescope, being a wonderful and educational visit.

Canadian Association of Science Centres Manitoba: The Manitoba Museum’s planetarium in Winnipeg opened Stars of the Pha- raohs, produced by Evans & Sutherland, in October 2013. The show premiered in conjunction with an Egyptian exhibit in the Al- loway Hall exhibition space, and represented the first experiment in co-promoting planetarium programs and travelling exhibitions. Holiday shows running in December include Geographics’ The Alien Who Stole Christ- mas and Loch Ness Productions’ Season of Light (formerly ‘Tis the Season), both fulldome versions of the traditional December show of- Panoramic night view from the terrace of the Astronomical Centre Rijeka, Autumn 2013. Courtesy of Ri- ferings. jeka Sport Ltd. The planetarium celebrated one year of fulldome operations in October, and the staff buzz we are creating seems to be working, as ty Discovers. The show focused on the most re- continues to explore the capabilities of the Di- attendance is up 65 per cent compared to this cent discoveries made by the Curiosity rover gistar 5 system for live and scripted program- time last year,” said Rob Appleton, space cen- on Mars, from its landing to the present. ming. In addition to conventional astrono- tre executive director. On 5 October, in collaboration with the my shows and pre-recorded fulldome movies, The attendance boost mirrors that of the head of Team Stellar, Stjepan Bedić, and mem- the system is used for live video and DJ per- Manitoba Museum, whose planetarium also bers Kristina Ozvald Cačić and Vilko Klein, it formances and as a test bed for a local video went digital a year ago and saw a 50 per cent organized a public lecture on the “Google Lu- game company working on a fisheye plug-in increase in visitor volumes. Similar to its prai- nar X PRIZE and the Future of Space Mining.” for their first-person simulation games. Con- rie counterpart, the space centre is destined to Team Stellar also presented, for the first tact: Scott Young, scyoung@manitobamuse- embrace unconventional uses of its revamped time in Croatia, its new project Balloon Stel- um.ca. system. lar–Stratosfera, which involves the partici- Vancouver: Recent close encounters re- First on the docket is a new program de- pation of secondary school students in the ported by local UFO bloggers were actually buting in November called Through the Lens: conduction of an experiment, by launching the result of an elaborate hoax mastermind- Building Vancouver’s History. The indoor dig- balloons at an altitude of 30 km and subse- ed by the H.R. MacMillan Space Centre, Van- ital walking tour will give the audience a quently analyzing the data collected. couver. A drone in the shape of the space cen- chance to experience Vancouver streetscapes In addition to the above, the Astronomi- tre was captured by web cams, camera phones as they have evolved over the past century. cal Center Rijeka organized three internation- and video in and around several Vancouver There are also plans to make the projec- al culture events, the first of which was the locations, including a large stadium where the tion space available to corporations, founda- International Literary Festival Literary Link, Vancouver Canadians baseball team plays. tions and other organizations for unique pre- co-organized with the Croatian Writers’ Soci- The space centre worked with Vancou- sentation purposes, including medical schools ety. During that event, writers from the Unit- ver ad agency MacLaren McCann in devel- wishing to demonstrate surgeries with an im- ed States and Croatia read and discussed their oping this “extreme teaser campaign,” which mersive and close-up perspective. works in the planetarium dome under the consisted of strategically releasing web cam “Thanks to these recent changes and inno- stars. photos of the drone sightings through social vations, the space centre has gone from being The second cultural event was the Interna- media to UFO bloggers and Twitter and Face- a kind of beloved and well-respected Vancou- tional Symposium on the Anthology of Smug- book. A YouTube video of the baseball stadi- ver time capsule to a timeless expression of gling, organized by the Museum of Modern & um sighting captured more than 200,000 hits this new technological age. The possibilities Contemporary Art, in collaboration with the alone. are endless. If you can digitize it, we can show Contemporanea Gallery in Trieste, Italy and The campaign was complemented by the it,” added Appleton. Contact: Rob Appleton, the Mestna Museum in Idrija, Slovenia. release of an inventive new PSA, showing that [email protected]. Rijeka Planetarium also participated in the same space centre-shaped UFO flying in and celebrations for the Italian Days of Language replacing the old with the new building. A slo- European/Mediterranean and Culture, showing for the first time in Cro- gan follows: “New and improved. H.R. Mac- Planetarium Association atia Maksimovic: The story of Bruno Pontecorvo, Millan Space Centre Planetarium Theatre.” Croatia: The Astronomical Centre Rijeka a film, directed by Diego Cenetiempo and ded- “We want to show Vancouver, BC and the (Rijeka Sport Ltd.) in Croatia participated in icated to Italian physicist Bruno Pontecorvo, world that you can truly have a rare experi- October in activities to celebrate World Space whose far-reaching insights have represented ence by exploring the exciting new shows Week 2013: Exploring Mars, Discovering milestones in modern physics and, in partic- and state of the art projection system. The Earth, with the live planetarium show Curiosi- ular, in the study of neutrinos. The film was

December 2013 Planetarian 67 shown thanks to the The William M. Staerkel Planetarium at cooperation with the Parkland College has been working around a Italian Consulate Gen- massive construction project at the adjacent eral from Rijeka and Parkland Theatre. In November, they wel- the Center for Nuclear comed Suono Mobile for a live concert and Physics in Trieste. enjoyed storytelling with Kim Sheahan in In mid-October, As- Myths by Moonlight. This fall, Staerkel also tronomical Center Ri- brought back its World of Science Lecture Se- jeka participated in the ries and their backyard astronomy workshop. worldwide activities to In late June, the Cernan Earth & Space Cen- celebrate Mathematics ter at Triton College installed a new sound for Planet Earth 2013, system, which replaced the sound system that a worldwide initiative has operated in its theater since 1984. In late endorsed by UNESCO, September, the Cernan Center hosted storm focusing on the most chaser Paul Sirvatka, who made a presenta- urgent planetary prob- tion to their members titled “Tornado Chas- lems that mathematics GLPA: Top: Chuck Bueter ing: The Educational and Societal Impacts.” can address. helps Amera Platt make His subject was particularly relevant because a comet at a workshop That workshop took during the GLPA meeting of the storm chaser deaths and injuries earli- place in the last two in Peoria, Illinois. Watch- er this year. months in three Croa- ing are, from left, Deb Indiana. During the summer, the Koch tian cities and focused Lawson, Renae Kerrigan, Planetarium at the Evansville Museum add- Jean Creighton, Day- on possible solutions to ed a third part-time staff member, Justin Py- le Brown, Samuel Knapp several of the biggest and Jesse Jahn. Left: Syd- les, who was hired to assist with the operation problems affecting our nee Hamrick adds ex- and marketing of the museum’s new full- planet. tra excitement to mak- dome immersive theater, which is scheduled November brought ing a comet by juggling to open in early 2014. three nuclei. Photos by two additional live pre- Dan Goins At the SpaceQuest Planetarium within the sentations in the digital Indianapolis Children’s Museum, Deb Lawson planetarium, the first of and her staff have been traveling on behalf which presented project Laika, while the sec- tarium premiered the legendary IMAX film of their new fulldome film, Flight Adventures, ond, held in 15-19 November, focused on the Everest, introduced to the audience by Pavlos which was one of 26 fulldome productions se- Leonid meteor shower. Finally, the Astronom- Tsiantos and Giorgos Voutiropoulos, moun- lected for the 2013 Imiloa Fulldome Festival. ical Centre Rijeka celebrated Children’s Day taineers of the first Greek mission to success- Flight Adventures shows the science of aero- with the screening of a special film program fully raise the Greek flag on top of Mount nautics through the eyes of a young girl and in the digital planetarium, while in December Everest in May of 2004. her grandfather. it planned afternoon shows and live presenta- On 4 November, the New Digital Planetari- With all the speculation about Comet tions about the Star of Bethlehem. um celebrated its tenth anniversary with the ISON’s outcome, South Bend area planetarians Greece: With the emergence of the eco- premiere of its latest production The Pathways and astronomy enthusiasts have planned art nomic crisis in Greece, the New Digital Plan- of Stars, a digital show on the variety of stars in exhibits, music events, guest speakers, plane- etarium of the Eugenides Foundation in Ath- our Milky Way Galaxy, introduced to the au- tarium shows, a Comet Quest scavenger hunt, ens decided to establish some free-of-charge dience by Prof. Stratos Theodosiou, president and viewing with telescopes. shows, giving the opportunity to people with of the Greek Physical Society. Alan Pareis from the E.C. Schouweiler Me- financial difficulties to be able to enjoy the The same evening saw the presentation morial Planetarium at the University of Saint immersive experience of digital planetarium of a commemorative book on the history of Francis in Fort Wayne reports that their par- shows at no expense whatsoever. the Eugenides Planetarium, from its establish- ticipation in the city’s annual Three Rivers Thus, apart from the free-of-charge shows ment in 1966 to the present day. Finally, on 21 Festival was very successful. This summer, the during the premieres of its new productions, December, the New Digital Planetarium cele- staff was heavily involved in show produc- the New Digital Planetarium, starting in De- brated the winter solstice with the fulldome tion, and for the first time, two shows were in cember 2009, added 3 free-of-charge shows on show Can we Reach?, featuring live musical production at the same time: SEPA’s The Plan- each of the equinox and solstice days. improvisations by pianist and singer Ms. Valy ets and Larry Cat in Space. The staff hopes to In this spirit, this year’s autumnal equinox Ioannou. premiere a Spanish language version of the was celebrated on 21 September with three latter show in 2014. consecutive screenings of Lichtmond: Uni- Great Lakes Planetarium Michigan. The Roger B. Chaffee Planetari- verse of Light, a poetic journey through magic Association um at the Grand Rapids Public Museum has sounds and landscapes of a visionary parallel Illinois. In October, the Peoria Riverfront exciting news. The current planetarium the- universe, featuring award winning music by Museum hosted conferences for both GLPA ater, which opened late in 1994, closed in Sep- Giorgio and Martin Koppehele, Alan Parsons, and the Illinois Association of Museums, tember for an extensive renovation. Its Di- I Muvrini and Boy George. in addition to presenting four planetarium gistar 2 projector and slide projectors will be The show was presented to the public by shows and a selection of AVI laser light shows. replaced with the latest Digistar 5 fulldome Thomas Kraupe, IPS president and Hamburg Dayle Brown won the vote for president video system. Additionally, the current seats Planetarium director, who was also involved elect, Cheri Adams was elected as treasurer will be refurbished and seating capacity will in this project. and Dan Tell as secretary. Jeanne Bishop con- be increased. There will be new carpeting, LED On 30 September, the New Digital Plane- tinues at IPS representative. dome lighting, and an updated sound system.

68 Planetarian December 2013 Pole to the Edge of the Universe. The show features Ice Cube, the world’s largest and strang- est telescope buried in the ice at the South Pole, which captures neutrinos, the tiny “ghost particles” that help to solve several huge cosmic mysteries. The University of Wisconsin-La Crosse Planetarium presented Two Small Pieces of Glass for its October public program and Cos- mic Castaways for November. Weekly Album Encounters light and laser shows were also presented. The University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Planetarium hosted a special event in early October titled Black Hole Bash, that included discussions with black-hole experts, an NSF-funded exhibit, a special planetarium program, a cookout, and music. In addition, Shooting Stars was the topic for the Friday night shows in September, and in late fall, the theme was Fall Stars and their Myths.

Italian Association of Planetaria A new PlanIt prize, organized by Italian As- GLPA: Close-up and overall views of The sociation of Planetariums and called To Tell Evansville (Indiana) Museum, which will the Stars, is open to everyone, not only plan- open its Koch Immersive Theater early in etarians. Prize rules invite applicants to write 2014. It will feature a 12.2m (41-ft) tilt- a story, a lesson or an original short text that ed dome, 4K x 4K projection system and will be listened to under a planetarium dome. Digistar 5 software. Photos by Mitch Lu- man. In fact, the author of the text it is also invited to read the story and to collect the registration in an mp3 file. The target reopening date is February of 2014. (Pennsylvania) is displaying their planetari- The subject of the story is open, but should At the University of Michigan Museum of um banner, poster board and flag which were be connected with the celestial sky. The com- Natural History in Ann Arbor, a series of af- all carried on the last flight of the Shuttle En- plete script necessary to show the sky de- ter-midnight programs have been developed deavor by their astronaut friend Mike Fincke. scribed in the story is required to be enclosed, to offer alternatives ways for students to par- After 53 years of operating continuously in together with the written text and the sound ty on campus. the same place, the Erie Planetarium is mov- registration. The Dassault Systemes Planetarium in De- ing to Behrend College, the local Penn State The deadline for the first issue of the prize troit recently featured Hitchhiker’s Guide to branch. is 28 February 2014. In the website of PlanIt the Solar System, a light-hearted view of the Curt Spivey reports that at the GLPA con- (www.planetari.org) is the complete descrip- solar system. John Schroer is currently recov- ference last year, he was fortunate enough tion of the prize rules available. In fact now, ering from a serious illness. The planetarium to win a week’s rental of the Prismatic Mag- each year, PlanIt plans to organize three differ- is being operated by Don Klaser and Jennifer ic Laser system, which turned into a wild- ent prizes. Bridges. The planetarium has a new techni- ly successful attendance weekend in Febru- To encourage the participation of small fa- cal coordinator, Howard George. Recently the ary. YSU’s original show Cosmic Castaways is cilities and young planetarians during the an- planetarium production team has resumed now up on the CosmoQuest website (cosmo- nual meeting of Italian Planetariums, PlanIt work on a sun-oriented planetarium show quest.org) along with other free planetarium supports, with a prize, communications pre- that will be produced for both fulldome and resources. sented in the occasion of the National Confer- traditional systems. Dale Smith and Nick Anderson from the ence. Applicants interested in the 12-13 April Ohio. Bryan Child is the new director at the Bowling Green State University Planetarium 2014 National Conference at Modena Plane- Shaker Heights High School Planetarium, fol- attended the Spitz Institute this summer to tarium must contribute their proposals before lowing the retirement of Gene Zajac. Bryan learn Starry Night, ATM-4 automation, and 28 February. A committee will select the win- himself brings years of experience in the plan- the conversion of legacy shows in preparation ner that receives financial help to cover travel etarium to his new role and is looking forward for the installation of SciDome at BGSU next and hotel expenses. to working with their new Spitz SciDome year. Back at BGSU, Ash Enterprises installed PlanIt organizes also the second issue of the Touch HD system. a set of lifts on the Minolta star projector and prize devoted to a video, Power Point projec- Fran Ratka reports that the Scheule Plan- Astro-Tec repainted the dome they installed tion or something else about any astronom- etarium at Lake Erie Nature & Science Cen- 30 years ago. ical and astrophysical subject. The target of ter had a busy summer of rocket camps Wisconsin/Minnesota. The Daniel M. this audiovisual product will be students ages for all ages. Children ages 7 through teens Soref Planetarium in Milwaukee started up 11-13. The author of the most interesting prod- learned about aerodynamics and rocketry, their NASA CREATE grant that immerses lo- uct, selected by a special commission, will win played with hands-on physics, and built and cal high school students in astronomy. In No- a prize of 500€. The audiovisual product will launched gliders and Estes rockets. vember, Soref premiered an original produc- be freely available for PlanIt members. Jim Gavio reports that the Erie Planetarium tion Chasing the Ghost Particle: From the South

December 2013 Planetarian 69 IAP: StarLight, made up of former students of Simonetta Er- coli, Ignazio Danti Planetarium in Perugia, plans to use this hand-held paper model of a planetarium during lessons for schools and the general pubic. The model uses a drawing IAP: Planetarium Gummer in Alto Adige-Südtirol (S. Valentino in Campo, Val d’Ega, Italy) was by architect Gianni Murelli. Photo courtesy of StarLight. For in August the site of the International Planetarium Society Council Meeting. Courtesy of Plan- more information, see Mobile News on page 76. etarium Alto Adige-Südtirol.

People interested to participate in the com- astronomical issues. will be the first geothermal building on the petition need to send their proposals, in dig- In the next few months, the Planetarium Orono, Maine campus and is on schedule to ital format, to PlanIt ([email protected]) South Tyrol will offer musical shows, naked- be completed in spring 2014. before the end of February. Each audiovisual eye observations, and scientific meetings in There are also big changes in New York product presented in the contest needs to con- the beautiful background of Eggental. state. The Whitworth Ferguson Planetarium tain the following texts: For information: www.planetarium.bz.it at SUNY-Buffalo is in the midst of a complete Associazione dei Planetari Italiani (PlanIt); and [email protected] transformation. As part of construction of a name of the author; title of the product; and new science and mathematics complex, the “Premio PlanIt anno 2013.” The name of the Middle Atlantic Planetarium previous facility officially closed in January winner will be disclosed next March. The Society 2013. awarding of prize will be given in Modena 12- There are new projects underway in the Before that, the last few years saw a resur- 13 April 2014. MAPS region. At the University of Maine, Alan gence of attendance at public programs with Since the opening of Planetarium Alto Davenport, MAPS president and Maynard F. many presentations being sold out. The plan- Adige in South Tyrol, the staff has worked to Jordan Planetarium director, is watching the etarium “went out with a bang” as staff of- expand knowledge of it through the auton- new Emera Astronomy Center rise from the fered 17 different public astronomy and space omous district of Bozen and beyond. It is a earth to house the largest telescope and plane- science programs throughout 2012, as well as modern building that has up-to-date technol- tarium dome in the state. two months of laser music shows. Combined ogies in digital projection. There are five pro- The new home of the planetarium and ob- with school group and other private group jectors which create a fulldome 3D sky, sup- servatory will hold a 33-ft tilted dome and visits, over 10,000 visitors took part in plane- ported by E&S’s newest Digistar 5 software. Sky-Skan 4K system for audiences of up to (Continues on Page 72) The shows are intended for two main au- 50. The completely remote- diences: the schools and individual visitors. controllable observatory Any class can receive a customized show, ac- will hold a PlaneWave In- cording to teachers’ request. All the shows of- struments CDK 20-inch re- fer an introduction to the instrument and al- flector plus portable instru- lows viewers to observe the whole night in ments for student use. less than 5 minutes. The software recreates the The center’s planetarium night that comes, so every day a different sky is presented. Then follows a movie and at the end is question time, when the audience may satisfy its curiosities. This is regarded as the most important highlight of the show, for it creates MAPS: Above, the Emera Astronomy Center at the University of Maine takes shape. Photo by Alan Dav- a friendship between enport. Left: The proposed Science and Mathemat- audience and scientific ics Complex at SUNY Buffalo State. Courtesy of Can- mediators, and so with non Design.

70 Planetarian December 2013 Evidence of a Restless Planet

Develop a renewed appreciation for our Narrated by Academy Award winner Jodie Earthquake explores the forces that fragile planet. Sigourney Weaver narrates this Foster, Life launches the audience on a transform the surface of our planet and immersive excursion that explores a universe journey through time to witness key events influence the course of human history. filled with the possibility of life. since the Big Bang that set the stage for life. Narrated by Benjamin Bratt.

Winner Winner nominated Best FullDome Program FullDome Award of Excellence Best FullDome Program Jena FullDome Festival Jackson Hole Jackson Hole Wildlife Film Festival Wildlife Film Festival

Winner nominated Best Integration of Scientific Best Visual Effects Data and Best in Narration in a Special Venue Jena FullDome Festival Visual effects society

FINALIST Best Video the international science & engineering visualization challenge

Our official distribution partners: Carl Zeiss AG, Evans & Sutherland Global Immersion, Sky ‑Skan, Inc., Loch Ness Productions, Spitz Inc., Silkroading, Skypoint Planetariums, Sciss AB, and FulldomeFilm.org.

For more information on our shows and film licensing opportunities, please visit us at www.calacademy.org/licensing.

December 2013 Planetarian 71 ed with a guided tour to the old This live-narrated series runs every Thurs- downtown of Tartu and the day and Saturday night and features a special very interesting Old Observa- topic each week. Attendance has risen steadi- tory of Tartu, presented by Jaak ly in recent months as audiences respond to Jaaniste. Kai Santavouri invited the live and interactive elements of the show. the Nordic Planetarium Associa- A similar program called Gateway to the tion to the next meeting at the Stars runs once a month to demonstrate night Heureka Science Centre in Fin- sky observing techniques and how to use tele- land. That will be in September scopes. This show has built up a strong follow- 2015. ing as well; see clarkplanetarium.org/shows/ During the membership gateway-to-the- meeting in Tartu, the NPA By- stars. laws, which have been the same The Clark Plane- since NPA was formed in Janu- tarium’s production ary 1990, were updated. A new group also just com- board was elected for the years pleted an 18-month 2014 and 2015. Aase Roland Ja- show project called cobsen continues as president Exploding Universe. and Lars Petersen as secretary/ This 30-minute pro- treasurer. gram demonstrates In Aarhus, Denmark, the lo- how explosive cal authorities had invited the events have trans- Steno Museum to participate in formed the universe the great sailing ship arrange- into the form we see today. ment, Tall Ships Races, at the be- The show travels through a variety of sce- ginning of July. For four days a narios, from hypernovae and merging black small pavilion was our base at holes to asteroid collisions and supervolca- the harbor together with other noes. The connective story device is a pro- NPA: Top: Attendees of the NPA meeting at AHHAA in Tartu, Es- Aarhus museums. ton, starting at the Big Bang and ending in the tonia. Photo Olga Kalinitševa. Below: The Steno Museum Plan- Ole J. Knudsen and Aase Ro- Large Hadron Collider. Exploding Universe etarium telling stories about voyages of discovery and naviga- land Jacobsen from the Steno opened in October. More information can be tion at sea. Photo: Aase Roland Jacobsen. Museum Planetarium decided found at www.clarkplanetarium.org/distribu- that the visitors could engage in tion/explodinguniverse. International, continued from Page 70 activities and acquire knowledge about the tarium activities during this final year. themes voyages of discovery and navigation Russian Planetariums Association The Whitworth Ferguson Planetarium will at sea. Furthermore, Center for Teaching Aids, Barnaul Planetarium organized the Festival be reborn as a new state-of-the-art facility dur- Viborg, was so kind as to lend StarLab mini- of Knowledge on 2 September. To the sound ing the final phase of the science and mathe- planetarium to use at Tall Ships Races. of merry songs about school, the astronomical matics complex, expected to open in 5 years. In the planetarium we told about naviga- contests were held. Children drew pictures of A 13-m (43-ft) outer semi-sphere in the build- tion by the stars, the starry sky of summer and the moon, the sun, the stars, the planets, and ing’s lobby will hold the 10.5-m (35-ft) projec- the constellations at different latitudes. flying spaceships to them on the asphalt in tion dome and will be visible from outside In the pavilion, our large relief globe was a front of the planetarium. After that they went through 3-story glass walls. great attraction. Visitors also had the opportu- on participating in the artistic contest in the The planetarium will include both digi- nity of learning how to handle a sextant, and starry hall. tal and analog projectors, a laser system, and the younger children could engage in the ac- Vladimir Planetarium took part in the cel- state-of-the-art audio and lighting system. Al- tivity “draw your own solar system” as well as ebration of City Day on 17 August. Some tele- though dark for several years, the future is paint and assemble a mobile with the sun, the scopes were set up in order to observe the bright for the Whitworth Ferguson Planetar- Earth and the moon. moon. The young and the old came to see it. ium. At Tall Ships Races the planetarians had the Wonderful atmosphere, the clear sky and the opportunity to show colors, talk with a lot of bright moon—all these things helped to make Nordic Planetarium Association interesting people, and maybe inspire some to people interested in astronomy. The planetar- Almost 10 countries from the Nordic and seek more knowledge about their themes. In ium began a new educational year displaying Baltic area were represented when Margus Aru any case they had some new experiences and artistic works and having a traditional con- hosted the biennial NPA meeting at the AH- a break from the daily work. cert. HAA Science Centre in Tartu, Estonia, 6-8 Sep- In Kostroma Planetarium, the equipment tember. Rocky Mountain Planetarium had been established and launched for the do- Three days were spent with shows, lectures, Association mical show this summer. During the presenta- workshops, meeting old planetarium friends, The Clark Planetarium in Salt Lake City re- tion, the domical show Terrestrial Phenomena and getting new relations. The AHHAA Cen- cently upgraded its Hansen Dome Theatre for Lunar People was successfully demonstrat- tre was the best surroundings for getting inspi- from Digistar 4 to Digistar 5. Custom control ed. On the Day of Science, the theatrical play ration to science education when exploring panel pages have been created in D5 to sup- What did the Know-Nothing boy know about? this new facility with the splendid 360-degree port a new effort at the planetarium called was performed. planetarium. Night Vision; see clarkplanetarium.org/shows/ In the Lytkarino Planetarium in the Mos- In addition, historic perspectives were add- night-vision. cow region, the best works of the third re-

72 Planetarian December 2013 gional contest of children’s drawing Voyage around the Universe were ex- hibited. The contest was devoted to the 50th anniversary of the flight of the first spacewoman Val- entina Tereshkova. About 250 schoolchildren took part in it. The largest number of works was represented in the theme The Man and the Universe. Ac- cording to the con- RPA: Top: Under the dome of the Armed Forces Cultural Cen- ter Planetarium. Photo by D. Matsnev. Right, top: Day of Knowl- ditions of the con- edge in St. Petersburg Planetarium. Photo by A. Baskakova. Par- test, the picture was ticipants in SibAstro in Novosibirsk Planetarium. Photo by V. to convey the most Cherepanov. important events in the history called How the Man Explores the of telescope and binoculars. On Universe. 7 August, the delegation of the In Moscow, the Cultural Center of Armed Russian Federation of Cosmo- Forces Planetarium celebrated the Day of nautics headed by the president, Knowledge for three days. The students of spaceman V. Kovalyonok, had a educational establishments of the Ministry meeting with students, teachers of Defense were invited. This meeting made and veterans of cosmonautics and space in- dom. a strong unforgettable impression on them. dustry of the region. On behalf of the European Space Agen- Children and veterans thanked for the film St. Petersburg Planetarium organized a fes- cy (ESA), the production Touching the Edge of Valentina Tereshkova: The way to stars. The tival for first graders by the beginning of the the Universe about the history of space explo- film was made in honor of the 50th anniver- new educational year. In the foyer, an astrol- ration was created in Kiel. It found its way to sary of the first spacewoman’s flight. oger played games with children, the film A domes in 22 countries and was translated in Nizhny Novgorod Planetarium hosted the trip around the Starry Sky was showed, and ev- 15 languages. fall astronomical conference The Problems of ery schoolchild was awarded with a medal. Fi- The show Darwin and his fabulous orchids Physics and Astronomy in Secondary School; nally, one space probe made up with balloons received five international design awards. The 150 teachers took part in it. was launched. program The little polar bear Lars got an UNES- In Novosibirsk, unfortunately E.A. Lugov- On 18-21 September in Tomsk, the interna- CO seal regarding education for sustainable skaya (04/03/1960-18/07/2013) passed away. tional festival of educational films Intellect- development. Quality of service is an impor- She worked as a director of the planetarium of 21st Century was held. Tomsk planetarium tant topic for the team of the Mediendom as the Siberian State Academy of Geodesy. This demonstrated films made by the studio Ros- well. So the dome was awarded with the Ger- sad news shocked all the people who knew cosmos. There was a program called A Lesson man seal for Quality and the first Service- her: relatives, colleagues, students. from Space with the recorded spacemen’s wel- Award in Kiel. An astronomer, an honorable land survey- coming speech being on board of the space- The team of Mediendom professionals col- or, a member of the Academic Council, she ship. Some 900 schoolchildren became partic- laborate with volunteers as well as with stu- was a talented person who organized many ipants of the festival. dents, all of them with a huge quantity of en- interesting astronomical events in the city. In thusiasm. The team often hosts international addition she was a broad-minded person, a re- guests, for example the next meeting of the liable friend. Society of the German-Speaking Digistar Users Group in September 2014 will The 8th Siberian astronomical forum SibAs- Planetariums be held here, the first meeting of this group in tro 2013 took place in the camp Chkalovets, On 17 September 2003, the first fulldome- Europe. the first time without her presence. In the decade in Germany started with the opening In June 2013, heavy rains caused inunda- warm atmosphere, poems and songs were per- of the Mediendom at Kiel University of Ap- tion in the Czech Republic, Austria and in formed in honor of Elena Lugovskaya. Space- plied Sciences. It is a lecture room and work- parts of Germany. The Saale river in Halle man Andrey Borisenko was invited to partici- ing place for the students of the master course spilled over and flooded several areas of the pate in the forum lectures. For schoolchildren, of multimedia production. Some 330,000 city, by this creating the severest inundation particular events were planned such as quiz- public guests have visited the 9-m dome since since 400 years. zes and personal projects about space. 2003. Located on an island in the river, the plan- This summer a new observation area was Different shows, such as planetarium pro- etarium, which solemnizes its 35th anniversa- opened near the Perm Planetarium. It is an grams, a presentation about the rain forest in ry this year was flooded too. Albeit it was built opportunity to see some panoramic views of Costa Rica, and an interactive dance perfor- on a raised platform, the flood reached a level the city as well as celestial objects by means mance, have been produced at the Medien- of 1.60 m in each room. The Spacemaster pro-

December 2013 Planetarian 73 IMERSA, continued from Page 64 IMERSA Summit 2014, March 6-9, Denver Mu- seum of Nature & Science, Denver, Colora- do. Theme: Shaping the future of immersive cinema. Professional development sessions, screenings, “making-of” showcases, innovator presentations, a special focus on science visualization, industry experts sharing vital research, and a technical standards update. Additional topics of discussion: business models, marketing, education, convergence with the giant screen sector, and examples of recent, groundbreaking immersive cinema in non-planetarium settings. Registra- tion opens soon, and a block of hotel rooms is available now. If you are interested in participating as a volunteer organizer or assistant, speaking or presenting, sponsorship or a member of the press, please contact info@ imersa.org, or visit the webiste www.imer- GDP: The planetarium in Halle (lower left) flooded by the river Saale in spring 2013. Courtesy of Luft & sa.org Liebe Ballonfahrten, Björn Danzke. Giant Screen Cinema Association (GSCA), 2014 Film Expo, Austin, Texas USA, March jector, the library and the other facilities, in- available to SEPA members as a free download 24-25, 2014. New films, films in production cluding a lot of astronomy equipment, suf- beginning in 2014. and projects in development. The program fered substantial damage. The show will be 36 minutes long, and will will also include a laser projection system The flood was a catastrophe for all activities come with both a fall-winter and spring-sum- and/or digital demo, and a high frame rate of the planetarium and, even more, for popu- mer evening star identifications, and features demo. www.giantscreencinema.com lar astronomy in Germany’s federal state Sax- Jonn Serrie’s electronic arrangements of Gus- FullDome Festival 2014, Jena, Germany, May ony-Anhalt, since the Space Flight planetari- tav Holst’s The Planets suite. 22-24, 2014. Theme: “A Head in the Curve.” um was the center for many activities. The 2014 SEPA conference will be host- www.fulldome-festival.de Within the planetarium’s Astrolino project, ed by the Buehler Planetarium at Seminole SIGGRAPH 2014, Vancouver, Canada August run by the Society of Astronomical Educa- State College in Sanford, Florida. The location 10-14. The 41st international conference tion, young pupils made their first steps into is close to Orlando. Conference dates are 15-19 and exhibition on computer graphics and the universe and school teachers received a July. Details will be furnished in the next issue interactive techniques. s2014.siggraph.org special training on astronomy in cooperation of the Planetarian. GSCA annual conference, Toronto, Cana- with the Martin Luther University of Halle. The site for the 2015 conference will be da, September 20-23, 2014. Film screenings, Scientists and students took care of the inquir- the Tellus Science Museum in Cartersville, professional development, technical dem- ing early stage researchers and accompanied Georgia. Further information regarding onstrations, a trade show, laser projection them for years. SEPA can be found demo and more. Because a substantial part of the equipment at sepadomes.org. ISEA 2014, 20th International Symposium on of the Astrolinos was lost by the flood, the Gary Meibaum, a Electronic Art, Zayed University and oth- project was at risk. Due to the strong engage- long-time SEPA and er locations in Dubai and the UAE, Octo- ment by the local team and due to the support IPS member, passed ber 30-Nov 8. www.zu.ac.ae. I by charity activities of other German plane- away on 7 Octo- tariums, the Astrolinos were able to continue ber 2013. Gary was on.fb.me/PlanetariumTweets their work. a recipient of SEPA’s According to local media, there will be no Paul Campbell Fel- more investments to the building of the for- lowship Award and had served as presi- Real tweets about real planetariums mer planetarium. However, there is hope that Mario DiMaggio the Space Flight Planetarium will be recon- dent of the organi- structed, but now on a safer location. Thus, in zation. •• I want to go to the planetarium for a date.. He was the past the end, the 35th anniversary of the planetari- Gary Meibaum I'm a sucker for constellations and nebulas um might become also its new birthday. director of the plan- and space it's just beautiful. etarium in Luling, •• I want to go to a planetarium show with Southeastern Planetarium Louisiana, and was active on a number of someone who its actually interested in that Association SEPA committees. He was also a gourmet in stuff, not someone who just wants to go see SEPA is now in the process of converting every sense of the word. He would readily some stars its production of The Planets, written by Jon share his knowledge of off-the–beaten-path •• I went to the natural history museum and Bell and narrated by Star Trek’s Kate Mulgrew, restaurants in New Orleans and would accom- the planetarium to learn about non-base- into an immersive video program. pany you to them in a heartbeat. ball things so I missed it. Troy McClellan of FullDome FX is doing An additional tribute to Gary appears on •• if i take up astronomy can i work in a plan- the fulldome video production. It will be page 86. I etarium that kinda sounds really really cool

74 Planetarian December 2013 BlackHoles_FullPageAd_04-25-2012.pdf 1 4/25/2012 3:12:36 PM

CMY

December 2013 Planetarian 75 Immersive Theatres leads the way Mobile News Mario Di Maggio is a new partner with Zee- shaan Dinally, founder and executive director of Immersive Theatres. They are well suit- Susan Reynolds Button ed to work together due to the fact that they Quarks to Clusters had already been working closely, with Ma- 8793 Horseshoe Lane rio as manager of Thinktank Planetarium and Chittenango, New York 13037 USA Zee as a Thinktank Planetarium presenter. (See +1 315-687-5371 Waxing New, page 84.) After leaving Thinktank, they both have [email protected], [email protected] two jobs. Besides running Immersive Theatres, quarkstoclusters.wordpress.com Zee is now planetarium outreach officer at In- tech Planetarium and Mario has re-launched Science in School: an excellent “Cracking the mystery of how our planet Dome Club, a venue for experimenting with resource: formed” By Jérôme Ganne and Vincent de An- dome art, music and dance, at a local arts cen- While visiting the European Southern Ob- drade, “Studying the chemical composition of tre. servatory headquarters this summer, I discov- some of the planet’s oldest rocks has revolu- Mario writes, “The idea is to pick up where ered an interesting magazine that was freely tionised our understanding of how our conti- we left off at Thinktank and so I will be re- available on a rack in the lobby. It is called Sci- nents formed.” launching it next month in a portable 7-m, ence in School and it’s a “Casting light on solar wind: 1-tube dome located at The Custard Facto- European quarterly jour- simulating aurorae at school” ry arts centre (www.domeclub.co.uk).” Mario nal for science educators. By Philippe Jeanjacquot and says he will be adding many new pictures to It is available in several Jean Lilensten; read this to dis- Facebook soon. languages on the inter- cover some tips on classroom You can view Dome Club programs from net at www.sciencein- experiments/demonstrations the first 28 events here: bit.ly/domeclubpro- school.org. that simulate the Earth’s au- grammes. The magazine “is pub- rorae and the Van Allen Belt, Mario explains, “The format that worked lished by EIROforum, a demonstrate the Lorentz force, best was a short, live introduction on local collaboration between aurora on the sun and an inge- fulldome news plus fulldome snippets by lo- eight of Europe’s largest nious sun/Earth model. cal students and artists. This was normally inter-governmental sci- “Life without the Moon: a followed by short bits and pieces from festi- entific research organisa- scientific speculation” by Erin vals and international artists. And, finally, the tions (EIROs).” You can Tranfield. As the title implies, main show would be by a professional full- learn more about the col- the article describes first what dome artist with whom we had a gate-share laborative effort and in- the Earth would be like if it agreement. formation about the sup- never had a moon, and then “We deliberately kept the event to one porting agencies at www. what it would be like if Earth hour, to allow artists and students to network eiroforum.org. This is Issue 26; Issue 27 is now suddenly lost its moon. and chat afterward—but of course there were The eight supporting available! Photo by Susan Button Also included is a heartening always special requests and so people would agencies are: CERN (Eu- report about the next genera- linger an extra 30 minutes or so. Happily, all ropean Organisation for tion of scientists who present- these fulldome artists are keen to continue Nuclear Research), EFDA-JET (European Fu- ed their work at the 2012 European Union their relationship with Dome Club 2.0.” sion Development Agreement), EMBL (Eu- Contest for Young Scientists in Bratislava. (Continues on Page 78) ropean Molecular Biology Laboratory), ESA There’s a feature article (European Space Agency ), ESO (European Or- about how to rescue leaning ganisation for Astronomical Research in the towers and articles about a Southern Hemisphere), ESRF (European Syn- classroom lab activity on chrotron Radiation Facility), and the Europe- the genetics of obesity, a an XFEL (European XFEL Free-Electron Laser discussion of stem cells and Facility). spinal cord injury and de- The journal’s focus is on interdisciplinary scription of a thermometer science education, therefore it contains ar- that goes to 200 million de- ticles about a variety of scientific disciplines grees! You should be able to along with news from the eight member or- find something of interest in ganizations. Also included are teaching ma- this journal that is a gem of terials, information about cutting-edge sci- a find. ence, research projects in science education, To read the whole issue, interviews with scientists and teachers, book see: www.scienceinschool. reviews, a calendar of European events for org, where you also can find teachers and schools, and a variety of other the most recent issue and ar- useful resources for science educators. You can chives. Zee Dinally and Mohammed Altaf of Immersive Theatres taking a 5 access all articles and resources free of charge! Thank you EIROforum meter dome to National Science Week, Alton Towers Theme Park, Articles specifically related to our work in for your excellent contribu- March 2013. Photo by Sumpa Paul. © Immersive Theatres 2013; used Issue 26, Spring 2013, include: tion to education! with permission.

76 Planetarian December 2013 ONE MILLION DOMEMASTERS* that is how many frames you can get from us in one purchase. we now offer our entire library under a single license. this means you receive an inventory of some 500 allskies, 600 time lapse and about 200 live action clips from around the world covering any topic you would raise under a dome. it is a one-stop solution for all planetariums actively producing shows and will give all others a decade worth of live presentation backdrops.

allsky.de - t. kwasnitschka, w. ermgassen u. ges. gbr am doerpsdiek 37 24109 melsdorf / kiel phone: +49 700 allskyde fax: +49 434 04192945 www.allsky.de [email protected]

*by now the time lapse alone covers 500.000 frames, and the live action footage easily doubles that. it may well be even more by the time you order... December 2013 Planetarian 77 Discover the Legend Written in the Stars... Mobile, continued from Page 76 field of astronomy. Formal les- Zeeshaan and Mario, along with their equal- sons and practical sessions will ly creative staff and volunteers at Immersive take place in schools, while Theatres, have taken portable domes to a new conferences, lectures and ob- level with immersive experiences that in- servations for the public will clude science, art, music, and even dance for be held in different venues. schools and corporations as well as public and StarLight will be also offer a private events! They describe what they do in maximum of three scientific six areas: tours a year.” Education: five levels: astronomy, biology, The StarLight website is un- chemistry, physics and history (a choice from der construction. For more in- 60 immersive videos or a live program); formation contact Simonetta Entertainment: immersive music, dance, at [email protected]. performing art and kaleidoscopic visuals in portable domes for any special event (birth- And we have a winner! days, weddings etc.); Dave Weinrich, our IPS past Business: entertaining clients, team build- president, is this year’s winner ing and product launching events; of An Experience in Italy for Video Production: traditional and full- an American Planetarium Op- dome video; erator. Dave will be traveling Astronomy Courses: online distance to Italy in April 2014 to make learning classes; presentations, in English, for Products: digital planetarium systems, full- Italian students, teachers and dome (360 degree) films and operating soft- the public. ware. We all know about the won- They can make presentations with an in- derful work he has done as IPS door dome or outdoors with a 13-m marquee president in Ghana, Liberia dome. This team will continue to expand and Sri Lanka. He believes pas- their offerings in unique ways; keep an eye sionately in the benefits of in- on them and you may expand your horizons! ternational collaboration. He (www.immersive-theatres.com) continues to serve his local One project that Immersive Theatres is community as well, as plane- working on currently is Data_Sea, a real-time tarium director at Minnesota Narrated by 3D installation by a leading UK profession- State University-Moorehead, al artist who is creating science-art content and will bring back some ex- for mobile domes. Mario explains: “Data_Sea cellent new tips and tricks to Terry O’Quinn is an artistic but scientifically highly accu- enhance his teaching there. rate representation of the radiosphere (www. Congratulations, Dave! takeo.org/nspace/ns030). Version 2.0 has been (Dave mentioned that he adapted for mobile domes and was launched would like to initiate a reverse at the Victoria & Albert Museum in London exchange in the USA. This is last month.” a great idea. Anyone wishing to work with Dave can contact him at: dave.l.weinrich@ Top: Mario Di Maggio interpreting the artwork at the V&A London StarLight in Italy Digital Design Weekend, 2013. Below: another example. Data_Sea gmail.com) My good friend Simonetta Ercoli from Italy v2.0 is by Michael Takeo Magruder with Drew Baker, Johanna Jar- wrote to let me know about a new program. The revised contest rules: vis & David Steele. Photo by Emma Puente. © Takeo 2013. Used She wrote, “My ex-students and I formed a September 15 is the yearly with permission. new group, StarLight. We are going to show deadline for the applicants of the sky at schools with a little paper planetar- An Experience in Italy for an ium, which was created by an architect my American Planetarium Operator. fore applying it would be wise to consult friend. This is our presentation: ‘The most un- Application Procedure: some of the previous winners to ascertain the intelligible thing about the universe is that it Participants must send an application that best approach. is intelligible.’ (Albert Einstein). includes full name, complete address, year of Send your application to: Loris Ramponi, “Discovering the unintelligible…from a birth and curriculum vitae. Send this informa- Osservatorio Serafino Zani, Via Bosca 24, A New Fulldome Show From Evans & Sutherland Digital Theater Productions tiny ‘hand-held planetarium’ to the immense tion along with a cover letter explaining why 25066 Lumezzane, Italy, or you can email it ‘universe around us’—this is what StarLight you wish to be considered for this experience. to Loris at: [email protected] or me- and the eugenides foundation planetarium aims to do. The group, made up of members You must also include the text of three les- [email protected]. of the former working team at the Ignazio sons (or variations of the same lesson), with ac- Don’t forget, there are other opportunities: Danti Planetarium until the end of the 2012- tivities and stories, which you would like to August 31 is the yearly deadline for the ap- 13 school year, has now branched out on its present, (1) for students, (2) for teachers and (3) plicants of An experience in Italy for a French own, with activities for schools and the gen- the public. Planetarium Operator. eral public alike—activities which are the fruit Please include a list of specialized vocabu- September 30 is the yearly deadline for of numerous years’ experience by teachers, lary or any other relevant materials that you the applicants of An Experience in Italy for a planetarists and laboratory technicians in the feel would strengthen your application. Be- British Planetarium Operator. I

78 Planetarian December 2013 www.es.comDigital Theater [email protected] Discover the Legend Written in the Stars...

Narrated by Terry O’Quinn

A New Fulldome Show From Evans & Sutherland Digital Theater Productions and the eugenides foundation planetarium

December 2013 Planetarian www.es.comDigital Theater79 [email protected] field and gravity well. Book Reviews Smylie’s work is based upon open source computer code, which has been made available for peers and students to explore his the- ories. The book’s companion website can be accessed at www.cambridge.org/smylie. April S. Whitt The work makes extensive use of scalars, Fernbank Science Center vectors and tensors. Elementary results of vec- 156 Heaton Park Drive NE tor analysis are summarized in an appendix in the back of the book. A prior working knowl- Atlanta, Georgia 30307 USA edge of physics is helpful before diving into [email protected] this book. Smylie’s writing is easy to follow with this the first investigation of the Arctic Ocean prior knowledge, and having the software How to Build A Habitable Planet: ridge system. He, too, is a fellow of the Amer- available from the website makes it easy to ican Academy of Arts and Sciences and a pro- verify his work. Of particular interest to the The Story of Earth from the Big fessor at Harvard University. planetarian is the fourth chapter, Earth’s Ro- Bang to Humankind How To Build A Habitable Planet includes all tation: Observations and Theory, which deals Charles H. Langmuir and Wally Broecker, the tools to make reading it a pleasure: Acro- with reference frames, polar motion and wob- Princeton University Press, 2012 nyms are well defined, an extensive glossary, ble and their dynamics, and nutation and the Reviewed by Bruce L. Dietrich, Wyomiss- appropriate end notes, related references, and motion of the celestial pole. ing, Pennsylvania, USA. an excellent index, indeed all the hallmarks of Throughout the book Smylie’s writing is It is estimated that our galaxy contains at a Princeton University Press publication, are clear and well organized. His formulae are least as many planets as stars. For some of us, here. straightforward. This book would be a sound finding Earth analogs, more This book is a substantive prim- foundation for a graduate level course on ter- popularity known as Goldi- er for the literate non-scientist or, restrial dynamics. locks planets, holds tremen- indeed, for anyone seeking a gener- While this book is not light reading, it pro- dous fascination. al updating in astronomy, biology, vides a welcome challenge to those of us who When this truly massive chemistry, or geology, especially enjoy a bit more meat in our science reading. tome arrived, I was both in relation to friendly exo-planets. If you are a person who has a strong back- challenged and amused by I found in it the elements of an ac- ground in higher mathematics and physics, its title. Could it be a reprint curate, reasoned, useful, non-pejora- then you might enjoy this scholarly tome. If of some ancient six-day con- tive action plan for humanity. you are looking for an interpretive work, then struction manual? Or, more you should skip it. likely, a comparative ta- Earth Dynamics: ble of specifications for our Deformation and Mission: Mars “control” planet? Pascal Lee, Scholastic, 2013. Of course, it is neither. Oscillations of the Reviewed by Edna DeVore, SETI Institute, Rather, it is the comprehen- Rotating Earth Mountain View California, USA. sive history of Earth from D. E. Smylie, Cambridge University Mission: Mars is a colorful introduction to cosmic dawn to the ascen- Press, 2013. Mars and space exploration designed as train- dance of human civilization. This edition is Reviewed by Woodrow W. Grizzle III, Eliza- ing manual for future space explorers, and the product of the apparently seamless col- beth City State University Planetarium, Eliza- was released to laboration between Charles H. Langmuir and beth City, North Carolina, USA. Scholastic Read- Wally Broecker. Earth Dynamics is a scholarly work. Anyone ing Clubs in Sep- In 1984, Eldigo Press published a first edi- looking for back porch leisure reading should tember 2013 and tion written by the grandfather of climate sci- steer clear of this book. Saying that, people to bookstores in- ence, Wally (Wallace S.) Broeck- who have a strong background ternationally er. Dr. Broecker’s studies of the in differential equations and a on 1 November biogeochemical cycles of car- foundational understanding of 2013. bon and their influence on cli- the more advanced nature of The author, mate change earned him the our planet’s motions will enjoy Dr. Pascal Lee, National Medal of Science. Cur- what Smylie has to say. leads the train- rently he is professor of geo- This work deals with inter- ing with easy to chemistry at Harvard Universi- nal dynamic processes arising understand ex- ty and a fellow of the American from the fluid nature of Earth’s planations and Academy of Arts and Sciences. mantle and core, mobile tec- obvious enthusiasm. Stage one begins with a Dr. Charles H. Langmuir has tonic plates and rapidly chang- basic introduction to Mars and the solar sys- discovered hydrothermal sites ing atmosphere, as well as exter- tem. Stage two includes practicing on Earth at in three oceans while on re- nal forces rendered through the Mars-analog sites and preparing for launch. search cruises over the past 20 gravitation of the sun, moon Stage three takes children to space and pro- years. His distinguished career and planets, which, together, vides detailed images and information on has made him a pioneer in solid earth geo- exert forces upon Earth that displace its mass, spacecraft and navigation requirements, plus chemical cycle research. He recently co-led thereby affecting its shape, rotation, magnetic (Continues on Page 82)

80 Planetarian December 2013 December 2013 Planetarian 81 Rudolf Straubel, continued from Page 54 museum archive contains the proceedings of a Meyer’s letter, he proposed a solution for the be gained by optically projecting the pictures meeting at Zeiss in Jena on July 7, 1917. Present difficulties encountered by Meyer of project- of the heavenly bodies on the interior surface were Prof. Straubel, Dr. Bauersfeld, Wieland, ing the stars. In addition, he now took over of the sphere. In this case all the complicated Becker (all Zeiss), and Oskar von Miller (DM). from Franz Meyer the task of designing and mechanical machinery could be replaced by a On the agenda were the current state of the building the Ptolemaic planetarium projector. fairly small arrangement of optical apparatus work on the planetarium projects, and plan- The following comment, dated Septem- in the midst of the sphere.’ ning of detailed steps to advance the projects. ber 29, 1942, and signed “Bfd” for Bauersfeld, “Immediately after I had spoken these Franz Meyer was unable to attend the meet- was found handwritten on the side of a typed words, my colleague in the Board of Manage- ing, but was sent to Munich shortly thereafter copy of Meyer’s letter: “This letter was routed ment, Professor Straubel, who also had attend- to continue the discussions on site. (1 written to me by the author before it could be mailed; ed the meeting, exclaimed: “Then of course, report, Archive DM) therefore I was able to prevent it from being also the fixed stars should be projected from sent. It gave me reason to take on myself the the central apparatus.” This was the moment Work on projector can resume construction of the projection planetarium in which the Zeiss-Planetarium was born. Os- After the end of World War I on November since I was no longer convinced that the pro- kar von Miller and all members of the meet- 11, 1918, following the end of war production jection idea which originated with me could ing were very happy about this solution and amidst a considerably decrease in civilian be realized without my continual assistance.” which, moreover, allowed enlargement of production at Zeiss due to a sharp decrease in (17 Meier pp. 91-92) the dimensions of the spherical dome so that exports, the work on the planetariums could The events of March 1919, and the follow- many more visitors could see the artificial sky now be resumed with increased effort. ing stages in the construction of the appara- simultaneously, and the astronomical depart- The next event of crucial significance oc- tus, have been described by others, especial- ment was charged with designing the appara- curred in March 1919. Franz Meyer, who was ly in much historical and technical detail by tus in this form.” (3 Bauersfeld p. 75) then in charge of the project, had prepared a Ludwig Meier. (17 Meier) Therefore, we only We will discuss the Bauersfeld article and letter to the museum, dated March 21, 1919, in mention the main events from here on. particularly the “birth moment” in a separate which he suggested abandonment of the pro- Franz Meyer continued work on the Co- section below. jection of the fixed stars due to what he be- pernican planetarium, while Walther Bauers- When informed by Dr. Fuchs about the lieved to be insurmountable difficulties, and feld was now in charge of the projection plan- new design idea for the Ptolemaic planetar- to return to the original mechanical design of etarium. On October 17, 1922, Zeiss sent in the ium, Oskar von Miller was very pleased. In a a rotating metal sphere. patent request for the planetarium projector. letter dated March 20, 1914 he reflected on the His proposed change did not affect projec- From July to September 1923, trial runs of the new design. Beginning in April, he personal- tion of the planets, sun and moon. new device were performed in Jena, in a dome ly travelled to Zeiss in Jena, and upon his re- Bauersfeld, who found this letter on his constructed on top of a Zeiss factory roof. turn to Munich, in a letter dated April 6, 1914, desk for approval, intercepted it and prevent- Significant participation by Bauersfeld in he summed up his discussions in Jena with an ed it from being sent. (17 Ludwig Meier pp. 91- the correspondence with the Deutsches Mu- endorsement of the new plans. (9 Fuchs p. 61) 92) seum started on September 17, 1923, follow- According to Bauersfeld himself, on March ing von Miller’s request to have the projector Projection planetarium: From concept 24, 1919, just three days after finding Franz shipped to Munich for demonstrations to the to reality After this endorsement of the new plans by von Miller, the actual work on the planetari- Books, continued from Page 80 ums began at Zeiss. But because World War I a pit stop at Phobos. Next, Mars explorers are Mars Project at NASA Ames Research Center broke out less than four months later, on July guided to a landing, where they learn about in California. Each summer he leads research 28, 1914, the preoccupation with war produc- space suits and driving around on rovers. teams that explore Devon Island, a Mars-an- tion at Zeiss slowed the work on the planetar- Then current Mars science steps in. Readers alog site in the Canadian Arctic, only a 1,000 iums down to a crawl. Nevertheless, the coop- are treated to the wonders of Mars from the miles from the north pole. A key site is the eration continued. top of Olympus Mons to the bottom of Valles Haughton Crater, an impact crater that’s like Chief engineer Meyer was put in charge Marineris. Lee deals with the “face on Mars” Mars on Earth! of the actual work on the planetariums and and other such images as well. Lee’s short biography appears on the book. on occasion was sent to Munich, to take part Finally, at stage 6, readers are challenged He’s a planetary scientist, explorer, helicopter in discussions and decisions concerning the to imagine the Mars of the future when hu- pilot, and flight instructor. Lee is an exciting building of the domes where the Zeiss plan- mans have made a permanent home on the scientist that inspires children. etariums and the Zeiss telescope were to be red planet. Can humans terraform Mars into a Mission: Mars is ready-made introduction housed. (9 Fuchs pp. 47-48) green world? The book wraps up with a short to Mars and space exploration for students in The correspondence between Zeiss and the quiz, and a certificate of achievement signed grades 4-6 (ages 10-12) and teachers. This hand- museum also continued. Letters from the mu- by Lee that can be personalized. book could complement planetarium pro- seum to Zeiss usually are addressed to “Prof. Dr. Pascal Lee, a scientist and explorer, has grams on the solar system and human space Dr. Straubel, Direktor der Zeisswerke.” Let- shared the dream of space exploration since exploration, serving as an extension of stu- ters from Zeiss to the museum typically are childhood. His undergraduate studies were at dent and family experiences at the science signed by Dr. Walter Villiger, now head of the the University of Paris. He completed his PhD center or planetarium. astronomy department at Zeiss, though some at Cornell, where he studied with Joe Vever- Mission: Mars has a companion web- of them additionally show Straubel’s initials ka, and was Carl Sagan’s last teaching assistant. site that offers videos of Lee, a peek inside (“Str”). (1 Archive DM) Today, he’s a scientist at the SETI Institute and the book, and a downloadable teaching Despite the war, von Miller continued to is chairman of the Mars Institute. guide linked to the Common Core State Stan- push for advancement of the projects. The He’s also the director of the Haughton- dards: www.scholastic.com/missionmars. I

82 Planetarian December 2013 presidium board during its annual meeting. signatures of Zeiss management members and the Carl-Zeiss-Stiftung in Jena.) Only after von Miller had travelled to Jena Czapski (9 p. 32) and Bauersfeld (9 p. 63), but 3 Bauersfeld, Walther. “Projection Planetar- in person did Bauersfeld reluctantly grant his Straubel’s signature is not shown. ium and Shell Construction.” Part 1. The wish. Furthermore, the singular statement Engineer (Proceedings of the Institution of shown above seems quite curt. Fuchs men- Mechanical Engineers) 171 (17 May 1957): 75- Demonstrating the device tions Straubel’s membership on Zeiss’s board 80. (German: Bauersfeld, Walther. “Projek- Demonstrations were held in Munich from of management, but omits his role as scientif- tions-Planetarium und Schalenbauweise.” October to December 1923, and then the de- ic director of Zeiss. This is all the more aston- In: Zeiss-Werkzeitungen, 1957 Heft 28 p. 87. vice was returned to Jena for final work. On ishing since Fuchs was von Miller’s right-hand Carl Zeiss, Jena.) April 3, 1924, the patent for the projector was man, from 1904 throughout the entire period 4 Bauersfeld, Walther. Das Zeißische Projek- granted, issued to Walther Bauersfeld. of the planetarium projects and beyond. tions-Planetarium. Verlag Dr. S. V. Jezewski. Much to the dismay of von Miller, who Straubel’s donation of the Zeiss telescope Jena 1925. wanted to retain the novelty aspect of the for the observatory, his significance in Zeiss 5 Becker, Markus. “From Entrepreneur to Or- planetarium for its intended location at the taking on the planetarium projects, and his ganization: The Replication of Individual museum, public demonstrations of the pro- membership in the presidium board of the Habits.” Paper presented at the 2010 sum- jector were held in Jena on the factory roof- museum all must have been known to Fuchs. mer conference, “Opening Up Innovation: top from August to October 1924. In fact, Fuchs must have had personal contact Strategy, Organization and Technology.” Finally, on May 7, 1925, the new collections with Straubel on various occasions, such as at Imperial College London Business School, building of the Deutsches Museum in Munich the crucial meeting on February 24, 1914 in June 16-18, 2010. was officially opened in a ceremony. Simulta- Jena. In light of these facts, Fuchs appears to 6 Boegehold, H. “Rudolf Straubel zum siebzig- neously on that day, the projection planetari- show a decided reluctance towards mention- sten Geburtstage.“ Die Naturwissenschaften um, using the Zeiss Model I projector, and the ing Straubel by name. 25 (1934): 421-424. Copernican planetarium, also built by Zeiss, Fuchs’s intimate familiarity with the histo- 7 Duwez, Pol. “The Solar Furnace.” Engineer- were opened to the public. ry of the development of the Deutsches Mu- ing and Science 19 (Feb. 1956): 13-16. Quote: On the day of the opening, the Deutsches seum, particularly with its astronomy depart- “With a glass parabolic mirror of about six Museum honored a significant number of per- ment, is the reason why his article from 1955 feet in diameter and a focal length of two sons with its highest honor, the “Goldene Eh- has been so widely used as a key reference in feet, Straubel was able to reach tempera- renring” (golden ring of honor). Among the the history of the projection planetarium, and tures of the order of 3000 degree Celsius recipients were two persons from Zeiss, recog- rightfully so. (~10000 degree Fahrenheit)” (on p.14). nized for their contributions in building up In turn, Fuchs’s lack of mentioning Straubel 8 Email communications to the author the astronomy department of the museum: could help to explain why Straubel’s contri- from Dr. Röschner and Dr. Füßl, Archive, Prof. Dr. Rudolf Straubel and chief engineer bution to the planetariums has not been rec- Deutsches Museum. Franz Meyer. (8 Archive DM) ognized in so many other accounts. The fact 9 Fuchs, Franz. “Der Aufbau der Astrono- While the honoring of Franz Meyer by the that Fuchs does not directly mention that mie im Deutschen Museum (1905 - 1925).“ museum has been cited in the literature (20 Straubel was present at the annual meeting in Deutsches Museum Abhandlungen und Beri- Schomerus p. 131), mention of Rudolf Straubel 1913, for example, caused planetarium histo- chte 23, no. 1 (1955): 1-68. also receiving this honor has not been found. rian Ludwig Meier to invent a fictional tele- 10 Gale International Directory of Company Straubel’s membership on the muse- phone conversation between von Miller and Histories: “Carl Zeiss AG.” um’s presidium board continued through- Straubel, and to mainly credit von Miller’s ir- 11 Hermann, Armin. Nur der Name war gebli- out World War I and is documented until at resistible persuasiveness with Zeiss’s accep- eben–Die abenteuerliche Geschichte der Firma least January 1920. Noteworthy is a telegram tance of the planetarium projects. (17 Meier Carl Zeiss. Deutsche Verlags-Anstalt, Stutt- sent to von Miller on May 24, 1918, in which pp. 85-86) gart, 1989. Straubel announced the donation by Zeiss of Although it is not known with certainty 12 Herzberger, Maximilian. “The Scientific fifty thousand mark for the construction of why Fuchs did not give Straubel the warrant- Work of Constantin Rudolf Straubel.” Jour- the museum’s library building. (1 Archive DM) ed credit for his contributions, we will offer nal of the Optical Society of America 44, no. 8 a possible explanation at the end of this arti- (August 1954): 589-592. Discussion: The lack of credit given to cle. Fortunately, the archive at the Deutsches 13 Jentzsch, F. “Rudolf Straubel zum 70. Ge- Straubel by Franz Fuchs Museum has the documents to complement burtstag.” Zeitschrift für technische Physik In his 1955 article “Aufbau der Astrono- Fuchs’s otherwise excellent historical account 1934 Nummer 6. mie im Deutschen Museum,” Franz Fuchs, of the planetarium history with accounts 14 Julius Rosenwald correspondence, Museum a long-term division chairman there, men- crediting Straubel’s contribution. of Science and Industry (MSI) Archives, Chi- tions Straubel only once (12 Fuchs p. 59), with Will continue in the next issue. cago. these words: “Despite the previous rejection 15 Langer Snook, Linda. The Langers of Jena. by Zeiss, on Oct. 3, 1913 von Miller thoroughly References Charleston, SC: privately published, 2012. discussed this matter which he felt so strongly 1 Archive, Deutsches Museum, München. If 16 Marché II, Jordan D. Theaters of Time and about with Prof. Straubel who was a member not indicated otherwise, documents are Space: American Planetaria, 1930-1970. New of Zeiss management.” (Note that the correct from the folders “Korrespondenz Astrono- Brunswick, N.J.: Rutgers University Press, date of the discussion was September 30, 1913) mie” or “Allgemeine Korrespondenz.” 2005. Given the consistently courteous and rev- 2 Auerbach, Felix. Das Zeisswerk und die Carl- 17 Meier, Ludwig. “Die Erfindung des erent attitude towards Straubel found in Zeiss-Stiftung in Jena–Ihre wissenschaftliche, Projektionsplanetariums.“ In: Jenaer Jahrbu- the museum’s correspondence, the lack of technische und soziale Entwicklung und Be- ch zur Technik- und Industriegeschichte, Straubel’s mention by Fuchs appears surpris- deutung, 5th ed. Gustav Fischer, Jena 1925. Band 5, 2003. I ing. In his article, photos are included of the (English: Auerbach, Felix. The Zeiss Works

December 2013 Planetarian 83 who has published nearly 1,000 articles and 10 Waxing New books on observing the wonders of the heavens, Jim has logged over 20,000 hours of star- An eclectic collection about planetariums, products and people gazing time with the unaided eye, binocu- compiled by Sharon Shanks lars and telescopes. Formerly curator of the Buhl Planetarium & Institute of Popular Sci- ence in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and director tions that allows production of a high resolu- of the DuPont Planetarium at the University tion, live-action image for fulldome theatres. of South Carolina-Aiken, he served as staff as- Company officials say that it already allows tronomer at the University of Pittsburgh’s Al- spherical, clean, live-action images with a na- legheny Observatory and as an editor for Sky tive resolution of 5000 x 5000 px and enough & Telescope magazine. flexibility for cinematic techniques. Beyond the Arctic Circle is a story about a Staff changes at Thinktank journey to the North in search of a special fox Mario Di Maggio reports that he was told through the eyes of a grandfather to his made redundant as manager of Thinktank grandson. The film is 20 min in length and is Planetarium, Birmingham, West Midlands, intended for all audiences. England, and is now running Immersive The- For more information, contact Gajane Ka- Dave Hurd, fifth from left, with students at Ed- atres (www.immersive-theatres.com). Mario latshjan, producer, at Benjamin River Produc- inboro. Courtesy Edinboro University. has also re-launched Dome Club at a local arts tions. [email protected] centre (www.domeclub.co.uk). Getting tactile with moon craters Zee Dinally also was made redundant as Somehow, Someday Dr. David Hurd, professor of Geosciences Thinktank Planetarium presenter and has tak- From author Avis Lang: If you were asked and planetarium director at Edinboro (Penn- en up the post of planetarium outreach officer whether humans will have colonized space sylvania) University, was invited by NASA to at the Winchester Science Centre and Plane- by the year 2500, chances are you’d say yes. attend the launch of the Lunar Atmosphere tarium in Hampshire (formerly known as the But in light of current realities, political and and Dust Environment Explorer (LADEE) on INTECH Science Centre.) September 6 at Goddard Space Flight Center’s otherwise, how might that goal be achieved? Wallops Flight Facility in Wallops Island, Vir- In this wide-ranging essay, Avis Lang, Neil And at Ott Planetarium deGrasse Tyson’s longtime editor investigates ginia. Ron Proctor, production coordinator for the present state and long-term possibilities of He attended public events leading up to the Ott Planetarium at Weber State Universi- spacefaring—encouragements versus impedi- the launch to help enlighten the public on ty, Ogden, Utah, has been laid off due to bud- ments, competition versus cooperation—with the mission as well as share copies of his tac- get deficits. reference not only to the United States but to tile book, Getting a Feel for Lunar Craters. Writ- His wife, AmyJo Proctor, remains as assis- humanity as a whole. Somehow, Someday is ten by Hurd with support from NASA’s Lunar tant planetarium director. both for nonscientists who would like to get a Science Institute, Getting a Feel for Lunar Cra- In a recent Dome-L post, Ron points out quick but substantive overview of space issues ters is a primer on lunar cratering designed for that he now has free time to help with full- and for scientists interested in policy and pub- blind and visually impaired students. dome video and Science on a Sphere needs. lic awareness. Check for it online. Hurd has dedicated the last 15 years to pro- Also acknowledged as one of the wizards of ducing and implementing tactile astrono- Blender, the open-source modeling software, Celebrate the universe my materials for the blind and has facilitat- Ron offered Blender training to planetarians James Mullaney announces the release of ed workshops on teaching astronomy to the at Ott State for a number of years. The full- his newest book, Celebrating the Universe! The visually impaired. He has produced products dome products of the workshops were offered Science & Spiritual- for NASA that have helped bridge the gap be- at no charge to the planetarium community. ity of Stargazing by tween the research community and special He notes that he also is available now for Hay House. (www. needs students. on-site Blender training. hayhouse.com/de- Using ultraviolet and vis- For more information about his abilities, go tails.php?id=8291.) ible light spectrometers, the to physicsfoundry.com. LADEE satellite is orbiting the Jim says that moon to determine the com- “Of my 9 previous School dome closes—again books and star at- position of the lunar atmo- Garland Independent School District plan- lases, I consider this sphere. etarium located in Lakeview Centennial High to be the most im- School (Garland, Texas) has been closed for at portant. It empha- Live-action fulldome least the second time in three years. sizes the aesthetics in 5k The decision came from the school admin- of leisurely stargaz- Beyond the Arctic Circle is a istration in early August. SWAP President Lev- ing and attempts live-action fulldome film spe- ent Gurdemir reports that “longtime director to put the soul cially created for the fulldome of the facility, Wilgus Burton, will continue back into view- medium; it will give viewers a chance to expe- to teach at the school with no access to a plan- ing the night sky— rience the nature and wildlife of the Arctic re- etarium.” something sadly gions with an unprecedented sense of immer- The Garland ISD Planetarium opened in lacking today. sive presence. 1976 and housed a Spitz512 star projector un- An astrono- The film was created with camera technol- der its 9.14-meters dome. It was closed previ- my author, speak- ogy developed by Benjamin River Produc- ously at the end of the school year in 2011. er and consultant (Continues on Page 86)

84 Planetarian December 2013 December 2013 Planetarian 85 Waxing New, continued from Page 84 Gary J. Meibaum

It is with great of electronic kits for the public. sorrow that I re- He volunteered at the St. Mary’s Domin- port the pass- ican College Planetarium in New Orleans ing of Gary J. for a number of years, and that led to a Meibaum on three-year term as planetarium director at October 7. Gary the 30-ft domed facility. That planetarium was former di- was later moved to the Louisiana Nature rector of the St. and Science Center. Gary was instrumental Charles Parish in the re-installation of this planetarium. Planetarium in Gary also began volunteering at the St. Luling, Louisi- Charles Parish Library’s Planetarium in ana, past pres- Luling, and, when the position of director ident of the became open in 1984, he filled the position Pontchartrain and, as he put it, “left his electronic endeav- Astronomy Society (1980), and recipient of ors for the stars.” After 17 years of nursing the 2004 Paul Campbell Fellowship Award, an aging Viewlex Apollo, Gary had the op- Southeastern Planetarium Association. portunity to remake the planetarium into a These few words do not begin to express digital star theater, the first one in the state, Holly M. Hennessy shows her scholarship check, plus three books useful for planetarium shows the impact Gary had on many planetari- and one of the first full-color, fulldome dig- given to all scholarship winners. Winners also ans over the last 25 years. He was as gener- ital planetariums in the Southeast. receive a year’s paid membership in the Inter- ous with his time as he was jovial. For most Gary took to making fulldome shows national Planetarium Society. Photo courtesy of us, he was a reminder that kindness is like a duck to water, even after poor health the Hamilton Scholarship Fund. a better legacy than any planetarium ac- forced a reluctant retirement. Jason Talley, complishment. He always made sure that who was Gary’s planetarium assistant of Two new scholarship winners the rest of us in the planetarium business seven years, took over as the planetarium’s The Hamilton Planetarium Scholarship never believed our own press. He once told director. Gary couldn’t have been happier Fund is pleased to announce that the third me that sometimes planetarians take their with the choice of his successor. As Jason scholarship to be awarded this year has been role too seriously: “after all we don’t own told me, “Gary was more than a mentor, he given to Holly M. Hennessy, a student at the stars, we just get to borrow them every was a friend and a father figure to me.” Florida Atlantic University and the planetari- night.” I will miss exploring the culinary arts an at South Florida Science Center and Aquar- Gary was a native of New Orleans, Lou- of the Big Easy with Gary as my guide. He ium in West Palm Beach, Florida. isiana, and grew up with a keen interest in loved New Orleans’ restaurants and always The scholarship, established in 2010, is in- astronomy, getting his first telescope at the knew the best places to eat. Many were “off- tended to encourage interested and talent- age of 8. According to Gary, it was a 3-inch the-beaten-path”, and like Gary, a treasure ed students to make work in the planetarium Newtonian with a “ball and socket” mount. to be discovered. I am sorry that more of field their career goal. His fascination with the heavens never my fellow planetarians didn’t get chance Ms. Hennessy is already well on the way to ceased. to know him better. Gary once wrote, achieving this, as she writes and delivers plan- He graduated from the University of “My most pleasurable activity is watch- etarium presentations to elementary school New Orleans in 1972 with a degree in en- ing the beautifully-colored leaves fall un- groups and the general public, as well design- gineering and worked for a time as region- der a ‘Kodachrome Blue’ sky.” It seems only ing and maintaining equipment at the West al service and technical manager for the fitting that Gary passed away peaceful- Palm Beach Planetarium. South Central Region of the Heath Compa- ly on such a fall day. The second scholarship of the year was ny of Benton Harbor, Michigan, a producer Submitted by Philip Groce awarded to Willem Henry, a student at the University of Texas at Arlington. He works part-time in the school’s planetarium and Last Light, continued from Page 88 hopes to pursue a career in the field after grad- uation. clarity of purpose that few kids my age could do math to save his life until he was in his Further information about the fund, in- relate to. thirties, finally enjoying a life of his dreams cluding scholarship applications, and a list of My kids however, couldn’t care less. “Dad, working in astronomy. With a beer gut that all recipients of scholarships, may be found at when’s dinner?” wouldn’t quit. the web site planetariumscholars.webs.com. “Look! This is the ACTUAL capsule that After I got home from that trip, I debated Grissom flew in! Look how cramped it is.” deleting that photo from my camera. Instead Nice while it lasted “Yeah Dad, that’s great, but we haven’t eat- I printed it out and put it by my computer The American Astronomical Society has de- en since the sandwiches on the boat.” where I would have to look at it everyday. cided to cease publication of Astronomy Edu- “Check this out! They found the roll of Now that I’ve lost that weight, I can post it. cation Review (AER) at the end of the volume dimes he took with him!” “Daaaaaaad….” So, I’m an anomaly. I’m a redneck astrono- year 2013 (volume 12). “Alright, alright. Here, take this camera and mer. Like Homer Hickham (from the movie All articles published in AER since its incep- get a picture of me next to this capsule and October Sky, a true story of a coal miner’s son tion will be available in perpetuity in their we’ll go buy one of those $12.00 hamburgers.” who went on to become a NASA engineer), I full online form. Start your search at scitation. So that’s the story of a redneck astronomer. emerged from the swamps of Florida to study aip.org/content/aas/journal/aer. I It’s a picture of a simple guy who couldn’t the universe. I

86 Planetarian December 2013 Planetarians’ Calendar of Events www.astrofilibresciani.it/Planetari/Internationa_Calendar.htm Compiled by Loris Ramponi - [email protected]

2013 21-26 June. ESOF 2014, Euroscience Open Forum, “Science build- 11 December. The Stratoscript Compendium Ring 2013, a scripting bridges”, Copenhagen. esof2014.org ing competition open to everybody by LSS-Planetarium. 21-22 June. International Planetarium Society Council Meeting, Contact: [email protected]; www.lss-planetariums.info/in- Beijing, China. dex.php?lang=en&menu=compendium&page=compendi 23-27 June. 22nd International Planetarium Society Conference, um2013 Beijing Planetarium, China. www.ips2014.org, contact mail Dr. Zhu Jin, [email protected] 2014-International Year of 15-19 July. Southeastern Planetarium Association, SEPA 2014 An- Crystallography nual Conference, Buehler Planetarium at Seminole State Col- lege, Sanford, Florida, USA. Contact: Michael McConville, mc- [email protected], www.sepadomes.org 31 August. Deadline for the applicants of “An experience in Ita- 6-9 March. IMERSA Summit 2014. Denver Museum of Nature ly for a French-Speaking Planetarium Operator,” in collabo- & Science, Denver, Colorado, USA. Contact: [email protected], ration with APLF. www.astrofilibresciani.it/Planetari/Week_ www.imersa.org in_Italy/Week_Italy.htm 17-18 February. The Australasian Planetarium Society (APS), 10-13 September. Middle Atlantic Planetarium Society, Annu- Meeting 2014. Melbourne Planetarium, Australia. Contact: al Conference, Maryland Science Center’s Davis Planetarium, Lawrance Warik, [email protected], apsplane- Baltimore, Maryland, USA. Contact: Patty Seaton, pxts13@ya- tarium.com hoo.com; www.mapsplanetarium.org 16 March, 2014. International Day of Planetaria. www.dayof- 15 September. Deadline for the applicants of “A Week in Italy for planetaria.org an American Planetarium Operator,” in collaboration with 17-19 March. 7th Science Center World Summit, Technopolis, IPS Portable Planetarium Committee. www.astrofilibresciani. Mechelen and Brussels, Belgium. Partners: Technopolis, Flem- it/Planetari/Week_in_Italy/Week_Italy.htm ish science center, Mechelen, Royal Belgian Institute of Natu- 1 - 5 October. XIV Meeting of the Association of Brazilian Plane- ral Sciences, Brussels. www.technopolis.be tarium (ABP), Goiânia and Anápolis Planetariums, Goiás State, 24-25 March. Giant Screen Cinema Association, GSCA 2014 Film Brazil. Contact: [email protected], www.planetari- Expo, Austin, Texas, USA. Contact: Tammy Seldon, tammy@ os.org.br giantscreencinema.com, www.giantscreencinema.com 18-21 October. Association of Science-Technology Centers 31 March. Deadline for application for scholarship funds (IPS (ASTC) Annual Conference, North Carolina Museum of Nat- support Beijing Conference attendance by individuals). www. ural Sciences, Raleigh, North Carolina, USA. www.astc.org ips-planetarium.org 29 October-November 1. Great Lakes Planetarium Association, 12-13 April. Italian Association of Planetaria (PlanIt), XXIX Na- GLPA Conference, Ball State University Planetarium, Depart- tional Conference, Italy, and 4th Full-Dome Italian Festival. ment of Physics & Astronomy, Muncie, Indiana, USA. Con- During the conference Skype session for planetarians from tact: [email protected], www.glpaweb.org other countries. www.planetari.org Contact: osservatorio@se- rafinozani.it 1-5 May. Three languages-The same sky, Symposium of Planetar- 2015-International Year of Light iums 2014 Lucerne, Switzerland. Association des Planétariums de Langue Française (APLF); Gesellschaft Deutschsprachiger Planetarien e.V. (GDP); Associazione dei Planetari Italiani (Pla- nIt). Organizer: Swiss Museum of Transport. Contact person: 1 May–31 October. Expo 2015, “Feeding the planet, energy for [email protected]. life,” World Exposition, Milan, Italy. en.expo2015.org 5-8 May. 13th International PCST (Public Communication of 3-4 August. International Astronomical Union, XXIX Gener- Science and Technology) Conference, “Science communica- al Assembly, Hawai’i Convention Center, Honolulu, Hawaii, tion for social inclusion and political engagement,” Salvador, USA. astronomy2015.org Brazil. www.pcst-2014.org 4-6 September. Nordic Planetarium Association Biennial Con- 8 -10 May (subject to change). Canadian Association of Science ference, AHHAA Science Center, Heureka, Finnish Science Centres (CASC), Annual Conference, Planetarium Rio Tinto Centre, Helsinki, Finland. www.heureka.fi. Conference lan- Alcan, Montreal, Quebec, Canada. The planetarium will be guage English. Contact: Kai Santavuori, kai.santavouri@heu- assisted by three sister organizations in Montreal: Montre- reka.fi al Science Centre, Biodome and Insectarium. Contact: ian@ ianmclennan.com, www.canadiansciencecentres.ca/main.htm For corrections and new information for the Calendar of Events, 21-24 May. 8th FullDome Festival at the Jena Zeiss-Planetari- please send a message to Loris Ramponi at osservatorio@serafi- um, “Ahead in the curve!” Jena, Germany. Contact: info@full- nozani.it dome-festival.de or Schorcht Volkmar, [email protected]; More details about several of these upcoming events is included www.fulldome-festival.de in the International News column in this issue. 22-24 May. ECSITE Annual Conference (European Network of The most up-to-date information also is available on- Science Centres and Museums), Museon, The Hague, Nether- line at the IPS Calendar of Events at www.ips-planetarium. lands. www.ecsite.eu org/?page=calendar

December 2013 Planetarian 87 to put the knife away (we walked to spare the Last Light pleasant-smelling tourists this time), then returned and went inside. Now we found ourselves with tourists from all over the world, looking like we just got off April S. Whitt the… well… boat. Fernbank Science Center We had a great time. My favorite part was 156 Heaton Park Drive NE the Apollo Saturn V area. The kids couldn’t believe how large it was. Atlanta, Georgia 30307 USA I had stared at it on TV, I had posters of it [email protected] in my room I built plastic models of it, and I even launched a 1/50th scale model. I dreamt We have a guest in the Last Light space for vision program, an American situation com- about that rocket and was inspired by what it this issue. Tony Darnell is an astronomy soft- edy from 1962- 1971). All that was missing was meant. I wanted to BE in that rocket. Immedi- ware technologist at the Space Telescope Sci- guns shooting in the air and a Jethro Bodine ately, all of those hours sitting in front of the ence Institute in Baltimore, Maryland, with “YEEEEHAAWWW!” when we pulled up. TV as a kid came flooding back. I have prob- a bizarre desire to communicate ideas about The feeling was so surreal: my redneck ably stared at the Saturn V rocket more than how small we are. He was kind enough to world had crashed into a world where space anything else in my life, except perhaps into share a recent piece from his DeepAstronomy travel was common, the gateway to the uni- the eyepiece of my telescope. Blog (www.deepastronomy.com). This one is verse: Kennedy Space Center. titled “The Redneck Astronomer.” OK, so the first problem was parking. Af- Now that’s a good movie ter we found a spot for the truck and boat (we Next we saw the most amazing IMAX mov- This all took place on the last day of our parked by all the gigantic RV’s), and stowed all ie I have ever seen, Magnificent Desolation. It 5-day fishing trip to catch redfish in the Mos- the valuable hunting and fishing gear, we get was probably the best movie of any kind that quito Lagoon, a region of water immediately on the Tramway to the ticket area. (“Remem- I have ever seen (even better than Lord of the north of the Kennedy Space Center. We had ber kids, we parked in ‘Buzz Aldrin,’ row 5.”) Rings). I left that theatre feeling as if I had just spent all morning (since about 4 a.m.) fishing. Not surprisingly, we had the entire bench gone to the moon. I actually cried, I’m not kid- It was stifling hot, muggy, and we didn’t catch to ourselves. A rather attractive tourist about ding. The effects were amazing and the re-en- a thing. three rows up kept waving her hand in front actment sequence where the 3-D camera is On the last day, I wanted to go to the Space of her face. Others behind the as- Center. I was tired of looking at the Space Shut- were checking the tronauts as they tle on the launch pad from the boat, I wanted bottoms of their land the lunar to get closer. Besides, I hadn’t been there since shoes. lander on the the 70’s when my parents took me there for For those of you moon really got my birthday one year, and I had great memo- who’ve never been me. It really felt ries of it. I wanted my kids to see it too. to the Kennedy as if I was stand- So we packed up our stuff at about noon, Space Center, let ing behind Neil got the boat out of the water, and went to Ti- me just say that you Armstrong and tusville. had better be pre- Buzz Aldrin as I want you to visualize this. pared to take out a they landed the We had just come off a boat where we small loan to get in. Eagle. I was a kid spent all morning taking catfish and trout- Tickets for the four in 1969 living that-were-too-small off of hooks, handling of us cost around my dream. shrimp and small mullet for bait, and sweat- $200.00! A smelly, ing like proverbial pigs. To say we were “ripe” My Dad, God pudgy, redneck would be an understatement. Trees wilted as bless him, didn’t astronomer with Tony Darnell and the Liberty Bell 7 space capsule. Photo we drove by and the alligators shook their flinch. When I tried tears stream- by the author. Or one of his family… heads and made snorting sounds as we passed. to pay he said, “Put ing down his I think a couple of seagulls fell out of the sky. your money away, face wearing 3D We pulled up into the Kennedy Space Cen- boy. You ain’t too old for me to kick your a**, glasses is not a pretty sight. My boys asked if I ter parking lot in a pickup truck with CB an- you know.” My heritage is a proud one. would please walk a few paces behind them as tennas sticking up, guns in a gun rack (they So, after we got our tickets, next was securi- we exited the theatre. were my Dad’s), pulling a boat full of fishing ty. My Dad had neglected to leave his big-a** Our last stop was the Liberty Bell exhib- gear. (and I mean BIG-A**) knife in the truck. It was it. The actual capsule that Gus Grissom flew this big, hairy looking knife with killer jagged in during the Mercury program has been sal- The Clampetts do Kennedy edges. Needless to say, security wouldn’t let vaged and was on display at KSC. “Oh man, are It felt like going to Disney World with the him through. you kidding me?” I was in heaven. This exhib- Clampetts (from the Beverley Hillbillies tele- So we trekked all the way back to the truck it had artifacts from the time in my life when my strongest memories about becoming an Darnell began his fascination with space with the Apollo 11 moon landing. He was an in- astronaut were born and led to my becom- tern at the Boulder Valley Public School planetariums while in high school. In addition ing an astronomer. The 1960’s and 1970’s were to his blog, he also writes and narrates the Deep Astronomy video series on the Hub- a powerful time for me: the dreams of my bleSite. You can learn more about his background and check the videos at hubblesite. life were being cast. While I was only about 8 org/explore_astronomy/deep_astronomy/meet_your_host. – ed. when Armstrong landed on the moon, I had a (Continues on Page 86)

88 Planetarian December 2013

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