Vol. 37, No. 3 September 2008 Journal of the International

Vol. 37, No. 3 September 2008

Journal of the International Planetarium Society

Fulldome production…Page 6 LZbV`Z^ik^h^WaZ# Articles 6 Trends in Fulldome Production and Distribution September 2008 Vol. 37 No. 3 Mike Bruno

Executive Editor 12 National Flags of the Night Sky André G. Bordeleau Sharon Shanks Ward Beecher Planetarium 16 The Quest of Our Cosmic Origins: A Planetarium Show Youngstown State University for IYA 2009 Agnès Acker, Henri M.J. Boffin One University Plaza Youngstown, Ohio 44555 USA 18 New Technologies Need New Tools +1 330-941-3619 António Pedrosa, Marco Silva [email protected] 22 Astronomical Contests in Slovakia Advertising Coordinator Marian Vidovenec Fran Ratka 24 Science Is an Adventure Under this Dome 1309 Yellowstone Road Stephan Ledvinka Cleveland Heights, Ohio 44121 USA +1 216-291-4539 26 First Place IPS/Eugenedies Script Contest: [email protected] Michael Lion and the Star Pictures Margie Walter www.ips-planetarium.org/planetarian/ratesheet.htm 40 Honoring Outstanding Members: The 2008 IPS Awards Membership Individual: $50 one year; $90 two years 47 IPS 2008 in Pictures Institutional: $200 first year; $100 annual renewal Library Subscriptions: $36 one year Columns Direct membership requests and changes of 86 25 Years Ago...... Thomas Wm. Hamilton address to the Treasurer/Membership Chairman 85 Calendar of Events...... Loris Ramponi 57 Digital Frontiers...... Ed Lantz Back Issues of the Planetarian 60 Educational Horizons ...... Steve Tidey IPS Back Publications Repository 63 Forum...... Gary Lazich maintained by the Treasurer/Membership Chair; 65 General Counsel ...... Christopher S. Reed contact information is on next page 4 In Front of the Console ...... Sharon Shanks 69 International News...... Lars Broman Index 88 Last Light ...... April S. Whitt A cumulative index of major articles that have 75 Mobile News...... Susan Reynolds Button appeared in the Planetarian from the first issue 53 Past President’s Message ...... Martin George through the current issue is available online at 49 President’s Message ...... Susan Reynolds Button www.ips-planetarium.org/planetarian/planetarian_ 81 Reviews...... April S. Whitt index.pdf 84 What’s New...... John Schroer

Final Deadlines Index of Advertisers March: January 21 American Museum of Natural History ...... 17 June: April 21 September: July 21 Astronomy for All...... 83 December: October 21 Astro-Tec Mfg., Inc ...... 55 Bays Mountain Planetarium...... 38 Associate Editors Clark Planetarium ...... 31 Detroit Science Center...... 10 25 Years Ago General Counsel NASA Space Digitalis Education Solutions, Inc...... 15 Thomas Hamilton Christopher Reed News Anita Sohus Evans & Sutherland ...... 52, outside back cover Calendar Global Immersion...... 5 Loris Ramponi Gibbous Gazette Reviews James Hughes April S. Whitt GOTO INC ...... 62 Digital International Year of Astronomy ...... 11 Frontiers International What’s New Ed Lantz Lars Broman John A. Schroer Konica Minolta Planetarium Co. Ltd ...... 21 Mirage3D...... 68 Education Last Light Steve Tidey April S. Whitt MMI Corporation ...... 79 R.S.A. Cosmos ...... inside back cover Forum Mobile News Gary Lazich Susan Button Rudinec & Associates ...... 38 Science First/STARLAB ...... 35 Scott Electric...... 23 International Planetarium Society home page: Sky-Skan, Inc ...... 43, centerfold, 46 www.ips-planetarium.org Spitz, Inc...... 64, 67, 74, 80 Planetarian home page: Zeiss, Inc...... inside front cover www.ips-planetarium.org/planetarian Guidelines for Contributors and Advertisers: On the Cover: A last look at Chicago and its famous skyline. Denis James from Texas pa- www.ips-planetarium.org/planetarian/ tiently waited and captured this spectacular image during IPS 2008. guidelines.html

September 2008 Planetarian 1 Affiliate Representatives

Association of Brazilian British Italian Association Russian Planetariums Planetariums Association of Planetaria of Planetaria Association Officers Alexandre Cherman Dr. Tom Mason Loris Ramponi Zinaida P. Sitkova Planetário do Rio de Janeiro Armagh Planetarium National Archive of Planetaria Nizhny Novgorod President R. Vice-Governador College Hill c/o Centro Studi e Ricerche Planetarium Susan Reynolds Button Rubens Berardo, 100 Armagh BT61 9DB Serafino Zani Revolutsionnja Street 20 Quarks to Clusters Rio de Janeiro RJ 22451-070 Northern Ireland via Bosca 24, C.P. 104 603002 Nizhny 8793 Horseshoe Lane +55 (21) 2274-0046 ext. 264 United Kingdom I 25066 Lumezzane Novgorod Russia Chittenango, New York +55 (21) 2529-2149 fax +44 (0)2837 524725 (Brescia) Italy +7 831 2 30 51 51 13037 USA [email protected] +44 (0)2837 526187 fax +39 30 872 164 +7 831 2 30 51 66 fax +1 315-687-5371 www.planetarios.org.br +44 (0)771 0013453 cell +39 30 872 545 fax [email protected] +1 315-432-4523 fax [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] www.armaghplanet.com [email protected] www.planet.nn.ru [email protected] www.planetaritaliani.it Association of Dutch- Past-President Speaking Planetariums Canadian Association Martin George André Milis of Science Centres Japan Southeastern Launceston Planetarium Planetarium of the Royal Ian C. McLennan Planetarium Society Planetarium Queen Victoria Museum Observatory of Belgium #404 - 1275 Haro Street Kaoru Kimura Association Wellington Street Boechoutlaan 10 Vancouver, British Columbia Japan Science Foundation John Hare Launceston 1020 Brussels, Belgium V6E 1G1 Canada Kitanomaru Park, Chiyoda-ku Ash Enterprises Tasmania 7250 Australia +32 (2) 474 70 60 +1 604-681-4790 Tokyo, 102-0091 JAPAN 3602 23rd Avenue West +61 3 6323 3777 +32 (2) 478 30 26 fax phone + fax [email protected] Bradenton, Florida +61 3 6323 3776 fax [email protected] +1 604-240-0938 cell 34205 USA Martin.George@ www.planetarium.be [email protected] +1 941-746-3522 qvmag.tas.gov.au [email protected] Middle Atlantic [email protected] Planetarium www.sepadomes.org Society President-Elect Association of French- Council of German Gloria A. Villalobos Dr. Tom Mason, Director Speaking Planetariums Planetariums Director, Robert J. Armagh Planetarium Agnès Acker Thomas W. Kraupe Novins Planetarium Southwestern College Hill Observatoire de Strasbourg IPS contact person Ocean County College Association of Armagh BT61 9DB 11, rue de l’université Planetarium Hamburg College Drive, PO Box 2001 Planetariums Northern Ireland 67000 Strasbourg France Hindenburgstraße 1 b Toms River, New Jer- Linda Krouse United Kingdom +33 3 90 24 24 67 D-22303 Hamburg sey 08754-2001 USA The Noble Planetarium +44 (0)2837 524725 +33 3 90 24 24 17 fax Deutschland +1 732-255-0400 ext. 2111 Fort Worth Museum of +44 (0)2837 526187 fax [email protected] +49 0 (40) 428 86 52-21 +1 732-255-0467 fax Science and History +44 (0)771 0013453 cell [email protected] +49 0 (40) 428 86 52-99 fax [email protected] 1501 Montsgomery Street [email protected] +49 0 (40) 4279 24-850 e-fax www.ocean.edu/planet.htm Fort Worth, Texas www.armaghplanet.com +49 0 (40) 172-40 86 133 cell 76107 USA thomas.kraupe@ +1 817-255-9409 office Executive Secretary Association of Mexican planetarium-hamburg.de Nordic Planetarium +1 817-360-0082 cell Lee Ann Hennig Planetariums www.rdp-planetrium.de Association [email protected] Planetarium, Thomas Ignacio Castro Pinal Lars Broman Jefferson High School Torres de Mixcoac, A6-702 European/ Teknoland for Science and Technology C.P. 01490, México City Mediterranean Stångtjärnsv 132 6560 Braddock Road D.F. México Planetarium SE 791 74 Falun, Sweden Ukranian Alexandria, Virginia 22312 USA +52 (55) 5500 0562 Association +46 2310 177 Planetariums +1 703-750-8380 +52 (55) 5500 0583 fax Manos Kitsonas [email protected] Association +1 703-750-5010 fax [email protected] Eugenides Planetarium www.planetarium.se/npa Klim Churyumov [email protected] 387 Syngrou Avenue Scientific and 17564 P. Faliro Educational Centre Treasurer and Athens Greece Pacific Planetarium Kyiv Planetarium Association of Spanish +30 210 946 9674 Association Str. Velyka Vasylkivska 57/3 Membership Chair Planetariums +30 210 941 7372 fax Gail Chaid Kyiv 04053 Ukraine Shawn Laatsch Javier Armentia [email protected] Independence Planetarium +380 44 287 27 81 ‘Imiloa Astronomy Planetario de Pamplona 1776 Educational Park Drive klim.churyumov@ob- Center of Hawai’i Sancho Ramirez, 2 San Jose serv.univ.kiev.ua 600 Imiloa Place E-31008 Pamplona Great Lakes Planetarium California 95133 USA [email protected] Hilo, Hawaii 96720 USA Navarra Spain Association +1 408-928-9604 +1 808-969-9735 +34 948 260 004 Dave Weinrich +1 408-926-9515 fax +1 808-969-9748 fax +34 948 260 056 Planetarium [email protected] [email protected] +34 948 261 919 fax Minnesota State [email protected] [email protected] University-Moorhead gestion@pamplonetario. 1104 7th Avenue South infonego-cio.com Moorhead Planetarium Minnesota 56563 USA Society of India +1 218-477-2969 Position currently vacant +1 218-477-5864 fax Australasian Planetarium [email protected] Society Rocky Mountain Martin Bush Great Plains Planetarium Planetarium Melbourne Planetarium Association Association 2 Booker Street Jack Dunn Dan Neafus Spotswood 3015 Ralph Mueller Planetarium Manager, Gates Planetarium Victoria, Australia University of Nebraska-Lincoln Denver Museum of +61 (3) 93924503 210 Morrill Hall Nature & Science [email protected] Lincoln, Nebraska 2001 Colorado Boulevard 68588-0375 USA Denver, Colorado +1 402-472-2641 80205 USA +1 402-475-8899 fax +1 303-370-8352 [email protected] +1 303-331-6492 fax www.spacelaser.com/gppa [email protected]

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

September 2008 Planetarian 3 ment. I’ll tell you a secret: I’m doing it right now. While I’m typing I’m also listening to In Front of the Console planet-finder Dr. Geoff Marcy discuss the fact All these things will be accomplished by the that we know that the laws of physics, chem- simple words “convert planetarium.” istry, and math apply to the rest of the uni- For anyone who works in and around ed- verse, but we’re clueless when it comes to the ucational systems—and that’s most of us—it’s principles of biology. Looking for life else- pretty obvious that there was a private agenda where, then, is a tough job. at work that needed the planetarium’s space You, too, can take advantage of talks from and no arguments, show of support, or call to world-famous astronomers and scientists by common sense would have prevailed. going to the Astronomical Society of the I hope Gail will remain active with the IPS Pacific’s archive of the Silicon Valley As- and her regional groups. We value her experi- tronomy Lectures, six of which are present- ence and ability too much to let her slip away ed during the school year at Foothill College into the night. in Los Altos Hills, California. And yes, Foothill College should ring a bell because that’s the On the Move home of Dr. Andrew Fraknoi, the guru of as- Another loss, in a way, is the new job now tronomy education. held by John Stoke. I think we took John for If you missed Dr. Janice Voss’ talk at IPS granted at the Space Telescope Science Insti- 2008, you can link to her talk on “A Scientist tute, knowing he was our very own connec- in Space” and the Kepler mission at the site. tion to the mighty Hubble Space Telescope. Go to www.astrosociety.org/education/ I know he’ll do just as great a job at the Na- podcast/index.html for the links and a com- tional Radio Astronomy Observatory, where plete list of talks. he’s the new education and public outreach Sharon Shanks officer for ALMA, the Atacama Large Milli- Keeping the Kids Busy Ward Beecher Planetarium meter/Submillimeter Array. For more about I sometimes have people arrive for planetarium programs very early—as much as an Youngstown State University this new telescope array and the European IYA program based on its science, check out hour before the start time. I suggest that they Youngstown, OH 44555 USA the story by Agnès Acker and Henri Boffin on could spend some time next door at the Butler [email protected] page 16. Institute of American Art, but if they’re con- Sometimes it’s just coincidence: on Face- tent to sit and wait, what do you do—especial- book I learned that Brock Schroeder, former- ly if there are children? I had planned to talk about my experienc- ly at Strickler Planetarium and Observatory at Mom experience had the answer for this es at IPS2008 in my chat this issue, but I’m Olivet Nazarene University in Bourbonnais, Il- one. I have a huge tub of crayons (that I re- changing hats and filling in (poorly) for James linois, is the new vice president of Enrollment place each year when WalMart has them on Hughes and Gibbous Gazette. James is on an and Marketing at Malone College in Canton, sale) and a number of astronomy-related col- extended leave from the Buhl Planetarium/ Ohio. He’s a neighbor now; Canton is about 50 oring sheets set out before each program. Be- Carnegie Science Center, and I’m giving him miles away from Youngstown. cause my dome is also a classroom there are a break from keeping us posted on the people I had noticed in Susan Button’s President’s desk arms on the seats, so I take full advantage side of our profession as well. Message that Brock had stepped down from and give the kids something to do. If you know James, drop him a line and tell being chair of the Education Committee and My favorite source of coloring sheets is him how much we miss him and wish him now I know why. It’s too bad he’s leaving the NASA/JPL’s Space Place, which provides pdf well. planetarium field, but for a chance to step up files free for the downloading. Space Place has to a vice president’s position, we’ll forgive him the services of a cool artist who draws delight- It Was a Worthy Battle and wish him luck. His new position involves ful things for kids (I’m a big fan of his “big Readers of the Planetarian all know of Gail work with admissions, retention, financial aid, nosed” planet characters) and I’ve been lobby- Chaid’s fight to keep her planetarium open. It marketing, and web content management. Af- ing them for drawings of the planets. Maybe if was a good fight, but I’m devastated to report ter running a planetarium, he shouldn’t have we all email Nancy Leon at nancy.j.leon@jpl. that she’s lost. Her facility, the Independence a problem handling all those duties. nasa.gov and show enormous support for the Planetarium at East Side Union High School Steve Case is the new Strickler director, and Space Place site—which we should be doing District in San Jose, California, will be “repur- the Olivet alumni returned just in time to see anyway—she’ll be able to swing them for us. posed” (a very ugly word). As a result, she has four months of renovations completed. A new While you’re there (spaceplace.nasa.gov), decided to retire a year early. Digistar 3 SP2 HD is now in use. check out their new downloadable book Gail sent an email to friends and colleagues On another people note, Martin Ratc- called Lucy’s Planet Hunt, and be sure to get announcing how she discovered that the clos- liffe, former IPS president, has a new book out the Lucy coloring sheet. The teacher’s sec- ing of her planetarium was inevitable: “My called State of the Universe 2008. I’m sure that tion has simple classroom demos and the final decision to retire came after I saw the April Whitt will have it soon in her Reviews site is just full of fun things to learn and do. school plan for next year which included: column, but if you can’t wait, it’s available ‘Repurpose the old planetarium into an In- from publisher Springer’s website at springer. HHH formation, Communications, and Technol- com. That’s all I have room for this issue. If any- ogy Center; Distance and self-paced learn- one is interested in filling in for James, please ing; Project and problem-based learning; Virtual Professional Development let me know. You certainly don’t want to be Teleconferencing; Video Broadcast Center; One of the problems we planetarians face subjected to to my ramblings for very long, Multimedia presentations; and Laptop lab.’ is finding the time for professional develop- and I don’t need another hat to wear! I

4 Planetarian September 2008 planetarium_global_279x216mm_0708:Layout 1 11/7/08 13:30 Page 1

There’s more to us than meets the eye.

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September 2008 Zorro® projector image © SEOSPlanetarian Ltd Gates Planetarium image © DMNS 5 Trends in Fulldome Production and Distribution

Mike Bruno Creative Media Director, Spitz, Inc. 700 Brandywine Drive Chadds Ford, Pennsylvania 19317 USA [email protected]

Abstract. This paper presents an introduction to what’s involved in creating, promoting and successfully distributing a pre-rendered fulldome show. We’ll look at the business case for producing an original show (nearly 100 titles are currently available or in development), including an overview of “typical” show production costs and development cycles, creative and technology requirements, realistic dis- Mike Bruno tribution/revenue expectations and average license fees for a range of theatre types. Several recent partnerships and collaborative productions, including The Zula Patrol: Under the Weather and Black Holes: the Other Side of Infinity will also be discussed. (Paper first presented at IPS 2008.)

Illustrations by Patryk Galka, istockphoto.com

6 Planetarian September 2008 It’s now possible for a producer to finance a production and make a return on investment by licensing it to multiple users, Trends in Fulldome something that was unimaginable only a few years ago. Production and What is fueling this impressive growth? Most recently, several films originally re- It’s a combination of relatively low technol- leased in Imax format have been digitally ogy costs, coupled with versatility (easy-to- reformatted and will premiere as fulldome Distribution It’s been nearly 10 years since the first per- use real-time astronomy tools and the ability movies. Evans & Sutherland and Spitz will be manent fulldome planetarium system—an to play back linear movies), high audience im- distributing two of these: nWave Pictures’ Fly Evans & Sutherland StarRider®—launched at pact, and a large population of similarly-aged Me to the Moon and Graphic Films’ Africa: the Chicago’s Adler Planetarium, followed shortly domes in need of renovation. All have driven Serengeti. If they are successful, we will likely after by the reopening of the retooled Hayden expansion of fulldome among planetarium see more large-format titles converted in the Planetarium at the American Museum of Nat- users. Distribution standards—non-existent future. ural History (AMNH) in New York City. before fulldome—have likewise stimulated Since then, the floodgates have opened and the growth of an impressive show library, cur- A New Ballgame some 400 fulldome theaters, large and small, rently numbering nearly 100 titles. With so many available movies, why is have blossomed around the globe, quite a feat It’s now possible for a producer to finance a now a good time to consider making another? considering it took the giant-screen film in- production and make a return on investment Because, essentially, it’s a new ballgame. Un- dustry more than 30 years to build a network by licensing it to multiple users, something like the early days, there are now many the- of similar size. With such phenomenal growth that was unimaginable only a few years ago. aters looking for compelling, new content. and regular industry events like Domefest, The availability of a library of shows has, in Much of what’s been produced over the past the Association of Science-Technology Cen- turn, encouraged others to invest in fulldome 10 years is dated or of uneven quality, and ters Fulldome Showcase, and the launch of technology, expanding the user base and of- many programs are showing their age; prob- IMERSA (Imersive Media Entertainment Re- fering a glimpse of a promising future. And ably less than 20% of available titles produce search Science & Art, a professional organiza- this is just the beginning; a continual stream significant revenue. It’s the more recent, bet- tion for fulldomers), more than a few produc- of quality, reasonably-priced content will be ter funded shows like Black Holes: the Other ers are probably wondering whether the time needed if these venues are to attract new audi- Side of Infinity, Cosmic Collisions, The Zula Pa- is right to make a fulldome movie. The answer ences, encourage repeat visitation, and create trol: Under the Weather and Dawn of the Space is “yes,” and we’ll explore why in the follow- sustainable businesses. Age that are gaining most traction in the mar- ing. Assuming we have reached critical mass, ketplace. These are all ambitious projects, and then, the big questions are: What’s the busi- most are well on their way to making The Changing Landscape ness model? How do you make the numbers back their production costs Fulldome theater growth is robust—virtual- work? And how do you make a good show and more. We’ll take a closer ly all new planetariums incorporate fulldome at the same time? We’ll have a closer look at look at two of these in a bit. video and digital planetariums these in the following. are outselling optical pro- Know Your jectors by a factor of 10 to A Brief History Market 1. Nearly every major city In the early days, system manufacturers es- Most fulldome in the U.S., home to about sentially subsidized the development of full- titles (and the most half of existing venues, has dome shows to sell equipment and grow the successful shows) a fulldome theater; the rest industry. Examples include some of the more currently favor are located in 40 countries widely distributed shows: Evans & Suther- space science around the world, from land’s Wonders of the Universe, Spitz’s Oasis In themes, though Canada to Brazil and from Space and Sky-Skan’s Infinity Express. in the past few Israel to Malaysia. Sixty Next were institutions that made shows for years there has or more permanent their own box offices and, secondarily, for dis- been increasing theaters are added tribution to others. On the high end (read: ex- interest in programs on globally each year, pensive, big-budget), shows like AMNH’s Pass- earth science, biology, chemistry, history, cli- with a projected to- port to the Universe and Search for Life: Are We mate change, and more. Shows like Evans & tal of around 600 in operation by 2010. Most Alone? come to mind, while planetariums like Sutherland’s Seven Wonders and Stars of the of the larger venues (the biggest licensors of the Burke Baker in Houston (Fantasy Worlds), Pharaohs, which combine space science with content) are located in museums and science the National Space Centre in the UK (Big), the cultural history, and National Space Centre’s centers, with schools, colleges and universities Clark Planetarium in Salt Lake City (The Secret Astronaut, which blends human biology and accounting for the bulk of the smaller facili- of the Cardboard Rocket) and others began to space science, have also done well, so cross- ties. In addition, we are starting to see the me- create content with more modest budgets. over subjects may be worth consideration. dium expand into other areas, i.e. commercial Today, we have a big library with two out Space science shows will likely continue to uses of fulldome technology in special-venue of three titles produced by planetariums. This dominate, until fulldome gets established else- entertainment, art installations, trade shows, trend seems to be on an upswing as more plan- where and new markets and programming and elsewhere. etariums get into the content business. genres emerge. A few theaters are experiment-

September 2008 Planetarian 7 ing with music and entertainment shows, but for the time being, astronomy is king.

Funding Your Project There are several funding models, though most fall into one of three categories: grant-funded, a combination of grant funding and private equity, and private equity. There’s no rule about how most shows have been funded to date, except to say that the more expensive projects typically have a large grant component. Federal funding sources: In the United States, the National Science Founda- tion is probably the most notable, but the Figure 1. Typical rates for licensing fulldome shows, by theater size application process can be extremely (with a capital E) competitive, time-consuming and How Much Should I Spend? coding and quality control services; coordi- expensive. Other sources include the Nation- Once you’ve figured out your source of nate installation; collect license fees; and send al Institute of Health (for health-related sub- funding, create sales projections to project fu- you those royalty checks you have worked so jects), and NASA (many differ- ture revenue based on the genre of your proj- hard for. Make sure to support your customers ent directorates) for ect, your track record as a producer, your with a solid press kit, poster artwork, web trail- space-related sub- expected revenues vs. expenses, etc. Your fi- ers, teacher workshops, educator guides, etc. jects. All have fund- nancial backers (owners, partners, investors) Work closely with the public relations departed fulldome projects will want to see these in the form of a busi- ments at the licensor museums to make sure already. ness plan before agreeing to finance your proj- that your show’s launch goes off smoothly. Private founda- ect. If you can find sponsors, grant money, or tions: Private foun- customers willing to invest in your project be- Licensing Your Show dations with special fore it’s completed, you are that much ahead Next, we’ll take a look at what museums/ interests may be sup- of the game. planetariums are paying to license dome con- portive of your proj- Depending on the kind of show you are tent. This is hard to quantify definitively, since ect. These are usually hoping to make and the depth of your pock- content is available at many price points— formed by wealthy cor- ets, expect to spend $150,000 on the low end there are cheap shows, medium-priced shows porations, trusts and to more than $1 million (in USD). A typical av- and expensive shows—as well as different size individuals to bene- erage of what most are spending for a 24-min- venues paying different fees for the same profit individuals and small ute 3D animated program (4k x 4k resolution) gram based on criteria like attendance, num- businesses, and thye’re required to distribute is probably somewhere in the middle, be- ber of seats, dome size, etc. For purposes of a percentage of their total assets each year to tween $300,000 and $600,000, or from $15,000 discussion, what we can offer here are some keep their tax exempt status. Sniff these out to $25,000 per finished minute. These figures general guidelines (see Figure 1). online or with the help of an experienced de- are based on our experience working in the So, assuming a production cost of around velopment person. U.S., and do not consider outsourcing work to $400,000 and a 25% distribution fee inclu- State and local funding sources: near shore or offshore animation companies. sive of marketing costs, the project would Check with your state or local film board to need to gross around $535,000 to break even. learn about tax-credit programs or grant op- Marketing and Promotion This translates into licensing our hypothetical portunities for theatrical release movies; your To your production budget, add marketing, show 20 times at $8,000 each, and another 15 fulldome project may qualify. One of our proj- promotion and rollout costs (these are vari- times at $25,000 each to gross this amount, or ects was recently awarded a “Creativity in Fo- able, but reserve a reason- some combination that yields similar results. cus” grant that will cover 20% of the cost of able budget) plus a percent- Looking at it another way, our show would the production. age (typically 20% to 30%) need to play in about 10% of the existing 400 Grant funding/private equity: This if you are planning to use theaters, for an average fee of $13,000. is similar to the above model, with the addi- a distributor. Working How long will it take to do this? It all de- tion of private equity. It may strengthen your with a distributor pends on the quality of the show and how ag- proposal in the reviewers’ eyes to see that will assure you best gressively it is promoted. If it becomes pop- your budget includes a chunk of cash that has exposure to your ular, anywhere from a year to three years; if already been committed by yourself or an in- future customers. A you approach your project with an eye to the vestor. distributor will pro- longer term (three to five years), all the more Private equity: This can be a single in- mote your show chance you’ll meet your expectations. It’s also vestor, a group of investors, or a small consor- though a variety of possible to make a flop and never make back tium each with an equity interest in the proj- channels, including your investment. This is why it’s so important ect or who may want a license for their theater websites, direct mail, to do your homework first and make sure that in exchange for a discounted, pre-release fee or list-serves, targeted you don’t have another Heaven’s Gate in the the ability to resell the product within a spe- ads, promotion at indus- making—and definitely don’t count on reve- cific geographic region. The deals can be very try trade show events and the like. nue from DVD sales! creative, so don’t be afraid to explore all pos- A distributor will also negotiate licens- (The production of Heaven’s Gate, a 1980 sibilities. es with end-users; provide formatting, en- western, was “plagued by cost and time over

8 Planetarian September 2008 runs, negative press, and rumors about director Michael Cimino’s allegedly overbearing directorial style. It debuted to poor reviews and earned little money, eventually contributing the collapse of its studio United Artists and effectively destroyed the reputation of Cimino, previously one of the hottest directors in Hollywood due to The Deer Hunter.” 1)

Challenges We’ve worked on a number of fulldome projects and have found all sorts of challenges along the way, from pre-production through distribution of the finished product. Here’s a short list of what to Left: Spitz Animators Inna Leonov-Kenny and Brad Thompson working on Zula Patrol in the preview expect: dome; Right: Thompson, lead animator, at one of the high-end workstations. Adequate Infrastructure is Start-up costs: 3D animation is expensive important when considering fulldome production. Photos courtesy Spitz, Inc. and fulldome animation is even more so; producing 4k x 4k dome masters is not trivial. A significant and ongoing investment in infra- there will ultimately be more opportunity ture & Science, Thomas Lucas Productions, structure (computer workstations, rendering, to license content—but not necessarily right the National Center for Supercomputing Ap- storage, software) is a starting point. A dome away. The newly-created slots are often al- plications, and the Public Broadcasting Ser- preview facility is a prerequisite for viewing ready taken by content that has been bun- vice program NOVA. The project was funded tests, dailies and the finished product. dled with hardware, so these theaters may not with NASA seed money and a grant from the Staffing and personnel: You’ll need an need or be able to acquire new programs for National Science Foundation. On this project, efficient production pipeline and work-flow several years. Spitz did some interesting fulldome standards methodology implemented by a solid cre- Not all theaters are regular customers: research, contributed a few minutes of anima- ative and technical team skilled at all aspects Many smaller theaters—the biggest growth tion, and managed the eventual distribution of 3D production, network administration, area for fulldome—often don’t have a regu- of the show. Within two years of its launch in hardware troubleshooting and more. Hire the lar show schedule. They are used primarily as Denver, we have licensed Black Holes to more best talent and expect to pay for it; be realis- teaching classrooms, not for playing movies than 50 theaters around the world, and it has tic about what you can tackle with your re- for the public. If they serve school groups and been translated into multiple languages. The sources. Websites like www.payscale.com and can fund the purchase of a show or two, when project leverages the talented DMNS team; others can give you some guidance about pre- these prove successful and popular, it’s easier Tom Lucas, a seasoned science writer/produc- vailing wage in your area if you are looking to find funding for new titles. er/director with extensive broadcast expe- to hire staff. Long lead time: Savvy theater manag- rience; Donna Cox’s scientific visualization Pricing pressure: There ers plan their schedules a year or more in ad- team at the National Center for Supercom- has been a general downward vance, so making them aware of your project puting Applications; and a group of expert sci- pressure on show license fees in plenty of time is also important if you want ence advisors. since the first fulldome show to hit the ground running on completion. It The Zula Patrol: Under the Weather, a Zula h i t the screen ten can take a while to get your show into distri- USA, LLC and Spitz joint venture, has been years ago. bution. similarly successful, with more than 25 li- More choice censes since its release last summer. It was self- and lower cost Partnering for Success funded with several pre-release licenses signed is good news for We have been fortunate to have been in- and a promise to launch at Chicago’s Adler exhibitors, per- volved in two very successful fulldome proj- Planetarium. Under the Weather is based on haps not so good ects in the past couple of years: Black Holes: the The Zula Patrol space science TV series that to- for produc- Other Side of Infinity, a high-end scientific vi- day reaches close to 200 million households ers. Price your sualization production that brings the current worldwide in the US and internationally. show to com- science of black holes to the dome screen, for The show was a collaboration, taking ad- pete relative to other general audiences; and The Zula Patrol: Under vantage of Zula’s expert team of writers, pro- shows, explain your rationale if it costs more, the Weather, a show for kids ages 5-9 and their ducers and educators and Spitz’s 3D dome ani- and don’t be surprised to hear “that’s so ex- families about weather on Earth and other mation experience. Produced over a period of pensive!” planets. We learned a lot from both projects, about two years, the project successfully lever- New theaters don’t mean immediate op- and the lessons learned may apply to your ages the Zula brand and builds on Zula USA’s portunities: With more theaters opening, project too. commitment to developing science literacy Black Holes is a collaboration with a great in young children through a variety of media 1 en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heaven’s_Gate_(film) group of partners: the Denver Museum of Na- channels.

September 2008 Planetarian 9 Feedback on both projects gives us some in- wherever you can and partner with folks with possible for shows to be played on a variety sight into why they are successful: great track records. of hardware platforms, allowing content pro- Evergreen topics: Both black holes and Celebrity drawing card: Make your show ducers to recoup development costs through weather are inherently interesting and ap- stand out from the pack—a celebrity narrator wide distribution channels. Assuming produc- pealing subjects to audiences; both subjects is a plus (but not enough to save a bad show). tion costs of $300,000 to $600,000, it is possi- have a long shelf life. Evaluate, evaluate, evaluate: Test screen- ble to make a return on one’s investment Clear writing: Both projects used profes- ings of your project at var- in three to five years, or less. Leveraging sional writers, educators and scientists for ious stages will tell you name brands, partnering with experi- script development and review. You are sell- what works and where enced producers and selecting an ever- ing to scientists, get the science right! your story needs help. green topic can create demand for your Curriculum connection: Both projects program while mitigating risk. Finally, support national and state science educa- Summary an ongoing supply of better funded, high tion standards—your show will be evaluated Fulldome technology, quality shows should produce positive re- by some institution’s education department, now established in a net- sults industry-wide: for producers, a return who will either bless it for further scrutiny or work of more than 400 on their investment; for manufacturers, pass on it. theaters, is helping plan- more theater sales; for theater operators, Collaborate with the best: Work with etariums to reinvent an improved bottom line; and for audi- great partners from concept, though produc- themselves. Distribu- ences, a more memorable and satisfying tion, and into launch. Leverage name brands tion standards make it experience. I

DETROIT SCIENCE CENTER DASSAULT SYSTEMES PLANETARIUM

Were the Apollo visits to the moon actually a hoax? Have aliens landed on Earth? ORDER YOUR Can you tell your future by the stars? SHOW KIT TODAY!

Show audiences how science is used to evaluate questionable claims with the Bad Astronomer Phil Plait in this highly anticipated new planetarium show.

FULL DOME VERSION AVAILABLE DECEMBER 2008

TRADITIONAL VERSION AVAILABLE SEPTEMBER 2008

For more information, including a CD sampler, visit www.sciencedetroit.org/ theaters/BadAstronomy.htm MYTHS AND MISCONCEPTIONS

10 Planetarian September 2008 September 2008 Planetarian 11 Constellations in the Breeze: National Flags of the Australia Night Sky

André G. Bordeleau, Lecturer Planétarium de Montréal

New Zealand 1000, rue Saint-Jacques Montréal, Québec H3C 1G7 Canada [email protected]

First came the stars. Then came our sun and ern hemisphere. planet, people and civilization. Soon after- Despite being thought of as a Southern wards came flags. The first flags were used on Hemisphere constellation, the Southern Cross battlefields—the very beginning of long-dis- was known to the ancient Greeks. In 2000 BC, Papua New Guinea tance communication that is still evolving to- Crux was just above the horizon of mid-north- day. And, as time passed, flags came to repre- ern latitudes during the evening in the spring. sent nations. However, the precession of the equinoxes has If you’ve ever tried to identify a flag bear- gradually brought it beneath most northern ing several stars, did you sense a familiar starry horizons. Nowadays, it is permanently visible pattern? It’s not surprising that several coun- only to those living south of -34° latitude, al- tries have come to represent themselves with though it can occasionally be seen below +26° flags that bear easily identifiable constella- (about the latitude of Miami). tions. Constellations, after all, are the inven- Samoa tions of humans trying to seek order through Australia: Perhaps the most famous flag the movement of the stars across the sky. It that depicts the Southern Cross is Australia’s. seems natural that a search for order should The flag also sports the Union Jack and a large, apply to governments as well, and that the 7-point star underneath which symbolizes the most important star groups be selected for the Commonwealth Star rather than Alpha Cen- symbols of order. tauri, as one might initially surmise. The first For the purpose of this article, flags bearing six points represent the six original states of the sun or the moon have been deliberately the Federation of Australia, while the seventh omitted to focus strictly on flags inspired by point stands for the territories and any future Niue official constellations, stars, or star clusters. A states. It was chosen in 1901 after the federa- vexillological search (vexillology is the study tion was formed and became the legal nation- of flags) has failed to come up with a single of- al flag in 1954. ficial flag bearing a planet. Meiwi: A more recent Southern Cross flag Two star groups stand out in any examina- is the Meiwi flag, designed in 1992 by the tion of stellar flags: the Southern Cross and the Ngarrindjeri and other Aboriginal people for Big Dipper. the 25th anniversary of the 1967 Referendum recognizing Aboriginal people as lawful Aus- The Southern Cross tralians. According to an elder, Meiwi means Crux, better known as the Southern Cross, “Life to all Living Things, Creatures Great and lies across the Milky Way and is the smallest Small.” Tierra del Fuego (Argentina-Antarctica) of the 88 official constellations, covering only The flag shows four colors (red, white, black, 68 square degrees of the sky. Originally part and yellow), the symbolic four human skin of Centaurus, Augustin Royer established it colors of people living on Earth. There is also as a separate constellation in 1679. Despite its the Sun shining during the day. It promotes small size, it is one of the most distinctive and Indigenous Australian autonomy by recogni- well-known constellations. To many peoples, tion and respect for their cultural and spiritu- the Southern Cross evokes their place of ori- al beliefs. gin, and it appears on national flags, company Unlike the national flag, though, the Mei- logos, and memorials throughout the south- wi Flag bears the pointer stars, Alpha and Beta

12 Planetarian September 2008 Magallanes y la Antarctica Chilena Region Centauri, which help direct celestial navigators to the south celestial pole. However, they point under the Cross rather than to the top of it, likely because of lack of room in the hoist. Nevertheless, it is consistent with previous official South Australia colonial flags of the 1870’s that featured both the Southern Cross and the pointer stars. New Zealand: The New Zealand flag is strikingly similar to the Australian one except Barbosa Flag Today’s Flag for three differences: the Southern Cross ex- cludes the fainter Epsilon Crucis, the four stars of the Southern Cross are red, and there is no Brazil’s Constellation Banner “Commonwealth Star.” Its background color is identical to the Aus- Brazil’s flag is truly unique: it is actually a sky chart. The history of this flag begins on No- tralian flag, what vexillologists call a defaced vember 15, 1889, when the republic was proclaimed after the overthrow of Emperor Pedro royal navy blue ensign. Like Australia, New II. For the first four days of the new republic’s existence, the so-called Barbosa Flag was Zealand uses the Southern Cross on several used. Very much inspired by the U.S. flag, it bore 21 stars (representing 21 states) and gold governmental flags. The current flag was ad- and green stripes. It was replaced on November 19, mainly to avoid confusing it with an- opted in 1869 and it became the legal nation- other nation’s flag. al flag in 1902. The new flag certainly corrected this shortcoming. It sports a green field, symbol of Bra- Papua New Guinea: Papuans adopted their zil’s lush forests, with a yellow rhombus representing the country’s extensive gold mines. national flag in 1971. It features the Southern Within the rhombus, there is a blue circle bearing a sky chart and a white band. The band Cross at the lower hoist (the part nearest to the bears the words “Ordem e Progresso” (Order and Progress) and represents neither the staff) on a black background and a yellow bird equator, nor the zodiac, nor the ecliptic. of paradise on a red background. The red and The sky chart shows the sky over Rio de Janeiro, the nation’s capital, on November 15, black are traditional colors of the Papua New 1889 at 8:30 a.m., when the Southern Cross was on the meridian. What is striking about this Guinean tribes. chart is that it illustrates the celestial sphere as viewed from the outside, not unlike the sky Samoa: Samoa adopted its current flag in charts of the 16th, 17th and 18th centuries. Benjamin Constant, a member of the provision- 1949. It bears its traditional colors of red and al covernment who prepared the decree, credited Professor Manuel Pereira Reis, chairman white. The Southern Cross in its hoist high- of astronomy at the Polytechnic School in Sao Paulo, with the idea of the new flag. Texei- lights Samoa’s status as a country located in ra Mendes collaborated on the design and it was executed by painter Décio Vilares. Each the Southern Hemisphere. star is specifically assigned to a state except for Sigma Octantis, which is assigned to the Niue: Niue, a former British protectorate Federal District of the National Capital. annexed by New Zealand in 1901, was granted The current flag was officially adopted in 1992 and contains 27 stars. Surprisingly, nei- self-government in 1974 and it issued its own ther Alpha nor Beta Centauri ever made it onto the flag. flag in 1975. The golden yellow color is a re- Some of the Brazilian states fly astronomical flags as well. Barbosa’s flag heavily inspired minder of the sunshine on the Pacific Island as Goiás’ flag. It bears the five stars of the Southern Cross in its hoist. Maranhão’s flag fea- well as its warmth toward New Zealand, while tures Graffias (Beta Scorpii), the very star that represents it on the National Flag. the Union Jack in the hoist underlines the ties Pará has also selected the star that represents it, Spica, and set it in a white stripe rep- to England. Within the Union Jack is a styl- resenting the Zodiac. Paraná uses the Southern Cross on a flag strikingly similar to the Na- ized Southern Cross (4 stars) as another sym- tional Flag. bol of its link to New Zealand. The large star in The flag of Brazil is akin to a the blue disc centered in the Cross represents star atlas featuring 9 constella- self-government on the deep blue sea. tions. The constellation of the Southern Cross (number 6 in Antarctica the diagram) is on the meridian. To the south of it is Polaris Aus- Generally speaking, member nations of the tralis, actually Sigma Octan- Antarctic Treaty System (ATS) fly their own tis, numbered 7, representing national flags on their research bases. Though the Federal District. The Star of all territorial claims by signatories of the ATS Pará (Spica) is on top. A list of constellations and stars on the are suspended while they are members, some map: A list of constellations nations use a distinctive flag which reflects and stars on the map: their claim. Argentina: Argentina claims a slice of Ant- 1. Procyon arctica from longitude 25°W to 74°Was part 2. Canis Major, with the largest star depicting Sirius, of their province, Tierra del Fuego, which is 3. Canopus separated from the mainland by the Strait of 4. Spica Magellan. This claim, which also includes the 5. Hydra Falklands (Malvinas), the South Georgia, and 6. Crux 7. Sigma Octantis South Sandwich islands, is not recognized in- 8. Triangulum Australe ternationally since it overlaps British and 9. Scorpius, with the largest Chilean claims. star depicting Antares In 1999, Argentina adopted a specific flag

September 2008 Planetarian 13 for this province and all its claims. Nick- nence on Southern Hemisphere flags. named the Albatross, its orange color rep- Southern constellations also are fairly re- resents the geography of Tierra del Fuego. cent and are of more current significance, un- The blue color stands for the sky and the like their northern counterparts, created mil- sea surrounding this province, and links it lennia ago. to the national flag. The stars of the South- Another reason might be a lack of solidarity ern Cross also symbolize the southern lo- brought on by centuries of wars and conflicts. Ross Dependency (New Zealand-Antarctica) cation of the islands and other territorial The northern flags seem intent on reflecting elements making up the province. The intense local nationalistic pride, underlining stylized Albatross is a local bird and its differences between neighbors. flight symbolizes freedom. Chile: The province of the Magal- The Big Dipper lanes y la Antártica Chilena Region in- However, some northern flags do have an clude Chile’s Antarctic claim from longi- astronomical connotation, and many feature tude 53° W to 90° W. Other territories are the Big Dipper and Polaris, the two most im- the islands south of Tierra del Fuego and portant to northern starry navigators. Cape Horn. The Big Dipper, omnipresent for centuries, is The upper part of the flag is blue, repre- the best-known asterism in the northern sky, senting the sky, and contains the South- and it appears on several flags. It bears the dip- ern Cross. Below, a serrated edge sym- per name in North America because its stars Alaska bolizes a mountainous horizon in ochre form the outline of a large ladle, or dipper. yellow, the typical color of the region’s The seven stars (“Septentrio”) of this aster- vegetation. The fields are separated by a ism are the origin of the Latin word septentri- narrow white stripe that symbolizes the ones, meaning “north,” which is the root of snow crowning the mountains. the adjective septentrional (meaning “north- The orientation of the Southern Cross is ern”) in English, French, and Spanish. somewhat intriguing. It is inclined toward The Big Dipper, of course, represents the the east, 110° from the vertical, as though it body and tail of Ursa Major, the Great Bear. were barely rising in the sky. This may be Alaska: The state flag of Alaska consists of for purely aesthetic reasons and because eight gold stars, forming the Big Dipper and the upright Southern Cross constellation the North Star, on a dark blue field. It was ad- Cherokee Nation is so closely associated with Australia. opted as the flag of the territory in 1927 and New Zealand: New Zealand claims the retained when Alaska achieved statehood in Ross Dependency. It is defined by a sec- 1959. tor originating at the South Pole, passing The blue field represents the Alaskan sky along longitudes 160° E to 150° W, and ter- and the Myosotis, otherwise known as the minating at latitude 60° S. The dependen- forget-me-not, the Alaskan state flower. The cy includes part of Victoria Land and most North Star represents the future state of Alas- of the Ross Ice Shelf. It also encompass- ka, the most northerly in the Union; the Dip- es Ross Island, Balleny Islands, the small per stands for the Great Bear, symbolizing Scott Island, and Roosevelt Island. strength. As a rule, the official New Zealand flag Cherokee Nation: The Cherokee Peace Nunavut flies over this territory. However, unof- Flag consists of a white field with seven red ficially, another flag has been flown: the stars forming the dipper. The red stars stand Ross Dependency flag. Set in an ice blue for victory and success, while the white back- background to represent the Ross Sea, it ground represents peace and happiness. The retains the Union Jack in the hoist, next seven stars are arranged in the pattern of the to a slightly smaller, four-star version of constellation Yonegwa, the Big Dipper, and the Southern Cross. The white horizon- the seven points of each star symbolize the tal bar at the bottom represents the Ross seven clans of the Cherokee people. The Cher- Ice Shelf. okee War Flag was identical to the Peace Flag, but with the colors inverted. Ireland (1916 Citizens Army) The Northern Hemisphere Nunavut: Created from the Northwest National flags of the Northern Hemi- Territories in Canada, Nunavut became an of- sphere do not feature astronomical con- ficial territory on April 1, 1999. Its flag was also stellations. In the Northern Hemisphere, proclaimed on that date. It features a red in- the ratio of land to ocean is about 1 to 1.5. ukshuk, an Inuit land marker for guiding peo- That ratio in the Southern Hemisphere is 1 ple and marking sacred or special places. Red to 4. Although seafaring and celestial nav- represents Canada; the colors blue and gold igation were the dominant means of ex- represent the riches of the land, sea and sky. ploration and commerce in both hemispheres, the lack of a pole star and the Image Credit: All images obtained through Wi- importance of the Southern Cross in ce- kimedia Commons, a copyright free and free- lestial navigation may explain its promi- Spain (Autonomous Community of Mardrid) ly licensed media file repository.

14 Planetarian September 2008 The blue star is the Niqirtsuituq (pronounced have two possible origins: 1) They stand close The remainder of the flag was divided in Ni-kir-tsu-ituk), the North Star, the tradition- to the female bear in the Madrid coat-of-arms, into three horizontal bands, colored from the al guide for navigation. The North Star is also just as the seven stars of the plough stand top, dark blue, green, and light blue. The deep symbolic of the leadership of elders in the close to Ursa Major; 2) Madrid was conquered blue band stood for Hindus and Buddhists; the community. by Alphonse VI and established as the seat of green for the Mohomedans, and the light or Ireland: Two different versions of a Star- government, whereas the seven stars in the sky-blue band for the Indian Christians. The ry Plough banner have been used in Ireland. Plough represent the North and the govern- red border symbolized the “Foreign” element, The original one was created during a period ment of the heavenly bodies. which welded India into a whole, and kept it of violent labor unrest. In 1916, the Irish Cit- united. izens Army flew this banner during the Eas- Orion ter Rising. Its significance was that a free Ire- A prominent and conspicuous constella- Conclusion land would control its own destiny from the tion, the bright stars of Orion straddle the ce- National flags bearing actual stars and con- plough to the stars. lestial equator and are visible from every- stellations are a reminder that humans have The banner was redesigned during the where on the planet. Orion, the hunter, stands looked up to the night sky in wonderment for 1930s by members of the Republican Congress on the banks of Eridanus (the river) with his as long as anyone can remember. These flags and adopted as the emblem of the Irish Labor two hunting dogs, Canis Major and Canis Mi- reflect their nations’ location on Earth and are movement, including the Irish Labor Party, al- nor, fighting Taurus the Bull. Lepus the hare is a reminder that the universe is a spectacular though they eventually dropped it. The Labor found underneath. vista, our greatest environment. I Youth and Ogre Shinn Fein, among others, India: India’s current flag does not display have used various versions of that banner. any astronomical feature. However, when In- For More Information Spain: The flag of the Autonomous Com- dia Viceroy Lord Ampthill suggested a nation- Wikipedia: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_ munity of Madrid bears no resemblance to al flag circa early 20th century, an Anglo-Indi- flags the Big Dipper, although there are claims its an newspaper put forward a colorful proposal. Flags of the World, www.crwflags.com/fotw/ seven stars do represent it. The flag has a red The flag had a red border 1/4 of an inch wide. flags/; Rob Raeside, editor field with seven, five-pointed white stars cen- A vertical band drawn at the hoist end one Smith, Dale, “Astronomical Flags,” Proceedings tered in two rows, four on top and three un- inch from the border contained the constel- of the 39th Annual Great Lakes Planetarium derneath. Each star represents one of the ad- lation of Orion, a familiar sight in the eastern Association Conference, Cleveland Ohio, Oc- ministrative areas of the province of Madrid. sky, set upright, silver stars on a purple back- tober 22-25, 2003; pp. 92-100. Red is the color of the Castilian arms. The ground. The stars of the constellation repre- Special thanks to: Dr. Jim Kaler, Rob Raeside, seven stars come from the coat-of-arms of sented United India (the number being modi- and Louie Bernstein the city of Madrid. According to legend, they fied to suit the United Provinces and States).

September 2008 Planetarian 15 The Quest of Our Cosmic Origins A Planetarium Show for IYA 2009

Agnès Acker Observatoire/Université de Strasbourg & APLF

The Chajnantor plain, at 5000m altitude in the Chilean Atacama Desert, will host the ALMA Henri M.J. Boffin array. Photo courtesy ESO European Southern Observatory

As part of a wide range of education and rope (ESO), North America (under leadership the script, producing the show in several lan- public outreach activities for the Interna- of the National Radio Astronomy Observato- guages, and being responsible for the promo- tional Year of Astronomy 2009, the Europe- ry), and East Asia (the National Astronomical tion, duplication, and distribution in France, an Southern Observatory (ESO) is collaborat- Observatory of Japan), on the 5,000 metre pla- Europe and beyond. ESO also is financially ing with the Association of French-speaking teau of Chajnantor in the Chilean Atacama supporting the project in addition to supply- Planetariums (APLF) and other partners in Eu- Desert. ing images, computer simulations and videos. rope to produce a new planetarium show cen- With its reconfigurable array of 66 anten- A scientific committee composed of astrono- tered on the Atacama Large Millimeter/Sub- nas, ALMA will study the universe in the mil- mers from APLF and ESO is providing the sci- millimeter Array (ALMA). limetre-submillimetre wavelength domain. entific expertise. APLF has been producing unique planetar- Light at these wavelengths shines from vast Quest will be made available to ESO’s part- ium shows for Europe since 2001. Its first pro- cold clouds in interstellar space and from gal- ners in the ALMA project, thus the show is gram, produced in collaboration with the axies with very high redshifts—the waves be- being produced in French, German, English, French space agency ing stretched and “reddened” more and more Spanish, and Italian, and since the Chicago IPS CNES, a show about as their distance increase in expanding space. conference, more versions are being consid- Earth seen from ALMA will open a new window on our cos- ered: Portuguese, Greek, Danish, Brazilian, and space. In 2002, in mic origins on two scales. First, it will explore Japanese. ESO will also produce a Chilean ver- collaboration with the origin of galaxies in the primordial uni- sion and help provide associated documents ESO, it made a very verse, analyzing the earliest and most distant for the visitors. successful show for galaxies forming at the edge of the observable The show shall be available in three differ- the 40th anniversa- universe roughly 10 billion light years away ent formats: fulldome video, allsky immer- ry of ESO. The pro- and paying special attention to colliding gal- sive projection with video windows, and tra- gram was called Mys- axies. ditional images plus video for the smaller teries of the Southern Secondly, the origin of planets (and our planetariums. It will be available to all plane- Sky and celebrated Earth) will be scrutinized in interstellar mo- tariums worldwide for a small fee, depending the performance of lecular clouds, the dense regions of gas and on the type and the size of the planetarium, the Very Large Tele- dust where new stars are being born that ap- to cover basic costs. I scope (VLT), Europe’s pear dark and obscured in visible light, but flagship for ground- shine brightly in the millimetre and submil- based optical/infrared astronomy. Approxi- limetre part of the spectrum. ALMA will pro- mately 40 planetariums presented each provide detailed images of stars and planets being gram and Mysteries is still being shown at one. born in gas clouds near our solar system. More than 30 planetariums in numerous The new planetarium show’s emphasis is countries have already agreed to buy The the incomparable scientific endeavor that Quest of Our Cosmic Origins, the new ALMA the ALMA project represents. Produced by show. The show will be available for viewing Mirage3D, the 30-minute show will include from autumn 2008—in order to be included in unique animations and footage, leading the European school programmes—and officially spectator from the first observations by Gal- inaugurated early 2009. The ALMA planetar- ileo 400 years ago to the world of modern as- ium show is an official part of the French ac- tronomy. Then the program not only will tivities for IYA 2009 and represents a unique leave the optical wavelength domain to ex- chance for planetariums to be associated with plore the millimetre range, it also will leave the special year of activities. light polluted cities for unique settings in some ALMA arguably will be the largest ground- of the highest and driest places on Earth. based astronomy project of the next decade. It In addition to providing financial support, A young woman astronomer will lead the pub- is currently being built by partners from Eu- APLF is in charge of making the scenario and lic throughout the story. Photos courtesy APLF

16 Planetarian September 2008 Bring breaking news and astronomical images into your planetarium or exhibit space in high de nition

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September 2008 http://amnh.org/sciencebulletins Planetarian 17 New Technologies Need New Tools

António Pedrosa1 [email protected]

Marco Silva2 [email protected]

Navegar Foundation, Espinho, Portugal

Abstract : The digital technologies that are now becoming available to planetariums are bringing an enormous change to the way planetariums work and, what’s more, to the possibilities about and impact of the messages they transmit. Navegar Foundation, which manages the Centro Multimeios Espinho where the Espinho Planetarium is located, has been dedicating efforts in different areas of digital planetariums, including content creation and software tools development. Among these tools, we would like to present two that recently have been developed for pre-rendered content production. We would like also to present a new tool dedicated to test content under production and to perform real- time presentation of shows in the planetarium, integrating real-time sky simulations and the display of pre-rendered content. (Paper first presented at IPS 2008.)

The new millennium brought with it a rev- been accepted as the standard), olution to the planetarium world. Systems which gives a good notion of the became widely available that could project result. But in many important as- digital footage to fill the entire dome. This full- pects this projection could be mis- dome evolution brought needs, and a content leading, due to the extremely wide creation tool is one of them. Tools to handle field of view involved. digital footage in cinema or television have A simple example is shown in been available for quite some time. Howev- Figure 1, which displays an outer, the fulldome paradigm, in several aspects, door image of a square in fisheye is quite different from cinema and TV, mainly projection. Looking at the image, due to the nature of the projection screen and it is difficult to evaluate what will the complete sense of immersivity. be the final result when this image is projected on the dome. Here the Figure 1: An outdoor fisheye image, with a field of view of Plug-ins Do the Job case is even harder since the image 210ºx180º. Due to the distortions involved its difficulty to To tackle this problem, plug-ins were creat- will fill 210º, more than the nor- perceive the final result once projected in the dome. Pho- ed for existing digital tools to handle/produce mal 180º of a dome. to courtesy Mario Di Maggio, Thinktank Planetarium, Bir dome content without the need to create an A testing tool, to visualize con- mingham, UK entire new tool. tent in a computer screen, has also Another important aspect is the need to test been designed to offer an easy and simple so- content for the dome. Usually content is cre- lution to project content in digital systems worked and the final edited product are of the ated and managed in a 2D-projection of the based on a single projector, mainly used in same type. Both are usually rectangular and sphere in the plane (the fisheye projection has small and portable planetariums. usually no image distortions are involved. For fulldome, the case is often the opposite. 1 Also with Centre for Astrophysics, Oporto Fulldome—A Composition Tool The footage that is being composed is usual- University, Portugal A compositing/editing tool is a basic one ly in standard format (recorded with a video 2 Also with Department of Informatics, Minho needed to handle digital video. In traditional camera or created using a standard camera in University, Portugal digital video, the input footage that is being an animation software), and both the compos-

18 Planetarian September 2008 Although the hemi- stereographic, etc. Figure 4 shows two images spherical surface tends rendered with WFCam4D, with a field of view to be more difficult of 360ºx360º in two different projections, fish- conceptually when eye and Aitoff. compared with the traditional flat screen, Software to View, Preview the use of the plug-in Dome Content is very intuitive. The As described earlier, content produced for user imports content fulldome is made in a frame (the master) with to the composition a format corresponding to a projection of the and sets up all the nec- dome on a plane. The standard is the fisheye essary parameters asso- projection, like in Figures 1 and 2. ciated with the kind of Due to the distortions involved, looking input footage in use, at the master does not give a clear idea of the such as place, size, and entire scene once projected on a planetarium others. dome. Often, a scene in- One of the solutions is to look at the mas- volves the use of sev- ter in various projections, like in Figure 5. In eral instances of the this cylindrical projection, there is a much plug-in, one for each better sense of the region close to the spring input. Figure 2 shows line, contrary to the fisheye that gives a better a fisheye image of a sense in regions close to the zenith (see Figure scene were several in- 2). The use of an inclined horizon is also high- stances were applied: ly perceptible in this image. Figure 2: A fisheye image of a scene that uses several instances of fulldome the sky background is Another solution is to go through an in- plug-in, one for each input: the night sky, the background panoramic of the an artistic fisheye im- teractive process, with successive projections forest, overlaid by the foreground image of the characters, trees and tents age of the night sky on a planetarium until the desired result is previously rendered on a 3D animation software. Remainder of images provided by Navegar Foundation. and the background is achieved. However, repeated access to a plan- a panorama of the for- etarium is difficult, costly, and time consum- iting window and the final result are a projec- est, overlaid by the foreground image of the ing. The case is even more extreme in multiple tion of the spherical screen in the plane, usual- characters, trees and tents previously rendered projector systems. ly a fisheye projection (see Figure 1). on a 3D animation software. A tool, now called Fulldome 2.0, was de- Content can be created for tilted domes, for signed to handle all the different aspects of domes with a size in excess of the tradition- dome content compositing/editing in the al 180º up to 360º, or even for cylindrical en- form of a plug-in for Adobe AfterEffects©. Be- vironments. sides being able to distort the content to adapt for the curved surface screen, the soft-ware is A Wide Field Camera able to place the footage in a specified posi- Producing content in 3D animation soft- tion in the dome, now defined in terms of alti- ware involves taking a sequence of images or tude (reference is the spring line) and azimuth a movie obtained by a camera available inside (reference is the north direction). the software. These virtual cameras available Among many others, a set of astronomical are of standard type that are intrinsically lim- features are available that enable the precise ited to a usable field of view (FOV) not much location in the celestial sphere, as well as to in extent of 100 degrees. simulate many astronomical phenomena. To render images involving a very large FOV, the usual procedure is to set a rig of up to six cameras, pointing front, back, left, right, up and down, with a FOV of 90º by 90º each (see Figure 3). The six images are then combined to create a single image that fills the desired FOV. A plug-in, for the animation soft- Figure 4: Two renders using WFCam4d, each ware Cinema4D©, was designed to 360ºx360º. The top image is in fisheye projec- avoid all the intermediate steps, ob- tion, the bottom in Aitoff projection. taining a single wide field image imme- diately. WFCam4D brings an important A tool was designed to give the user the simplification to the production phase, ability to have a clear notion of the final re- and the images can fill the entire 360º by sult in the planetarium, without leaving his or 360º FOV. her desk. What’s more, it enables a preview of Many different types of image projections the content in intermediate phases of devel- Figure 3 are available, including fisheye, orthographic, opment, saving a lot of time and effort.

September 2008 Planetarian 19 Figure 5 (above): A cylindrical projection of the same scene as in Figure 2, giving a much clear notion of how the content close to the spring line will look like in the dome. The use of an inclined horizon is easily perceptible.

The Capabilities DomeView is a real-time tool designed to view and preview dome content. For previewing, DomeView offers the possibility to see in 3D the content projected in a spherical surface, like in a planetarium dome (see Figure 6). The observer position can be changed, like a visitor who changes seats in the planetarium, and it is even possible to see the scene from outside the planetarium. A model of a planetarium can be added for a more realistic view (see Figure 7). To cope with many modern planetariums, the tilt of the dome can be set accordingly. This software is able to display the entire dome up to 360º. The viewing capabilities displays the content in a 2D projection and allows the projection in a dome using a single video projector, a fisheye for example. The content can also be projected on a dome using a spherical mirror, with the content being distorted in real-time according to the setup (see Figure 8).

The Content DomeView handles video and images of different types. The content can also arrive directly from third-party programs, such as Adobe After- Effects or Photoshop, the free open source planetarium Stellarium, Ce- lestia, etc. It is also possible to display content arriving directly from a webcam. The media content is displayed according to the selected location in the dome, size and projection. If the media source is Fulldome plug- in under Adobe AfterEffects, all options are disabled since the media is configured automatically.

Conclusions Digital systems brought a revolution to the planetarium world, with endless possibilities to what can be showed in a dome. Due to its young age, new tools to handle content are been constantly released. Here we presented a set that have been developed by Navegar Foundation that cover different areas, from production to projection, and although powerful, they are simple to use. Being able to produce, test and also project, using the same Figure 6 (top): A preview of a scene using DomeView, with the observer lo- piece of hardware, brings obvious benefits, making way for the cated in the default position, center of the dome facing south. The content user to concentrate on what’s most important, the content itself. is displayed in real-time, and a grid and a planetarium model ere added. To learn more about Navegar’s new tools, check the websites at full- Figure 7 (center): Another preview, seen from outside the planetarium and for a tilted dome. domeplugin.multimeios.pt; WFCam4D.multimeios.pt; and domeview. Figure 8 (bottom): The same image, but distorted in real-time to be project- multimeios.pt. I ed on the dome using a spherical mirror setup.

20 Planetarian September 2008 September 2008 Planetarian 21 Astronomical Contests in Slovakia: The way to attract people to public observatories and planetariums

Marian Vidovenec Slovenska Ustredna Hvezdaren (Slovak Central Observatory) Komárnanská 134 SK-94701 Hurbanovo, Slovak Republic [email protected]

First, a slight digression azine Kozmos six times a year, as well as Astrophoto to share the story of the history publishes the Astronomy Yearbook, an as- The first contest is “Astrophoto,” of the Slovak Central Ob- servatory in tronomical calendar, and text books with the oldest continuous contest orga- Hurbanovo. Nicolaus Konkoly Thege found- the topic of astronomy. nized by the Slovak Central Observa- ed the facility as a private observatory in 1871. •• The optic and mechanic workroom is ori- tory. This contest is meant for people Thege was a skilled technician and natural sci- ented to the fabricating of 120-mm mir- with an interest in practical astrono- ence, especially astronomy. He had good con- ror telescopes of Newton type and repair- my. Thanks to this contest, observers tacts with active astronomers in Europe and, ing astronomical instruments. can present their work through photos they thanks to them, built up a seriously equipped •• The Planetarium Department is concerned obtain during observations. astronomical observatory. with the popularisation of astronomy and Early in its history (the late 1970s), pho- From the beginning the observation pro- astronomy education. tography was oriented mainly to black and gram was orientated to the sun and interplan- white. Authors made the photos mainly at etary matter. During the next 20 years, Thege The planetarium in the Slovak Central Ob- home with their own equipment. Colour pho- also managed to build up a geophysical and servatory was installed in 1983. A Zeiss KP1 was tographs were rare, and the coloured images meteorological observatory on his site. installed under a 6-m dome. From its begin- were presented in slide format, which picture In the year 1899 the observatory became a ning, the activity in the planetarium was ori- quality was much better. state observatory. Over the 130 years of its ex- entated to direct lectures for its visitors. The In the beginning of 1990s there was a turn istence, many notable Slovak, Czech and Hun- program is provided by skilled lecturers who to colour photographs, thanks to cheaper au- garian astronomers worked at in Hurbanovo. have a lot of experience with astronomy and tomatic photolabs. Unfortunately, the com- A 60-cm refractor was installed in 1924, one of with communication in the field of populari- mercial developing process brought problems the biggest telescopes in Europe at that time. sation of astronomy and collateral science. with size. Bigger-sized photos were too expen- The first photographic observation of Pluto Our observatory is mainly oriented to edu- sive. This period brought more photos, but was made with this telescope in 1930. cation of young people aged between the ages sometimes with less quality. In 1969 the observatory became the Slovak of 10 and 18; 70% of our visitors are within this The participants were divided into youth Central Observatory with the added mission age limit. The lecturer under the dome of the and adults. The basic topics of the pictures of becoming the networking centre for the planetarium adapts to the needs of the audi- were “astronomical snapshots” and variations other 15 public observatories and seven plane- ence; this direct speech helps us to communi- on the topic of the sky. Until 2006 we divid- tariums in Slovakia. cate with people about topics they are inter- ed these topics into classical photography and ested in. digitized images. As the quality of digital cam- The Four Activities eras improved, the classical methods fell by Today, the present activities of the Slovak A Way to Reach People the wayside. Central Observatory are divided into four But the field of popularisation of astrono- Starting in 2007 we eliminated the age dif- parts: my is wider. It can be provided not only in- ferentiation and also no longer divide the ba- •• The scientific department is oriented to so- side the planetarium or public observatory, sic categories into classical and digital. lar observation to the extent of its instru- but also outside them. One very important Approximately 40 astronomers participate ments. It logs more than 300 observations method that we use to reach people outside of each year. This contest is not appointed just of the surface of the sun per year, takes spec- the facilities is astronomical contests. Because for Slovaks, but also is open to those from oth- tral analysis of the solar surface, and makes the main percentage of visitors to the plane- er countries as well. The winning works are flare and corona observations during total tariums and observatories are young people, published in Kozmos and the authors are also eclipses. our astronomical contests are oriented to this financially rewarded. •• The editorial department issues the mag- age category.

22 Planetarian September 2008 Through Children’s Eyes schools and the third, for secondary schools. itors have to identify hidden constellations. The second contest is a painting For organizing this contest, we again use the The other part tests knowledge of the history contest for students. It is called “Uni- network of observatories and planetariums. of astronomy and space research, where com- verse Through Children‘s Eyes.” This The contest is divided into three rounds. The petitors have to choose the right answer from contest started 20 years ago. It is in- first round is realized on the school district four possibilities. tended for children between the level. Observatories organize these rounds in Then contest continues with exercises, ages of 4-15. From the beginning it re- districts near them, not just the districts they such as telescope construction, distances in ceived friendly acceptance. Teachers liked the belong to. This way we are able to connect to the universe, the aspects of planets, and basic topic because it allows children’s fantasy to over 70% of the districts in Slovakia (there are astrophysics. Each exercise is adapted to the evolve. 73 districts in all). age category. The participants are divided into five cate- The second round is realized in the high- Approximately 1000 competitors take part gories to prevent big age differences. Three age er districts. In Slovakia we have eight of them. in the contest yearly. The majority of partic- categories are for preschool and school chil- From each district, the three best participants ipants in the contest are regular visitors of dren and the other two are for children from are chosen to the third Slovak round. This public observatories and planetariums. The art schools. way, 24 competitors of each category take planetariums are especially good at training The contest has two rounds. The first is a part in the final round. for orientation in the sky because of their district round that chooses the best pieces of The content of the contest is produced so equipment. We try to implement a planetar- work to represent the individual districts in a that it could objectively verify the knowl- ium round to the contest. It is a special round state round. edge of the competitors. The most important orientated mainly to practical observations; The main aim of this contest is to attract part of the tasks is the so-called “blind map.” this way we also inspire people to visit ob- schools into observatories and planetariums. It is a star map where we hide parts. Compet- servatories. I When children start their works, they are looking for some inspiration. There are lots of books and films concerned with astronomy and this is the first material used by teachers to inspire their students. But many teachers are not satisfied just with books. For children, the best inspiration is the direct touch with astronomy. They often visit their local observatories or planetariums. In — Serving the Academic & Scientific Communities Since 1987— Slovakia we have a well-developed network of astronomical observatories and most of the schools can easily travel to an observatory. Scott Electric Our experience shows that from the period SPECIALTY LAMP DIVISION when we advertised the contest, the amount of visitors raises. This contest is a good opportunity to stay PROJECTION & STAGE/STUDIO LAMPS in touch with schools. The first contact is the Lamp ANSI Code GE LOW COST time when we declare the contest. We adver- DYS/DYV/BHC $ 8.75 $ 6.10 tise it in local newspapers and, of course, di- EHG 13.05 11.45 rectly to the schools by the post. When we finish the district round, there is the second ELC 9.40 8.10 opportunity to contact schools. We send them ELH 9.10 7.70 results of the competition and the awards for ENH 26.40 10.40 the winners. ENX 10.85 7.20 The third opportunity is when the whole EVD 11.00 8.20 state round is finished. We produce a virtual EXR 9.10 7.70 exhibition on a CD of winners’ pieces of work. EYB 10.00 5.90 This CD is sent to each school that takes part FEL 12.40 9.95 in the contest. There is not only the virtual FHS 10.75 8.40 exhibition, but also advertisement of observa- FXL 11.00 6.10 tories and planetariums. That way we are in touch with schools during the whole school FREE Shipping & Handling year. Orders shipped same day they are received!

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September 2008 Planetarian 23 Science Is an Adventure Under this Dome

Stepan Ledvinka The Nicholas Copernicus Observatory and Planetarium in Brno Kravi hora 2 61600 Brno, Czech Republic www.hvezdarna.cz [email protected] or [email protected]

Abstract: I would like to inform you about our work at The Nicholas Copernicus Observatory and Planetarium in Brno (Czech Republic). We have prepared a large variety of hands-on programs to popularize science, and I have selected only one topic from our activities, physical experiments, for my article.

Education plays important role in everyday life. Planetariums are an appropriate choice for out-of-school science education because astronomy has a great advantage over other disciplines: the starry sky is familiar to every human. (Really, all people can enjoy the stars. Even the blind can experience stars in our institution because we have a haptic (tactile)1 planetarium and other aids.) As humans, we are deep- ly moved by sunrise and sunset or the dark heavens with twinkling stars. Therefore, astronomy combines the poetic emotional side with the rational science side of the learning experience. All these attri- butes can be fully utilized in creation of an educational program for students and the general public in planetariums. Our experience shows that good vehicles for popularizing science are interesting experiments2. The following article will describe how the Nicholas Copernicus Observatory and Planetarium in Brno (here- inafter planetarium) deal with some aspects of the popularization of science. These performances are prepared in co-operation with Masaryk University in Brno. We also record these physical shows; check them out at our website at www.hvezdarna.cz.

An Adventure in Science In our series “Adventure Science” are shows such as “Adventure Physics,” “Adventure Chemistry” and “Adventure Optics.”

1 We have four hemispheres which represent the four seasons on the sky. Raised spots stand for objects in the night sky and blind people touch those spots to Top: For Adventure Physics, Associate Professor Tomas Tyc (Masaryk Univer- “see” stars, planets and constellations. The publication Touch of the Stars is sity in Brno, Czech Republic) shows some of the “magical” laws of physics; he prepared for blind audiences in Czech and English. In this publication blind peo- has assistance from the audience when possible. Bottom: A variety of other ple also can see planets, stars, the surface of the moon, etc. demonstrations, including Ondrej Pribyla playing on optical guitar and the re- 2 We offer standard programs for the public, school youth and also younger sults on the dome (to left) and freeing carbon dioxide from cola. All photos children, under both the real and artificial skies. provided by the author.

24 Planetarian September 2008 In the first part of the series, “Adventure Physics,” the lecturer shows some amusing experiments from mechanics, thermodynamics, acoustics, optics and electro- magnetism. For example, we demonstrate Archimedes’s cannon, the blowing out of candles by a vortex ring (the whirl ring was made from big drum), a hot-flue bal- loon, and swimming of a small item at water level. For the law of conservation angular momentum we use a swivel chair and bicycle wheel. We also present diffraction by hair and demonstrate an alcohol rocket. “Adventure Chemistry” is the second part of the series. The lecturer demonstrates nontraditional chemi- cal experiments, such as colored acid-base reactions, ex- plosives reactions with hydrogen and oxygen, and fast crystallization, and also explains the fundamentals of chemistry, which we can watch every day around us in common life.

Seeing Optics “Adventure Optics” is the last part of the whole series. The lecturer shows some amusing experiments from optics and demonstrates applications of the laws of optics in everyday life. For example, Manet’s picture A Bar at Folies-Bergere is very good example for image by the mirror. The law of reflection is illustrated by stealth aircraft and the law of total reflection is demonstrated by flow of water. Other examples from wave optics include diffraction by hair, the hologram, and standing waves in a microwave oven. The scattering of light in a blue sky is illustrated by the scattering of light in a laser beam. We gauge the speed of light in the microwave oven, show interference fringes on a soap-bubble many other experiments. We have great success with those programs. One important condition of success is the nature of the lecturer. The lecturer must be showman with excellent knowledge of physics and other natural sciences.

No Black Box Science! The experiments must be convincing for the science to be fun! Experiments can look like “magic,” and Top: Visitors line up to take part in it is the job of the lecturer to explain simply that the Adventure Science, shown with dem- “magic” is the laws of nature and science. This is the rea- onstrations from chemistry and optics. Center: interference fringes, son we do not use a complicated apparatus or comput- standing waves with bread and a mi- er software. Complicated apparatus and computer pro- crowave oven, laser speckles and a grams present a “black box” type of science that hides lightbulb, and fun with liquid nitro- the explanation—and the science—from the viewer gen. At Right: My colleague Pavel Karas shows how the haptic planetar- The science demonstrations are done in the plane- ium works. tarium (the capacity of our planetarium is about 200 people) and we involve our audiences for a real hands- take part in the experiments. Students on experience. For example, when a visitor is involved assist me with experiments, making with experiments that demonstrate the law of conserva- physics more attractive for them. tion angular momentum, then people sit on the swivel Our conclusion is very exciting: chair and hold the bicycle wheel. A visitor’s hair is used the reception to “Adventure Science” for the diffraction by hair demonstration, and when we by the general public shows us that show experiments about electrostatics, both the lectur- people are interested in the natural er and a spectator swivel with a broom. One experiment sciences. And, in my opinion, that is that involves the entire audience is singing along with great news for all of us. the lecturer as he plays the optical guitar. For more information, check the We use the planetarium’s starry sky for laser shows web sites www.hvezdarna.cz, www. and demonstrations. Although most of “Adventure Sci- udif.cz, zajfyz.physics.muni.cz, and ence” is held in the planetarium, most of “Adventure feel free to contact me by email at led- Optics” is done in the smaller lecture hall (the capacity [email protected] or ledvin- is about 45 seats) so more members of the audience can [email protected]. I

September 2008 Planetarian 25 First Place: IPS/Eugenedies Script Contest

Michael Lion and the Star Pictures

Margie Walter Iziko Planetarium, Cape Town PO Box 61, Cape Town, 8000 Republic of South Africa [email protected]

commodate all within one show. Any giv- I reckon that if you look in a modern dictionary, you may well find that Margie Walter’s en school group is comprised of a variety of excellent script, Michael Lion and the Star Pictures, is the new definition of the word “delight- language speakers, with English understood ful.” It put a smile on my face from the very first paragraph, and the smile stayed in place for by all, hence it is advisable to start with sim- a good while after I finished reading her script. pler terms and then progress to more complex It’s pitched just right for the young age group Margie targeted, and I’m sure we can all terms, especially for young viewers. easily imagine children sitting in rapt attention as the charming characters chat about the Objective: An introduction to the concept star patterns in a way that’s very accessible to kids. Every paragraph moves the story along, of constellations. Identification of a few sum- and there’s no wasted time or words. The overall script length is good, too, as it leaves you mer and winter constellations and their most enough time to do a star point out show afterwards to get the audience familiar with oth- prominent stars. Introduction to the idea that er constellations, too. the night sky changes through the seasons. So, all in all, I am delighted and not at all surprised to recognise this as the First Place win- Two readers: Reader 1 = Michael Lion ning script for the 2007 IPS/Eugenides scriptwriting competition. Top quality does, indeed, Reader 2 = Narrator, Canis Major, Orion, get top recognition. Leo, Bertie Bug Sky Journey, the script from the second place winner, Jiri Holusa, will appear in Decem- This is possible, as these characters never ber. talk simultaneously. A slight voice change by Steve Tidey the reader for each character creates character Chair, Script Contest Committee differentiation. POS 2 = left of central projector; POS 1 = central projector; POS 3 = right of central projec- Target audience: children aged 7 to 12 grounds, shows for high schools are inappro- tor, years. priate for primary school learners. SM = star machine, SFX = sound effects In my country, the learners attend primary Simple terms are used, e.g. star pictures rath- Settings: diurnal: 14 hrs; latitude: 34°S (red); school from age 7 until approx age 12. er than constellations—my country has 11 annual: approximagely 20 Nov (any year); As many are from disadvantaged back- official languages and it is impossible to ac- precession: Not used I

26 Planetarian September 2008 00:00 Fade red then blue cove to dark. SFX 40 sec happy music Title POS 1 NARRATOR: Once upon a time ... in a land not so far from here ... there lived a little toy lion, called Michael. Happy lion PAN #25 He was a handsome little fellow, but he was also a very Replace with sad lion PAN #25 sad toy lion. Why? Well, let me tell you Michael Lion's story. Fade title Girl A/S #37 He belonged to a little girl ... who had far too many Toys all other A/S's, including front toys. She had so many toys that she never bothered to play with them all. They just lay around in her Fade girl A/S, add another toy A/S playroom, getting all dusty and dirty. But that was just part of our little toy lion's problem. You see, there were no other lions, toy or otherwise, for him to talk to! Oh, there were dolls of all shapes and sizes in the Dim A/S low, Lion still in PAN playroom. They were all related, of course. Aunts and Build up doll pics over A/S, but leave uncles, brothers and sisters, cousins ... but they POS 1 open wouldn't talk to Michael Lion. When he tried to be friendly with them, they would start crying and run Doll POS 1, hands over eyes then fade away. Michael couldn't understand why they were SFX running sound frightened of him. Everyone knows that toy lions don't Slow fade A/S and won’t bite anyone. There were other toys, of Fade all dolls and Happy lion course, but nobody talks to a building block! That would Building block POS 2 be silly! And who ever heard of anyone talking to a toy Lorry POS 3 lorry! A/S toys off Teddies PAN #26 & # 36 And of course teddy bears don't talk. Anyway, they are SFX few notes "teddy bears' picnic" always off to the woods on some or other picnic. Fade sep toy pics But there was Bertie! Good old Bertie Bug! Bug POS 1 He always listened when Michael Lion spoke to him and understood everything that was said, but he never said a word. Not even a buzz or a squeak! Why? Because he was Bertie, the non-talking bug! Fade lion in PAN & bug POS 1 01:56 MICHAEL: (big sigh) Lion & bug Vert MM bottom, holding At least I have you, Bertie ... (sigh) ... you're all family I hands & looking up have. I wish ... I wish I had a lion family somewhere Star field though. Just look at all those stars, Bertie. Even the stars seem to be part of a big family. You know Bertie Bug, I wouldn't mind having a star family. I wish, I wish Star blinks POS 1 (top vert slide) ... Did you see that? Did you see that, Bertie? That star animated then stops winked at me! It did! It did! It must be a magic star! Or SFX magic tinkle sound a wishing star! That's it! It's a magic, wishing star! Look, the star winked again! I'm going to make a wish! Star blinks again then stops Close your eyes, Bertie and I'll close mine and then I'll SFX magic tinkle make a wish. ... I wish, I wish Bertie and I ... can fly among the stars!

SFX longer magic tinkle Hey, it worked! Hold on tight to my hand, Bertie! You Lion & bug Vert mm move up might fall if you let go! 03:34 Diurnal CW 8 hrs Lion & bug Horiz. MM RL Weee ... Now I understand why bugs fly! It's wonderful! turn stars CW But even bugs can't fly this high! And look at all the pretty stars! Have you ever seen so many, Bertie? CANIS MAJOR: Woof, woof. SM level 3 September 2008 Planetarian 27 MICHAEL: What's that? Did you hear that, Bertie? It Stop stars with Sirius high, Orion visible sounded like a dog! Up here? But I see only stars! but Aldebaran below horizon CANIS MAJOR: Woof, woof.

04:01 Constellation pic - Canis Major, MICHAEL: Look there, Bertie! Dogs! Two star dogs! If Canis Minor (Taurus below horizon) they can bark, maybe they can talk! Can you talk, star Lion & bug PAN POS #26 dogs? Do you have names? My name is Michael Lion and this is my friend, Bertie Bug.

CANIS MAJOR: Woof, woof! My name is Canis Major Point out Canis Major and this is my little brother, Canis Minor. Point out Canis Minor MICHAEL: Canis Major and Canis Minor? Those are funny names. Are they special names?

CANIS MAJOR: Yes they are. Canis Major means big dog. That's me. I'm the big dog in the sky. Woof, woof. And Canis Minor means little dog.

MICHAEL: Mister Canis Major sir, you're not real dogs are you? Because I can see right through you! Right to the stars inside you! A ... are ... are you ... g ... ghost star dogs, sir? I'm not a very brave lion and ghosts frighten me.

CANIS MAJOR: Ha, ha ... no, little lion. I'm the Txt "constellation of Canis Major" constellation of Canis Major. And my little brother is POS 2 the constellation of Canis Minor. SFX ping sound Txt "constellation of Canis Minor" MICHAEL: Con ... ste... lla ... tion. Constellation. What is a constellation, sir? POS 3 SFX ping sound CANIS MAJOR: A constellation is like a star picture of a family of stars.

MICHAEL: And your family name is Canis Major? Family of stars POS 1 - fade after awhile CANIS MAJOR: That's right.

Fade txt POS 2 & 3 MICHAEL: My family name is Lion, but I don't have any family. There's just Bertie Bug and me. Do you think I might have a star lion family in the sky somewhere, mister?

CANIS MAJOR: Maybe, maybe ...

MICHAEL: By the way, why are you and your brother upside down?

Fade all const pics & stars CANIS MAJOR: Oh, the reason for that started a long, SM level 3 long time ago, in a land very far from here ... on the Greek PAN other side of the world, in fact! And it was such a long morning sun rise with glow time ago, that people didn't even have watches and calendars like you have today!

MICHAEL: I don't wear a watch, because my fur gets in the way ... but mister Canis Major, how did the people of long ago know what the time was then? 28 Planetarian September 2008 2 CANIS MAJOR: To tell the time during the day, they SM ACW, stars off looked to see where the sun was in the sky ... Move sun with glow across sky cardinal points on MICHAEL: Oh, that's easy. When the sun is low down on that side of the sky, it's morning ... and when the sun is high in the sky, it's the middle of the day ... and 06:30 Point out AM, NOON, PM when the sun is low down on this side of the sky, it's evening ... but how did they tell the time at night when one can't see the sun?

CANIS MAJOR: To tell the time at night, they looked to see where the moon and stars were in the sky. Start evening seq., twilight, sun off, stars Remember, the moon doesn't really move this fast on across the sky. I'm making it move faster.

Moon on Moon off after moon seq. MICHAEL: Okay, so this was how their night-time Annual off then fade to dark watch worked ... and what did they use as a calendar? no star field CANIS MAJOR: They used the stars as their calendar! SM level 2 MICHAEL: Really? A star calendar? Wow! dim PAN CANIS MAJOR: When people saw certain stars in the SM full moon moves across, then fade night sky, they knew they would soon have to plant bright stars only their fields, so that they could have food ... and when turn star field ACW they saw certain other stars in the night sky, they knew that it would soon start to rain. Planting pic POS 2 MICHAEL: Oh! That gave me a big fright! I'm really not a very brave lion ... Mister Canis Major, there are so many stars in the night sky! Didn't the people get 07:33 Lightning A/S mixed up? I would! SFX lightning & thunder CANIS MAJOR: No. They looked for patterns in the Rain pic POS 3 stars and grouped them together and by joining the SFX rain sound stars with play-play lines, like a large join-the-dot fade POS 2 & 3 after awhile puzzle in the sky ... fade cardinal points MICHAEL: Oh, I know that game!

CANIS MAJOR: ... they imagined they saw all kinds of wonderful shapes of people and animals in the night sky!

MICHAEL: Constellations!

CANIS MAJOR: Yes, that's right. And to remember the Constellation pics - POS 1, 2, 3 constellations better, they gave them names and made up stories about them.

MICHAEL: But why are they upside down?

CANIS MAJOR: From that far away land, on the other side of the earth, the people saw the constellation pictures the right way up... but because you live way down here ... you see the constellation pictures upside down! September 2008 Planetarian 29 3 MICHAEL: As if I'm standing on my head! Fade constellation pic POS 1 08:22 POS 1 people top earth pointing at CANIS MAJOR: Yes, that's right Michael Lion. We constellation pic know the names these people from long ago gave the point out constellations, in fact we still use those names today. Constellation pic POS 2 + 3 still on And we know the stories they made up about them. Add upside down people POS 1 point out MICHAEL: Did they make up a story about you and your brother as well, mister Canis Major?

CANIS MAJOR: Oh yes, they did.

MICHAEL: Will you tell me your story, please ? Bertie and I love stories.

CANIS MAJOR: Long, long ago, in this far away land, there lived a mighty hunter called Orion. He was very strong and so tall, it was said that he could walk through deep water without getting his head wet. Fade comp pic POS 1 + const pics MICHAEL: Wow, that is tall! Greek PAN still on – dimmed CANIS MAJOR: Everyone admired him and told him what a great hunter he was, but all this admiration Orion POS 1 made him want to show off. no stars MICHAEL: That's not a very nice thing to do.

CANIS MAJOR: One day he bragged that he was such a good hunter that he could kill all the animals on earth and started doing just that. Replace Orion POS 1 with Orion with shield raised MICHAEL: Oh no! Lions as well?

CANIS MAJOR: Oh yes, Michael. Lions as well!

MICHAEL: What happened then?

CANIS MAJOR: When Gaia, the goddess of the earth, heard what Orion was doing, she got very, very angry! Animals POS 2 Something had to be done, and quickly, so she Orion with club raised POS 1 gathered all her animals around her to talk about the SFX animal sounds problem.

MICHAEL: And ... and? What happened then? Could they fix the problem? Gaia POS 3 fade Orion POS 1 CANIS MAJOR: When she saw the little scorpion, with its poisonous sting ... she carefully thought about what to do.

MICHAEL: Oh good! I'm pleased! Orion was very naughty! CANIS MAJOR: Orion would be so busy hunting animals, that he would forget about the smaller Scorpion POS 1 creatures of earth! So Gaia sent the little scorpion to SFX hiss/rattle save the animals from being hunted by Orion. The scorpion found Orion fast asleep, as he was very tired after yet another hunt

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CANIS MAJOR: ... and with one sting from his deadly Fade animals POS 2, Gaia POS 3 and tail, the little scorpion poisoned the mighty hunter! scorpion POS 1 Orion and scorpion POS 1 MICHAEL: Phew! That was close! At least the animals 10:16 Flash red cove light and lions would be safe again!

SFX sting/laser sound CANIS MAJOR: Now Orion had another admirer, a goddess called Aurora ... who, every morning as the Aurora POS 2 sun came up, painted the sky beautiful shades of orange and pink. When she heard that Orion was dying, she was very upset, because she loved him very much. She went to the doctor of the gods and begged him to heal Orion. Fade Orion POS 1 + Aurora POS 2 MICHAEL: And did he? Did the doctor fix Orion?

CANIS MAJOR: Oh yes. He agreed, only if Orion never came down to earth again to kill animals. So Orion was healed and sent away, with his hunting Orion middle A/S #37 dogs, to the sky forever. Gaia was very pleased that Orion could no longer kill earth's animals, but to be absolutely sure, she put the scorpion in the sky to Scorpion low A/S #40 watch over Orion.

MICHAEL: Oh, I'm am pleased to hear that!

CANIS MAJOR: Aurora missed Orion very much. Sad Aurora POS 1 When she painted the morning sky and looked up to see Orion so far away, she cried and cried. Her tears became the morning dew. Dew on flowers POS 2 & 3 MICHAEL: Oh, that's so sad. But at least the animals and lions were saved, hey Bertie!

CANIS MAJOR: And that ...is the end of my story.

MICHAEL: Hey!

Fade PAN and all pics. MICHAEL: Where did mister Canis Major go? He was Fade up lion & bug Vert MM bottom just talking to me! Where could he be? no constellation pics Star field ORION: My hunting dogs are by my side, where they always are.

MICHAEL: Who said that? Are there more talking dogs in the sky?

Orion constellation pic ORION: I did.

MICHAEL: (gasp) Oh, you must be mister Orion, the mighty hunter! Mister Canis Major told me all about you!

ORION: Yes I am the constellation of Orion. Txt "constellation of Orion" POS 3 fade after awhile ORION: And who are you? 32 Planetarian September 2008 5 SFX ping sound MICHAEL: I'm Michael Lion, sir and this is my friend Bertie Bug. He can't talk though, so don't think he's rude if he doesn't say hello ... You've got pretty stars in your belt, sir.

ORION: Yes. If you are looking for me, you must always look for these three stars in a row. As you said, they are my belt stars. 12:51 Point our Orion's Belt MICHAEL: Okay. Orion's Belt. Now remember that, Bertie. Orion's Belt.

ORION: And here is my dagger. Point out dagger MICHAEL: It looks very dangerous!

ORION: Oh, I don't use it any more, of course. It's just for decoration these days. These two stars will show you where my knees are ... and these two stars, over Point out Rigel etc here, are my shoulders. Can you see that this star Point out looks slightly reddish? Point out Betelgeuse MICHAEL: Yes, sir. I can. Did you hurt yourself?

ORION: Yes, I did. A long time ago, during a hunt in fact. It has healed now, but as you see, the red star shows that the scar is still there.

MICHAEL: Mister Canis Major, your big hunting dog, told me your story. It was such a sad story. By the way, where are your hunting dogs, sir?

ORION: Oh, they are here by my side, as always. If you look along my belt ... in this direction ... 13:36 Point out from Belt to Sirius ORION: ... you'll see this very bright star over here.

MICHAEL: It looks like the brightest star in the whole, wide night sky!

ORION: Oh, it is. It's known as Sirius, the dog star, Switch on constellation pics Canis Major and that is where you'll find my big, hunting dog, Canis & Minor Major. Look.

MICHAEL: Oh yes! I see him! Hello again mister Canis Major and little mister Canis Minor. By the way, where is the scorpion, mister Orion? I don't see any Diurnal ACW to 4 hrs scorpion and there was a scorpion in your story.

Fade lion & bug Vert MM bottom ORION: Oh yes, he's in the sky as well. In the summer Scorpion constellation pic rises months you'll see my dogs and I high in the night sky, but as winter starts, and we sink lower and lower in the sky ...

ORION: (muffled voice) ... the scorpion starts to rise Point out Scorpius on the opposite side of the night sky. Remember, in Still turn star field ACW winter you'll see the scorpion, called the constellation

September 2008 Planetarian 6 33 Txt "constellation of Scorpius" POS 3 - of Scorpius, high in the night sky. Look for this curve of fade after awhile stars that form the scorpion's tail. SFX ping sound MICHAEL: Oh yes, now I see them. Look at the little cross of stars at the end of his tail.

Const pics Orion & dogs off ORION: (muffled voice) Yes, that's his sting!

MICHAEL: Okay. Now I understand how the sky, star calendar works. Mister Canis Major told me about it as well. I'll see Scorpius in winter and ...

ORION: (muffled voice) And when I appear again in the early evening sky, summer is on its way.

MICHAEL: My, did you hear that, Bertie? That's how the sky, star calendar works. Mister Orion sir, do you think there might be a star lion family for me somewhere in the sky?

ORION: (no longer muffled) Maybe. Why don't you go 15:58 Diurnal ACW till 8 hrs so Orion up and look around a bit. There are many constellations in again, then stop the night sky. Maybe there's a lion up here somewhere.

MICHAEL: Okay, I will. Come Bertie Bug. Oh, before I Fade up lion & bug Vert MM bottom go mister Orion sir, may I please be so bold and say, please, please don't kill any animals and lions again.

ORION: Don't worry, Michael Lion. I've learned my lesson. I'll never kill anything again. I promise.

MICHAEL: Okay, bye mister Orion, sir. Bye mister Canis Major and mister Canis Minor. Bye.

ORION: Good bye and good luck.

Lion & bug Vert MM moves up CANIS MAJOR: Woof, woof. Lion & bug Horiz. MM LR turn stars ACW MICHAEL: Hold tight, Bertie Bug. Here we go again. Do you think I'll find a star lion family up here somewhere? I hope so. I'm not sure where to start looking, though. There are so many stars! Stop turning stars when Leo up no constellation pic LEO: (softly) Roar.

Lion & bug POS 1 MICHAEL: Did you hear that, Bertie? I thought I heard something.

LEO: (slightly louder) Roar. MICHAEL: My ears must be giving me trouble or something, because that sounded like a roar! It can't be!

LEO: (loud) Roar! Constellation pic Leo MICHAEL: It is! It is! It is a lion I hear! Can you hear it, Bertie? A lion! Where, where are you, lion?

LEO: Here I am.

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September 2008 Planetarian 35 Photo: Snævarr Gudmundsson Photo: Snævarr Gudmundsson MICHAEL: Oh! Oh! Look, Bertie! A lion! A big lion in the sky for me! Oh, my wish has come true! A star lion! Point out stars in Leo Oh, Bertie! Txt "constellation of Leo" POS 3, fade after awhile LEO: Who are you, child? Do you have a name? SFX ping sound MICHAEL: I'm Michael Lion, sir, and this is my friend Bertie Bug. Don't think he's rude if he doesn't say hello. He just can't talk. Do you have a name, sir?

Fade lion & bug POS 1 LEO: Of course I have a name. My name is Leo. I am fade up lion & bug PAN #25 the constellation of Leo ... the mighty lion in the sky and king of all the beasts.

MICHAEL: Ooo! I'm so, so very, very pleased to meet you, your majesty. I can't tell you how pleased I am! My wish has come true!

LEO: And what wish would that be, little fellow?

MICHAEL: I don't have any family, sir and I thought that if there was a star lion somewhere up in the night sky, he could be my family. I don't suppose you ... you will be .... (sigh) No, that's too much to ask. You being a king and all.

LEO: Be your family? But I am your family, little Michael. I'm family to all the lions on earth!

MICHAEL: You are? You really are my family?

LEO: Why yes, child. I am.

MICHAEL: Oh dear, oh dear. That's great!

LEO: And I'll always watch over you. If you need me, look for me high in the autumn night sky.

MICHAEL: Autumn. That's when the leaves on the trees go brown and start falling. I'll remember that. 16:30 Point out Scorpius’ tail Then I can show those silly dolls in the playroom my lion family in the sky! By the way, how will I find you, sir?

LEO: Just look for this back-to-front, upside-down, question mark of stars in the night sky, and that is were I'll be. Can you see them? MICHAEL: I can, I can. Yes, I see the back-to-front, upside-down, question mark of stars.

LEO: And this bright star, is my heart. Point out Regulus MICHAEL: My ... you must be a very great and noble king, to have such a bright, shiny heart! And to think you're my family! Wow!

LEO: Thank you, Michael Lion. I do try my best to be a good and just king.

36 Planetarian September 2008 8 MICHAEL: Is there a story about you as well, sir? LEO: Oh yes, child.

MICHAEL: Will you tell me your story, sir? I should know my family history, you know.

LEO: Of course. ... Long, long ago, I used to live on the moon ...

pic moon POS 1 MICHAEL: On the moon? Really?

LEO: Yes, I liked living there, but I was young and irresponsible. One night I went down to earth as a shooting star ...

Shooting star in rotating mirror MICHAEL: Oh, wow! SFX whoosh sound LEO: ... and caused so much trouble there, that I was put back in the sky forever. And that is where I've been fade pic moon POS 1 ever since.

MICHAEL: Don't you get lonely, sir?

LEO: Oh, no, I don't mind. From here I can watch all the animals in my kingdom.

MICHAEL: Like a big star, a watch-lion! Wow!

LEO: Something like that. But off with you now, Michael Lion. There are some matters in my kingdom that urgently need my attention. Just remember, I am your family and I will always watch over you. If you need me, look for me high in the autumn night sky.

MICHAEL: Okay, sir. I'll remember.

18:41 Switch off constellation pic of Leo LEO: Good bye, child.

Fade lion & bug PAN #25 MICHAEL: Good bye, good bye and thank you very much. It was great meeting you, sir. Bye. Come Bertie, Lion & bug Horiz MM RL let's go home. Oh Bertie Bug, I can't tell you how happy 18:44 Diurnal CW 4hrs I am. I feel like singing ... la, la, la ... Just wait till I see Stop star field those silly dolls again. Boy, do I have a thing or two to Lion & bug Vert MM down tell them! (roar) (sigh) Oh Bertie, just think. Not only do SFX magic tinkle sound I have a star lion family in the sky, but he is a king as A/S dolls well! Do you hear that, dolls? That's right! A king! Just back of lion & bug bottom PAN #25 think, a lion king as my family! I must be royalty then! Wow! I'll never let those silly, playroom dolls upset me again! Hey, and seeing that I'm royalty, you can call me sir from now on, Bertie.

BERTIE BUG: No! I will not!

MICHAEL: Bertie? You said something? Bertie! You did say something! And I thought you were a non- talking bug!

BERTIE BUG: Well, you're not the only one who's wish

September 2008 Planetarian 37 9 came true, you know. I also made a wish on the magic, wishing star. I wished that I could talk and now I can.

MICHAEL: Oh my dear, dear friend. How wonderful! You can talk! (sigh) What a lucky lion I am! I have family and a talking friend!

NARRATOR: And so ... Michael Lion lived happily ever after in the playroom with his friend Bertie, the talking- bug ... knowing that high up in the night sky, there was a wonderful star lion to watch over him!

END 1 min music Fade all Credits POS 1, 2, 3 – then fade 20:41 SM level 3 ______Sky Talk: Star field only – present date Discuss and point out (depending on season) the Constellations of Leo, Orion, Canis Major and Scorpius. Explain how to find them – the direction to look and at what time etc. HOUSE LIGHTS Hand out show related worksheets.

38 Planetarian September 2008

10 September 2008 Planetarian 39 Shawn Laatsch

Honoring Outstanding Members: The 2008 IPS Awards

It was with great pleasure that the Inter- The following remarks were composed bership to which they are entitled. national Planetarium Society celebrated and and presented by Martin George as Shawn re- “Indeed, the work of any officer often takes honored seven of its outstanding members at ceived his award: him or her away from many of the desirable its 2008 Conference in Chicago, Illinois. This “Shawn has been a member of the IPS for parts of the main conference proceedings, and year’s conference theme was “Exploring the many years while working at several different in that regard it is notable that this conference Edge.” These seven members have assisted IPS planetariums, most recently taking up a posi- here in Chicago is the sixth for which Shawn for many years in not only exploring but also tion at the Ìmiloa Planetarium in Hawaiì. has been an officer. navigating the “edge” to the benefit of all col- “Shawn has served our Society in an exem- “These, though, are some of the more me- leagues in our international community. plary way. He was nominated for the position chanical tasks of Shawn’s position. There is of treasurer in 1996, at the IPS conference in far more to being treasurer, because a trea- 2008 IPS Service Award Osaka, and commenced his new role in Janu- surer must keep track of all types of finan- The IPS Service award is the highest ex- ary 1997. Remarkably, he has held that posi- cial aspects of the Society. Investment of the pression of appreciation and gratitude that tion ever since, working tirelessly for the Soci- Society’s money, the costs of producing and the IPS ever gives to its members. An IPS Ser- ety for the past eleven and a half years. mailing the Planetarian, and reimbursements vice Award is bestowed, from time to time, by “The job of treasurer and membership chair- for travel and accommodation are just a few the Society upon an individual or institution man is an onerous one. For example, dealing examples. whose presence and work in the planetarium with hundreds upon hundreds of member- “Also, as an officer, it is important to contin- field has been, through many years of perse- ships around the world, Shawn has natural- ue to be involved in all aspects of the Society’s verance and example that were above and be- ly had to deal with everything from simple operation. Hardly a day goes past when emails yond any expectations, an inspiration to the membership subscriptions to problems relat- are not exchanged between the five officers, profession and its members. ing to different currencies and methods of and it is not uncommon for a large number The 2008 IPS Service Award recipient: payment. At some IPS conferences, the task of emails to be circulating on several different has been quite daunting as both members and topics at the same time. Shawn Laatsch non-members arrive at the registration desk, “Shawn’s almost daily input on the running Ìmiloa Astronomy Center of Hawai’i and it is always very important to ensure that of the Society has been extremely important IPS members receive the advantages of mem- over more than a decade, representing more than a quarter of the time that our Society has been in existence. Written by IPS President Susan Button, with contributions from Martin George and Ian McLennan. Pho- tos of Shawn Laatsch and Steve Savage by Craig Stillwell, Adler Planetarium. Photo of Agnès Aker by “Shawn has been particularly keen to ensure Jacques Guarinos. Photo of Lars Petersen and Aase Roland Jacobsen by Donna Pierce. the smooth running of our Star Partners and

40 Planetarian September 2008 Associate Member programs. In “Steven Savage is a tireless, ener- particular, Star Partners, seeing getic and peripatetic traveler whose Shawn working closely with hands-on approach to running his former President Dale Smith, has company routinely sees him bound- been an important aspect of our ing regularly from one country to an- Society’s operation. other, covering all six continents in “To this we can add the close any given year. At last count, he had and wonderful working relation- logged more than 3 million miles on ship between Shawn and fellow one airline alone. Those who know service award recipient Lee Ann and work with him, including his Hennig (in 2006); the kind use many loyal customers, appreciate of his own house to hold offi- the fact that Steve is always—and we cers’ meetings, quite apart from mean always—available for personal the main Council meetings; his advice, technical consultation, prob- work on IPS committees; and lem solving, out-of-the-box thinking his promotion of the IPS in his and for squeezing in just one more travels to different parts of the phone call or Skype chat from some world. strange city at an unforgiving hour. “Shawn is truly a very worth He can instantaneously tell you what recipient of the IPS Service time it is in just about any city in the Award.” world. “Those who know and care about 2008 IPS Technology Steve Savage receives the first IPS Technology and Innovation Award Steve worry about his relentless trav- and Innovation Award from President Susan Button. el schedule, his dreadful diet, and This year a new award was sometimes even his appearance after initiated and presented to one pulling yet another all-nighter—and of our members. The IPS Technology and In- nized even at this early stage, and he actually getting another show opening, just in time. novation Award was designed to recognize became a part-time—and valuable—staff mem- But he seems to thrive on it, and probably an individual, institution or commercial ven- ber of Strasenburgh Planetarium at the tender wouldn’t be able to operate any other way, dor whose technology and/or innovations in age of 15. In fact, Steve contributed greatly to even if he tried. the planetarium field have been, through the the more than 100 technical innovations that “When your IPS Council met last year in years, utilized or replicated by other members could be traced back to the Strasenburgh—in- Rio de Janeiro and accepted the nomination and/or planetariums. This individual has had cluding a wide array of ingenious special ef- of Steve Savage as the recipient of this year’s a broad, deep, and concrete effect on the pro- fects and new control processes and by sim- Award for Technology and Innovation, it was fession and in its development. ply knowing how to either build or fix things. stipulated by the nominator and accepted by The Strasenburgh was the world’s first com- the Council that although Steve Savage and The first IPS Technology and Innovation puterized planetarium, and Steve became the his company Sky-Skan, are synonymous—this Award recipient: first person to learn how to program the mam- award is a personal one, to recognize and cel- moth Digital Equipment Corporation PDP-8 ebrate the integrity, sacrifice, commitment, Steven T. Savage computer that took up nearly all the space in boundless energy, vision and ingenuity Steve Sky-Skan, Inc. the planetarium control room. has brought to his work, and in turn, to the “Through his friendship with John Par- profession we all love.” The following remarks were composed and is, technical director of the Strasenburgh and presented by Ian McLennan as Steve received one of the founders of Sky-Skan, Inc., Steve 2008 IPS Fellows Awards this award at the IPS Awards Luncheon: became one of the three employees of this Five new IPS Fellows were inducted in 2008. “The person we are honoring today with modest special effects company. When John Their presence in the Society and their work the IPS Technology and Innovation Award eventually decided he wanted to retire, Steve in the planetarium field has been, steadily is one who is well known to literally every- offered to buy the company—a monumental through the years, an inspiration to the pro- one in the planetarium profession. For over 40 leap of faith if there ever was one. fession and IPS members. These individuals years, he has traveled far and wide—and has He moved the corporation to New Hamp- have had a broad, deep, and concrete effect in been involved with some of the most signifi- shire, and proceeded, over time, to turn it into the profession and its development. cant technical advances in the entire field. a company that pioneered special effects la- In order to be named as a Fellow of the In- “Steven T. Savage first caught the plane- ser discs, SPICE multi-media automation sys- ternational Planetarium Society, a member tarium ‘bug’ as a young teenager in subur- tems, and the first true full-dome digital vid- must have continuous active membership in ban Rochester, New York. One of his science eo system. good standing in IPS for at least five years and teachers, Jerome deGraff, brought Steve to the “He has gone beyond the world of planetar- substantial contributions in at least two of the Strasenburgh Planetarium one day (Jerry was iums to introduce new technologies and pro- following respects: a part-time teacher at the planetarium), and duction techniques in a variety of other appli- •• Serving IPS in elective office, diligent and/ Steve was fascinated, mesmerized and thor- cations, including theme pavilions and world or devoted committee work, and the orga- oughly hooked, both by the cosmic array that expositions. He has gone on to introduce the nization of conferences and meetings. was on display, and by the technical wizardry SkyVision production tool, DigitalSky plan- •• Relevant and significant publications and/ that brought it to life under the giant dome. etarium multi-media system and the world’s or conference presentations. “Steve’s potential contribution was recog- first fulldome digital video 3-D stereo system. •• Cooperation with professional societies, or-

September 2008 Planetarian 41 Agnès Acker Suzanne Gurton Raymond Worthy

ganizations and groups which bring attention to the importance of planetariums’ existence. •• The development of new methods in the planetarium field. •• The five new IPS Fellows are:

Agnès Acker Observatoire de Strasbourg Agnès Acker founded the Strasbourg Plane- tarium in 1980. She organized the first Europe- an conference in 1984, in Strasbourg (Conseil de l’Europe), and the basis of the Association of French-Speaking Planetariums (APLF) was born on this occasion. The French planetariums met then in Paris in 1985, where APLF was created. Agnès was elected as president, and Lars Petersen Aase Roland Jacoben has been regularly re-elected since that date. She attended her first IPS conference in 1990 and, as president of APLF, serves on Coun- better astronomy as part of their programs. both IPS and the NPA for over 10 years and is cil as the APLF Affiliate Representative. She She also heads the ASP’s “Night Sky Network.” deputy director on the board of NPA. He has has been a regular presenter at IPS and APLF She has been the liaison between the ASP and been a regular contributor, presenting inter- conferences and is a staunch supporter of the the planetarium community, attending and esting papers, to several IPS conferences and work of planetariums and IPS in France. Agnès doing workshops at IPS and regional planetar- NPA conferences. He hosted a well-attended also twice facilitated APLF’s hosting of a Euro- ium conferences. NPA Conference in Jels in 2005. pean Meeting for Small and Portable Planetar- iums during its national meeting. Aase Roland Jacobsen Raymond Worthy Steno Museum Stargazer Planetariums Suzanne Gurton Aase Roland Jacobsen has been an active Ray Worthy has been an active member Astronomical Society of the Pacific member of both IPS and the Nordic Planetari- of IPS and the British Association of Plane- Since 2000, Suzanne Gurton has been the um Association (NPA) for over 10 years and is taria (BAP) for over 15 years and continues to dynamic and extremely effective education director on the board of NPA. She has been a mentor fellow colleagues all over the world manager at the Astronomical Society of the Pa- regular contributor, presenting interesting pa- with regard to the technology of building cific (ASP) and has spearheaded several major pers, to several IPS conferences and NPA con- planetarium projectors and maintaining old- national and international educational initia- ferences. She assisted Ole Knudsen in hosting er projection systems. He is the founder of tives that benefit the entire planetarium com- a well-attended NPA Conference in Aarhus 10 his own company, Stargazer Planetariums, munity. Another important project she heads years ago. which provides the planetarium commu- is “Astronomy from the Ground Up,” a major nity with his original and unique designs effort to train education staff at small plane- Lars Petersen of portable domes. Ray has served as a vital tariums, museums, nature centers, and envi- Orion Planetarium member of the IPS Portable Planetarium Com- ronmental education centers to do more and Lars Petersen has been an active member of mittee for more than 15 years. I

42 Planetarian September 2008 September 2008 Planetarian 43 44 Planetarian September 2008 September 2008 Planetarian 45 46 Planetarian September 2008 IPS 2008 In Pictures

5 1. Kenan Bromann from Planetarium Hamburg and the view from the conference ho- tel windows. • 2. Mac Attack: from left, Bob Patterson, Alex Betts, and Donna Cox, all from NCSA., and Ian McLennan, Edmonton. • 3. From left, Wendy Ackerman, John French and Chuck Rau catch up on what’s up. • 4. Alexandre Cherman, Rio di Janeiro, always on the job. • 5. The Kuwaiti team and Michael Magee, Tucson, enjoying Chi- cago’s famous wind. • 7. Laura Misajet, Seiler Instruments, also on the job. • 8. Jason Statham, Ash Enterprises (front) and Mike Murray, Clark Planetarium (rear), on their way to the Adler. • 9. Alan Dyer, Calgary, on Canada Day. • 10. Takayuki Ohira and his Megastar. Photos by Tim Horn (1, 2, 3, 6, 7) and Ian McLennan (4, 5, 8, 9)

6 8 3

4 7 9

September 2008 Planetarian 47 1 2

1. 12 IPS Presidents! Standing, from left: Martin George (2005-2006), Dale Smith (1999-2000), Thomas Kraupe (1997-1998), Jon Elvert (2003-2004), Tom Mason (2009-2010), Bill Peters (1981-1982), Von Del Chamberlain (1987-1988), John Pogue (1991-1992), Martin Ratcliffe (2001-2002); Seated, from left: Jeanne Bishop (1983-1984), Jim Manning (1995-1996), and Susan Button (2007-2008). • 2. Tom2: Tom Casey from Home Run Pictures and Tom Kwasnitschka. • 3. Delegates enjoy the Stereo3D demo by Sky-Skan, aided by Infitic glasses. • 4. From left: Tania Marques, Björn Voss, David Beining, Katarina Przybyl • 5. Von Del Chamberlain • 6. Johan Gijsenbergs • 7. IPS officers and chairs, from left: Thomas Kraupe, Martin George, Susan Button, Jon Elvert. Photos by Tim Horn (2, 4, 6, 7); Ian McLen- nan (5); John Hare (1); and Martin Ratcliffe (3)

3 4

5 6 Go to ips2008.org for more great conference photos

48 Planetarian September 2008 2012 Conference Sites President’s Message Finding Conference 2012 sites was another challenge and I am very pleased to report that etarium Society’s annual conference in we have three fine bids again this year: the Schenectady, New York. MAPS members were Irene W. Pennington Planetarium in Baton pleased to get a bit more of an internation- Rouge, Louisiana, represented by Jon Elvert; al flavor to their conference. With Past Presi- the Morrison Planetarium in San Francisco, dent Martin George and President-Elect Tom California, represented by Ryan Wyatt; and Mason attending there was never a dull mo- the Astronef Planetarium in Saint-Etienne, ment! IPS officers spent many late evenings af- France, represented by Jacques Guarinos. Soon ter conference activities working on IPS busi- you will be hearing more about these bids ness and we accomplished a great deal. Lee from articles in the Planetarian. Ann Henning and Shawn Laatch Skyped in to round out the team. IPS Committees Most IPS committees have been hard at President’s Message Video work, some more than others! The creation of a video of the president’s Jon Elvert, chair of the Outreach Commit- message, produced for IPS affiliate meetings, tee, was selected to serve as our institutional proved to be quite a challenge for me be- “single point of contact” for communication cause my home video camera was not up to between the IPS and the International Astro- the task! With the help of a local videographer nomical Union for International Year of As- and Jack Dunn, council representative for the tronomy 2009. Jon is doing a fantastic job of Susan Reynolds Button Great Plains Planetarium Association, a mira- keeping his committee’s web page updated Quarks to Clusters cle happened and a nice video was produced. with all the latest results of this committee’s Then another miracle happened when Jack efforts; see www.ips-planetarium.org/or/com- 8793 Horseshoe Lane and Agnès Acker, council representative for ms/outreachcom.html. Chittenango, NY 13037 USA the Association of French-Speaking Planetar- As part of the Outreach Committee’s efforts iums, created a version of the video where I to assist planetariums in developing coun- (1) 315-687-5371 was speaking perfect French! They made it tries, Jon and David Weinrich have worked (1) 315-263-1985 (cell) look so easy to work long distance over the In- closely to orchestrate the “Ghana Project” of ternet that it made me think that similar vid- building the first planetarium in Ghana. You [email protected] eos could be done for all of the languages rep- will be amazed to read more about that in an resenting IPS! It has been suggested that, for article in this journal in the future. It is difficult for me to believe that my presi- the next video, perhaps a low-resolution ver- Speaking of promoting planetariums, we dency is almost over! So much to do and so lit- sion could also be placed on the IPS website. can now raise the status of planetariums in tle time! The officers and I have accomplished a great deal and continue to prepare for further improvements in member services and adjustments in the Standing Rules that will assure that the business of IPS runs smoothly. During my president’s report at council I mentioned the following items as a review of progress to date:

IPS Officers’ Meetings IPS officers held two meetings during the last two years on their own initiative and with their own funding. These meetings were held outside of, and to prepare for, the 2007 and 2008 Council meetings. The first meeting was held in Hilo, Hawai’i, where we also met with the Mauna Kea Ob- servatories Outreach Committee. One of the fruits of meeting with this group was another networking opportunity. IPS was asked to participate in an Astrono- my Roundtable for the Physics-Astronomy- Math (PAM) division of the Special Libraries Association (SLA) at their annual conference in June 2008 in Seattle, Washington. Kar- rie Berglund served as our representative and gave a brief presentation about the IPS; her One of the special perks of going to the MAPS meeting was visiting Williams College’s planetarium and comments appear later in this column. the Hopkins Observatory 1842 Clark refractor with Physicist Jay Pasachoff! From left: Susan Button, Jay The second officer’s meeting was held in Pasachoff, Martin George, Tom Mason. Photo by Tom Button conjunction with the Middle Atlantic Plan-

September 2008 Planetarian 49 general through our new IPS Publicity Co- that committee’s web ordinator Jacques Guarinos. He is working page soon, and see an closely with me to interview with Jack increase visibility of in the Education Hori- your initiatives and zons column on page we are, in the light 60. of the recent rash of closings, trying to Face to Face list proactive steps Gets Work Done for keeping planetar- Communication iums viable and also with affiliates and Jacques Guarinos produce a document committees can be with a list of points a bit shaky at times. explaining the importance of planetariums Conclusion: There is that can be attached to IPS president letters of nothing like face-to- support for planetariums under the threat of face meetings for get- closing. ting work done! The Fulldome Committee has been revi- Through my atten- At the Canadian Association of Science Centers Banquet; from left: Scott talized and is extremely important to IPS as we dance at three con- Langen, CASC President, Susan Button, and Ian McLennan, CASC IPS Rep- strive to be inclusive in our services to facili- ferences (the Western resentative. Langen is also executive director of the Saskatchewan Science ties going to digital fulldome. It is imperative Alliance, Triple Con- Centre in Regina, which is the site of the next CASC Annual Conference. that we examine the latest research in digital junction, and Canadi- Photo provided by Ian McLennan. Photo of Jacques Guarinos (left) by Mar- projection in the fields of education as well as an Association of Sci- tin Ratcliffe, Sky-Skan, Inc. entertainment to enhance our understanding ence Centers), I was of the full capabilities of this technology. A able to meet with members from most of the meeting in Bratislava. new IPS partner organization, the association North American affiliates. I was especially de- All in all, aside from regular housekeeping of Immersive Media Entertainment, Research, lighted to meet with Western Alliance and items (revision of documents and updates on Science and Art (IMERSA), was announced at Canadian Association members because I had the website), your officers, affiliate representa- the Fulldome Summit during this years’ con- not met with them before. tives and committee members have contin- ference. IPS members can benefit from the The CASC meeting was quite different in ued to served IPS members well. research, development and resources of this that it was not centered on planetariums. The group. See more in Ed Lantz’s Digital Frontiers exciting part was that there was a huge focus Into the Library World column on page 57. on interactive sessions with conference par- An Astronomy Roundtable for the Physics- Jon Bell stepped down, after many years ticipants actively involved in problem solv- Astronomy-Math (PAM) division of the Spe- service, as chair of the Awards Committee ing. However, I could also see that it is impor- cial Libraries Association (SLA) was held dur- and Lars Broman volunteered to fill this posi- tant that the profile of IPS and planetariums ing the association’s conference June 15-18 tion. He is doing an admirable job, as you will be raised in that organization. There are few 2008 in Seattle, Washington. see. Thank you Lars for volunteering for yet stationary planetariums in Canada but many Karrie Berglund reported on this roundta- another vital service to IPS! See the 2008 IPS portable domes; both venues are doing good ble with the following comments. Awards announcement at the end of this col- work. “I’d say there were about 60 people to- umn, and don’t forget to send Lars nomina- As you know from previous columns, Eu- tal at the roundtable, and they were a really tions for future awards at [email protected]. ropean meetings for small and portable plan- nice group. At the end each person stated his/ International Relations Committee: Martin etariums will be held in 2008 (Portugal) and her name and affiliation. I didn’t write down George is a marvelous ambassador for IPS dur- 2009 (Poland) due to the success of the 2007 every institution represented, but here’s a ing his world travels as past presi- smattering: European Southern dent and chair of this committee. I Observatory, National Radio As- am grateful for his continued hard tronomy Observatory, National work on this front. He has prom- Optical Astronomy Observatory, ised to continue contributing news United States Naval Observatory, of his travels and outreach efforts the Adler Planetarium, Space Tele- in this journal in the future. scope Science Institute, Lowell Ob- Education Committee: Brock servatory, and the Massachusetts Schroeder has changed jobs and Institute of Technology/Haystack stepped down as chair of this com- Observatory. mittee. I am delighted, however, to “My talk went well. I spoke announce that Jack L. Northrup, about IPS and our goals and objec- director of the Martin Luther King tives for about 10 minutes, then Jr. Planetarium, Omaha, Nebraska, took some questions and com- has volunteered to “step up to the ments for another five minutes. plate” as the new chair of this com- At the very beginning I asked how mittee and is already making prog- many folks were familiar with IPS, ress in getting committee members and about 1/4 of the people raised motivated about the vital work of A moderator closes the Astronomy Roundtable at the SLA Conference af- their hands. No one besides me is this committee. Look for news on ter spirited discussion amongst 60 participants. Photo provided by Kar- an IPS member.” rie Berglund

50 Planetarian September 2008 A beautiful sunset over the Chicago skyline with the Adler Planetarium sundial in the foreground. Photo contributed by Denis James

Karrie listed interesting items that came ics Teachers is the director of comPADRE, a tee dedicated over the last four years. Their ef- from that meeting: digital resource for astronomy and physics ed- forts came beautifully to fruition; an extreme- •• MIT/Haystack Observatory Librarian Mad- ucation (www.compadre.org/portal). He was ly high quality experience for IPS members eleine Needles mentioned that she collabo- familiar with Stellarium and asked me about was delivered. rated with Loch Ness Productions on a suc- resources for teaching with it. He’d like to get This year’s conference attracted the largest cessful project. other astronomy education activities to post number of delegates in IPS history and pro- •• There were several questions asked about on comPADRE as well. Bruce’s email address is: vided a unique opportunity for participants digital projection products and techniques. [email protected]. not only to “Explore the Edge,” but also to be- •• Karrie encourage the attendees to down- One of the attendees suggested that an IPS come fully engaged and broaden their hori- load Stellarium and experiment with it, board member or committee member should zons through excellent speakers, sessions and since one of the ESO folks had mentioned sign up for the PAM listserv. Ruth Kneale papers! it and Fabien Chereau, the original Stellar- could put an IPS representative in touch with We left this conference with concrete plans ium developer, is now working on Stellari- the correct contact person. and steps that we can implement so that our um fulltime for the ESO. A Library and Information Services in As- communities, now and in the future, view A brief discussion took place about what tronomy (LISA) conference will be held in Feb- planetariums as the vital institutions we the libraries are planning to do for IYA, aside ruary 2010. See www.ncra.tifr.res.in/~library/ know they are. from posters. Most do not have firm plans forsaweb/lisavi.htm. Thank you to all those individuals on the yet. The USNO will be open to the public for Thank you, Karrie, for a job well done, both local planning committee who were involved some special observing sessions, and Liz Bry- in reporting to the Special Libraries Associ- in making this conference possible, but espe- son said they’ll be doing some special activi- ation about IPS and in reporting back to IPS cially to the Adler folks: Paul Knappenberg- ties, but the exact activities have not yet been with such detail. It seems especially advan- er, Larry Ciupik, Mark Webb, Beth Azuma, Ju- determined. Liz said that she’d contacted John tageous to initiate some IYA activities with lie Bishop, Karen Donnelly, Michelle Nichols Stoke at STScI about helping with library ac- these libraries; I will try to work on that. and the rest of the dedicated staff at the Adler. tivities for IYA, as the SLA had not been con- You have provided a remarkable profession- tacted about participating. Apparently the Thanks for the Memories al development opportunity and a great “par- IYA working group is working with the Amer- As the sun set on another fine IPS confer- ty” (similar to a family reunion!) for your col- ican Library Association on this. Liz will be ence, we were all very sad to leave Chicago leagues. able to give us more details; her email address and our friends new and old. We could not ex- Don’t forget to check the conference website is [email protected]. press enough gratitude for the amount of time again for a list of the participants and to both Bruce Mason from the University of Okla- and energy that the Adler Planetarium staff take and see the results of the innovation Survey; homa and the American Association of Phys- and the Local Conference Planning Commit- go to ips2008.org. I

September 2008 Planetarian 51 Presenting the Latest Fulldome Movie from Evans & Sutherland

The Invasion Begins - July 2008

For licensing information please contact:

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

52 Planetarian www.es.comSeptember 2008

Invaders_of_Mars_One_Page.indd 1 4/24/2008 10:01:57 AM which we should really capitalise. Another related comment was that we can Past President’s Message introduce shows that address other science issues, and this should be borne in mind by peo- the planetarian running the show. Here in Tas- ple producing fulldome content; we can show mania, I am finding more and more that our all of the sciences, and can concentrate on our audiences derive a lot of their pleasure during planet Earth to achieve this. their planetarium visit from the live compo- On a rather different note, it was agreed in nent of the show—in our case and many oth- my group that public talks, including those ers, a “current night sky” presentation—and outside the planetarium dome, are impor- from the planetarian mixing with the audi- tant. These serve to increase our exposure, and ence after the show to answer a few questions. demonstrate versatility in our programme of Because we all specialise in our wonderful sub- communicating astronomy. Indeed, at the ject, this is something we should all do and 2007 Communicating Astronomy to the Pub- continue to do! lic conference in Athens, Greece, well-known Indeed, I would go further than that. A point Australian astrophotographer David Malin, raised in my own group was that each plane- himself an excellent speaker, spoke on the tarium must uphold its standards and satisfy topic of “The Importance of the Public Talk.” the expectations of the visiting public (and It went down very well and was, to me, one of those who call or email) that the planetarium the highlights of that conference. will always be an environment in which peo- A very important general comment was ple have access to correct and accurate infor- that we must be careful not to do only what mation. we “want” to do; rather, we should do what Another important aspect of that, of course, we need to do to stay viable. In other words, Martin George, Curator not specifically mentioned at the session, is think of ourselves as being members of the au- Launceston Planetarium that if we genuinely don’t know that answer dience; what would we want out of our plan- to a question, there is nothing wrong with ad- etarium visit? Queen Victoria Museum mitting so, taking the enquirer’s name and You will all be aware that the IPS Council Wellington Street contact details, and promising that some in- met for two days before the start of the con- formation will be sent. It may well be that we ference, and many things were discussed. You Launceston, Tasmania can’t give an immediate reply to questions will see all this in the minutes published in the about someone’s great grandfather seeing a Australia Planetarian, and so I don’t need to go into too comet sometime in the 1930s, but the impor- many details here. +61 (3) 63233777 tant thing is that we know how to find the +61 (3) 63233776 fax information and convey it later in an under- Standing Rules Changes standable way to the enquirer. This type of I would, however, like to point out that a [email protected] procedure increases our credibility, as nobody good deal of discussion took place about the can be expected to answer every question on rules regarding affiliate status, with particu- As I write this, only a few weeks have gone the spot. lar regard to affiliates which fall short of the by since the biggest IPS conference to date. There were some pertinent comments requirements. I proposed some changes to Chicago always promised to be a wonderful about our audiences. It was pointed out that the Standing Rules, and the result of this is conference, and the team at the Adler Plane- audiences in general really do come for some that affiliates failing to meet membership re- tarium did not disappoint. I am sure that ev- education, having a natural desire to learn quirements will eventually lose their affiliate eryone would agree, too, that the Hyatt Re- more about astronomy. We do, however, as status. This was not intended by me as a pu- cency McCormick was an excellent venue. planetarians, need to have knowledge of how nitive measure; it was more to encourage the At each IPS Conference, there are several our audiences learn, especially in an immer- things that, to me, really stand out as being sive environment. affiliates to make sure that they continue to highlights. This time, once again, there were The question of how our audiences learn, be as actively involved in the IPS as possible. many, including some wonderful sessions un- too, is very relevant today with an increasing I also proposed that it be made a specific re- der the domes. If I were to single out a confer- number of planetariums using fulldome digi- quirement for an affiliate to submit a report to ence session, however, it would be the group tal systems. It was pointed out that this allows Council each year. This, too, is something that discussions on the continued viability of us, more than ever before, to explain concepts has now been incorporated into the Stand- planetariums around the world. That session such as eclipses and the motions of the planets. ing Rules, and will not only keep strong ties was preceded on an earlier day by a panel ses- Specifically, one group stated: “Fulldome sys- with the IPS but also strengthen communica- sion, and the grand finale saw a considerable tems allow us to change our perspective, and tion within the membership of each individ- number of IPS members breaking into groups so we should capitalise on this ability. There ual affiliate. to discuss specific questions and make lists of may be advantages that we have not yet ex- I am also very well aware that in some parts important points. plored, including correcting misconceptions, of the world, there are regions with very few and there are huge leaps that are possible. This planetariums, or which have not yet formed The Human Connection is a new type of presentation which is excit- an affiliate. The rules now specifically men- One point agreed to by all—and justifiably ing, but we must be careful not to introduce tion this possibility, and formally point out so, in my opinion—is that whatever projec- any new misconceptions.” that an IPS member may represent a particu- tion method is used, planetariums differ from These are very true words, and in my view, lar country or region and be an observer at a movie theatres and similar venues in an im- the opportunities for such fulldome systems Council meeting. Of course, observers are wel- portant respect: the human interaction with to correct misconceptions is something on come anyway, but this provides a degree of

September 2008 Planetarian 53 The Belgrade Observatory, on the hill known as “Zvezdara” above the city, was established in 1932 and includes a 65-cm Zeiss refractor. Most of the serious practical research, however, will soon be done at a new installation well away from the lights and pollution of Belgrade in the south of the country. I was delighted to meet up, at the observatory, with Dr. Slobodan Ninkovic and Dr. Zorica Cvetko- vik. Slobodan showed me around the grounds, and was most eloquent in his description of the place and its history. The University of Belgrade is of major importance in astronomy education. I had an interesting meeting there with Prof. Neda Bo- kan, the vice-rector of the university, during which we discussed astronomy and science education in general, including the IPS and its significance. She explained much of the history and current status of astronomy there, where the subject is taught within the facul- The main building at Belgrade Observatory. Unless otherwise noted, all photos by Martin George ty of mathematics. Following this, I met with Prof. Miodrag Mateljevic, dean of the faculty of mathematics, and Sanja Kosanovic, the public relations director. Our main topic of discussion was IYA 2009, and it is clear that they are making plans so that the IYA will be widely popular- ised there. On one day I made a visit with Sonja Vid- ojevic to the Petnica Science Centre near Valje- vo, about two hours by road to the west of Bel- grade. This is an educational establishment in a country atmosphere, where students visit (and stay overnight) to study a broad range of scientific topics. The director, Vikor Majic, and the head of astronomy, Nikola Bozic, gave up part of their day to show me around this

From left: Srdjan Djukic, Sasha Zorkic, and Natasa Stanic in Novi Sad watching the first pictures from the Phoenix lander. recognition that was not present in the rules Visiting Serbia beforehand. On to other things. For a while now, Serbia Another big highlight of the Conference has not been a place that many people would was the awards lunch. I was delighted and think of visiting, mainly because of the con- honoured to be presented with a President’s flict in the Balkans that saw that part of Eu- Award, and especially so given the very large rope at war several years ago. However, as I number of IPS members present in Chicago. was walking during May through the streets To me, however, a far bigger highlight was the of Belgrade, it was hard to imagine NATO presentation of an IPS Service Award to Shawn planes overhead, targeting military installa- Laatsch, our treasurer and membership chair- tions in the city. man for the past 11 years. (See story on page I was there, of course, for astronomical rea- 40.) For me, it was a great personal honour to sons. I was on a six-day stay in Serbia during speak about Shawn’s wonderful IPS work at which I visited Serbia’s two planetariums and this presentation. The Service Award is the studied astronomical education in the coun- highest honour bestowed by the IPS, and it is try. The topic is alive and well, and this is large- very, very well deserved. Congratulations to ly thanks to the wonderful enthusiasm of the Natasa Stanic and Alexander Otosevic in Bel- Shawn for this great achievement! staff at the planetariums and observatories. grade.

54 Planetarian September 2008 September 2008 Planetarian 55 The Belgrade Planetarium, housed inside a former Turkish bath building. The Kalemegdan is in the background. The entrance to the Planetarium in Novi Sad.

The planetarium in Novi Sad, with Jaroslav Francisky at the entrance (left) The interior of the Belgrade Planetarium. and with the ZKP1 projector. interesting establishment, which includes lab- ium is high, and the Zeiss ZKP1 projector has senting two talks, I was taken to the planetar- oratories, an excellent library, and an observa- suffered somewhat as a result. ium. tory. I was delighted to meet up with many of The planetarium at Novi Sad is built inside I have been invited to give some lectures, the other members of Rudjer Boskovic, in- the structure of the 13th-century Petrovara- using a video internet connection, to groups cluding Alexander Otosevic, Sonja Vidojevic, din Fortress. Visitors enter via a dark tunnel of astronomy students there, and am looking Prof. Mayda Miler, Prof. Jelena Milogradov- with glow-in-the-dark astronomical images forward to that very much! Turin, Srdjan Djukic, Olga Atanackovic-Vuk- lining the walls. Once again, the environmen- A highlight for me, of course, was to visit the manovik and Milan Vuletic, as well as several tal conditions inside leave a lot to be desired, two planetariums of Serbia, which are both in others to whom I must apologise for not ob- but this is more than made up for by the en- interesting locations. Belgrade’s is built inside taining their names! thusiasm of staff members such as Dusan Mr- a former Turkish bath building. It is run by Public astronomy is done atop one of the jda, the planetarium’s director, and Jaroslav the astronomical society called Rudjer Bosk- towers of the Kalemegdan, the old fortress that Francisky. ovic, which was formed in 1934 and is named overlooks the city of Belgrade, where there is a As a final treat in Novi Sad, I was shown the after an 18th century astronomer-mathema- telescope installed. The offices of Rudger Bosk- nearby observatory. Despite the lack of finan- tician. The society produces an astronomical ovic are in the same tower. What a fascinating cial support, they have an impressive range of magazine called Vasiona, which is Serbian for place to work! instruments, including a fine Meade telescope universe. It has been published since 1953; be- In Novi Sad, an hour’s drive to the north for public viewing. fore that, there was a magazine called Saturn. of Belgrade, my first stop was at the offices of I was delighted to present several talks while The society consists mostly of amateurs, Spremo, a publisher that produces Astronomi- in Serbia, concentrating on the IPS and Austra- but there are several professionals involved ja, an impressive, glossy, popular astrono- lian astronomy. These were held in the Kale- as well, which is great to see. The planetari- my magazine for Serbia. There, I met up with megdan in Belgrade, Belgrade University, and, um is efficiently directed by IPS member Na- Sasha Zorkic, the editor of the magazine, and as mentioned above, the University of Novi tasa Stanic, an impressive communicator of Mirjana Spremo. It was also there that I joined Sad. In addition, I gave several media inter- the subject who has her own television pro- the others for my first look at the pictures of views (including one live morning television gramme and who, together with Sonja Vid- the Martian surface from Phoenix! interview), commenting especially on my im- ovejic, greatly assisted me before and during Later I visited the University of Novi Sad, pressions of my visit to Serbia. All of these en- my visit to Serbia. Natasa is also the Single and spoke with the astronomy staff there, in- gagements were most enjoyable. Point of Contact for IYA 2009 in Serbia. Un- cluding Associate Astronomy Professor Tijana I look forward to returning to Serbia one fortunately, the humidity inside the planetar- Prodanovic. After a delightful lunch, and pre- day! I

56 Planetarian September 2008 fee) for blockbuster shows in large domes. Digital Frontiers The summit also featured a panel on “The Future of Fulldome” chaired by Ryan Wyatt. ence with his Bella Gaia performance that in- Donna Cox of the U.S. National Center for Su- cluded live classical violin over looping beats percomputing Applications’ Advanced Visu- set to orbital views of the Earth rendered us- alization Laboratory opened the panel with ing Uniview. For digital planetarians, this was a review of their supercomputer simulations, the best IPS yet. many of which have been adapted for the digital dome in addition to IMAX and HDTV doc- umentaries. Naohisa Ohta of the Keio University Grad- uate School of Media Design (Shonan Fujisa- wa Campus, Japan) and Keio’s Research Insti- tute for Digital Media and Content discussed his projects in collaboration with CineGrid (www.cinegrid.org), which empowers devel- opmental projects using ultra-wideband fiber optic connections. One project presented was an opera in Amsterdam shot in 4k digital cinema that was beamed live to the University Fulldome Summit of California at San Diego’s CalIT2 lam. Cine- IPS 2008 was followed by the Fulldome Grid now has a committee focused on inter- Summit on July 3, featuring a full day exclu- connecting fulldome theaters. sively focused on digital domes. The first Full- Ed Lantz Alejandro Diaz of Secret Level (a Sega Stu- dome Summit was held in Valencia, Spain as dio) presented his vision for video games in note 1 Visual Bandwidth, Inc. a special session of IPS 2004 . This year’s the dome, and long-time planetarian and con- summit was co-organized by the Adler Plane- Spherical Media Group sultant, Ian McLennan, discussed his forward- tarium, the IPS, and DomeFest. I (representing looking Microscopic and Sub-Atomic Visual- 1290 Baltimore Pike, Spherical Media) was a co-chair, along with ization project in cooperation with CERN (the Suite 111 Dan Neafus of the Denver (Colorado) Muse- European Organization for Nuclear Research) um of Nature & Science and Ryan Wyatt of that will extend fulldome content into the Chadds Ford, Pennsylvania San Francisco’s California Academy of Scienc- microcosm. 19317 USA es (and chair of the IPS Fulldome Committee). Other papers included real-time fulldome The 2008 Summit featured 14 papers cen- authoring systems, music video program- [email protected] tered on the topic of the future of fulldome ming, live-action camera developments, cog- note 2 and emerging fulldome technologies . nitive science and more. Mark Petersen of Loch Ness Productions This year’s IPS 2008 conference was electric, kicked things off with a “State of the Dome with greater focus on digital planetariums Address” reviewing the nearly 450 theaters than ever before. Many thanks to the institu- listed in the Loch Ness Fulldome Compendium. tions, volunteers, corporate sponsors, and del- According to Mark, there are actually closer egates that made IPS 2008 and the subsequent to 600 systems when counting all of the por- Fulldome Summit and DomeFest an astound- table planetariums, many of which are not ing success. in the Compendium. Nearly 75% of these 600 systems are single-projector fisheye or mirror- IPS Conference based systems. As Mark said, “the little guys In addition to the many papers, panels and are the biggies, market-share wise.” workshops on digital planetariums, over 40 This was followed by Mike Bruno of Spitz exhibitors were spread across the conference with an overview of fulldome production in- halls with nearly a dozen portable domes cluding typical show production budgets and demonstrating the latest in fulldome technol- show license fees (See his full paper on page 6). ogies and programming. We saw an 8k x 8k Mike provided tips for funding shows, ranging system demonstrated by Sky-Skan that blew from federal funding sources (including the the doors off of 15/70mm film and showed National Science Foundation, NASA, and Na- how close we are to fulldome/large-format tional Institutes of Health) to private founda- film convergence. We saw high-contrast vid- tions, private equity, and state and local sourc- eo projectors from Global Immersion, JVC es (including film grants and tax credits). and Zeiss, a laser projection system from Ev- Typical numbers for high-end fulldome ans & Sutherland, spherical mirror projection show production budgets in the U.S. range and camera systems from E-Planetarium, and from $15,000 to $25,000 per finished minute. an auto-alignment system from Spitz. We saw Distributor fees range from 20-30% and typ- 3D stereo on the dome (now offered by sever- ically include promotion, negotiation, show al vendors), and the Lunar Racing Champion- installation and fee collection. Show licens- ship video game from VirtuePlay. Artist and ing rates range from $2,000-5,000 for portable Kenji Williams opened the IPS Conference. Pho- producer Kenji Williams opened the confer- planetariums to $25,000 and up (or gate-share to by Tim Horn

September 2008 Planetarian 57 proprietary formats. All sev- Multimeios in Espinho, Portugal from April en studios accepted the spec- 24-26, 2009. The festival is open to producers, ification in July, 2005 and animators and filmmakers, artists, students digital cinema is now on a and teachers working in the fulldome medi- fast track to displace print um. In addition to the competition and public film’s 115-year legacy within screenings, workshops for young artists and the decade. public talks will be organized to promote im- Walt’s message to the full- mersive cinema. Submissions are due by Mon- day, 16 February 2009. Please visit the website dome profession was clear: for further information, iff.multimeios.pt adopt non-proprietary spec- Several fulldome-related presentations are ifications for show distribu- included during this year’s Association of Sci- tion and it will ensure im- ence and Technology Centers (ASTC) confer- age and audio quality for ence at Philadelphia’s (Pennsylvania) Franklin programmers who demand Institute, set for October 18–21, 2008. On Oc- it, and will open the doors to an explosion of growth tober 20, Alexandria Hall will present a paper in both programming and titled “Addressing Culture and Science in Dig- ital Dome Theaters/Planetariums.” Later that Walt Ordway releases the DCI Specification Version 1.0 in July, 2005. venues. Walt recommend- Photo provided by Walt Ordway ed that domes also take a se- day, three activities in the Fels Planetarium in- rious look at the emerging clude: Fulldome Standards trend of alternative programming, including •• the 5th annual “Fulldome Video Show- The Fulldome Summit concluded with a live concerts, opera, and interactive program- case” featuring a sampling of work from the keynote speech by Walt Ordway, the former ming. world’s best digital dome artists, including chief technical officer of the Digital Cine- Regarding 3D stereo programming, Walt scientific visualizations, show excerpts, mu- ma Initiative (DCI). The DCI consortium was said that there are currently 1,100 digital sic/art, and experimental productions (or- founded in 2002 by seven major Hollywood 3D cinema screens in the world, with 4,000 ganized by E&S and Spitz); studios to develop the digital cinema specifi- screens planned by fall of 2009. There are also •• “Finding Your Way in the Dark II: Switch- cation now used in over 5,000 theaters world- around 15 digital 3D movies scheduled for re- ing Program Paradigms in the Planetarium” wide. lease in 2009 alone from luminaries such as with Derrick Pitts, director and chief astron- Walt related George Lucas’ experience of James Cameron and Steven Speilberg, and omer of the Fels Planetarium; and releasing Star Wars Episode II into 150 digi- that George Lucas is considering releasing all •• “A Whole New World: Science Visualiza- tal cinema theaters worldwide in 2002. The six Star Wars episodes in digital 3D. According tions on the Dome” organized by Sky-Skan. film’s post-production team had to create nu- to Walt, digital 3D is here to stay, and has more For more information go to www.astc.org/ merous unique digital masters just to show recently been adopted into the DCI specifica- conference. I the film on the existing 85 U.S. screens. At the tion. The fulldome standards roundtable after same time, a single 35-mm film print could be Walt’s talk included a lively discussion on the shown on over 120,000 film screens globally Notes benefits and methods of nailing down full- without any reformatting. 1 The 2004 Fulldome Summit papers are avail- dome distribution specifications, display cal- With digital cinema about to explode, the able at: extranet.spitzinc.com/reference/ ibration methodologies, and standard spec- Hollywood studios realized that standardiza- ifications and measurement techniques for IPS2004/default.aspx tion would be necessary, so they each kicked fulldome displays. in substantial capital to found DCI and devel- 2 The 2008 Fulldome Summit full program op not a formal standard (which is now being Upcoming Events with paper abstracts can be download- done by SMPTE and others), but a distribution The Navegar Foundation is hosting the first ed at www.ips-planetarium.org/fulldome/ specification that was decidedly free from Immersive Film Festival, to be held at Centro ips2008_summitProgram_full.pdf

tending outside of traditional astronomy education. IMERSA membership categories were announced, as was the fact that $28k USD in startup capital was raised by founding sponsors at the summit, thanks to the efforts of Membership Chair Martin Howe of Global Immersion. The IMERSA founding board includes Summit co-chairs Lantz, Neafus and Wyatt, plus David Beining, University IMERSA, the Immersive Media Entertainment, Research, Science of New Mexico ArtsLab and DomeFest founder; and David McCon- and Arts association officially launched at the 2008 Fulldome Sum- ville, director of Nootropic Research at The Elumenati (Wisconsin mit. Announced by co-founder Dan Neafus, IMERSA is an “interna- and North Carolina). tional professional association advancing the art, science, profile, According to Neafus, IMERSA will continue to build up through integrity and common interests of large-format digital immersive 2008, becoming fully operational in 2009 with a salaried administra- media and group interactive entertainment and cultural experienc- tor. The organization plans to pioneer industry standards for immer- es including (but not limited to) immersive digital theaters and digi- sive media in addition to providing industry research, a networking tal dome (fulldome) planetariums.” website, media outreach, professional development, and program de- The organization is intended to supplement IPS by serving the velopment benefiting the immersive media industry. For more in- unique needs of the digital dome community, especially those ex- formation and updates, see www.IMERSA.org. I

58 Planetarian September 2008 This year DomeFest departed from its usual Albuquerque (New Mexico) home to be held in Chicago alongside IPS 2008 and the Full- dome Summit. This year the festival had 29 entries from around the world. Chabot Space Best Artistic Production Best Use of Dome & Science Center (Oakland, California) again 50 Percent Illusion Centrifuge Thorsten Greiner, director Paul Mowbray, animator generously hosted the jury review session. A Smood & Cornsen, music Pip Greasley, composer distinguished jury of eight professionals se- Anna Lisa Grebe, dancer National Space Centre lected 13 pieces for the final program, as well as two alternates. The 2008 DomeFest jury included: •• Samuel Lord Black, senior software engi- neer, Autodesk (jury chair) •• Alejandro Diaz, gamer developer, Secret Level (a Sega studio) •• Ben Shedd, filmmaker, Shedd Productions •• Greg Ward, president/lackey, Anyhere Soft- ware •• Kevin Cain, director, Institute for the Study and Integration of Graphical Heritage Tech- niques (INSIGHT) •• Lubov Jayko, environmental artist •• Mark VandeWettering, technical director, Pixar Animation Studios •• Ryan Wyatt, director of Morrison Planetar- ium and Science Visualization, California Best Narrative Director’s Choice Academy of Sciences Hijos del Agua (Children of the Water) Galaxy Evolution & Merger The DomeFest Domie awards provide spe- Manuel Huerga, director Donna Cox, director cial recognition of selected fulldome pieces Franc Aleu, director Advanced Visualization Lab, visualization in the DomeFest Juried Art Show. This year’s MEDIAPRO Brian O’Shea and Mike Norman, simulation NCSA, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign winners appear to the right. DomeFest also featured “The Making Of…,” sessions that combine a screening with producer presentation and question and answer session, and a late evening demonstration of dome video game by Alejandro Diaz. An unscheduled bonus, DomeF- est attendees also were treated to the Chicago July Matt Mascheri 3 fireworks show from the ideal vantage point of the Adler Best Student Production and Best of Show Harmony Channel Award Planetarium. SciaFobia for Best Mood-Elevating Visual Music Matt Mascheri received DomeFest’s Harmo- Nico Uthe Second City ny Channel Award (courtesy Harmony Chan- Bastian Böhm Matthew Mascheri, cinematography Muthesius School of Fine Art Colin Willsher, music nel). I Dome3D

September 2008 Planetarian 59 page developing as a source for members to Educational Horizons develop hands- and minds-on activities that can be used to fill out an IYA experience. volvement with planetariums; •• To maintain a presence on the IPS website Steve: Could you introduce the commit- and in the Planetarian; tee members for us? •• To sponsor regular paper sessions and work- Jack: Our committee is still developing, shops at IPS and affiliate conferences, as well and interested parties are more than welcome as at other educational conferences; and to email me and we will open a conversation. •• To network with the Outreach Commit- From our meeting at the Chicago IPS confer- tee for the purpose of enhancing collab- ence, we are showing a tendency for a truly oration between industry and academia international committee and diverse core au- and between the IPS and related education- dience that I would like to see continue. We al organizations, and to facilitate distribu- have people from museums and the private tion of educational materials to members. sector, and from elementary through college. We will be able to present educational con- Now that we’re familiar again with the Ed- tent and pedagogy to other planetariums in a ucation Committee’s mission statement, let’s wide variety of situations. meet Jack. Below is an interview that I recently conducted with him in which he reveals Steve: What projects are occupying the some exciting projects that he and his com- committee’s time at the moment? mittee members are currently working on. Jack: We are working on four projects (Note: I have since joined the committee.) right now. Steve Tidey 1. The use of word walls (a method to teach Freelance Astronomy Steve: Well, Jack, congratulations on your language concepts) to develop a universal lan- appointment. Could you begin by telling us guage of terms used in astronomy education, Educator what your personal aims and objectives are such as, at what age is it appropriate to transi- Flat 3, 24/26 Southchurch for the committee? tion from using “orbit” to “revolution?” Jack: I have based my aims for the Educa- 2. We are also starting “Astronomy in Your Road, Southend, Essex tion Committee on the objectives listed on Neighborhood,” in which we are identifying SS1 2ND England the IPS website. Objective 1 is to provide age people in our areas who have made contributions to astronomy. For example, my area [email protected] appropriate techniques and educational standards for programming and curriculum. To has Clay Anderson, an American astronaut, reach this goal the committee is gathering as- who traveled to the International Space Sta- OK, people, I know what you’re thinking: tronomy con- tion in 2007 I’ve read everybody else’s column, so I may as tent standards and worked well grit my teeth and read Steve’s for the sake from around to prepare the of completeness just to humour him... the world, and station for This issue’s column is somewhat inward- we will be tak- the arrival of looking, as I have devoted it help remind ev- ing that in- the Harmony eryone of the work of the IPS’ Education formation to module. I see Committee and its newly-selected chair, Jack make a graphi- this becom- Northrup, director of the Dr. Martin Luther cal organizer to ing a source King Jr. Planetarium in Omaha, Nebraska. assist planetari- of informa- By way of an introduction to the Education ans in aligning tion that can Committee, I thought it would be appropriate their presenta- be used to pro- to list its stated objectives: tions. mote to learn- In response ers the varied •• To evaluate proposed programming to our third ob- and diverse and curriculum, when consulted, and jective, we are contributions producing a da- to astronomy. to provide guidelines for age appropriate Jack Northup techniques and standards; tabase of con- 3. Where •• To keep abreast of relevant educational re- tacts that can does technol- search, existing information and resources be used in a mentoring program for new plan- ogy fit in our educational scheme? Astrono- and to inform members about early learn- etarians. I am currently in touch with sever- my is, at times, a very abstract topic area, and ing issues, cognitive research, K-12 issues, al schools and businesses that use mentoring students may need some form of scaffolding post-secondary issues, special education is- programs for new employees, to see how these to assist them in succeeding. As many of our sues, etc.; programs will translate over to the planetari- younger learners are well trained in the tech- •• To provide guidance to students um community. nologies of Web 2.0, which uses the internet seeking a career as a planetarium With the upcoming International Year of as a creative and social tool, it would be ad- educator; Astronomy, the remaining objectives are go- vantageous for planetariums to offer experi- •• To assist planetarians in their efforts to ed- ing to come into play. We can work with facil- ences using these tools. ucate the public about how to be informed ities to help ensure that the materials are age A couple of the ideas that we have present- consumers, and to promote community in- appropriate and engaging. I also see our web- ed include:

60 Planetarian September 2008 a. Promote the creation of a Skype- or iChat- ect. The members of the Education Commit- Jack: I am very fortunate to be the direc- based pen pal system for planetarium- spon- tee are spread out across the world, and we do tor of a planetarium associated with a sci- sored interactions across time zones. not cover every topic. ence magnet school. We have 800 students b. The use of blogs (secured to be in com- For IYA, we are seeking activities that you from urban to rural backgrounds in grades pliance with the Child Protection Act) to fa- are using. They can be based on papers or five through eight in-house, and we also work cilitate astronomy content discussions, and posters that you have presented. Examples with students from across the Omaha metro- co-authoring of astronomy-related creative of short activities that can be used in con- politan area like a science center. I endeavor content. junction with larger IYA experiences include to make myself a perpetual learner. I tell my If you are interested in participating in ei- “Constellation Darts,” a lesson modified by Liz students that I believe in the productive use ther of these projects, please email me. My stu- Klimek from New Mexico State University, or of summer vacation: go to a workshop, take dents and I have been doing activities like this Remote Controlled Mars Rovers, based on an a class, read two non-fiction books that catch for several years. IPS Conference poster presentation by Mary your interest, or shadow a person whose ca- 4. Gather standards and curriculum that Hiller from the Newark (New York) Museum’s reer you have wondered about. are used in astronomy from kindergarten Dreyfuss Planetarium. If you have an idea that through to the end of high school around the needs field testing or fleshing out, please email HHH world. We are also developing ties to colle- me and I can add it to the Education Commit- giate education, to ensure that we are present- tee Workspace Yahoo group for IPS members’ So it’s clear from Jack’s encouraging re- ing to the members current educational strat- input. marks that the Education Committee is in egies. good hands. It is dealing with projects that Steve: The rapid growth of fulldome tech- need and deserve your support, so I encour- Steve: What do you see as the key princi- nology is transforming the planetarium pro- age you to consider giving Jack your input. ples in effective astronomy education? fession. What are the specific benefits you see We only get out of the IPS what we put into it, Jack: My committee members heard me accruing to us in the form of new education- and here is a great example of how the mem- say in Chicago that we need to hook students al opportunities, and are there any points of bership can pool its deep knowledge and re- on astronomy early. A strength for planetar- concern for you with full dome from an edu- sources to help everybody. iums is that we can get people interested in cation perspective? IYA 2009 will clearly be a huge event for astronomy young and foster that interest Jack: Fulldome technology has arrived planetarians all over the world, and so I would through college. I think that truly success- on the scene, and for some of us that means like to see it galvanise many IPS members to ful astronomy education has to be age appro- a change in pedagogy in the classroom. How- use as much of the Education Committee’s re- priate (quantum mechanics will go over the ever, we must think about what is driving the sources as possible. The committee is one of heads of most first graders), engaging to the lesson: the tool or the content? If the audience the most important that our organisation has learner, scaled to provide support or expan- is shown a high-resolution sky with alt-az, ce- to offer, so please put it at the heart of your sion based on learner’s needs, and present as- lestial, and galactic grids, but the purpose of IYA initiatives and think about how you can tronomy as a topic that is created from a mo- these elements are not explained, they are just contribute your own skills to making its out- saic of multicultural influences, inventions, pretty colored lines. put even better. and innovations. It would not be productive for us to create a I have recently returned from an extend- I feel strongly about the last as being one of show just on the alt-az grid system, but if you ed trip to Ecuador. It was marvelous to see the major reasons I entered a career in astron- can use your fulldome technology to make both hemispheres rotating above at night, omy. Growing up in the era that began with a five-minute vignette to establish the audi- and I was fortunate enough to pay a visit to teachers in space, to me the apparent focus of ence’s comfort with the topic, then it can be the equator line just outside of the large city astronomy was preparation of astronauts and introduced without apprehension. Fulldome of Quito. There’s a lovely (and cheap!) tourist that seemed far away from the cornfields of can be a powerful educational tool for the pre- village named Mitad del Mundo (The Centre Iowa where I grew up. I was certain that my sentation of content. of the World) a few miles north of Quito that’s interest in astronomy would have to just stay been built around the central monument that a hobby. That was until I saw an exhibit and Steve: What’s your take on the educa- was built in 1979 to mark the equator. On site short planetarium show on James A. Van Al- tion vs. entertainment balance within a there’s also a lovely planetarium that seats len. It was not focused on the Van Allen belts planetarium show? about 60. It has a small Zeiss star projector that, or Explorer 1; instead it was a short biograph- Jack: I see entertainment as part of the puz- on the evidence I saw, gets a thorough work- ical planetarium show. It presented to me a zle of a planetarium. I know from writing my out in every show as the program’s producers window to see through my own preconcep- own shows and presentations that I cannot had decided to keep the diurnal motion on for tions about careers in astronomy. Since then I show the same thing to fifth graders that I use about 70% of the 35-minute show! Still, even have retained my interest in astronomy, and with eighth graders. What catches and holds though the recorded narration was in Spanish, now have expanded into astrophotography, their interests are different, so I think it is im- a language I’ve only recently started to learn, archeoastronomy and astronomy education. portant to know your audience’s preferred it was a great show that was refreshingly old- balance of education and entertainment. But fashioned. Steve: Of what help could the general for me, I have to remember that with each This highlighted for me how astronomy can membership be in aiding the Education Com- presentation I have specific educational goals be fitted into a tourist destination in a skilful mittee to be particularly useful and produc- to meet, and that I need to be more concerned way, and what a pleasant surprise it must be tive? with engaging the learner than entertaining for many of the visitors to that site to have an Jack: When we are ready to start fill- them. opportunity to see a good, relevant planetari- ing our mentoring database, we will be ask- um show. Education is truly everywhere, and ing each region to send us names of interest- Steve: What do you think you bring to the the more we can make it relevant to people ed parties. Also, we could use some help with role of education chair that will serve the IPS and their personal experiences the better we the Astronomy in Your Neighborhood proj- membership particularly well? serve them, ourselves and our profession. I

September 2008 Planetarian 61 62 Planetarian September 2008 Reflecting on this encounter later, I recog- a quality of life experience.” It doesn’t matter Forum nized that I had been acting as a planetarian, if your group learns anything or not. The pur- even though I was outside of the dome. Shar- pose of this day is to make life enjoyable and ing the excitement of the onlookers rekin- include all of those grandparents, parents, or dled my enthusiasm for planetarium work. I siblings that are before you in a warm and realized that I didn’t just wield a pointer, but friendly way. In other words, create a bright- also served as one myself–alerting the public er day for them than what they may find in to something in the night sky, pointing it out, the isolation of their bedroom, lobby, or din- explaining something about it, and fostering ing hall at their facility.” understanding and appreciation. We all serve I ran the show and, afterward, as I said good- as pointers both inside and outside our respec- bye to my group, an elderly man walked slow- tive domes. ly by me with his wife and paused. Grasping Suspecting that others may have had simi- my hand with small tears forming in his eyes, lar encounters they might like to share, I posed he spoke to me. “I don’t know what my wife the following question: took in because her mind doesn’t work like it used to. My Alice truly loved the night sky What do you recall as one of your most and I know she would have enjoyed both you moving or poignant encounters under or and the show immensely.” I said thank you outside of the dome–one that rekindled and wished him and the others well, fighting your initial enthusiasm for planetarium back my own emotions. work? How did you feel then and how do This experience moved me and still re- you feel now recalling it? minds me that as planetarians, we help people connect the dots to discover the constella- My question sparked only two respons- tions. However, sometimes it is our audience es, but they glow quite brightly. I believe we who helps us “see” the “patterns” of life that can identify with each of the responses, not so we may have “seen” but had yet to fully com- much in the particulars as in the feelings they prehend. For me, “quality of life” stood out Gary Lazich, Manager evoke. My thanks to both respondents for among the other patterns of life and, in my Russell C. Davis Planetarium their willingness to share their experiences. opinion, has made me a better planetarian.

201 East Pascagoula Street HHH Mark Reed Jackson, Missippi Peter F. Hurst Planetarium 39201-4101, USA Since I work for a K-12 school district, I of- c/o Jackson High School ten approach things from the mindset of be- 544 Wildwood Avenue [email protected] ing a teacher employing the basic elements Jackson, Michigan 49201 USA of instruction, reinforcing concepts, and Several years ago, while checking the Heav- then checking for retention. Most of the HHH ens-Above web site (www.heavens-above. time this works very well with the groups I com), I noticed that the International Space see. However, I had a day where I found my- My interest in the sky above has always Station would be passing nearly overhead as self momentarily dumbfounded before my been there. Certainly the national enthusiasm seen from Jackson, Mississippi at dusk. Eager audience and wondered what I should do. for the space program during the 1960s was to call attention to the flyover, I scheduled a Like many of us, I work with all ages and my main spark, although my defining point viewing session to take place in the planetari- abilities. I didn’t think much about the fact was from my high school teacher and plane- um parking lot and issued a media release. To that I had a reservation from a retirement tarian, Roger Grossenbacher. He encouraged my surprise, one of the network affiliate tele- community or adult care home. I had worked me to get involved in the high school plane- vision stations sent a cameraman to tape the with similar groups over a 10-year period of tarium and sky watching. He supported and event. time. However, just as the group was enter- facilitated an internship while I was in college Shortly before the flyover, a handful of peo- ing the building, I learned that the trip to the that allowed me to learn the nuances of the ple joined me and the cameraman under mer- planetarium was an outing for the Alzheim- sky. cifully clear skies. At the appointed time for er’s patients and a few spouses who were ac- When I was in graduate school at Mich- the station’s rising, we all gazed expectantly companying the group. igan State University, Dave Batch and Bob toward the southwest. Suddenly, I saw a faint Here I was, just two minutes away from Victor encouraged the communication skills point of light begin to climb through the sky. “welcoming” my group to the planetarium, and sky watching skills that carried into the “There it is!” I called out, pointing with my and I didn’t have a clue on how to approach dome. Working with both of them helped me finger at the station. things. My paradigm of being a teacher and further develop my understanding of stand- Soon, everyone had sighted it. When it trying to help people learn things about the ing under the domed sky with a group of stu- passed over us, I pointed again and told ev- night sky just didn’t fit. What was I going to dents and expressing my fascination with the eryone its speed and altitude. The camera- do? sky while telling starry tales. man taped both the station and the excited I eventually wandered to the front of the The influence of these individuals is reflect- onlookers. Finally, the station began to enter theatre with some apprehension, and then it ed each time I work with students to share Earth’s shadow in the northeast and we all dis- dawned on me just seconds before I opened and they amplify their excitement with the persed, marvelling at what we had seen. The my mouth to greet everyone. The thoughts sky. Their “thank you” letters show that we news story later that evening managed to cap- quickly crystallized out like a revelation in profoundly influence students. While I’m not ture our excitement. my brain: “Don’t teach! Focus on providing (Please see Forum on page 87)

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FULLDOME www.spitzinc.com/fulldome_shows 64 Planetarian SHOW DISTRIBUTIONSeptember 2008 Contact: Mike Bruno [email protected] T: 610.459.5200 damages is frequently touted as the most im- General Counsel portant benefit of registration. Timing Considerations tection and enforcement, many do not have If the copyright in an infringed work was a copyright registration scheme. The Unit- ed Kingdom, for example, has no formal, gov- registered either (1) prior to the infringement; ernment-sponsored registration process. In or (2) within three months of publication, the the United States, the process is provided for court may award the copyright owner up to by the Copyright Act and is managed by the $150,000 per infringement, regardless of the Copyright Office, which is a unit of the Li- actual damages or lost profits sustained by the brary of Congress. This column focuses prin- copyright owner (damages may also be as low cipally on the law and registration practice of as $200 depending on circumstances; see my the United States. March 2008 column on copyright damages Also important to understand at the outset for more). The copyright owner may also col- is that while registration provides certain ben- lect attorney’s fees. If the work is unregistered, efits, it is not a prerequisite for copyright pro- the owner may sue only for actual damages or tection. Copyright protection subsists from lost profits, the magnitude of which may be the moment a copyrightable work is fixed in difficult to establish. a tangible medium of expression. Put differ- Because the either/or nature of the registra- ently, to obtain copyright protection, a cre- tion requirement can be confusing, here are a ator need only create a copyrightable work. couple examples to illustrate the timing prin- Registration is, thus, a “good idea,” but not es- ciples: Christopher S. Reed sential. CSR Media, LLC Example 1: Roger writes a planetarium Benefits of Registration show script and registers the copyright before What, then, does registration do for the 1600 South Eads Street submitting the script to IPS Eugenides Script copyright owner? For one, registration pro- Writing Competition (assume entry into the #830N vides public notice of a copyright owner’s competition is deemed a “publication” for Arlington, Virginia 22202 claim. Because the Office’s public database is USA fully searchable online (www.copyright.gov/ records), registration puts would-be users of (1) 720-236-3007 copyrighted works on notice of the copyright [email protected] claim, and provides contact information for the copyright owner or administrator. The public notice makes it more difficult for an On July 1, 2008 the U.S. Copyright Office be- infringer to argue later that he or she was un- gan accepting applications for copyright reg- aware that the infringed work was protected istration through its new online registration by copyright. portal. Dubbed “eCO” for “electronic Copy- Moreover, the copyright registration certif- right Office,” the new online system has been icate serves as evidence that the work is val- in beta testing for a number of months, and idly copyrightable, eliminating the need to promises to make the registration process eas- prove that point at an infringement trial and ier and less expensive for copyright owners, when attempting to obtain a preliminary in- and, supposedly, more efficient for the Copy- junction to prevent impending or ongoing in- right Office. Indeed, recent reports suggest fringement. that it takes about eight months to process a But perhaps the most important feature of registration claim; the Office claims the new a registered copyright is that it entitles the eCO initiative will help reduce the backlog. copyright owner to bring suit for infringe- Given this relatively revolutionary shift in ment. While copyright protection originates copyright registration practice (copyright law- from the mere creation of a work, the right to yers have been waiting patiently for years for sue for infringement comes from registration. A copyright registration certificate serves as For purposes of enabling suit, it does not mat- evidence that the work listed on the face of the Office to finally jump on the online band- the certificate is validly copyrightable. Photo wagon), I thought it might be an ideal time to ter when a copyright owner seeks registration, by Chris Reed. discuss some basics of copyright registration, so long as it comes before the lawsuit is filed. what it means, how it works, and how to reg- Timing of registration does matter, however, in determining whether a copyright owner ister your own works. our purposes). The script is unfortunately in- may be entitled to statutory damages and at- But first, as usual, a quick note about juris- tercepted by an unscrupulous delivery ser- torney’s fees in the event of an infringement. diction: While virtually all developed coun- vice employee who scans it and posts it on his tries have some mechanism for copyright pro- The availability of these so-called enhanced web site, though he never generates any revenue from the script. Upon learning about General Counsel is intended to serve as a source of general information on legal issues the theft, Roger brings suit against the deliv- of interest to the planetarium community. Planetarians seeking information on how ery service employee for copyright infringe- the principles discussed in a General Counsel column apply to their own circumstances should seek the advice of their own attorneys. ment. At the trial, Roger admits that he had

September 2008 Planetarian 65 The Copyright Office’s online registration database provides critical information about registered U.S. copyrights. Image by author

no plans to commercialize the script and that her surprise, the score was comprised entire- a traceable delivery service, or certified mail he wrote it solely for his personal enjoyment. ly of her music. The next day, Elaine registers with a return receipt requested. Note, though, Roger ultimately prevails on his infringement the copyright. She subsequently sues the of- that Postal Service deliveries to the Office are claim, and because the work was both regis- fending planetarium, claiming infringement. often significantly delayed due to mail securi- tered within three months of publication, and Although Elaine prevails at trial, she is enti- ty procedures in Washington, D.C., where the at the time of infringement, he is entitled to tled only to actual, provable, damages because Office is headquartered. Of course, these issues statutory damages and attorney’s fees. the copyright was not registered at the time are eliminated when one uses the new elec- Example 2: Same facts as above, but now of infringement, nor was it registered within tronic registration system which allows reg- assume that the script was stolen one week three months of publication. istrants to submit everything, including the after Roger mailed it to IPS, and that he reg- Example 4: Same facts as above except registration fee, online. istered the copyright two months after that. that Elaine registers her copyright six weeks Although the copyright was not registered at after she sends copies to the planetariums and The Registration Process the time of infringement, Roger is still enti- show producers. Evidence at trial demon- The mechanics of applying for copyright tled to statutory damages and attorney’s fees strates that Elaine’s music was not synchro- registration are relatively straightforward, al- because the registration came within three nized with the planetarium show until just a though there are some issues to be aware of, months of publication. few days before its premiere. Even though the particularly for planetarians who may seek to Example 3: Elaine, a composer, is hoping to copyright was not registered at the time of in- register complete planetarium shows, or other make it big in the space music industry. She fringement, because Elaine registered it with- materials that contain various elements con- records a demo CD featuring several compo- in three months of publication, she is entitled tained by multiple individuals or entities. sitions that she subsequently sends to various to statutory damages and attorney’s fees. Although the electronic registration system planetariums and show producers (assume Example 4 raises an important point about has streamlined the process somewhat, the sys- sending the CDs constitutes publication). The the effective date of copyright registrations. tem is still in its infancy and, accordingly, lim- CD’s label is clearly marked with her name Copyright registration is effective on the date itations remain. Fortunately, the traditional and contact information as well as a copyright the Copyright Office receives a complete fil- registration process, using paper forms remains notice. She hears nothing. Four months later, ing, not when they get around to processing an option for those who prefer the hardcopy Elaine attends the opening of a new show at the application and issuing a registration cer- route. I will discuss the nuts and bolts of the her local planetarium, which is, of course, one tificate. Accordingly, when sending materi- registration process in the December 2008 is- of the facilities to which she sent a demo. To als to the Office, it’s always advisable to use sue. Until then . . . I

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FULLDOME www.spitzinc.com/fulldome_shows September 2008 Planetarian SHOW DISTRIBUTION67 Contact: Mike Bruno [email protected] T: 610.459.5200 68 Planetarian September 2008 onstrations, Didier Mathieu conducts projects on mineralogy (including the discovery of a International News meteorite), biology, chemistry, physics, mathematics, and organisation of an “astronomical with Mirage3D, a fulldome show about the garden.” changing climate and energy sources for the The deputy-mayor of Epinal and Pierre future. Called The Final Frontier, the program Lena, a member of the prestigious Académie is based upon a two-year survey by a scientif- des Sciences, presented superb speeches for the ic team. All major factors of influence on our opening celebration, where the RSA Offer was climate are part of this production, such as attributed to Aldo Cabanis. the Milankovitch cycle, super Vulcans, mete- The APLF/European Southern Observato- orites and CO2. It is ry show created for the International Year based on a book by of Astronomy 2009, The Quest of Our Cosmic Dr. A.M. Sterguiou, Origins, is a European planetarium show pro- a former scientist duced in cooperation with Mirage3D. It was of CERN in Geneva, presented during IPS’08 in Chicago, and is who claims the role available in six languages for all interested IPS 2 of CO is very small. planetariums (contact: [email protected]). The book will be re- The show is focused on ALMA, the Atacama leased by planetar- Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array, one of ium Rotterdam in the largest ground-based astronomy projects August 2008. of the next decade, presently under construc- The challenge to tion on a 5,000 meters high site in the Ataca- invest in new en- The Final Frontier ma Desert in Chile. ergy sources is also poster. Courtesy of This global astronomical enterprise, in col- Lars Broman a part of the show, the Rotterdam Plan- laboration between East Asia, Europe, and etarium, Ad Los Teknoland especially now North America, will start partial operations in that it becomes Stångtjärnsv 132 2010. With its 66 antennas, it will be the most clear (according sensitive submillimeter instrument ever built. 2 SE 791 74 Falun, Sweden to the show) that fossil fuels (and CO emis- ALMA will detect and study the earliest and +46 2310 177 sion) will dry up in 30 to 50 years. According most distant galaxies, the epoch of the first to the show, a very promising and clean ener- light in the universe. It will also look deep into [email protected] gy source is nuclear fusion; the film shows this the dust-obscured regions where stars are born www.teknoland.se process beautifully on the dome. The conclu- to examine the details of star and planet for- sion at the final stage of the show is that a new mation. ALMA will thus be a unique machine “Manhattan Project,” this time for nuclear fu- to explore the cold universe, and the early The International News column in Plane- sion instead of a nuclear weapon, is more than steps of the history of both the Universe and tarian 2/2008 was an all-time high with con- necessary. For more information, go to www. the solar system. tributions from 20 Affiliate Associations. planetariumrotterdam.nl or contact Ad Los, (Note: The photo shown on page 52 in the June It was the 50th jubilee column, and Donna [email protected]. Planetarian 2/2008 is not the casino planetari- Pierce noted that the jubilee was presented on um mentioned in the text. Apologies, LB.) page 50—very suitable!—but Planetarian Exec- Association of utive Editor Sharon Shanks denied that it was French-Speak- on purpose. ing Planetari- The International News column is depen- ums dent on contributions from IPS Affiliate As- The 24th APLF sociations all over the world. Many thanks Conference (8-11 to Agnès Acker, Bart Benjamin, Alex Delivo- May 2008 in Epi- rias, Alan Dyer, John Hare, André Milis, Don- nal) was focused na Pierce, and Loris Ramponi for your con- on education. Oral tributions. New material from you and other communications affiliate representatives are welcome for com- and discussion were ing Planetarians. Your efforts are worthwhile! followed by work- Quite a few delegates at IPS’08 told me that ing sessions around they always read the column, and some even experiences and said that they turned to International News portable planetari- first. Upcoming deadlines are 1 October for the ums. A second axis, December 2008 Planetarian and 1 January for “Astronomy: the January 2009. Queen of Science,” was illustrated by Association of Dutch-Speaking the current activ- Planetariums ities of the Epinal The planetarium in Ridderkerk (Planetar- team. In addition to Aldo Cabanis, the very happy winner of the Cosmodyssee 4 and its dome with ium Rotterdam) produced, in cooperation planetarium dem- Agnès Acker. Photo by Philippe Simonnet.

September 2008 Planetarian 69 Italian Association of Planetaria Confirming a trend established in the previous two years, in 2007 the Planetarium of Rome again ranked among the 10 most visited science museums in Italy, with a total of more than 100,000 visitors per year. This makes the planetarium a reference nationwide for communicating astronomy. About two thirds of the attendance came from schools, but an increasing interest was shown by different sec- tors of the public, thanks to a continuing effort towards the differentiation of formats, languages and targets of the planetarium’s cultural offerings. The last months marked a meaningful change in the relationship between the planetarium and its public, as, for the first time in its very young history (it was opened in 2004), the planetarium offered a full calendar of special events throughout the year that was beyond the regular opening hours. The Cartel- lone 2007 featured “A Blow of Infinity” and included 27 different nocturnal events and GLPA News: Dean Regas with the Merz und Mahler 11-in (28-cm) refractor (1845) at the Cincinnati Ob- involved the collaboration of more than 40 servatory in Ohio. See the Ohio section for more. Photo by Dale Smith guest speakers and performers, among them scientists, astronauts, musicians and artists. The Cartellone featured a variety of formats tion) and is hosted inside a public school. Last, contributions to the planetarium community produced by the planetarium staff: observing but not least, is the project in Padua, one of the in the near future. nights on the occasion of the most prominent towns where Galileo Galilei lived and worked. The Dominion Astrophysical Observatory’s astronomical phenomena; full moon gather- It will have a digital projection system, an application to become a historic site is cur- ings, a very successful lecture series featuring 8.5-m dome, and will be opened in 2009, the rently under review and an answer is antici- the most famous Italian astronomers; “Astron- International Year of Astronomy. pated in early October, just ahead of IYA 2009. omers for a Night,” where the public was in- The officers of the new national organiza- Along with this designation, a site beautifica- vited to perform real observations from the tion of Italian planetariums, called Planit, the tion is being planned that will be a welcome planetarium in remote link with a virtual tele- Association of Italian Planetaria, are the fol- sight for our guests. Contact: Steve Ewald, scope; and two “Astrocafés.” lowing: Fabio Peri, president; Walter Riva, trea- [email protected]. The planetarium produced the opening surer; Loris Ramponi, secretary; along with Edmondton. The TELUS World of Science event of the VIII National Astronomy Week Lara Albanese, Gianluca Ranzini, Vincenzo in Edmonton has recently purchased the Sky- for the Department of Education at the new Vomero, and Alessandra Zanazzi. Skan Digital Sky II projection system for the Rome Auditorium, and took part in Rome’s The XXIV National Conference of Italian Margaret Zeidler Star Theatre, a system orig- Darwin Day and the famous Notte Bianca, Planetaria will be held on 18-19 April 2009 in inally brought in for fulldome demonstra- with an all-night program connecting astron- the City of Science in Naples. tions. This system has completely replaced omy and popular culture through celestial the old slide-based projection system, Zeiss dances, which drew a record attendance of Canadian Association of Science projector, and laser projection system, and has 8150 people. Centres allowed for new and exciting content to be Four new shows were produced by the plan- Victoria. In Victoria, B.C., the National Re- shown in this 23-m theater. Fulldome shows etarium staff, bringing the menu to a total of search Council’s Centre of the Universe inter- currently running include The Secret of the 61 different original shows. Overviews of the pretive centre has seen many positive changes Cardboard Rocket (from the Clark Planetari- activities and a public evaluation study were over the last year as exploration of the process um), Molecularium (from the Rensselear Nan- presented at the Annual Meeting on the Com- of re-branding is continued. Being on a hill- otechnology Institute), The Planets (from the munication of Science in Forlì, at the meeting top outside of the city, the observatory does National Space Centre) and Dawn of the Space Communicating Astronomy with the Public not see a lot of visitors outside of the summer. Age (from Mirage3D). In addition, they are of- held in Athens, and at the 2007 Ecsite Annual The solution was to close to the public dur- fering a presentation called What’s Up in As- Conference in Lisbon. ing the months November to May. This gave tronomy?, a live program that showcases the Among the other projects that are planned the chance to meet their mandate and con- current night sky, the latest space and astron- in Italy, it is worth pointing out the ones in centrate on developing and delivering school omy news, and a look at the scale of the uni- Saint Barthelémy, Caserta, and Padua. The first programs. All feedback from teachers has been verse using the Digital Universe plug-in. one is a 10-m dome, equipped with an ISS RSA positive. This emphasis on dedicated school On the exhibit side, the Space Gallery had Cosmos 6 channels solution, in a beautiful lo- programming has resulted in an appreciable to be removed to make room for the Body cation into the mountains of Valle d’Aosta, increase of 40 percent for school bookings. To Worlds exhibit, which will be on site un- where there is also a well equipped astronom- further this evolution, they have upgraded to til 13 October. Some of the Space Gallery ex- ical observatory. The Planetarium of Caser- a Digitalis planetarium projector. Presently, hibits will be updated during the run of Body ta—a town in South Italy, close to Naples—is a programming capabilities are in their infancy Worlds and put back into place in November 7-m dome project (with an ISS 5 channels solu- but they are looking forward to make strong to be ready for the International Year of As-

70 Planetarian September 2008 tronomy, which will become a big focus of explore the real TELUS’ programming in 2009. Contact: Frank physical, psycho- Florian, FFlorian@telusworldofscienceedmon- logical and scientif- ton.com. ic challenges of trav- Calgary. At the TELUS World of Science in eling to and living Calgary, work is well underway on the produc- on Mars. The exhi- tion of a live-actor-based show, Galileo Live!, to bition opened at the open in 2009 at four planetariums across Can- Centre in June and ada: Vancouver, Calgary, Winnipeg, and Mon- will begin a North treal. In June, the consortium, which has pro- American tour in duced two previous cross-Canada shows, was 2009. Attention has awarded full funding ($170,000) from three now shifted to the federal agencies: the Canadian Space Agen- International Year cy, the National Science and Engineering Re- of Astronomy, with search Council, and the Museums Assistance plans for installa- Program of Canada Heritage. tions in public spac- The show is being written for a live per- es, two new plane- former playing the role of Galileo, who tours tarium shows, and a the public through “his sky,” with the focus series of free public on sights the audience can experience in their lectures and star par- own “Galileo moments.” It is neither a histo- ties. Contact: Sara ry of the telescope nor a biography of Gali- Poirier, sara.poirier@ leo. Instead, authors trust it will be an inspira- osc.on.ca. tion to audiences to explore a universe “that is theirs to discover,” following the motto of European/ the International Year of Astronomy. Calgary Mediterranean will serve as the lead production facility, with Planetarium production work distributed across Canada. Association This program will serve as the anchor product Due to the ex- for IYA programs in these cities. Contact: Alan tremely hot Greek Dyer, [email protected]. summers, atten- Winnipeg. In Winnipeg, the planetarium dance at nearly all at the Manitoba Museum is producing a new public facilities is school show on the solar system to accompa- at a minimum and ny their successful hands-on workshop. De- consequently there Top: The Cincinnati Observatory building, constructed in 1873, and Bottom: signed for the Canadian grade 6 curriculum, were no scheduled the Wolff Planetarium with Spitz A-1 star projector (1950). For more, see the the show will cover some of the basics of the planetarium events Ohio section in GLPA news. Photos by Dale Smith solar system but focus on future exploration and/or premieres by human and robotic explorers. Also in the during this period. This consequence is not equipment, the Lakeview Museum Planetar- works is a revamp of their series of live shows only true for planetariums but for most bars, ium in Peoria presented four new shows this to take advantage of a new video playback clubs and cinemas as well. People prefer to stay summer. The Museum hosted its annual Inter- system, which will allow show presenters to out, go to open air cinemas, go swimming dur- planetary Bicycle Ride on 21-22 June. Riders easily integrate more visuals into their classic ing the day, and go to bars and pubs with gar- navigated through portions of Peoria’s Com- planetarium sky tours. Contact: Scott Young, dens at nights rather than stay indoors, even munity Solar System model. [email protected]. when there is air conditioning. The William M. Staerkel Planetarium at Toronto. It has been an exciting year for The Eugenides Planetarium was closed dur- Parkland College in Champaign hosted a very the Ontario Science Centre in Toronto. Febru- ing August as its staff was away on vacations. successful spring and summer 35mm film fes- ary saw the opening of the newly-redesigned They have scheduled a full replacement of tival. The second annual “Summer Solstice Space hall, featuring Mars and moon rocks the planetarium carpet as well as cleaning of Celebration” at the University of Illinois fea- and one of the only publicly-accessibly cloud the planetarium dome and they also work on tured Dr. James Kaler adding commentary to a chambers in Canada. A generous sponsorship their first ever live show, scheduled to be pre- jazz performance and Wayne James and Dave from Computer Associates enabled the up- sented to selected schools in mid July. Denis Leake operating a STARLAB. grade of the Centre’s planetarium to a new Simopoulos and Manos Kitsonas participated The Cernan Earth and Space Center at Tri- dual-head Zeiss Projector and Sky-Skan’s Dig- in the IPS’08 conference. ton College in River Grove welcomed back italSky 2 fulldome system. In the inaugural former Space Shuttle Astronaut Story Mus- show, live presenters guide visitors through Great Lakes Planetarium grave as their “Big Event” speaker on 22 Au- the night sky and beyond to explore galaxies Association gust. This summer, the Cernan Center present- hundreds of millions of light years away. The Illinois. Illinois planetarians met at the ed an assortment of nine different programs. original Zeiss ZKP-1 planetarium is now dis- Lakeview Museum of Arts & Sciences in Peo- Indiana. The Indiana Spring Meeting was played in the Space Hall. ria on May 10. The group was treated to an ex- held at the E.C. Schouweiler Memorial Plan- Staff has also been busy with the produc- tended demonstration of the planetarium’s etarium, University of Saint Francis, Fort tion of a new 560 m2 (6200 sqft) traveling ex- new Zeiss Skymaster ZKP 4 optical star pro- Wayne on 26 April. Thirty-seven people at- hibition, Facing Mars, in which visitors test jector and Zeiss SPACEGATE QUINTO digi- tended, representing planetariums in Mich- themselves in 30 interactive exhibits which tal projection system. Using their new Zeiss igan, Ohio and Indiana. Highlights included

September 2008 Planetarian 71 seven papers, two planetarium Wisconsin/Minnesota. shows, and a demonstration of At the WIMPS spring meet- Ash Enterprises’ Warped Me- ing, hosted by Dave Williams dia all-dome video for small and his crew at St. Cloud State dome planetariums. University in Minnesota, 40 Michigan. Spring has been attendees saw that facility’s busy at the Roger B. Chaffee new instrumentation and Planetarium in Grand Rapids. journeyed to Baxter to see Bri- In mid-April, the Chaffee host- an Wallace’s Digistar 3 SP2 fa- ed astronaut and NASA’s Ad- cility at Forestville Middle vanced Planning Office Ad- School. Jean Creighton, at the ministrator David Leestma. Manfred Olson Planetarium Leestma’s public presentation at the University of Wiscon- discussed his three missions to sin-Milwaukee, reported that space and NASA’s plans for the their dome was cleaned and return to the moon and expe- painted, and that a new East ditions to Mars. At their recent Coast Control System LED Astronomy Day, hundreds of lighting system, data projec- people flocked to the muse- tors and a new sound system New IPS Fellows (left) Aase Roland Jacobsen and (right) Lars Petersen dining at Adler um to see telescope displays has been added to their the- Planetarium with IPS Past-President Martin George. Photo by Lars Broman by the local astronomy club, ater. a gigantic display of planet The Daniel M. Soref Plane- scales (with a 3-m/10-ft Jupiter), plus fun crafts Zajac has been going to elementary schools tarium at the Milwaukee Public Museum re- and children’s activities. for two different programs that are part of the cently presented its own production of CSI: Astronomers at Cranbrook Institute of Sci- training and promotion he did for STS 218, Cosmic-Looking for Life in the Universe. It is cur- ence in Bloomfield Hills have been kept rath- the Teacher in Space Challenges. His first pro- rently working on a new show called Galileo er busy with a sold-out school group schedule, gram was a presentation about teacher Barba- that will showcase the power of today’s tele- a sold-out lecture by “Bad Astronomer” Phil ra Morgan, the moon’s environment and the scopes from the eyes of the man who started Plait, and production of new planetarium ex- needs of plants. Gene and Joe Marencik were it all. periences to debut next school year. given another bus for their mobile space sta- This summer, the Allen F. Blocher Plane- At the Kingman Museum Planetarium in tion and transferred the labs into the new bus tarium at the University of Wisconsin-Ste- Battle Creek, this year’s museum attendance in June and July. vens Point featured Gods of the Solar System, has increased around 60% when compared to The Bowling Green State University Plane- the production of their very own Amy Wild- last year. They have received funding to en- tarium concluded its spring program schedule er. Amy recently graduated and is moving to hance geology programming and add hands- with short runs of some of Dale Smith’s orig- a planetarium job at the University of Texas on exhibit activities. inal productions. The BGSU calendar also of- at Arlington. Longway Planetarium in Flint celebrates fered a pair of performing arts events: a poetry While waiting for a permanent facility to its 50th anniversary this year. A number of reading by an English instructor and a eupho- be built, the Minnesota Planetarium Society family science programs and summer science nium-piano concert featuring a BGSU alum. has taken their dome to locations through- camps were held during the summer. Both events included visual scenes to accom- out the state and nation. During the past year, The Vollbrecht Planetarium in Southfield pany the readings and music. they have shown the universe to 22,000 stu- recently enjoyed a successful season of eight, dents and 10,000 other people. 90-minute, live Friday night public shows. A This summer, the planetarium at Minne- recently donated computer now provides in- sota State University-Moorhead was renovat- ternet capability. ed, and Dave Weinrich was off installing stars Ohio. Ohio planetarians gathered for their in Ghana. A Mediaglobe planetarium was in- annual spring meeting at the historic Cincin- stalled in West Africa’s first public planetari- nati Observatory. Built in 1873, the observato- um. Dave spent more than four weeks train- ry houses the venerable 1843 Merz und Mahl- ing the local operators. er 28-cm (11-in) refractor (see photo on page 70), Larry Mascotti at Mayo High School in which may be the oldest continually-used Rochester reported that he was presented telescope in the world. The meeting also vis- with a $7,050 Qwest Teachers and Technology ited the Wolff Planetarium at the Trailside grant, which he used to install a digital evalua- Nature Center, which is the oldest operating tion system in the planetarium. planetarium in Ohio. The Shafran Planetarium hosted Astrono- Nordic Planetarium Association my Day on 10 May at The Cleveland Muse- Many more planetarians from Nordic and um of Natural History. Visitors attended sky Baltic countries attended this year’s IPS Con- shows, viewed Venus in the daytime, assem- ference than usual in recent years: from Den- bled make-and-take models, and ground a mark there were Aase Roland Jacobsen, The telescope mirror. Shafran recently presented Steno Museum Planetarium, and Lars Peters- its own sky shows that take audiences on a en, Orion Planetarium; from Estonia, Tiiu Sild, Christa Whitworth gives Lars Broman a radio hunt for extrasolar planets. Science Centre AHHAA; from Finland, Mika sky Starlab cylinder. Photo by Mark Labrecque, At the Shaker Heights Planetarium, Gene Learning Technologies Paavola, Simo Pirinen and Kari Santavuori,

72 Planetarian September 2008 Finnish Science Centre Heureka, and Timo The Western Alliance of Rahunen, Tampere Planetarium; from Nor- Planetariums, comprising way, Jan Alfred Andersson, The Norwegian Great Plains Planetarium As- Museum of Science, Technology and Medi- sociation, Pacific Planetarium cine; and from Sweden, Lars Broman, Tekno- Association, Rocky Mountain land, Tom Callen, Jessica Christensen and Planetarium Association, and Björn Hedén, Swedish Museum of Natural His- Southwestern Association of tory/Cosmonova, and Katarina Anna Przyb- Planetariums, will join SEPA yl, Norrköping Visualization Center. Repre- for a grand conference 16-20 senting SCISS (Smart Content for Interactive June 2009. Conference host is Systems) and also from Sweden were Staffan Kris McCall at the new 18-m Klashed, Jonas Lindqvist, Jan Warnstam, Jo- (60-ft) GOTO Hybrid Theater han Öhlund, Per Hemmingsson, Marcus Ly- in Nashville, Tennessee. De- sén, Daniel Sundberg, Dennis Gustafsson, and tailed conference informa- Nigel Jenkins participated. tion will be available soon. Jacobsen and Petersen were among five For more information about planetarians who were named IPS Fellows SEPA, please visit the website during the conference’s Awards Lunch (see sepadomes.org. page 40). During the conference, Petersen gave an oral presentation on “In-depth Evaluation Southwestern of an Unprepared Field Trip,” and Broman pre- Association of sented a poster on “Astronomy Education Fa- Planetariums cilitated by Combining Live Digital Planetari- The IPS 2008 Confer- um Shows and Interactive Exhibits.” ence saw SWAPers joining Christa Whitworth from Pisgah Astronom- friends and business associ- ical Research Institute PARI, North Carolina, ates. 2008-2010 SWAP officers USA has developed a radio sky cylinder for were elected as follows: Cory the Starlab projector. She gave a cylinder as a Stone, president; Mike Hibbs, gift to Broman for use by him and Per Broman vice president; Barbara Bab- Planetarians outside the University of North Texas Observatory, in Sweden. er, secretary-treasurer; Linda Denton, Texas. Courtesy of UNT staff Per Broman reports that Broman Planetar- Krouse, IPS representative; Dr. ium set up the largest to date Eurodome fab- Scott Austin, member at large. ric planetarium dome at Tuorla Observatory/ The Local Group of planetarians in the Dal- che Springs Astronomy Campus, located deep Opteon in Piikkiö, Finland in July. The dome las/Ft. Worth metroplex joined hosts Chris in the heart of isolated ranch land with an ex- is 7.5-m (25-ft) and will be used together with Littler, Astronomy Department chair at the tremely dark night sky! For additional infor- a Digistar-3 projector. For more information, University of North Texas and Ron DiIulio mation go to www.3RF.org. contact Observatory Director Aimo Sillanpää, and Don Garland from the UNT Observatory The economy is hitting some SWAP mem- [email protected]. for an evening at the observatory after a Tex- bers extra hard as Jim McConnell reported the as barbeque dinner. Richardson ISD Planetarium going on a year- Southeastern Planetarium In attendance were Cory Stone, Gene Rod- to-year contract and Wilgus Burton, Garland Association denberry Planetarium, El Paso; John Pogue, ISD Planetarium, will be teaching an astrono- Two planetarians were awarded the Paul out of retirement at the 3RF Comanche my course added to his director duties. SWAP Campbell Fellowship award at the 2008 SEPA Springs Astronomy Campus in Northwest passed along best wishes to Gail Chaid (Inde- conference held in Lafayette, Louisiana July. Texas, his wife Ann and grandson Sean Allen; pendence Planetarium, San Jose, California) Carole Holmberg and April Whitt were ac- John Cotton and Carol Jordan, Dallas Museum the very best in keeping her facility opened corded SEPA’s highest honor for their many of Nature & Science; Donna Pierce, Highland during these trying times. (Update: See page years of efforts on behalf of the organization. Park Planetarium, Dallas and UNT grandson 5.) Justin Pierce and girlfriend Catherine Hagar; George Owen, Beaumont Planetarium, re- Chuck Rau, Mayborn Planetarium, Killeen cently visited Dallas-Ft. Worth planetariums, and girlfriend Lynn; Amy Wilder and Hicko- and Wayne Harris-Wyrick (Kirkpatrick Plan- ry Smith, University of Texas-Arlington; Paul etarium, Oklahoma City) and Lynn Moroney Ballou, Mesquite Independent School District (StoryTeller, Oklahoma City) were visited re- Planetarium; Steve Balog and his five children, cently by Pierce. Former SWAPer Larry Kru- St. Mark’s School of Texas Planetarium; and menaker earned his doctorate last winter. Patsy Patten and members of the Astronomy His survey on high school astronomy cours- Club at Highland Park High School. es gave some very interesting results. Contact John Pogue’s “3RF” stand for 3 Rivers Foun- Krumenaker at [email protected] dation for the Arts & Sciences (arts headquar- for this information. He is seeking informa- tered at Quanah, Texas and the sciences at tion on a national syllabus for these courses. Crowell, Texas, a non-profit organization ded- Gerardo Perez reports an extremely icated to serving schools and communities in busy year at TX A&M International Uni- Carole Holmberg (left) and April Whitt were Texas by providing activities and experiences versity Planetarium—their third year in awarded the Paul Campbell Fellowship Award they might not otherwise access. Their prime operation! I at the 2008 SEPA Conference. Photos by John project has been the construction of Coman- Hare

September 2008 Planetarian 73 Zula_FullPageAd.pdf 4/28/2008 1:24:23 PM

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FULLDOME www.spitzinc.com/fulldome_shows 74 Planetarian SHOW DISTRIBUTIONSeptember 2008 Contact: Mike Bruno [email protected] T: 610.459.5200 far-reaching effect throughout Ontario. changed hands, but it remains very much a Mobile News Seven teachers who do astronomy pro- family affair. Prior owners Phil and Jane Sa- grams and operate the museum’s three STAR- dler have moved on to other interests while LABs—two 4.8 m (16-ft) and one 6.7-m (22-ft)— Science First, a Buffalo (New York)-based man- have kept astronomy education alive and well ufacturer of science education equipment, in Toronto and all over Ontario. The muse- plans to build on their stellar reputation. um’s extensive portable planetarium program “Nancy Bell, the current president, assumed serves clients in the museum and through two the operation of Science First with three of her major outreach programs. All of their school four children after the untimely death of her programs are aligned with the Ontario man- late husband, scientist Raymond J. Bell. Son dated curriculum. Aaron (MBA, biology) serves as vice president; Students can experience lessons in the daughter Jocelyn (PhD mathematics) is trea- STARLAB on topics that relate to purpose of surer, and son Nathaniel Bell has just joined their museum visit, or use the facility when it the team as technical support. Another fam- travels to schools, community groups, muse- ily member is Sarah Bell, (BS chemistry), Aar- ums, libraries, and parks. on’s wife, who handles international sales for There are two options when they are “on the combined range of product lines. (Nancy’s the road.” The STARLAB can arrive at a loca- fourth child, Colleen, is a third year medical tion with a teacher-assisted program; in this school student who regards her many stints case an astronomy teacher arrives with the as summer warehouse assistant as relaxing, in 22-ft lab. STARLAB can also be borrowed for comparison.) an unassisted program. After training, teach- “This is not Science First’s first foray into ers, librarians, park officials, and/or other lead- the manufacture of astronomy teaching aids. Susan Reynolds Button ers can present their own programs in the In 2000 Science First was fortunate enough to Quarks to Clusters 16-ft STARLAB and even use it as a way to raise have acquired—from yet another founding funds for an organization. family—the world-renowned line of Trippens- 8793 Horseshoe Lane Congratulations to my old friend Ian ee planetariums, which create the motions of Chittenango, New York McGregor and his colleagues for doing such the Earth, sun and moon simultaneously. a fine job of keeping the planetarium spir- “Science First is a well-established mem- 13037 USA it alive at the ROM! www.rom.on.ca/schools/ ber of the education community. Founded in (1) 315-687-5371 starlab.php 1960 by the late Frank Lee, a college professor (1) 315-432-4523 (fax) (the current president’s father), it is a Women’s About Science First/STARLAB: Business Enterprise (WBE)-certified designer, [email protected] When the announcement was made that manufacturer, and marketer of equipment for Learning Technologies, Inc. had been sold, at teaching fundamental scientific principles of first it seemed like a major shake-up in the por- physics, environmental science, astronomy What is happening in Toronto, table planetarium world. But after speaking and technology. Ontario? with former owner Jane Sadler and the staff of “The team is rounded out by Bruce Izard, Since the McLaughlin Planetarium closed Science First, the new owner of LTI, it seems Carol Welsh, Joseph Welsh, Jenelle Papin, and in 1995, efforts have been made to renovate, like it will be business as usual! Scott Marsh. Carol and Joe, a mother and son rebuild or build another planetarium—but to Science First explains: marketing team, will join National Sales Man- no avail. That has not stopped the Royal On- “After 30 years, the well-regarded design- ager Reed Varian in attending trade shows and tario Museum (ROM) staff from providing ex- er and manufacturer of the STARLAB has training sessions. citing planetarium programs to the citizens of Toronto. While consulting Wikipedia (en.wikipedia. org/wiki/McLaughlin_Planetarium) about the history of the famed McLaughlin, I read: “Ever since the planetarium’s closing, there have been groups that have lobbied for its reopening. At first, efforts concentrated on reopening the existing facility, but in more recent years, the focus has shifted to establishing a wholly new permanent planetarium facility elsewhere in downtown Toronto. Smaller educational planetaria still exist in the Toronto region, including the planetarium at the Ro- berta Bondar Earth and Space Centre at Seneca College, and the Royal Ontario Museum also offers a small, portable, inflatable planetarium for school groups.” After a recent visit to the ROM, I now know that the role of the current ROM portable planetarium program is understated and should be Reed Varian (STARLAB) and Pedro Braganca (Starry Night Education) prepare to demonstrate the new applauded for its endurance, creativity, and its Digital STARLAB and Starry Night software to Ian McGregor and colleagues. Photo by Susan Button

September 2008 Planetarian 75 “The highly-skilled production staff has This guide is written been with the firm for many years and takes in English. pride in producing handsome, accurate and Ralph wrote, practical products that are an asset to the “Each chapter is classroom. accompanied by “Jane Sadler, former owner, remains a con- practical activities sultant whose expertise and enthusiasm will suitable for the class- serve as an inspiration in the months and room, a shadowy years to come. backyard or the “Science First/STARLAB hopes to meet planetarium’s artifi- many of the devoted STARLAB customers by cial night. Each ac- phone, email or in person. We look forward to tivity shows the in- developing as warm a working relationship as tended age range has existed with Jane Sadler and her team in and syllabus topics the past.” that apply. If a trip Please note that LTI has been relocated to to the planetarium Buffalo, New York, so you’ll need to update is planned, some of your contact information: Science First/STAR- these activities can LAB, 95 Botsford Place, Buffalo, New York be useful resources 14216-2696; Phone: 800-537-8703 (U.S. only) either as preparation or 1-716-874-0133. The company can still be or follow up. reached at [email protected]; the web ad- “Author Pedro dress is www.starlab.com. Saizar holds a PhD in astronomy and New Teacher’s Guide, Activity lives in Argentina’s Carol Welsh, Joseph Welsh and Reed Varian at the Science First booth in Chi- Sampler Patagonia, where he cago. Picture by Susan Button Ralph Levy sent me a copy of new 96-page works as a teacher teacher’s guide for planetarium educators. I and a science writ- have worked with the author before and ener. He is the author of three other astronomy their newest models, but I had not heard of joy his clear writing style. This book is a brief books (in the Spanish language).” one called the Canopus. You can find out practical guide to astronomy and the night Ralph also sent me some detailed informa- more about these planetariums from his web- sky. It was written specifically for teachers tion on the three planetariums that his com- site, www.mmicorporation.com, or you can and users of portable planetariums and it cov- pany makes available. He is serving a niche contact MMI Corporation at 2950 Wyman ers the basic principles of celestial navigation, in the market of people who want a low- Parkway, Baltimore, Maryland 21211 USA; moon phases and eclipses, the solar system and er cost option. I had already heard of Cos- email: [email protected]. I deep space, as well as how to buy a telescope. modyssey and Cubex and have kept up with

Inspiration Under a Home-Made Dome Colleen McCurley, Bellefontaine, Ohio USA

While surfing the net to find project originated with a question from my out if there were any new por- pastor: “Can you make one of these?” table planetariums being adver- A core leadership group from the church tised, I somehow ran across the had just visited the planetarium at the Cre- name of Colleen McCurley, who ation Museum in Petersburg, Kentucky. We I found out is a member of the were on a fact-finding and idea-inspiring mis- Christ Our King Church in Belle- sion for a summer education program that fontaine, Ohio in the United was to include a kick-off fair with displays, ac- States. tivities, food and entertainment centered on I called her to find out more the theme of Biblical creation. about her digital planetarium The pastor wanted the kick-off event to get project and found that she inge- people excited about learning. There would be niously built her own planetari- six more weekly educational sessions offered um for a specific event. The sto- at the church. The event would, of course, be ry is fascinating. I think you will open to the community and be totally free of appreciate her ingenuity and en- charge—and no one would be holding out a joy her writing style. donation bucket at the door either! That’s just Testing the projection system and then the way we do things at my church. breathing a sigh of relief! All photos provid- Colleen wrote to tell me the “I was part of that core group as the go-to ed by Colleen McCurley story. Her words follow: person for what they call “3-D art construc- Here begins the saga of my tion.” (Past projects have included a 20-foot planetarium experience. The replica of the Eiffel Tower and an 18.3-m

76 Planetarian September 2008 those awe-inspiring and thrilling reactions for the church would not be available for set up my audience. Personal faith will draw its own until only a week before the event. I would conclusions after that. have to design and construct the top of the That was fall of 2007. dome somewhere else to test my projection system. It Makes the Cut We just happened to be building a house A few months later our core group was busy at the time with a basement large enough to planning out our kick-off fair, which came to house a 16-foot diameter dome, so I created be called Creation Blast. My planetarium had a workshop and began construction of the made the cut and was actually a budget line dome there. item! Somehow, I didn’t quite get the geom- I began to research the internet for all the etry quite right for the gores, but I got close small planetarium designs I could find. Most- enough to at least fit the twelve pieces togeth- ly I found inflatables and geodesic designs. er and then custom cut and fit the cardboard I looked at the various projection systems to make a semi-smooth dome surface. I paint- available and became quite daunted by the ed the major part of the cardboard flat grey expense. I decided to pursue spherical mirror but left the seams to paint after the final tap- projection since a fisheye lens alone would ing. practically outspend my entire budget! The gores were actually constructed in two I was determined to do the best I could parts - one extended 8 feet up the surface of with what I could get. I bargain shopped for the sphere where it met a final sliver that fin- a Dell 5100MP and got a good deal on a used ished the cap. I taped and painted the cap piec- unit. That got me at least in the ballpark for es all together since they were the most diffi- amateur planetarium projection. cult to fit together smoothly. The cap would The next step was the mirror. be transported as one big piece. First-surface mirrors were out of price range I used PVC pipe to construct a kind of exo- also, so I began to search for a high-quality se- skeleton to keep the dome from collapsing. It curity mirror as a stand in. I made contact would also serve as a framework to help sup- with Replex Plastics in Mount Vernon, Ohio, port the dome when we had to lift it up onto not far from my town of in Ohio, Bellefon- the 2x6 wall during final construction at the taine. Their representative graciously donat- church. ed a 66-cm (26-in) quarter dome mirror to our After many days of design, re-design, and fi- project. nally successful construction, I was ready to Now I had the two main components of do a test on my projection system. the projection system. But what was I going Of course, the dome was sitting directly on to project? I knew that there were programs the floor, as were the mirror and projector, so available like Stellarium that I could down- I was not able to get the projection to reach load and learn, but my production schedule all the way down to the true springline of the Top: The mirror and projector needed to be was starting to tighten up. I decided to find dome. But I saw enough to know that hey, this aligned temporarily by placing inverted drink- some pre-warped footage and edit together 10 thing will work! ing glasses under the mirror! or 15 minutes of footage from that. Stellarium Center: This is the PVC pipe exoskeleton that was constructed for a framework. would have to wait for later in the summer. Deadline’s Approaching Bottom: The preliminary dome rested on the During all this logistical planning on the Set-up week was coming upon me fast. I floor of a basement. All photo provided Col- guts of the planetarium, I was also brainstorm- took down the dome and numbered all the leen McCurley ing on the construction of the dome itself. pieces for reconstruction. Then I began cut- Creation Blast would no doubt attract several ting the lumber to make the 2x6 walls. I sim- (60-ft) full-screen backdrop projection system hundred people, judging from the attendance ply made a 12-sided polygon base and top for a drama production.) estimates of past projects we opened to the plate with 2x6 columns at the vertices. So, when the pastor asked the question, he community. My dome had to be durable and Then I designed an entrance foyer that fully expected me to say “yes.” safe for that kind of traffic. would also be the anchor for my equipment I have been fascinated by planetariums My husband and I are self-employed and stand. I did not have a two-mirror system, so I since my childhood days attending the Space work a lot with construction projects, so I had knew I would need the projector to sit about Transit Planetarium at the Miami Museum of a good source of inexpensive lumber readily 4 or 5 ft (1.2 to 1.5 m) out into the dome. My Science. A good planetarium show can inspire available. I decided to make the base out of a husband suggested that we cantilever a set of awe, curiosity, and wonder, and can just plain 2x6 stud wall for stability. 2x4’s from the roof of the entrance foyer out be a thrill to the mind and soul. For me, a fan- into the dome for the projector perch. tastic view of the heavens expands my view Building in the Basement Finally it was time to move everything of a creator God and confirms a faith and trust I found a box manufacturer nearby as a over the church multi-purpose room and be- in Him that has grown out of a life-time of source of large sheets of cardboard and decid- gin construction. earth-bound experiences. ed to draw on the work of cartographers of the We laid out some black carpet that had It became my goal to reproduce a work- past and make my dome out of 12 cardboard been recycled from a previous project. It being planetarium and produce a show that gores that would meet at the pole. came the floor of the planetarium. The dome would present snapshots of our universe—vis- I knew that I would not be able to con- was constructed nearby on a sheet of plastic ible and non-visible—to try to create some of struct the entire planetarium in place since since I had to finish painting all the seams af-

September 2008 Planetarian 77 From left: “Operation Dome Raising”; painting the dome; the dome was flanked by a rainforest jungle where a “hide-the-tiger” game took place. ter they were taped. through a DNA strand. That way I was able to and in went a few folding chairs and about a I had planned in a stiffening row of PVC show the wonders of creation from atomic to dozen video chairs and beanbags. The ushers about 2 ft (.6 m) up from the springline to astronomic—all in 15 minutes! were stationed at entrance and exit and the help keep the dome in shape when we lifted Around midnight the night before the Blast doors, or rather curtains, opened. it up. However, I didn’t take into account the I brought in the mirror and projector. I hadn’t Best estimates put dome attendance during additional forces that it would add into the been able to get into the dome and do any se- the Creation Blast at around 400 visitors. And sphere’s geometry. As a result I had to do a bit rious set up until the paint crew left. I finally no one asked for a refund! of adjusting and redesigning at the last minute began getting the guts installed into the plan- Susan, this whole planetarium project has when the cardboard gores were put in place, etarium. been one of the most enriching experiences of which compromised the smooth interior of The cantilevered 2x4’s placed the projector this sort yet for me. I’ve had to learn how to the dome. Given the chance to do it again, at a good height in relation to the mirror, but I do a lot of new things to accomplish some of I would design the extra ring or two of PVC had to elevate the mirror above the top of the the tasks I’ve been assigned, but this planetar- into construction of the exoskeleton from the wall and the ring of acoustical foam. I ran to ium has taken me farther than any of them. beginning. the church kitchen for whatever looked like it The geometry alone was quite the trip back to But all in all the reconstruction went well, was about the right height and came up with high school for me! and within two days, after more taping and some inverted drinking glasses. These actual- I got to learn about all the wonderful things painting, we were ready to hoist the dome ly did the job and stayed in place for the dura- that people have done with dome projection onto the base. A scissor lift with a homemade tion of the dome’s operation the next day! and how it has developed over the years. Since jib and tackle rig did that job well. my “early days” at the Spitz planetarium in At Last: Fulldome! Miami, computers have taken over much of The Final Touches It took a few minutes of adjusting the pro- the projection duties. Now anyone with a de- Once the dome was secured on top of the jector and mirror to get the right alignment. I cent laptop and media projector can have the 2x6 base wall, final touches included: wrap- did not have the luxury of the elaborate math- thrill of creating their own flight through the ping the base in cardboard; painting any ex- ematical computations for positioning the universe and wherever their imaginations can posed wood or cardboard black; hanging black projector beam azimuth, etc. etc., including take them. curtains between the studs as sound traps; in- things I did not even have a chance to com- Viva la planetariums! stalling a ring of acoustical foam painted grey prehend let alone implement. But whether by at the springline to block light and trap sound; dumb fortune or divine intervention, I was HHH and patching any damaged seams and touch able to get a fulldome projection with a lev- up painting el springline and minimal distortion, drinking Susan back here. I was intrigued by the oth- The day before Blast the art department glasses and all. er activities that went on in conjunction with took over and painted the entire exterior of It was Saturday morning at 3 a.m.—7 hours the planetarium shows. When asked about the dome and wall to represent the Earth, to “blast” off. I’m still in the production room this Colleen replied: complete with polar ice cap. rendering film onto a DVD. No problem. I’ve “The whole Blast experience began in the We decided to add an exit foyer as a safe- been in this position before! main auditorium of the church, where an in- ty and traffic flow measure. My husband clev- I had already tested the projection onto the troductory DVD was shown at the top of each erly crafted that completely out of cardboard. dome and miraculously (literally, I believe) hour starring some of the performers that the While the final stages of painting were fin- everything was working very well. visitors would see throughout the day. Then, ishing up, I was in the production room ren- Saturday morning at 9 a.m.—one hour till for the rest of the hour, educational short dering the final version of our show footage. doors open to the exhibit hall for Blast. My films were shown. People were free to stay and I took the best of all the pre-warped footage I husband is across town purchasing a new watch or leave and go explore. Another room had and set it to music. I decided not to get too DVD player with the proper S-video output. had a longer feature film for those intellectu- technical or hyper-educational with a narrat- With a change of hats I’m back in the pro- als who would rather learn than play! ed script, but to just let the planetarium speak duction room finishing up a music project for “The multi-purpose room at the church was for itself. the concert for later in the day during lunch, the site of the educational fair part of Blast. The I had footage of all different kinds of ce- which was also free.” planetarium stayed busy all day with about lestial scenery, including a flight through Saturday morning at 9:55 a.m.—the plane- 15 or 20 people in the dome each 15 minutes. the universe. But I also included several land- tarium DVD is finally in the player and pro- The dome was flanked by a rainforest jun- scapes, a trip underwater, a dive into a Petri jecting. I breathe a sigh of relief. gle where a ‘hide-the-tiger’ game took place. dish full of bacteria, and a rollercoaster ride The ladders were removed from the dome On the other side was Animal Golf (putt-putt

78 Planetarian September 2008 could crack open geodes and find crystals. When I asked what the future of the planetarium would be, Col- leen answered “Looks like the planetarium will get some more use this summer for Creation Jour- ney; the director asked me to prepare a show that will display the constellations. I think that Stel- larium will help me do that. I just need to get into the program and learn it. “If you have anyone who knows Stellarium very well and could help me get jump started I’d A view of the planetarium from the mezzanine. be grateful for the contact! I’ll be asking my The parachute activity was great fun. small planetarium forum group for help also. “We have a group of fisherman coming would hold up to another reconstruction, but into the church for a meeting and a meal. the base would be okay to use again. I’d real- They’ll be in a fishing tournament here in the ly like to redesign the dome with a different The projection system was mounted over the entrance to the dome. area. I’ll try to have a show up and running in material, perhaps sheets of insulation foam. the dome for them that uses some undersea That would make it more durable and easier style). Also on the floor was a parachute activ- footage I have. If I loop a small segment they to store and reconstruct later on.” ity that was very popular. The properties of air can just wander through at their leisure. You can contact Colleen at colleenmccur- were explored, but mostly the folks got into “I’m not exactly sure of the dome’s future. [email protected]. ‘parachute volleyball,’ which was very enter- We toyed with the idea of posting it on eBay I sent Colleen a contact for help with Stel- taining. to see if someone would come get it! My larium and thanked her for sharing her amaz- There was a flashlight tent where beams husband liked that idea since he will have to ing experience—building her own planetari- of colored light were mixed. At one stop kids help me take it apart. I don’t think the dome um! I

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September 2008 Planetarian 79 80 Planetarian September 2008 This is the latest of the NASA Mission Re- Reviewed by Francine Jackson, University Reviews ports Series, and is a remarkably complete of Rhode Island Planetarium, Rhode Island, compilation of information about all of the USA. deep space probes. Pioneer 10 & 11, Voyag- er 1 & 2, Galileo, Cassini, NEAR, Stardust, and The author, in his first sentence to the read- Deep Space One are all included. There is also er, asks, “Why another relativity book?” And, a section covering future deep space missions. indeed, that thought does come to mind. But Deep Impact and Dawn were future missions then his real reasons are revealed: First, 2005 at the time the book was published, so those was the 100th anniversary of Einstein’s special sections are not current. theory of relativity; secondly, 2005 was the Each section contains the general NASA 40th anniversary of the author’s first phys- press release and mission profile. Mission per- ics class as an assistant professor at Cornell; sonnel are listed, as well as the experiments to and, third, Mermin said he feels that relativity be performed, timelines, and detailed descrip- should be taught in high school, so he decided tions of each spacecraft. Background informa- to write a book for that audience. tion about the target is discussed and a full re- To do so, a couple caveats—according to port on data received from the probe until Mermin—come to mind. First of all, he wants the time of publishing is included. There are the math to be understood by a high school many great diagrams and pictures. student, so there’s nothing above basic alge- Included with the book is a two-sided DVD bra; in fact, most of it is at a lower level than containing video of launches with explana- that. What this does, of course, is occasionally tions of details of the missions by NASA sci- take forever to get to the point. Also, he wor- entists, artists’ renditions of different phases of ries that a high school student would have a the missions, still images taken by the probes, problem with the concept of nothing travel- April S. Whitt and mission validation reports. Since all of ing faster than light, resulting in longer expla- this wonderful work is public domain, it can nations of high-end travel. Fernbank Science Center be used in planetarium programs and lessons Mermin also brings in a “trick” that is rem- 156 Heaton Park Drive NE for students. iniscent of my college French class. For some This is a great reference book for any teach- reason, he decided to give names to the “pas- Atlanta, Georgia 30307 USA er, scientist, or planetarian that wants to have sengers” in his relativistic travels. Therefore, [email protected] space exploration information available for we find ourselves trying to keep Alice, Bob, students, audiences and themselves. My as- Chuck and Carol, etc., straight in our minds. tronomy students have already used the book The author felt this was “much more pleas- as a reference for their planet reports. ant to talk about than ‘Frame [of Reference] A,’ When we moved to Chicago in 1984 and ‘Frame B.’” It reminds me of my French intran- Larry Ciupik at the Adler asked me about how It’s About Time: Understanding sitive verbs. To this day, I can remember “Al- one could balance an egg on the equinox, I ice and Emily,” but don’t ask me what verbs was sure he was teasing the new kid. I had nev- Einstein’s Relativity N. David Mermin, Princeton University the names represent. er heard of balancing an egg on the equinox, Press, Princeton and Oxford; 2005, ISBN 13: Actually, all in all, the book was a better let alone any other day of the year. I know 978-0-691-12201-6, US $29.95. read than many relativity books out there, but now, of course, that the myth of the equinox egg balance is awfully unbalanced, but you can be assured that we do have a rather nice balance of books in this column. Many thanks to our reviewers: Steve Case, Francine Jackson, Colin Johnston, Fran Ratka, and Richard Walker.

Deep Space The NASA Mission Reports: Apogee Books Space Series, edited by Robert Godwin & Steve Whitfield, Collector’s Guide Publishing Inc., 1440 Grahams Lane Unit #2, Burlington, On- tario, Canada; 2005, ISBN 1-894959-15-9, US $34.95 (paperback/DVD version) Reviewed by Fran Ratka, Euclid City Schools Planetarium, Euclid, Ohio, USA

This book is for you if you are crazy about space exploration! It contains everything you ever wanted to know (and many things my astronomy students never want to know) about NASA’s missions to the outer and minor planets.

September 2008 Planetarian 81 the northern and southern halves of the same sky for a particular month and hemisphere. The maps for the constellations and the explanatory text for each map make up the bulk of this book. With a slightly larger format (each page is 8 x 5 inches) than other field guides, each of the 88 constellations has its own page with an accompanying page, more or less. The more obscure Equuleus gets a half page; Sagittarius gets two pages plus photos of interesting objects. The larger format makes the maps very usable. There is plenty of detail. For small and medium telescopes and beginners, these charts would be all that is needed to get a great start in finding a variety of deep sky objects. However, I do wish the charts had slightly more contrast. They are printed with white stars on a light blue background. For my aging eyes, a darker background would have made them easier to read. This is true for both white light and red light. The photographs included with the maps logues the author states he has attempted to I was kind of surprised that, in the beginning, are from professional observatories and do not replace. Though the introductory chapters Mermin seems to imply that he is writing reflect what you can expect to see through a discuss the development of European and this as a high school text. Granted, this book telescope. This can lead to major disappoint- non-European cosmology, there is little that should be understood by that age group, but ment for beginners. will be new to an astronomy student or en- there are no exercises, chapter recap, or bibli- My biggest complaint is the binding of the thusiast. The remainder of the book contains ography at the ends of the chapters. I was let book. It is a normal, traditional binding. To get brief bios of the astronomers and artists who down. If Mermin did want to push for this dis- it to lie flat so that it can be used at a telescope, created significant maps and, while it does in cipline at that age level, that he should have you need to break the binding, as I did. A spiral limited respects explore developments com- prepared a ready-made text for that purpose. or loose leaf binding would have made it infi- mon to maps of different time periods, it Regardless, if you want a book that intro- nitely more usable. seems largely episodic, disconnected, and of- duces relativity rather well and you like trains Everything considered, Stars & Planets is go- ten rather dry. Of useful information there is (as all the examples in the book are balls and ing into my glove box as a permanent addi- no shortage, but the book should be viewed photons being released from various train tion for public star parties, or for those times as a reference primarily instead of (as the au- cars), this is a good choice. when I forget the big books, or just for those fishing trips when astronomy is a sideline ac- thor seemed to have hoped) a popular histo- tivity. ry of the topic. Stars & Planets, A Princeton This seems to me a shame, because this top- Field Guide Star Maps: History, Artistry, and ic is a goldmine for connecting astronomical (4th revised expanded edition) by Ian Ridpath themes to the wider fields of art, history, and and Wil Tirion, Princeton University Press, 41 Cartography map-making. Throughout the book I often William Street, New Jersey 08540 USA; 2008, Nick Kanas, Praxis Publishing, Chichester, UK; found myself wishing it had been organized ISBN 978-0-691-13556-4, $19.95 2007, ISBN 978-0-387-71668-8, US $27.96 in a more topical and compelling manner. For Reviewed by Richard Walker, Longway Reviewed by Steve Case, Strickler Planetari- example, in the chapter on European constel- Planetarium, Flint, Michigan, USA um, Bourbonnais, Illinois, USA lation development, it would have been very interesting and (in my opinion) more accessi- Like other “field guides,” Stars & Planets in- Nick Kanas is a medical doctor with a pas- ble to trace the evolution of a few well-known cludes charts and maps of the sky and a basic sion for antique star maps. His enthusiasm for constellations in star maps down through the astronomy primer. the field and his breadth of knowledge are ap- years. Instead, the chapter reads like a cat- Let’s start with Section Two, the basic as- parent in this work, which he states was writ- alogue with lists of star maps, information tronomy section. It is well written, easy to ten to fill a void in discussions of this topic about who created them and when, and more read, and very well illustrated with many di- by tracing the historic development of star lists of which constellations they contained agrams and photos that help to explain the maps, the technology of their manufacture, or did not contain. text. At 125 pages it is complete and does a and the role they have played in illustrating As is fitting for a history of star maps, Ka- very nice job of explaining a great many top- our changing views of the universe. I agree nas’ book is a wealth of beautiful and well-re- ics. that such a book would be a powerful one produced images. However, even here there is Now on to the meat of this field guide: the and would be especially helpful to those wish- room for improvement, though perhaps the charts and maps. ing to bring the history and artistry of these topic itself makes evaluation unfair because The monthly sky charts, for both northern works to a planetarium dome. However, while there is so much that could have been done. and southern latitudes, are detailed enough to Kanas’ work is certainly a step in the right di- The book contains three sections of color re- allow you to learn the night sky or to identi- rection, I don’t believe his work has fully met productions, but since they are only reproduc- fy what you are looking at. They are set up in these goals. tions of black and white images already found a way that makes sense to me. Facing pages are Star Maps reads more like one of the cata- in the text, I couldn’t help wanting more.

82 Planetarian September 2008 well-versed in the controversies of SETI and exobiology. In a chatty narrative which starts by following a roughly historical course, the author introduces ideas on the existence of other worlds from Aristotle onwards, theories on the origin of Earthly life, the search for life on Mars, and how we could potentially find or even communicate with life elsewhere. This is not a linear history by any means; there are numerous detours from the story when the author shares anecdotes about the personali- ties involved in this quixotic quest. Occasionally the book rambles a little too far off course with entertaining material that is very fascinating—such as the accounts of the rival claims for priority on the discovery of Neptune or the sample of physicist James Clerk Maxwell’s poetry—but some readers may feel as though they belong somewhere else. You will find all the usual SETI topics covered here: Frank Drake and his equation, recommend it for planetarians, teachers in sci- the “Wow signal,” the Zoo hypothesis, Frank ence, reading or social studies, and families. If Tipler’s argument against the existence of ET we had a gift shop here at Fernbank, I’d recom- intelligence, and so on. If these are not famil- mend it for sale here, too. iar terms, you really need to read this book! (Plus, the color quality of many of the prints Each story is on a single page, bordered by The book is very up to date, covering, for actually makes them less visually appealing images from that story or culture, with a fac- example, Ray Kurzweil’s promotion of the than the black and whites.) And I don’t under- ing full-page watercolor image. Some of the idea that organic and machine intelligences stand how, with so many wonderful images stories were familiar: the Cherokee “spirit will ultimately fuse together in the “Singular- to choose from, the cover is a reproduction of dog” spilling cornmeal as he escapes across the ity” and the recent sensational, but alas dubi- a map which the author himself notes as be- night sky, the Estonian story of Lindu’s Veil ous, reports from India of alien microbes de- ing among the least attractive in the book. that I first heard Gary Lazich tell at a long-ago scending in red rain. Kanas’ book will definitely be helpful to conference, the story of the ashes from the Sadly, the publishers seem to have ne- people who are interested in collecting star San in South Africa. glected the editing and proofreading process- maps or finding out more about specific star But there are new ones as well. The Incan es; there are occasional obvious howlers (the atlases or the individuals who created them, story tells of a foolish fox, leading a group of Arecibo message contained just 179 bits!), but but I cannot recommend it very highly for animals up an irrigation canal, imagined as I would not be put off by this. I learned a lot someone in astronomy education who wants the “dark constellations” along the southern from this book. It is a hugely enjoyable and a survey of this field. The interesting topics are Milky Way. The Silver River story from Japan thought-provoking read which leaves the tit- there; the threads just aren’t pulled together. is beautifully illustrated with silver fish trying ular question open but suggests many possible to avoid the crescent moon “hook.” In Poly- answers. Why Aren’t They Here?: The nesia, a great blue shark swims safely along his sky river. Question of Life on Other Worlds Skylore from Planet Earth: An excellent reader’s guide is available from Surendra Verma, Icon Books, 2007 in the author as well (email her at dayledavid@ the UK; Totem Books, 2008, in the USA; Milky Way Dayle L. Brown, Authorhouse Publishing, avail- comcast.net). Background information about ISBN-13:978-1840468-06-9, £12.99 or US $19.95. able on-line from http://www.authorhouse. the stories, activities and worksheets, and cor- Reviewed by Colin Johnston, Armagh Plan- com/Bookstore/ItemDetail~bookid~48863. relation of the stories with a variety of (U.S.) etarium, Armagh, United Kingdom. aspx, ISBN 9781434345639, US $20.00, UK National Education Standards across disciplines enhances this collection of sky tales. I We live in a vast galaxy of stars circled by £10.50 planets. The ingredients of life seem common Reviewed by April throughout space and there are no technolog- Whitt, Fernbank Science ical obstacles to transmitting signals across in- Center, Atlanta, Georgia, terstellar distances. Even interstellar travel is a USA. distant possibility. Yet our skies are silent, un- disturbed by alien greetings, never mind alien This third in Dayle spaceships. This is the Fermi Paradox. Any- Brown’s beautiful series one interested in the possibilities of life else- of Skylore books may where in the universe (and from their ques- well be my favorite. Fif- tions, many of the visitors to planetariums teen stories collected are) will enjoy Surendra Verma’s Why Aren’t from six continents show They Here? This book is a good start if you are the wonderful cultur- getting interested in the enigma of the Fermi al similarities and differ- Paradox and a fun read even if you are already ences we humans share. I

September 2008 Planetarian 83 pre-rendered videos, 3D model, and celestial databases such What’s New as Digital Universe. E&S solved this problem by creating a library that can be browsed via graphical interface and can be dragged and dropped onto a preview dome window. This preview window permits the user to modify, on the fly, the appearance on the dome to suit the user’s purposes. In a change of perspective concerning how a full dome system is used in a planetarium setting, a great deal of effort was invested in creating an enhanced control system The control planel of the new Digistar 4. Photo courtesy of E&S. for real time planetarium shows. D4 has the ability to display the eve- giant screen cinema association. The planetar- ning sky over a particular location and con- ium community, no matter what technology John Schroer stellation outlines and artwork. D4 reads .xml is used in the planetarium theater, must nev- data now included in deep sky images of clus- er leave our original mission behind—to in- Dassault Systèmes ters, nebulae, and galaxies from NASA and oth- troduce and encourage our visitors to discov- Planetarium er astronomical organizations, and knows ex- er and enjoy the beauty of the universe that actly where the image is located in the night we are able to see from our little blue-green The New Detroit Science sky. This permits the planetarium presenter to world. Center point out a deep sky object, and then display For more information, contact Michael an image of that object as seen through a tele- Daut or Jeri Panek at Evans and Sutherland, 5020 John R Street scope. 770 Komas Drive, Salt Lake City, Utah 84108 Detroit, Michigan 48202 In addition, D4 uses open source plug- USA; +1 801-588-1000. in software to display any type of data; han- USA dles both video and audio in the digital do- GeoGraphics Offers Tunguska [email protected] main, and has stereo 3D options using either It was 100 years ago, around 7:14 a.m. local active stereo LCD shutter glasses, INFITEC Ste- [email protected] solar time on June 30, 1908, when a meteor- reo Color Notch Filter glasses, or enhanced oid or comet fragment, estimated to be a few +1 313-577-8400, Ext. 435 color anaglyph glasses. All stereo 3D options tens of meters across, created an air burst some are supported in real time and fulldome vid- 5-10 km above Earth’s surface in remote Sibe- eo modes. The Digistar 4 Arrives ria. Known as the Tunguska Event, the deto- A planetarian is able to control D4 via a nation leveled 2000 square kilometers of for- Evans and Sutherland has a new planetari- wireless connection to a tablet PC for live sky est with an estimated blast equivalent to more um/fulldome system–Digistar 4. This new sys- show control, anywhere in your theater. The than 20 million tons of TNT. tem has a new user interface, based on a new D4 is available with a variety of projectors, in- GeoGraphics Imaging has released two new philosophy on how planetarians will use all of cluding the E&S Laser Projector, Sony SXRD, fulldome animation clips, in addition to their the features available in these fulldome video JVC D-ILA high contrast, DLP, or E&S SP2HD “flat screen” clips, depicting the event, based systems. While most systems share drag and projectors. (Please see What’s New on page 87) drop capabilities, pull down menus, and oth- E&S also continues to offer the Digistar Us- er graphical features, the folks at E&S wanted ers Group, where other Digistar users share to create a more “humane” interface for their ideas, information, programming, and im- Digistar system. agery. I have heard a lot of positive feedback Digistar 4 includes two large flat panel from planetarians attending the 2008 IPS con- touch screen displays, with the second dis- ference in Chicago about Digistar 4. play being used as a preview screen for what is being projected on your dome. D4 will in- My Views … clude drag and drop capability for easy show While it is apparent that other fulldome productions, and a timeline to drag and drop system manufacturers will continue to up- all sorts of visual and audio data necessary to grade their systems with some of these fea- create your own planetarium show. A view of tures, E&S has laid down the gauntlet with a the control panel is in Figure 1. fulldome system made for astronomy education, and not yet another IMAX dome clone. Organization While I appreciate the fulldome pre-rendered The first concern to be addressed was the shows produced for the fulldome community, method to organize the different data sets, it must be said that we are part of the astron- such as still images, video clips, animations, omy education and planetarium field, not the Fulldome preview of Tunguska event. Image by Joe Tucciarone

84 Planetarian September 2008 Planetarians’ Calendar of Events

2008 9-11 October. 5th European Meeting of Small consisting of PPA, RMPA, SWAP, GPPA, and Portable Planetaria, Centro Multi- joint conference with SEPA, Sudekum meios Espinho, Navegar Foundation and Planetarium, Adventure Science Cen- the Center for Astrophysics of Oporto, ter, Nashville, Tennessee, USA. Contact: Portugal. ecspp2008.multimeios.pt. [email protected]. 18-21 October. Association of Science-Tech- 22 July, total solar eclipse nology Centers (ASTC) Annual Confer- September. Nordic Planetarium Associ- ence, The Franklin Institute, Philadelphia, ation Conference, Jærmuseet, Viten- Pennsylvania, USA. www.astc.org. fabrikken, Sandnes, Norway. Chair 29 October–1 November. Great Lakes Plan- and contact: Ivar Reed Nakken, ivar. etarium Association (GLPA) Conference, [email protected]. Milwaukee Public Museum Planetarium, 31 October – 3 November. Association of Sci- the Gary Sampson Planetarium, and the ence-Technology Centers (ASTC) Annual Charles Horwitz Planetarium. Contact: Conference, Fort Worth Museum of Sci- Gary Sampson, 11400 West Center Street, ence and History, Fort Worth, Texas, USA. Wauwatosa, Wisconsin, 53222-4213 at +1 www.astc.org. 262 844-6940 or David DeRemer, +1 262 896-8423, [email protected]. 2010 The Owens Science Center’s projector. Photo 18-20 November. Japan Planetarium Associ- June 26-30: 20th International Planetarium by Patty Seaton ation (JPA) Workshop, Asahikawa Science Society Conference, Alexandria, Egypt. Center, Hokkaido, Japan. http www.shin- Contact: Omar Fikry, Head of Shows & Middle Atlantic Planetarium pla.info. Programs Unit, Planetarium Science Cen- Society (MAPS) Conference ter, Library of Alexandria, El Shatby, Al- 13-16 May 2009. 2009 exandria 21526, Egypt, + 203-4839999 International Year of (Ext.1881), [email protected], www. Astronomy bibalex.org/ips2010. Past President Patty Seaton will host the 22 March. International Day 2-5 October. Association of Science-Tech- conference at the Howard B. Owens Sci- of Planetaria. www.dayof- nology Centers (ASTC) Annual Confer- ence Center in Lanham-Seabrook, Mary- planetaria.org. ence, Bishop Museum, Honolulu, Hawaii, land, USA. 18-19 April. Italian Associa- USA. www.astc.org The Owens Science Center hosted pre- tion of Planetaria (PLANIT), XXIV viously in 2003, and since that time they National Conference, Naples, City of 11 July, total solar eclipse have developed and extended their part- Science, Italy. www.planetaritaliani. nerships with nearby organizations of it. Contact: osservatorio@serafino- Deadlines for “A Week in Italy” interest, such as NASA-Goddard and the zani.it. 30 September, planetarians from Spain Johns Hopkins University Applied Phys- 13-16 May. Middle Atlantic Planetarium So- 15 April 2009, planetarians from United ics Lab (JHUAPL). ciety Conference (MAPS), Howard B. Ow- States Side trips to other local planetari- ens Science Center in Lanham-Seabrook, For more information on the “Week in It- ums such as Baltimore or Washing- Maryland, USA. www.maps-planetarium. aly,” go to: www.astrofilibresciani.it/Plane- ton are possibile. This location also of- org. tari/Week_in_Italy/-Week_Italy.htm fers access to a wide variety of speakers 16-17 May. Australasian Planetarium Soci- from both NASA-Goddard and JHUA- ety’s APS meeting, Mt. Cook in New Zea- PL. www.maps-planetarium.org I For corrections and new information for the land. Calendar of Events, please send a message to Loris Ramponi at [email protected]. 21-24 May. Association of French Speaking More details about several of these upcom- Planetariums yearly meeting, Cité des Sci- ing events is included in the International ences et de l’Industrie, La Villette, Paris, News column. France. Contact: Nelly Dumas. The most up-to-date information also is June. Japan Planetarium Association (JPA) available online at the International Plane- Conference, Akashi Municipal Planetari- tarian’s Calendar of Events at www.astrofil- um, Hyogo, Japan. www.shin-pla.info. ibresciani.it/Planetari/Internationa_Calen- 16-20 June. Western Alliance Conference, dar.htm. I

September 2008 Planetarian 85 ty of Nebraska in Lincoln) wrote on public re- the first five callers, or the first to call in and lations techniques for the planetarium, many answer some trivia question. 25 Years Ago of which are still applicable today. Advertis- The bulk of this issue was taken over by ing for those with money needs to be placed Charles Hagar (Planetarium Institute at San where it reaches those interested, while free Francisco State University, California1), with Thomas Wm. Hamilton promos and PSAs (public service announce- two major articles. First was “Planetariums: HOSS Planetarium ments) can get onto local radio and television Star Wars or Astronomy?” Hagar compared 153 Arlo Road stations (and today, cable). seeing Star Wars for the first time (doesn’t Interestingly, most newspaper and general that just give you a feel for how long ago 1983 Staten Island, New York circulation magazines assume no more than a was?) against a planetarium show on black 10301 sixth grade reading level from their adult au- holes. His conclusion: “Folks, let’s stop trying diences, so Hooker suggests that general audi- to be George Lucas and instead become good [email protected] ence planetarium shows should be written at astronomy interpreters to the public.” Hagar that level also. Among other characteristics, Vol. 12, No. 3 this means being con- Third Quarter 1983 crete and basic, rather than complex and ab- The September issue 25 years ago had a let- stract and age-appro- ter from James Rusk (Russell Planetarium, priate entertainment Mesquite, Texas) commenting on the article for teens, with more in the January issue on beliefs in effects of the informational materi- full moon. Boyd Mathias of the University of al for adults. Identified the Pacific had a letter regarding typewriter special interest groups elements with special symbols, such as Greek include scouts and lo- letters and mathematical or physics symbols. cal astronomy clubs. (I There was a short report on the joint meet- even had the local as- ing of the Great Lakes Planetarium Associ- trologers’ guild come ation and the Middle Atlantic Planetarium in once!) Society at the Strasenburgh Planetarium in Catherine Buckley Rochester, New York. of Reno, Nevada, a self- A paper originally presented at the Pacific identified outsider to Planetarium Association conference in May the planetarium field, 1983, from Michael Chriss of the College of addressed us on an out- San Mateo in California, looked at “Science siders’ perceptions and and Nonsense: An Issue for Our Time” (and, experiences in nearly unfortunately, ours also). a dozen planetariums Chriss wrote “A local Bay Area community in various parts of the college sent me a catalog of their course fare. United States. She is an enthusiast, but one who Charles Hagar at work in this undated photo, provided courtesy of Spe- Prominently featured was a full page of cours- cial Collections Department, Leonard Library, San Francisco State Univer- es given in ‘psychic phenomenon’ (sic). The noted and was prepared sity. student could choose from among a Barnum to describe what she of knowledge …” Among the titles were “Jour- sees as “deficiencies.” ney of Reincarnation—Past Life Explorations,” First is not offering new shows often enough noted that he is not proposing a return to pe- “Contacting Your Spirit Guides,” “Cleansing to keep drawing people back. Next, she likes dantic planetarium lectures for the public and and Balancing Your Chakras,” and more. The simple exhibits associated with the planetar- notes that astronomy can be fun. “But, “[i]t is author asks are we to “find ourselves offering, ium, especially those that do something and most unfortunate that the wide angle cine- equally, courses in Creation Science, along are interactive. Good exhibits include science matic projectors…have become ‘the tail that with Darwin, astrology, Velikovsky, and von fiction, movies, and exhibits created by lo- wags the dog’.” (As I have long said, shows rest Däniken along with astronomy?” He con- cal school children, especially those relating on three legs: science, drama and education, cludes with a call for an equivalent to a Hip- either to the current public show or to news and need a proper balance.) pocratic oath in our teaching. events involving astronomy and space. Bad Hagar also had a lengthy article completing (Immanuel Velikovsky, who died in 1979, things she identified include calling attention his “IPS Survey of the World’s Planetariums.” wrote controversial books that reinterpret- to the star projector (which many planetar- This part completed the report on 30-ft/9.1-m ed history, including the 1950 Worlds in Colli- ians seem to like to do); having wires, props, domes, covered those smaller than that, and sion that so incensed Harlow Shapley that he and other equipment exposed; having light- then gave a general summary for the entire led a vocal campaign against him. Prolific au- ing that is too bright and light leaks (particu- survey for all dome sizes. The analysis relates thor Erich von Däniken is best known for his larly from around the control panel); and run- directors’ salary to dome size and numbers of championing of extraterrestrial assistance in ning noisy equipment. full- and part-time employees to dome size. early human affairs; Chariots of the Gods? in She identified bad scripts as those obvious- Attendance size is analyzed several ways, 1969 is perhaps his best-known work. At least ly padded because there is not enough to the including by manufacturer, of whom only Velikovsky and von Däniken are finally re- topic for a full show (hey, people, point out ceding for the public mind.) the current night sky). She suggested having 1 By the way, the planetarium at San Francisco State Lisa Hooker (Mueller Planetarium, Universi- offers of free tickets to shows on local radio for University is now called the Charles F. Hagar Plane- tarium.

86 Planetarian September 2008 six are listed (Farquhar and Viewlex no lon- Gerry Mallon2 asked for people to share les- (What’s New, continued from page 84) ger being with us today). The types of use are son plans “developed and used successfully in shown (public shows, school groups, astrono- their planetariums.” on the scientific data thought to surround the my classes, other astronomical uses, and non- James Brown did the “What’s New” column. occurrence. Flat screen versions of the anima- astronomical uses). This described STARLAB’s offering of nine cyl- tions are offered at 720 x 480 resolutions up (The main problem in this survey is incom- inders. Stasiuk Enterprises was marketing five to 1280 x 720 hi-def. Fulldome sequences are plete data, since it is assumed non-respond- planetarium shows on topic as diverse as “ETs: available as 4K dome masters and in smaller ing planetariums are statistically the same as Where Are They?” and “The Scorpio-Sagittari- sizes. All of GeoGraphics’ animations feature those responding, a dubious assumption. No us Connection.” the talents of artist/animator Joe Tucciarone. attempt is made to estimate this or any other The Jane Geohagen’s Jane’s Corner column GeoGraphics also provides astronomical possible sources of error. One I can think of is was largely devoted to the opening of and me- clips for producers to help off-set productions Viewlex, which is represented by only 17 plan- dia hype surrounding the opening of the Uni- costs by providing pre-rendered sequences. etariums. I know that a single school district verse, the Science Museum of Virginia’s new These clips are available for educators who in the Bronx purchased 12, none of which is planetarium and Omnimax theaters in Rich- need visuals to help explain various concepts. in the survey.) mond. George and his staff are currently rendering IPS President Jeanne Bishop reported that Out in space, the Soviet Union launched many of their clips into fulldome format, the IPS Council would soon be selecting the Kosmos satellites 1495 through 1501 during which will be added to their fulldome library site for the 1986 conference, as well as on such September, along with Zenit 24, Oktan 11, Ar- upon completion. Low resolution Quick Time recurrent issues as the Script Bank, procedures gons 84 and 85, and an Okean and Ekran. The movies of each sequence are available for pre- for the Awards Committee, methods of aid- sole manned launch of the month was Soyuz- view on line at www.geographicsimaging. ing planetariums facing a crisis, and a propos- T 10. The USA launched two communications com. al from NASA/Lewis to do a 28-minute video/ satellites, Satcom 2R and Galaxy 2. I For More information, contact George film on planetariums, which seems never to 2 The planetarium at the Arcola Intermediate School Fleenor at [email protected]. Full have come to fruition. in Norristown, Pennsylvania, now bears his name. contact information: GeoGraphics Imaging Another idea not fully pursued came from Mallon was president-elect of the IPS when he & Consulting, 7803 25th Ave W., Bradenton, Sam Storch of the E.R. Murrow High School passed away. Florida 34209 USA; +1 941)-920-0246. Planetarium (now called the Edwin P. Hubble Planetarium), Brooklyn, New York, to have Galaxy Contact IPS sponsor articles in various journals seen by A producer of astronomy and space imag- administrators and others with influence on (Forum, continued from page 63) es for 25 years, Galaxy Contact is conducting planetariums’ survival, promoting their use training students to be future planetarians, a liquidation sale on their products, including and value. my hope is that they walk outside to share postcards, posters, photo prints, astronomy Gibbous Gazette was a news summary, then the excitement about the sky they showed maps, etc. These products may be viewed at done by John Wharton. He began with plans me, and that their memories of their plane- their web site www.spacephotos.com. for a new edition of the Planetarium Directo- tarium visits were somehow life changing in For more information, contact Jean-Marie ry. A major shake up at the Flandrau Planetar- that they remember the visits and share them Hagnere, director, Galaxy Contact, BP 26, 14 ium (Tucson, Arizona) with the resignation of with others. rue St Nicolas , 62101 Calais Cedex France; +33 Dennis Mammana got a fairly thorough air- Jeffrey L. Hunt 359 70 13 93; [email protected]. ing. Financial woes in Michigan had a lesser Director, Instructional Technology effect on the Abrams Planetarium (Michigan Indian Prairie School District 204 State University, East Lansing). 780 Shoreline Drive Planetariums in Canada and the U.K. were Aurora, Illinois 60504 USA told how to obtain NASA films and other materials. Comet Halley’s impending apparition HHH came in for some discussion, with a Hansen Planetarium (now the Clark Planetarium, in While responses to my question may lack Map Cards Salt Lake City, Utah) show on it being avail- in quantity, they lack nothing in quality. In A Czech company called Map Cards is of- able for purchase soon. fact, the second response gave me an idea for fering what they call true 3D postcards, sized A telescope manufacturer (one no lon- our next topic. 148 by 105 mm. Images available include each ger around) asked IPS to answer astronomi- In 1675, Isaac Newton wrote in a letter to planet of our solar system, the sun, and the en- cal questions they received from the public. Robert Hooke, “If I have seen further it is by tire solar system. They also have maps of day- Slides from results of the Einstein X-ray sat- standing on the shoulders of giants.” I sus- time and nighttime Earth postcards, moon ellite were available. Tilted 23-m domes with pect each of us could say the same, so our next phase postcards, and book markers. You have GOTO projectors were being installed in Yo- question takes the following form. a chance to see their products for yourself kohama and Taiwan and a Digistar 23-m with the insert in this issue! dome in The Hague. Whom do you consider your mentor(s) For more information, contact Map Cards Jack Dunn’s Regional Roundup reported on in the planetarium field and what quali- at [email protected] or check their web- conferences held or planned around the USA, ties did he/she/they help you develop? site at www.macards.net. I but no reports from outside it. Kathleen Hedges (Griffith Planetarium, Los For your response to receive consideration Angeles, California) had an education article for inclusion, I must receive it no later than describing how even large planetariums could October 15. I would also appreciate your in- have some interaction with general audiences cluding your full address in case anyone wish- and school groups. es to comment on your response “off list.” I

September 2008 Planetarian 87 they approach the edge of a cliff, they should they say “a little something extra” in Louisi- Last Light “consider all possibilities.” ana) from NASA. Our conference name tags A 1909 photograph of the national basket- were in transparent plastic pockets on cords ball champions from the University of Chi- around our necks. Ken had his Solar System cago showed Edwin Hubble, who played for- Ambassador name tag in the same pocket, and ward on the team. Dr. Kolb commented, “This turned that tag forward during his talk, during shows that scientists are just regular peo- which he was “now an agent of JPL.” Jason Tal- ple. They could be starters on national sports ley asked, “Are you a double agent?” teams. It happens often.” More door prizes: Linda Hare had all our A graph of the contents of the universe, name tags in a box, and was randomly choos- with hydrogen and helium accounting for ing them one at a time to award the prizes. only 4% of the total, came with the comment, Mickey Jo Sorrell wanted to win Dayle Brown’s “This graph also illustrates why chemistry is book Skylore from Planet Earth: Milky Way, not important.” and called out to Linda to pick her name next. HHH That book was the next prize. Linda pulled a On a smaller-than-international scale, there tag from the box, looked at the name, and her was the Triple Conjunction last year, the mouth fell open in shock. Then she held the meeting of three regional groups in the Unit- tag up for us all to see, with the exclamation, ed States: Great Lakes Planetarium Association “Honest to God!” It was Mickey’s! (GLPA), Middle Atlantic Planetarium Society Laurent Pellerin wanted the case of tele- (MAPS), and the Southeastern Planetarium As- scope eyepieces and filters, a generous gift April S. Whitt sociation (SEPA). from Celestron. He asked Mickey Jo to call out Fernbank Science Center Jon Bell said that Ken Franklin had once again. “But it didn’t work,” he said. “She got given him advice for answering phone calls. the right planetarium, but the wrong person.” 156 Heaton Park Drive NE “Just tell them that no matter what, the world His assistant Kristin Fiacccato won them. Atlanta, Georgia 30307 USA is not going to end. When the world doesn’t Ken Miller won a fleece vest with the cov- end tomorrow, they’ll say ‘Hey! He was right!’ eted Woodchuck logo. When someone asked, [email protected] and if it does, there will be no one to point a “What does a guy from Hawai’i need with a finger.” fleece vest?” he replied, “For when I come to Door prizes. We got door prizes. Keith John- the d--- mainland!” We’re going for the gold with this issue, my son won a pair of Woodchuck mugs, most ap- HHH friends. Our colleagues in China have just fin- ropos for his birthday on February 2. Scale back now to Fernbank: ished hosting the Olympic Games, and any- Susan and Tom Button won identical cal- Competitors in the local Science Olympiad one who has organized a conference knows endars. When the digital-camera-and-binocu- practice finding stars and constellations in our the challenges that brings. I cannot imagine lars prize came up, Tom said, “I’ll trade you for planetarium. When a parent or teacher calls the scale of such an international event. a calendar!” Someone suggested that he hang asking for help with the “Starry Starry Night” Our own international event in Chicago both calendars on the living room wall and section of the competition, we’re happy to set this summer featured Dr. Rocky Kolb as the enjoy stereo vision. up an appointment between shows and help opening keynote speaker. His presentation, Pisgah Astronomy Research Institute (PARI) students identify objects in the sky. This past “Exploring the Edge,” was his usual blend of donated several Star Lab cylinders of the ra- school year the two youngest students with fun and facts. Many of us travel by airplane, dio sky. Each was in a plain brown cardboard whom we worked took first place in the state- he pointed out, and encounter the person in tub, similar to those in ice cream stores. When wide competition. What a joy to work with the next seat who asks “What do you do for the cylinders came up for award, Ben Mendel- such exceptionally fine young people! I a living?” son suggested giving out the strawberry fla- We all know what happens if we reply “I’m vor first. an astronomer.” The response is, “Can you do HHH my horoscope?” If you say you’re a physicist, Scale back to just one region in size: they think you’re a psychic, and planetarians Dave Hostetter and his team hosted a won- must work with plants. Rocky’s advice was, “If derful SEPA conference in Lafayette, Louisi- I don’t want to talk to them, I tell them I’m ana. Excellent food, excellent presentations, a theoretical physicist. If I do want to talk to excellent speakers, and the friendliest, most them, I tell them I train dolphins.” helpful staff in the region. Dexter LeDoux If he says he’s a cosmologist, they think just might be eligible for canonization. I saw “cosmetology.” He noted that both words two of the three miracles necessary, and Mar- have the same root, cosmos, meaning “to tin Ratcliffe commented, “If you’re ever on a bring order.” And he listed some cultural sim- mission to the moon and you have a problem, ilarities between cosmologists and cosmetol- you want Dexter in the middle seat.” ogists: both have religious rituals, both have Drew Gilmore, describing the opening of body adornment, both have marriage taboos, the Sudekum Planetarium in Nashville, Ten- and both have alcoholic beverages. nessee, reminded us that no matter what proj- In a discussion about fundamentalists who ect we undertake, “You always need more want equal time in the classroom for their cre- time, you always need more staff, and you al- ationist agenda (or whatever the current top- ways need more Tylenol.” Congratulations Nathan and Natasha, first place ic is), Dr. Kolb suggested that we remind them winners in the state Science Olympiad compe- Ken Brandt brought some lagniappe (how that gravity is only a theory, and that when tition! Photo by Liechung Hung.

88 Planetarian September 2008

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