A Time Away

I spent last week at a planetarium conference in Denver. We had a wonderful time visiting with clients from around the western U.S. and seeing the latest and greatest in planetarium, fulldome technology.

The planetarium is one of those places in the public mind that’s associated with museum visits or school visits or, to our great dismay sometimes, only thought of as that place they spoofed in “South Park.” But, it ain’t your father’s planetarium any more. The domed theaters we all grew up in, learning about the stars and planets and galaxies, are changing as technology changes. Sure, they still project stars. Some do it with the old opto-mechanical “ant in the middle of the room” equipment, usually supplemented by special slide projectors to help create immersive environments like the surface of a planet or the vision of an undersea environment on another planet. Others do it with video projection systems, and we saw a lot of those kinds of system at the meeting last week.

I write planetarium shows and of course my husband produces them. Video production is right up our alley, and lets us show my scripts and his music and the visuals of the cosmos to great advantage. And of course we’re immersed in video production now. It’s a great feeling to know that the stories I tell about astronomy can be visualized the way I see them in my mind’s eye.

But, you ask, what about the old style of shows? The constellation identifications? The great lectures showing the latest images from HST or Spitzer or other observatories? The good news is — they’re still possible! Nothing has changed there. Well… the technology has. And the skill sets to make presentations under the dome are new ones for many planetarians. But they’ll cope and grow and embrace them. If any of the talks I heard last week are any indication, the planetarium world’s evolution will be scary, exciting, and maybe even fun! (Once we learn those skills!)

Rough Week

This has been an astoundingly stressful week for a lot of people. Those of us not directly affected by Hurricane Katrina and the aftermath have gone about our lives with the daily news reports echoing in our minds. It’s hard to believe this is happening, and that the problems are so widespread. So, take a moment out from your websurfing to send help if you can.

Stargazing-wise, some of the nicest nights for Northern Hemisphere skywatchers (weather-wise) are coming up with the rise of September. So, take a break from whatever you’re doing and step out tonight after dark and check out the stars. The other day Astronomy Picture of the Day had a great picture of the double star Albireo in the constellation Cygnus the Swan. You can spot this beautiful double star with good binoculars or a small telescope, right at the foot of Cygnus. Check it out!