The SCSU planetarium is set to offer the public free presentations on Nov. 2, 4, and 5. The public nights are scheduled to begin at 6 p.m and last until 8 p.m.
The shows are expected consist of an hour of recorded presentation followed by an outdoor viewing.
Volunteers will carry telescopes outside after the recorded show and the public will be able to use them to view the sky if the sky is clear.
The presentations also plan to offer free refreshments including hot cocoa.
“It’s a great way for individuals who are interested in the planetarium to see shows,” Anette Lee, the new head of the astronomy department, said. “We’re expecting a large turn around rate.”
Usually people interested in viewing the planetarium need a group of ten or more to book a show. Lee is heading the public nights, which only require individuals to sign up in advance.
Lee said that the shows for the November viewings were currently filled to capacity, but she has planned more shows throughout the year. The planetarium usually holds public shows only once a year, but Lee is planning on having three or more.
Lee said that the shows are aimed at appealing to a wide variety of people. “We’re trying to open up more to regular folks,” Lee said.
SCSU’s planetarium is the only free planetarium in Minnesota, and one of a handful that are free in the United States.
Lee said that these shows would take on a more artistic approach.
“With new technology, we’re always circling back to the unknown. That is also where art comes from,” Lee said. “We’re planning on adding an element of filmmaking with color and light. People can expect to see original shows.”
The presentations are planned to feature many items, including an encompassing tour of the solar system, 3-D flybys of Mars and recent pictures of sunspot granulation taken by a spacecraft.
The planetarium is boasting a relatively new layout.
In 2007, the planetarium was refurbished and fitted with a new projection machine.
The new projector is a Chronos II Space Simulator, and can run fully automated shows or be manually operated.
Jim Simonson, the planetarium’s technician, said that the new projector is a replacement of the Spitz System 512, which was purchased by SCSU in 1973.
“If you want to see what the sky looked like on the day you were born, we can simply plug the date into the machine and it will project the sky on that day,” Simonson said.
Simonson said that the fully programmed shows operate in the same way one would put information into an ATM machine.
“The projector is basically a robot, and we program it to tell it what to do,” Simonson
said.
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