The history of planetariums can be traced back to ancient civilizations. In Greece, Archimedes created mechanical devices to illustrate celestial movement. In 1229, Emperor Frederick II used a tent with holes to represent stars, and rotated the tent to mimic the movement of stars across the night sky. But the planetariums we are familiar with visiting did not arrive on the scene until the last 100 years. The first modern planetarium was at the Deutsches Museum in Munich. The Zeiss Planetarium began projecting stars in 1925. The Adler Planetarium, which opened in 1930, was the first modern planetarium in the Western Hemisphere.
Digital projection first came to planetariums in 1983. As with everything else, planetariums continue to become more high-tech as new innovations become part of museum technology. Today’s state-of-the-art planetarium is represented by China’s new Shanghai Astronomy Museum. It boasts the largest planetarium in the world, encompassing 9.6 acres and serving a city of 29 million people. It has two planetarium domes and hundreds of individual exhibits housed in award-winning architecture. It features a children’s observing camp and two large professional telescopes.
As their main astronomy exhibition consultant for three years, our speaker, Jim Switzer, PhD, will share his visit to the planetarium. Join Jim, who is also an NAA member, as he shares his unique insider’s “tour” of this new mothership of planetariums during our December General Meeting.
Astronomy Fundamentals: What We Can Learn from Impact Craters
Impact craters can be found throughout the solar system. NASA scientists use impact craters and volcanic activity to learn about the process throughout the solar system. By studying craters on Earth, scientists gain knowledge of volcanic landform formation and...
Exoplanet Atmospheres and the Search for Extraterrestrial Life
Exoplanets orbit distant stars many lightyears away. The name comes from extrasolarplanets, which are planets orbiting outside of oursolar system. To date, astronomers have found over5,600 exoplanets. The method resulting in the mostdiscoveries is the Transit Method....
March ’25 – Rick’s Picks
Transient Events That Can Give Us a Good Enough Reason to Get Outside and Do a Little ObservingAll month: the evening sky becomes less dramatic this month, as Saturn and Neptune spend the entire month hidden in the Sun’s glare, reaching solar conjunction on March 12...
Europa Clipper: NASA Investigates an Icy Ocean
Europa, one of Jupiter's four biggest moons, appears to harbor a liquid ocean not far beneath its bright, icy surface. Is there life there? NASA plans to fly the Europa Clipper spacecraft to orbit Jupiter and, making frequent flybys of Europa, will study the...