{"id":5067,"date":"2022-09-16T12:48:35","date_gmt":"2022-09-16T19:48:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.palomar.edu\/news\/?p=5067"},"modified":"2022-09-16T12:48:35","modified_gmt":"2022-09-16T19:48:35","slug":"planetarium-reopens-with-key-upgrades-at-palomar-college","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.palomar.edu\/news\/planetarium-reopens-with-key-upgrades-at-palomar-college\/","title":{"rendered":"Planetarium Reopens With Key Upgrades at Palomar College"},"content":{"rendered":"

The college\u2019s 142-seat Planetarium is open after two and a half years of temporary closure due to the COVID-19 pandemic and system improvements.<\/p>\n

SAN MARCOS \u2014 The last time anyone watched a simulation of the night sky inside the Palomar College Planetarium was March 13, 2020, days before the worldwide COVID-19 pandemic arrived in North County.<\/p>\n

Astronomy Professor Scott Kardel was in the \u201cconsole\u201d that night\u2014the term for the control booth in the rear of the theater where the show is produced and narrated by a rotating staff of three Palomar scientists.<\/p>\n

Fast forward nearly two years, in January 2022, and the same team was back on campus and preparing to reopen the Planetarium: \u201cA lot of things didn\u2019t work when we turned them back on,\u201d Kardel said.<\/p>\n

\u201cInstead of repairing our 10-year-old equipment, we made the decision to just buy all new computers and projection software,\u201d said Astronomy Professor and Planetarium Director Mark Lane. \u201cIt used to take eight computers to make the display, now we can do it with two, because the computers have gotten so much better.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Buy Palomar College Planetarium Tickets<\/a><\/h5>\n<\/blockquote>\n

The District was able to use Higher Emergency Education Relief Funds (HEERF) on a one-time basis to replenish lost revenues due to the temporary closure of the planetarium from the COVID-19 pandemic. This allowed the replacement of the legacy system.<\/p>\n

\"Planetarium

The new presentation system inside the Palomar College Planetarium. Photo by Mark Lane.<\/p><\/div>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re looking forward to serving students and our community once again through the Planetarium, which is an incredible resource both for learning and inspiration,\u201d said Dr. Star Rivera-Lacey, Superintendent\/President of Palomar College. \u201cThroughout the years, our middle and elementary school students have enjoyed countless field trips to the planetarium and it will be great to have them back studying astronomy with us.\u201d<\/p>\n

In a server room at the very back of the dome-shaped projector screen is a server room\u2014and it\u2019s in that room where the new system resides: Three new computers loaded with the latest version of the industry-standard Digistar software to run the complex projections on a half-spherical, overhead screen.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs computers get better, the quality gets better\u2014the display looks more realistic,\u201d said Lane.<\/p>\n

The two projectors that cast the image\u2014now sharper and more detailed than ever, thanks to the upgrades\u2014were still fully functional when they revisited the Planetarium after COVID, Lane said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are a lot of things the public isn\u2019t going to notice\u2014especially if they haven\u2019t been here in a couple of years\u2014that we noticed right away after the upgrades were finished,\u201d he said. \u201cIn our 7 o\u2019clock show, we\u2019re trying to incorporate new things to show what we\u2019re now capable of. We don\u2019t want to give people the same show we were giving them in the past.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kardel added: \u201cIt\u2019s got the same name, the constellations are still the same, but how you tell that story, and what you show as you do it\u2014that\u2019s what\u2019s going to be different.\u201d<\/p>\n

Starting Friday, September 16, 2022, the Planetarium will once again host two shows every Friday:<\/p>\n