{"id":47,"date":"2017-05-26T14:26:00","date_gmt":"2017-05-26T21:26:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.palomar.edu\/planetarium\/?page_id=47"},"modified":"2025-03-07T19:28:04","modified_gmt":"2025-03-08T03:28:04","slug":"about-the-planetarium","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.palomar.edu\/planetarium\/about-the-planetarium\/","title":{"rendered":"About the Planetarium"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
\n\t

The Planetarium<\/h2>\n

The Palomar College Planetarium is the second planetarium for Palomar College.\u00a0 The original planetarium was built in 1965 and served the campus for 43 years.\u00a0 In July of 2008 it was demolished to make way for new campus construction.\u00a0 Construction for the new planetarium was completed in March 2012 and it is currently one of the largest in California.\u00a0 It opened its doors to the public on April 20th, 2012.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div>

\n
\n\t\t\"\"\n\t<\/div>\n\n

The original planetarium (1965 - 2008)<\/h3><\/div><\/div><\/div>
\n
\n\t\t\"Palomar\n\t<\/div>\n\n

New Planetarium (March 2012)<\/h3><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>
\n
\n\t

The Theater<\/h2>\n

The planetarium theater has 138 seats that sit under a 50-foot Astrotec dome.\u00a0 The dome has a 15 degree forward tilt and consists of 42 perforated aluminum panels held in place by an outer aluminum structure.\u00a0 The interior of the dome is painted with a highly reflective paint.<\/p>\n

Each seat tilts back slightly and has a folding tablet arm for student use.\u00a0 The theater can accommodate up to 4 wheelchairs at any one time.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div>

\n
\n\t\t\"Fulldome\n\t<\/div>\n\n

Fulldome Theater<\/h3><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>
\n
\n\t

Digistar 7 Presentation Technology<\/h2>\n

The planetarium presentations are largely driven by the Digistar 7 system manufactured by Evans & Sutherland.\u00a0 To produce the fulldome images on the dome, two JVC digital projectors equipped with wide angle lenses work together to create one image.\u00a0 Each projector provides 5000 lumens and produces a 4096 x 2048 display - together the image on the dome is 4096 x 4096 (4K) in size.<\/p>\n

3 computers drive the display:<\/p>\n