Audrey Carr, Editor-in-Chief
@audreyccourant
The transformation of the new planetarium is underway. The planning process took five years but was implemented a year and a half ago when the parent fundraising committee partnered with the town and district to renovate the planetarium. The Dome is projected to be completed by the end of October. It will be a space where students and the community have access to endless educational opportunities.
Auditorium Theater Manager Zach Whitlock has overseen the Dome project installation. He has been involved in the planning, coding phase and the operation process. “It was originally installed in the seventies when the school was built. It was obsolete and the one man who was capable of repairing it decided to retire. It was time to replace it,” he said.
The project managing team, Spitz, is highly optimistic about their manufacturing timeline. “The team put in the cabling for the computers, a sound system, and projectors, which took them eight to ten days. Then there is a training and calibration process followed by seating installments, which are being shipped from Norway,” Mr.Whitlock said.
Astronomy Teacher Jeffery Brentson plans to use the planetarium during his classes. The new planetarium is equipped with a new projector allowing educators to use the space at its full potential. “The new planetarium is computerized as opposed to the old one which was analog, meaning dials and levers that moved things around with little motors. The old projector was a ball with holes punched in it where the light came out.” he said.
The renovation will provide an engaging classroom with the newly implemented tools that piques interest in ways that traditional classroom settings cannot. “With this technology, we can tie into real live streams of telescopes around the world. We can pull up images from James Webb, Hubble, and we can use them as soon as they’re available from NASA,” Mr. Brentson said.
The ability to stream with live information that is constantly being updated allows for continuous learning. “We can tap into any images or information directly from our system. The system itself is a three dimensional system: it has a database of all the stars, where they are, and how they’re moving. We can project where things are going to be, forward and backward in time,” he said.
The technological capabilities have drastically changed due to the new renovation. “We can travel through space to another star and look at everything from that star. We can go to every planet in the solar system and observe a 3D rendering of the terrain on that planet,” Mr. Brentson said.
Looking beyond astronomy, new opportunities will be made possible throughout several departments through this digital upgrade. “There are programs with really popular narrators including actors and actresses that are narrating what’s happening in space. My hope is that our astronomy and astrophotography club will start getting involved in putting together presentations for the public,” he said.
With the new narrating opportunities, students will be immersed into an interactive classroom that fosters creativity and brings learning to life. The new planetarium allows for all different departments in the school to get involved. “I’m hoping to tie in with the art and the music tech students so that they can do background music and everything for any kind of presentations we put together. This will be an all encompassing program, bringing the whole school together to use the facility,” Mr. Brentson said.
