Things have really picked up here since the introduction of our mobile planetarium. Lucia has been extremely busy traveling to schools and other events around the area three to four times a week. Considering the pace at which things are moving forward, we found ourselves a bit shorthanded. Luckily, Torvald has found an ambitious young man to help around the office:
Greetings! Let me start off with an introduction: my name is Jordan Silverthorne, and I'm a recent UT business school grad with a degree in marketing. Torvald and I bumped into each other last week at a meeting of the Metropolitan Breakfast Club, and the moment he mentioned "planetarium," I was on board. I may be straight out of college, but my recent work experience has included both writing gigs and non-profit marketing activities. Additionally, my time at UT has required that I dabble in graphic design, management consulting, and interactive media creation. Needless to say, UT ensures that us marketing folk are well prepared for a dynamic and fast-paced work environment, which is exactly where I now find myself!
I grew up in west Texas, just north of the city of Lubbock. Up there, low humidity and pollution levels allow for a very clear view of the sky at night. I grew up gazing at the stars, and I even decorated my bedroom with glow-in-the-dark star wallpaper and ceiling stickers. Every lunar eclipse, I could be found dragging my telescope out of the bedroom and into the front driveway. Likewise, when Halloween rolled around, I donned my NASA flight suit and ran amok around the neighborhood. To say that I'm a good fit for this organization might be a bit of an understatement.
I suppose one could say that I'm a tad on the "nerdy" side. I grew up watching Star Trek: TNG and the original Star Wars trilogy. Of course, real space exploration is nothing like it is depicted in science fiction, but that doesn't mean that there aren't fascinating-- and even dangerous-- forces in the universe, and I want you to be able to learn about them in the same way as our neighbors in Houston, Dallas, San Antonio, and every other city with a planetarium. As our plans here move forward, Tyler and I will be working alongside Torvald, Lucia, and our many volunteers and advisors to bring a world-class planetarium and science museum to downtown Austin!
Don't you hate it when you buy something, and it doesn't exactly work as advertised? Like, buying a car which "seats 6" but is completely full with just four?
Well... thankfully sometimes things can be different too. We purchased an incredible inflatable planetarium from our friends in Houston called "e-planetarium", and it was advertised as being capable of seating about 30 adults or 45 kids. But of course, that is the advertised capacity. So, we have been testing this, and up to Saturday, the results were promising. We had at one point 27 adults in the dome, and it still felt very roomy, but what I had NOT expected was what happened this Saturday.
In a nutshell: we were at Scoutjam and 30,000 people showed up. WOW!
The first show we put 22 people in the dome, and from then on there was a continuous line, so the second show we put in 35, then 37, 40! And this was mixed adults and kids, so 40 was a really good number. We had shows every 10 minutes, but still the lines continued... As we got more experienced in seating folks, we cranked it up to 45, 50, 56... and then the last show (10 minutes after closing) so we really made an attempt to seat everyone, we managed to seat 61!!
The total count of the day was a stunning 1159 people through the planetarium, about 2/3 were kids and 1/3 adults. 1159 in one day!
Below we have pasted a video of the line in front of the dome. Apologies for the poor quality, but the lighting was very unfortunate, and it was also very dusty. Our next public event should be a hit too! We'll be at the Science and Engineering festival at the convention center. You can read more about that free event here.
Several pieces of good news! The first reservations for our new Mobile Planetarium are in, and there is quite some excitement about this program. We received requests from Austin, Leander, Bastrop, Waco, Dallas and even Mexico!
This did make us wonder though how people were able to find us so quickly? Sure, we have been on KLRU, writing about the program in our newsletter, but still... Waco? Dallas? Mexico??
So, on a hunch, I decided to Google the phrase "Mobile Planetarium" and to my shock found that we are already listed as the fifth item in the search result! Note that I did not enter "Austin" in the search term (then we're number one), but simply "Mobile Planetarium". Quite impressive indeed!
The Austin Planetarium has a new mobile planetarium, the Austin Planetarium Discovery Dome, and we can bring it directly to your school or event venue anywhere in Austin and the surrounding communities.
You may say, “why all the excitement?” Perhaps you remember that we had another mobile planetarium, the Star Bubble, which traveled to various school science fairs and community events. Why get a new one? What are the advantages of the new system?
The advantages are threefold. First, we now have a full-time astronomy educator who will travel with the mobile planetarium to your school or event. This means we can use it during school hours and are not limited to evening and weekend events. Second, this is a better and larger inflatable dome which means we have ventilation! All of you who visited our star bubble will remember how hot it would get inside, so this is a definite upgrade! Lastly, with the Star Bubble we never had our own projector, but instead used the projector of a donor who kindly loaned it to us. With our new Discovery Dome we now have our very own fully digital projection system!
Let’s talk about the different types of mobile planetariums. There are 3 popular types of mobile planetariums.
First, there’s the Star Bubble. Our original mobile planetarium was of the Star Bubble variety. We have had it for many years, but it turned out to be very difficult to use. The big problem was the setup; it was completely impossible for just one person to assemble. We always needed 3 or 4 strong individuals to bend the PVC pipes into shape. It seems to have been designed to be set up once, then easily moved to a different nearby location, but not to be set up and torn down at each location, as we did. The second problem was that the fabric, which comprised the dome, had gaps and therefore it was not 100% dark inside; of course, this is a problem if you’re trying to project something on the dome. Lastly, as mentioned before, it got HOT!!! Eventually we rigged some sort of AC contraption to force some cool air inside, but it was far from ideal. The projection system consisted of a laptop computer and a borrowed projector with a fisheye lens. It was set up in the middle of the dome and the audience sat around the edge. Visually, it was a very good system, but not as bright as we would have liked. One advantage of the Star Bubble is that it could be set up outside, if desired.
Second, there’s the StarLab. Some schools and organizations in the Austin area have a StarLab mobile planetarium. This was arguably the first commercially available mobile planetarium, and has been very popular for years. StarLabs use an inflatable dome with a standard diameter of 16 ft (4.9 m), although it is also available in a larger size. To enter, you crawl in through a tunnel to prevent the air from escaping from the dome. Once inside, people sit around the edge of the dome with the projection system in the middle. The projection system consists of a series of cylinders imprinted with images; when activated the light from within the cylinder projects the images upward onto the dome. The system will rotate and tilt to simulate different dates or times and different viewing locations. However, to change the display from a star field to constellations connected by lines or overlaid with constellation art, you must turn off the projector and change the cylinder…in the dark. Furthermore, the motion of the planets and phases of the moon cannot easily be simulated with this system.
The third type of mobile planetarium is the Discovery Dome. The Austin Planetarium’s new Discovery Dome has several advantages over the other two mobile planetarium types. It is an inflatable dome that is much easier and quicker to set up than the Star Bubble; we unroll it, plug in the fan, and within 5 minutes we have a planetarium! With a diameter of 18 ft (6 meters), it is larger and can fit more people than either of the other types of domes currently available in the area (yes, we have the largest inflatable planetarium in the Austin area!). It has a full-height “airlock” entry to allow adults to walk into the dome upright while keeping air loss to a minimum.
The Austin Planetarium Discovery Dome also utilizes a state-of-the-art digital projection system. This system is set up on one side of the dome so that people are seated in rows all looking in the same direction. This unidirectional design ensures more of the viewers can see the focal point or “sweet spot” of the projection. The system consists of a laptop computer, a standard projector, a flat mirror, and a curved mirror to “warp” the images to properly display them on the curved inside surface of the dome. This projection system has a higher resolution than the one we used in the Star Bubble. Interactive night sky software allows us to show not only star fields, including constellation lines and artwork as desired, but also planets and moon phases in their correct positions for any selected date and time. We can zoom in on planets, nebulas, and galaxies to see a telescopic view of these objects. In addition, we can show incredible full-dome immersive videos specially made for planetariums. Programs can cover any topic, not just astronomy; so students can learn about biology, history, earth science, and space travel for example. We can also display fantastic entertainment and music videos for private parties and corporate groups.
So I hope you are as excited as we are about the new Austin Planetarium Discovery Dome mobile digital planetarium. We would like to involve as many of the schools and general public as possible in our programs. After all, no one should have to grow up without finding out for themselves the immersive wonders of a modern digital planetarium.
About six months ago I contacted Neil deGrasse Tyson to see if he was willing to serve as an adviser to our board. Obviously, to have someone with the clout of Dr. Tyson, would give our organization more weight, and I would love to have his input during the time we are developing the facility. Of course I realized that the chance he would say 'yes' was small, but hey, if you don't ask it surely will never happen.
Unfortunately, Dr. Tyson declined as he was actually in the process of shutting off existing advisory positions because they simply take too much of his time. But he was courteous, friendly and wished us luck on our efforts.
Then out of the blue, on February 26th I received an email from Dr. Tyson where he asked me for an update on the Austin Planetarium project. So, I wrote what all had taken place and what breakthroughs we have made. I showed him some building designs and updated him on the status of the location for the planetarium.
This morning I received his reply:
Keep up the good work. But especially happy to learn how unnecessary I turned out to be.
Thank you Dr. Tyson; that is a great compliment of our achievements and I cannot ask for a better worded letter of support.
When the ball dropped in Times Square this year, you didn’t see 3…2…1 Happy New Year 5770 or 4343. You saw what much of the world expected to see; Happy New Year 2010. However, not everyone agrees on that number as calendars are human creations that often reflect events that are relevant to a specific group, rather than adhering to any universally accepted scientific phenomenon or some other objective criteria. So what year is it really?
Well, that depends on where you’re from and who you ask. First, we must examine some of the concepts of time that are held by different cultures. Not everyone perceives the passage of time as a one-way march with a distinct beginning and end. Some cultures view time as cyclical and repetitive; allowing long periods of time to come to a close and make way for new beginnings instead of ticking away in a linear fashion, growing ever larger as time goes by.
For instance, the Chinese calendar, from which the calendars of many Asian countries are derived, is based on a variety of criteria including lunar phases, solar declination, and astrological/zodiacal events. Furthermore, the Chinese calendar has not traditionally included an ongoing ordinal count beginning with a specific day in history; rather it employs a sexagenary stem-branch system that produces 60 different years in a cycle before starting anew, thus creating a cyclical system which provides us with designations like Year of the Earth Ox (2009) or Year of the Metal Tiger (2010). For the most part, modern China has adopted the Gregorian calendar that is widely used in the Western World, but in the past, the numerical value of a year was based on its position within an era, which was commonly a dynastic period. So you might end up with something like the tenth year ofinsert emperor/dynasty name here, in addition to the elemental and zodiacal stem-branch nomenclature.
It is this same cyclical perspective that is pervasive in the Mesoamerican calendar, and its ever-so-popular progeny the Mayan calendar, which is whipping the world into a frenzy in preparation for the coming of 2012. The Mayan calendar, like its Chinese counterpart, employs multiple layers of data which culminate in a complex matrix of information about both cultural historical events as well as astronomical events. Additionally, the calendar is intended to “run its course” and begin again in a new age. So fear not, the “end” of the Mayan calendar only signifies the end of this era, after which, a new era will begin.
The calendar most of the western world uses is the Gregorian calendar. Introduced by Pope Gregory XIII in 1582, the Gregorian calendar is a solar calendar with the division of months coinciding loosely with the phases of the Moon, but the dates for New Year coinciding with the solar year. For the purpose of communication, especially in business transactions, much of the world has adopted the use of the Gregorian calendar; although many places, like China, still utilize their traditional calendars as well, to track special events unique to their society.
Examinations of the methodology for recording the passage of time brings to mind, what has essentially become an adage… time is relative. The units of measurement used to express time are, ultimately, man-made devices; even if they are based on empirically quantifiable and observable phenomenon. So when you go to wish your friends a happy new year, be prepared to concede that it may not actually be 2010. Happy New Year everyone.
OK, so I waited more then a day for the second post... my apologies, but I had a good reason: out of the blue I received a phone call to have breakfast with a four time NASA astronaut. Needless to say, that changed my schedule 'a bit'. But OK, now part two... Nibiru
Have you ever heard that name? Nibiru is the mythical planet, that is supposedly on a collision course with Earth. Need a planet? Let's invent one!
In 1995, Zecharia Sitchin claimed to have re-translated Sumerian texts proving the existence of this planet, that for some strange reason everyone else just happened to have missed. And this planet (which of course has never been actually seen by anyone) is on a collision course with Earth. Another name for this planet is planet-X.
To show the amount of nonsense is involved here, is that we were all supposed to die due to this collision back in May of 2003, when they initially predicted the collision. But, oops, nothing happened, so they "moved it up a bit" to 2010, and now magically the date has been changed again, so now it will be in 2012. On December 21 of course.
So, we have to believe that this one guy and his followers are so enlightened that they understand something that no one else does, but then so stupid to miss the date-of-doom by 9 years, but then only to come around and now we have to accept the incredible precision of a December 21 prediction. And mind you, no one has actually seen this planet, and planets are big things. If we were to believe we are going to collide with a planet (or in some claims a red dwarf) in only 3 years, this means that the object should be pretty much in our solar system by now. But somehow we all, including the believers, are looking in the wrong direction??
