Monday, June 28, 2010
Ingenuity is often inversely proportional to budget! KC builds a full size planetarium for < $28k.
It’s ‘a new beginning’ for planetarium
By MATT CAMPBELL
The Kansas City Star
ALLISON LONG/Kansas City Star
Jeff Rosenblatt, director of Science City, acknowledges that the Arvin Gottlieb Planetarium at Union Station has had trouble. But with a new projection system (here showing Jupiter) in place, better days are coming for the often overlooked attraction, he believes. Expect more elaborate shows on the 60-foot dome, on astronomy and other subjects — and they can be made to mesh with other programs.
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With the star ball banished, the sky’s the limit now for the Gottlieb Planetarium.
A new 360-degree and 3-D projection system now operating in the funny-shaped building next to Union Station is hoped to bring back audiences and send them to the moon and beyond.
And the best part is that the system was assembled by local talent at a fraction — no, a fraction of a fraction — of what it would have cost to purchase from a planetarium vendor.
“We now, for the first time, have the capacity for shows that the public will want to come see,” said Tim Kristl, vice president of the Astronomical Society of Kansas City.
It will be easier to create planetarium programs that tie in with Science City and with traveling exhibits at Union Station. They can also be customized to match school curricula.
“Modern planetariums are able to reach out and away from just astronomy,” said Damon Bradshaw, Science City’s planetarium specialist. “They can get into history and culture and even biology and chemistry. This sort of projection system gives us the capability to do that.”
Local astronomers worked with Science City and Union Station to devise the new system, along with financial assistance from the Arvin Gottlieb Charitable Foundation.
The planetarium opened a decade ago with a traditional star-ball projection system, which was essentially a hollow sphere with a bright light inside and holes to cast a star field onto the dome above. But it was already old when it was installed and never really worked properly.
“It’s been a monster to keep running,” said Jeff Rosenblatt, director of Science City.
Last fall the star ball broke for the last time and officials began looking for a modern, digital system. The astronomical society, which had had a strained relationship with previous Union Station management, approached new station CEO George Guastello about a partnership.
Together, they consulted vendors who either had no experience with such a large planetarium — Union Station’s is 60 feet in diameter — or were too expensive.
One price quoted was $766,000, Rosenblatt said.
Obviously, for cash-strapped Union Station, that was out of the question.
But research by Rick Henderson, an electronics professor and member of the astronomical society, along with expertise gleaned from the professional vendors and from local company Harvest Productions, led to a much cheaper solution.
They ended up buying, on their own, an extremely bright projector and a delicately polished, curved mirror that was custom-made in Australia. They coupled them with a Mac Pro computer and special software to create a system that, they say, is every bit as capable as the more expensive ones.
The price: about $27,000.
“The results are way better than we expected,” Henderson said. “Anything you can show on the computer you can show on the dome.”
Bradshaw explained that the digital images are intentionally distorted so that when they are projected onto the mirror and reflected back on the dome, they appear in proper shape and proportion.
Bradshaw and Rosenblatt said many smaller planetariums have similar systems, but it is unique for one as large as Science City’s.
Because it was assembled in-house, the system does not have a name. So they dubbed it the BRT, for the three men who were most instrumental in putting it together: Bentley Ousley and Rick Henderson of the astronomical society and Tom Deffet, a software writer.
The Gottlieb Foundation gave the planetarium $30,000 late last year and will donate up to $100,000 more this year. That money will help staff the planetarium and subsidize school field trips, Guastello said.
The planetarium’s new system currently shows just one program about the history of the telescope. But officials plan to expand offerings soon with other shows purchased commercially or produced in-house.
The astronomical society will create a series of shows about the night sky as seen from Kansas City during different seasons; it is working on one about the fall stars now. Images from the Hubble Space Telescope and other NASA products are in the public domain and available for free.
The planetarium may be able to tap into live cable feeds, whether from NASA or from a solar eclipse happening on another side of the planet.
The dome is also capable of showing theatrical movies, and the space can be rented for private parties or events. It recently was host to a New Age music concert and light show.
Henderson said the Gottlieb Planetarium has suffered from management, equipment and money problems over the years.
“I’m very hopeful this is going to be the turnaround,” he said. “I’m hopeful this is a new beginning.”
About the planetarium
The Gottlieb Planetarium at Union Station offers shows Tuesday through Sunday. Admission is $6, or $5 with Science City admission. Call 816-460-2020 or go to www.unionstation.org for more information.To reach Matt Campbell, call 816-234-4905 or send e-mail to mcampbell@kcstar.com.
via the twitter feed of @centauri_dreams
Friday, June 25, 2010
Wednesday, June 23, 2010
CBC News - Toronto - Earthquake rocks Ontario, Quebec AND London!
A 5.5-magnitude earthquake has hit Ontario, according to the U.S. Geological Survey, with tremors reportedly felt as far away as Montreal, Boston and Cleveland.
The first tremor hit at 1:41 p.m. ET Wednesday.
Buildings in Toronto and Ottawa were evacuated in the minutes following the tremors.
Your Report
Do you have footage of the quake? Send us your photos and video by clicking here.
"Earthquakes across Eastern Canada are definitely rare, but we do have them," said Johanna Wagstaffe, a CBC seismologist and meteorologist.
"There are small fault lines along Lake Erie and Lake Ontario" and a "relatively active fault line that runs parallel to the St. Lawrence Valley," she said just minutes after the quake.
The last major earthquake on that fault line measured 5.4 magnitude in 1998, she said.
Office workers shaken
Kathleen Sullivan was working on the eighth floor of an office in downtown Toronto when the quake hit.
"It was very peculiar because we could actually se
'The bed just started to move side to side.'—Darren Bonnici, Windsor, Ont., residente the plants on our window shelf shaking. By the time we gathered in the hall and figured out it wasn't our imagination, it stopped. But it was easily a minute of things shaking."
The quake was felt as far south as Windsor, Ont., along the Canada-U.S. border.
"I was just laying in bed .... and the bed just started to move side to side ... just gently," said Darren Bonnici, who lives on the 10th floor of an apartment building along the city's riverfront.
"Sort of, almost like a mother would rock a baby in a crib," said Bonnici, adding the feeling lasted for about five seconds. "I thought right away it must have been an earthquake.
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Holy smokes! I was in my office on the 3rd floor meeting with Frans and felt the P wave then the S wave, the water in the cooler was shaking! He asked if that was an earthquake (they are doing heavy renovation on our building, I thought this was the reno) and I mentioned how I'd been in several in Alaska and it was similar. Didn't realize how similar!
Monday, June 21, 2010
Lidar Building is taking shape!
Friday, June 18, 2010
Tuesday, June 8, 2010
Pictures from the Gordon Shepherd Symposium
Monday, June 7, 2010
Wednesday, June 2, 2010
Brrr: The AO is way low | UCAR Magazine
This short non-technical article is an excellent one on the Arctic Oscillation, which has a major influence or our weather in much of North America and highlights the coupling between the upper atmosphere and lower atmosphere.