An Address to the Education Symposium of the Astronomical Society of the
Pacific
June 24, 1995
James. G. Manning
President, International Planetarium Society
Taylor Planetarium
Museum of the Rockies
Bozeman Montana 59717
Good afternoon.
In the 1940's, chemical engineer and philanthropist John Motley Morehead
approached the eminent Harvard astronomer Harlow Shapley with a question.
Morehead wanted to build either an observatory or a planetarium for the
children of his native North Carolina, and he asked Shapley which the astronomer
would recommend. Shapley suggested that a planetarium would be better-because
he felt the people of North Carolina were among the "most astronomically
ignorant" people in the United States.
Morehead responded that if Shapley would amend his statement to say that
the people of North Carolina were among the "most ignorant in astronomical
matters," he would build a planetarium. Shapley did, and Morehead did,
and the rest is history-46 years of history, to be precise, during which
more than four million people have been introduced to the wonders of the
universe at the Morehead Planetarium-thanks to the hard work of two generations
of planetarium staff.
In many ways, the Morehead story is not unique; planetariums for decades
have been created to serve the cause of astronomical enlightenment-to offer
people knowledge and understanding and a sense of place in a universe far
bigger than themselves. It's an important role and one that we continue
to play-changing, we hope, as times, technology, education, and our view
of the universe change.
To best appreciate the role of planetariums, it's important first to understand
the broad reach that they have today. Consider these facts and figures
The first projection planetarium was demonstrated by the Zeiss Optical Company
at the Deutsches Museum in Munich, Germany in 1923. It was permanently installed
there in 1925-70 years ago. By 1970-the height of the Apollo moon program-there
were an estimated 700 to 800 planetariums in the world, half of them less
than six years old, constructed during the peak years of the Space Race.
Today, 25 years later, that number has more than doubled to a little over
2,000.
Based on figures compiled in the 1994 IPS Planetarium Directory, we find
that slightly more than half of the world's planetariums are located in
North America, with large numbers in Asia and Europe, and relatively few
in other parts of the world. If we consider distribution by country, we
find that half are in the United States, more than 300 are in Japan, and
Germany ranks third with nearly 100. Nineteen countries have ten or more
planetariums.
Some 33 percent of these planetariums are located in primary or secondary
schools; 17 percent are at colleges and universities; 15 percent are part
of museums and science centers; 7 percent are associated with observatories
or other institutions; the settings of the remaining 27 percent are uncertain,
but would probably be distributed among the other categories.
Housed within these planetariums are a variety of star projectors: Spitz
models like the one seen here familiar dumbbell shapes as in this model
Zeiss the more recent single-sphere type, in this case, the Minolta Infinium
projector the fisheye lens of the Evans & Sutherland Digistar computer
graphics system. The theaters themselves vary greatly as well, ranging from
small and cozy-this theater sporting a Goto instrument to the cavernous
tilted-dome theaters, this one housing a Goto Helios projector to hundreds
of portable theaters like Starlab, operating around the world in addition
to the 2,000 fixed theaters, bringing astronomy directly to schools, auditoriums,
shopping centers, and other venues.
In all of these theaters with all of these instruments in all parts of the
world, it has been estimated that 20 million people visit planetariums each
year. Personally, I believe this estimate is low. But if one takes it at
face value, assuming an average of 10,000 visitors per planetarium per year,
and calculates backward over seventy years, one ends up with more than 450
million people served since the first planetarium opened at the Deutsches
Museum. Even for McDonald's, that's a lot of hamburgers!
Clearly, planetariums represent one of the biggest and most visible avenues
for presenting astronomy and related subjects to the public-surpassable
perhaps only by television. This gives planetariums an enormous potential
for supporting both formal and informal astronomy education.
In defining the role that planetariums play, it's useful to review their
strengths. We all know that planetariums can reproduce the night sky for
any place on earth on any day of the year for many years past and future,
creating a view that simulates the three-dimensional "backyard"
sky. And that they can accurately reproduce the apparent motions and cycles
of the sky-in speeded-up fashion so people can see what happens over time.
But planetariums also create environments that encompass the audience, bringing
them into the experience in a way that classroom, book, television or computer
screen cannot. They can combine and effectively use audiovisual technology
to help create these experiences. And they possess tremendous flexibility
in how these audiovisual resources can be used.
It is these strengths which allow the planetarium to effectively demonstrate
astronomical principles and to present and reinforce concepts and information
in ways that other media cannot. And we take advantage of these strengths
in the goals that we set for ourselves.
First and foremost, we strive to educate, in ways ranging from curriculum-based
school lessons to popular-level programs. We also strive to enlighten, which
I think is not quite the same as to educate; we want people not just to
know but to understand and to incorporate this understanding in their lives.
And yes, many of us also try to entertain-on the principle that you catch
more flies with honey, that learning ought to be fun, and that people probably
learn more when they're enjoying themselves. And not least, we strive to
inspire. Our time with people is brief, and it is perhaps less important
that someone remembers the diameter of Jupiter than that he or she remembers
Jupiter as a neat planet, and buys a book or enrolls in a class or comes
to the next star party to learn more-or takes time to look for it on the
next clear night.
In setting these goals, planetariums operate in all three realms of learning:
in the thought-processing of the cognitive realm; increasingly in the psychomotor
area as we offer more interactive experiences involving physical action;
and we also operate in the affective realm, the realm of feelings, as we
encourage greater appreciation and enjoyment of the sky and try to cultivate
a sense of the adventure of science.
We meet these challenges in as many ways as there are planetariums. Perhaps
the best way to illustrate this point is to present a small sampling of
the things planetariums and planetarians are doing around the world.
The so-called "star show" continues to be our stock-in-trade,
offered in a variety of forms, from the traditional live-narrated current-sky
program to automated multimedia presentations on popular space-related topics.
Most of us also present educational programs specifically designed for school
grades to meet science curriculum objectives. Where possible and appropriate,
we often key on current news and icons to attract visitors and send our
messages: this poster announces a show we presented at the Taylor Planetarium
at the Museum of the Rockies in Bozeman, Montana, in conjunction with the
Columbus quincentennial; the Hayden Planetarium in New York has developed
children's programs featuring Star Wars' C-3P0 and R2-D2 and the Muppets,
which I understand are very well-attended.
Supporting our efforts are improving technologies. The new planetarium at
the Forum Der Technik in Munich has a new Zeiss Model VII projector, which
uses fiber optics to create stars that look like true points of light, creating
an exceptionally realistic-looking starfield. The Digistar computer graphics
system allows the audience to travel through a stellar data base in "Star
Trek" fashion, can show the proper motion of the stars over hundreds
of thousands of years, and creates many other three-dimensional learning
opportunities.
This is how the interior of the London Planetarium looked a few years ago;
just this week, it reopened after extensive renovations that retired its
aging projector, replacing it with a Digistar and other new technology to
carry it forward into the new millennium. And the new planetarium at Brevard
Community College in Cocoa, Florida is the first in the world to have two
planetarium projection systems: a Minolta Infinium to produce a crisp starfield,
and a Digistar for 3-D simulations and computer graphics. Wherever and whenever
possible, planetariums are updating themselves with new technology to better
meet their goals and serve their public.
Computer systems are increasingly in use in planetariums today, both to
control the planetarium projector and to automate auxiliary effects in programs.
Video projection, pioneered by such planetariums as the Armagh Planetarium
in Northern Ireland and seen here at the Munich Planetarium, is becoming
an audiovisual staple. Some planetariums such as the Hayden have access
to Silicon Graphics workstations for creating animated video sequences for
their programs and for distribution to other facilities.
Slide projection is still a mainstay of planetariums, but in a variety of
forms: images zoom and slew and create panoramic scenes, and so-called "All-Sky"
projections engulf the audience in all-dome images-a cathedral in the Munich
Planetarium or the Eagle Nebula at Hayden. This image is one of astronomer
David Malin's photographs, which are distributed as all-sky sets by Sky-Skan,
Inc., one of a number of companies offering products and services to the
world-wide planetarium community.
At the South African Museum Planetarium in Cape Town, Anthony Fairall also
uses a Silicon Graphics workstation to manipulate data into all-sky images-this
a pie-wedge section of the radio sky and this a pie-wedge section of the
distribution of galaxies out to 250 million light years as seen from the
southern hemisphere. Galaxies are color-coded white to blue to indicate
distance, and Tony is working on a color-coded version that-when used with
ChromaDepth glasses available from a laser company called Audio-Visual Imagineering-will
produce a three-dimensional effect to demonstrate the clumping of galaxies.
Mickey Schmidt at the Air Force Academy Planetarium in Colorado Springs
has created a Digistar data-base of these galaxies that can be flown through.
Planetariums such as the Hansen Planetarium in Salt Lake City, the Buhl
in Pittsburgh, and the Munich Planetarium have installed a kind of interactive
technology: seat buttons which allow the audience to vote on a choice of
space destinations or topics within a program, and respond to questions.
Hands-on experiences are manifesting themselves in more traditional ways
as well, especially in school programming. The Holt Planetarium at the Lawrence
Hall of Science in Berkeley, California, has been a pioneer in interactive
programming; its activity guide series called PASS-Planetarium Activities
for Student Success, created by Alan Friedman and Alan Gould and others-is
currently being translated into Japanese for use in that country's many
planetariums. Among its myriad activities are lessons involving the identification
of features on the moon and the use of models to demonstrate the moon's
phases.
Sheldon Schafer at the Lakewood Museum Planetarium in Peoria, Illinois,
creates mysteries in which the time of the crime and the culprit can be
determined by knowing when and where certain constellations appear in the
sky. At the Suginami Science Center in Tokyo, Shoichi Itoh engages students
in discovery through lessons in which they photograph the planetarium starfield,
create planetariums of their own, and find the constellations on their own
using star maps.
Jeanne Bishop at the Westlake Schools Planetarium in Westlake, Ohio, reports
that several Cleveland area planetariums are outfitting a Mobile Observatory
with telescopes and computers for use by students; Jeanne plans to have
some of her astronomy students prepare and conduct interactive lessons for
elementary students using this equipment. And the staff at the Air Force
Academy Planetarium uses its facility extensively for hands-on lessons of
a special kind: Air Force cadet training in topics ranging from aeronautics
to survival skills using a compass and the planetarium sky.
In all of these educational efforts, planetarians work to meet the local
and regional science curriculum objectives to be relevant to schools. Planetarium
educators have thus been interested reviewers of the U.S. National Academy
of Sciences' draft proposal for national science education standards, which
advocate, among other things, universal curriculum goals, activity-based
teaching, emphasis on scientific inquiry, and improved teacher preparation
and resources. A similar movement is currently afoot in Europe, with key
participation by planetarians.
While our primary focus remains astronomy education, we've also come to
realize that our planetariums have evolved into multimedia environments
capable of performances in the arts and humanities as well-as this flyer
from Morehead demonstrates. Musical concerts, poetry under the stars, and
actors in performance are periodic additions to many planetarium's schedules.
And the Hansen Planetarium staff can tell some hair-raising tales about
Van de Graaff generators! At the Taylor Planetarium, we've had storyteller
Lynn Moroney in performance under the stars, telling Native American sky
tales. And at Hayden, Bill Gutsch and staff have produced live performances
of African songs, dances, and sky stories.
The most ubiquitous of these special programs is the laser light show featured
at many planetariums, drawing in non-traditional audiences to be introduced
to the planetarium and encouraged to attend other offerings. But even the
laser is being diversified in its use: facilities such as the Adler Planetarium
in Chicago use them regularly in their astronomy programs. Jack Dunn at
the Mueller Planetarium in Lincoln, Nebraska, has developed a program for
people with visual impairments such as retinitis pigmentosa, using the intense
light of lasers to create starfields and visual effects that give them back
a night sky they thought was to them lost forever.
And the Hayden Planetarium in New York employs the Omniscan system developed
by Audio-Visual Imagineering, in which laser light is projected through
a wide-angle lens to create all-dome laser images for use in star shows
ranging from grids to astronomical effects.
But the efforts of planetariums extend to more than just the star theater;
astronomy classes, seminars, and workshops regularly combine classroom,
planetarium, and outdoor learning at many of our facilities. Teacher workshops
offer in-service training and resource materials to teachers of all grades;
this one took place in a tipi at the Museum of the Rockies' paleontology
field camp, and included work in a portable Starlab and observations under
a pristine Montana sky.
At places like the Museum of the Rockies, outreach efforts are vitally important.
We live in a big state with a sparse and scattered population, much of which
lies too far away to come for a visit. So we go to them-shipping four Starlab
planetariums around Montana with lessons, for which we offer periodic training
sessions, and which have served well over 100,000 people-mostly students-in
the last eight years. We also ship small traveling telescope trunks to schools;
these trunks contain Edmund Astroscans with instructions and exercises for
learning about telescopes and observing the real sky.
Starlabs and other portable planetariums are often used by facilities that
have no fixed planetarium facility, widening the reach of astronomy educators.
Sue Reynolds in New York heads an IPS committee which regularly collects
and distributes tips and educational exercises to assist portable planetarium
users in their efforts.
Having already referred several times to telescopes, I should point out
that planetarians recognize that one of our primary objectives is to teach
people with our simulated skies so that they can better understand and enjoy
the real one outside. Many planetariums have telescopes associated with
their facilities, and even more have regular programs of real-sky observation.
During the day, we show people the sun using safe methods, and at night
we have star parties, helping them find their around the sky and showing
them cosmic sights for real.
And at the Buhl Planetarium at the Carnegie Science Center in Pittsburgh,
Martin Ratcliffe uses the Internet to link students with the Mount Wilson
Observatory in California, letting them control one of the telescopes there
and engage in research projects.
And of course, when special events come around, we generally pull out all
the stops; we were there with large audiences watching the remarkable discoveries
of the Voyagers as they happened we were a big part of Halley-mania a decade
ago and got lots of people looking at the sky and managed to impress quite
a few with views of Comet Shoemaker-Levy Nine's revenge on Jupiter last
summer.
Planetarium efforts also extend to exhibits. For example, last summer our
staff curated an exhibit called "Pioneering Space" at our Museum,
built around NASA scale models and chronicling the history of the U.S. manned
space program. A few steps away, people could see a complementary program
called "The Final Frontier" in the planetarium. Many planetariums
have extensive exhibitions to solidify the astronomy experience-just two
that leap instantly to mind are the Griffith Observatory in Los Angeles
and the Adler with its marvelous collection of antique instruments.
The Lakeview Museum Planetarium in Peoria has developed a scale model of
the solar system that has made the Guinness Book of World Records. The planetarium
dome represents the sun, and scale models of the planets are placed at locations
throughout the city and beyond-with Pluto 40 miles away! This July, the
museum is sponsoring a bicycle ride from the sun to the planets, certain
to give participants a unique perspective on the solar system!
And while all of this is going on, we regularly check our sources for the
latest-breaking information from the universe to pass on to the public.
The Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore has been particularly
helpful in supplying planetarians with the latest materials and information
on the remarkable discoveries of Hubble, and has assisted prominently in
the development of several planetarium shows on the subject. More and more
planetarians are blasting in cyberspace as well, sharing information and
snaring resources from NASA and other places, all of which help us to do
our jobs.
We also help each other through organizations such as the International
Planetarium Society and its eighteen affiliated planetarium associations
world-wide. The affiliates meet annually and IPS biennially, bringing together
planetarium professionals and astronomy educators to discuss and debate
the issues which concern us, to share ideas and experiences, to examine
the latest products and technologies, to see what others are doing in their
planetariums, and to support and encourage each other in our work.
Recent meetings have been held in the mountains overlooking Salt Lake City
and at Cocoa Beach, Florida. We meet next year in Japan, hosted by the Science
Museum of Osaka, and in 1998 we travel to London where we will be hosted
by the London Planetarium.
The exchange continues between meetings through affiliate newsletters and
The Planetarian, the IPS Journal edited by John Mosley. IPS also engages
in special initiatives and special publications-one of the most prominent
of which is the biennial directory of world planetariums, which facilitates
communication among planetarians around the globe.
Well-I hope this small sampling from just a few planetariums helps to give
some dimension to the role of planetariums in supporting formal and informal
astronomy education. Our challenge is how to use this resource most effectively
to help solve some of the problems outlined here today. But if this is where
we are-where will we be going in the future?
Prediction is always tricky, but if I had to, I would summarize future trends
in eight words-which I think not only reflect trends in education, technology,
and society, but which will also be survival strategies for at least the
near term.
Diversification: it will become increasingly important for planetariums
to diversify their activities and offerings appropriately to serve and maintain
the widest possible constituency and to support their operations.
Technology: we can't compete with an $80 million Spielberg movie, nor should
we really try, but we can employ new technologies to enhance our strengths
and improve the quality of both our education and our productions. Updating
our facilities where and when we can will be important.
Basics: nothing can currently beat the planetarium in its ability to demonstrate
basic astronomical principles and simulate the backyard sky. This will be
of vital importance especially to school planetariums and planetariums with
a large student clientele. People will still need to know the basics.
Interactive: hands-on, activity-based programs will become increasingly
important in meeting science curriculum objectives. People learn better
by doing, and planetariums will be getting on board that bandwagon in greater
numbers.
Multidisciplinary: schools and governments are working increasingly toward
the integration of science and math and science disciplines to better prepare
students for real-world experiences. The advantage of the planetarium is
that it can synthesize these disciplines, relating astronomy not only mathematics
and the other sciences, but even to history, the arts, and language. This
will be a strength.
Multicultural: as our societies become more diverse and the modern world
shrinks even further, it will continue to be important to learn about other
cultures. Everybody's got sky stories and most have astronomical histories,
and the planetarium will continue to serve a role here.
Outreach: the ability to serve constituencies outside of the star theater
will become increasingly important as a way to diversify, to broaden our
reach, and to maintain visibility. But it may work in the other direction,
too, as research grants increasingly require an education or outreach component
which planetariums may be able to help fulfill.
Financing: many planetariums will continue to have to scramble for the dollar
or peso or ruble that keeps them open and operating. We will be probably
be looking increasingly to grants, endowment opportunities, and other fundraising
methods to maintain our operations.
And finally, I might add one more word-perhaps less a prediction than a
hope. And that word is partnership. I hope that the community of planetariums
and the communities of scientists, educators, and astronomy groups will
continue to forge closer ties and open new avenues of dialogue-as represented
by this symposium. I think it would be of mutual benefit, and would help
to advance our common goals.
The Englishman Thomas Carlyle once lamented: "Why did not somebody
teach me the constellations, and make me at home in the starry heavens,
which are always overhead, and which I don't know half to this day?"
Well, planetariums have been doing just that for the last 70 years.
Not only do we teach people the constellations and their age-old stories;
we teach them about the stars that comprise them how they came to be, how
they live and die that some of them, like the sun, may have planets that
they are part of a vast family called the Milky Way just one galaxy among
billions wheeling through the universe.
We teach them the cycles of the sky, and about the wanderers we find there
and why the earth is a special place and worth taking care of.
We explain the tools and methods which help us to think what we think and
know what we know We tell them where we've been and where we may go in the
future We remind people that they, too, can explore the space frontier-as
future scientists, or astronauts, or one day as the voting public that will
decide how far and fast we will go. Our task is to help make those decisions
enlightened ones.
In the planetarium profession, ours is not so much the astronomy of research
and discovery as it is the astronomy of interpretation and enlightenment.
We help to bridge the distance between the scientist and the public, between
the individual and the universe. We strive to channel human reaction to
the pretty lights in the sky into a deeper understanding of the universe
from which we spring.
This is the role we play, every day, each in our own way, in two thousand
planetariums across the planet. More than 450 million served and counting
one show ticket, one class enrollment, one peep through a telescope, one
person-one glimmer of understanding-at a time.
Thank you.
Reproduced from the Planetarian, Vol. 24 #4, December 1995. Copyright 1995
International Planetarium Society. For permission to reproduce please contact
Executive Editor, Sharon Shanks.
