Renovated Clemson planetarium begins its second half-century

Published: January 17, 2012

The recently renovated Clemson planetarium opens a window to the universe for students and visitors. image by: Craig Mahaffey

CLEMSON — A matter of months after Alan Shepard piloted his Mercury capsule in a 15-minute suborbital flight to become the first American in space, Clemson University launched its own space program.

Clemson physics professors, still breaking in the newly opened Kinard Laboratory in 1961, outfitted the building with university's first planetarium.

"The projector was an amazing optical-mechanical machine," said Clemson professor Mark Leising, interim chairman of the physics and astronomy department. "An arc lamp inside the star ball projected nearly 3,000 stars through pin holes and lenses for the brighter ones. It also showed the Milky Way and the Andromeda galaxy."

It was space-age technology for its time. In its first 50 years, more than 100,000 visitors attended planetarium shows.

But, as it does with the planets themselves, time caught up with the planetarium. Replacement parts for the gears and analog electronics became hard to find. Digital technology outpaced the outdated machinery.

The planetarium closed for a time in 1994 as budgets tightened, opening later as an all-volunteer operation with contributions from a pair of doctoral students, Peter Milne and Grant Williams.

"A lot of effort, a lot of care and a lot of determination went into the planetarium," Leising said. "Finally, the decision was made to renovate the planetarium and upgrade the equipment."

A year ago, the room — including its tell-tale dome — was gutted. All the equipment, seating and even the floor was removed, as was the second-floor stock room that intruded into the original dome.

Now the planetarium has reopened with 21st century components: high-definition projectors and a database of nearly a million celestial objects, all accompanied by surround sound audio. A complete fiberglass hemisphere dome — minus the old stock room — was constructed, and a new platform, seats, electrical, flooring and paint were added.

"Anything that can be generated on the computers can be displayed on the dome," Leising said. "The database includes nearly a million astronomical objects with locations in three dimensions and other properties.

"The view from anywhere can be displayed," he said. "We can fly among the planets, then, speeding along faster than light, fly among nearby stars, out to nearby galaxies and even to the edge of the observable universe.

Students in Clemson astronomy labs were the first to get a glimpse of the new Digistar 4 projection system. In place of the old rotating mirrors, the new system is controlled with a simple point-and-click interfaces, as well as scripted computer programs. Displayed images can be recorded and replayed as a "full-dome" video. Clemson students lead the planetarium shows on topics like "The Sky Tonight," "The Life of a Star" and "The Wonders of the Universe."

"We plan regularly scheduled public shows starting in this spring and will be expanding the number of shows as we raise additional funds from private donors," Leising said.

There's no admission fee to the planetarium, for public school and Clemson University groups, but visits must be scheduled in advance. Groups can schedule a planetarium visit by contacting the physics and astronomy department at 864-656-3416.

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