If you’re a long-time or native Tucsonan like me, you may have memories of Hector Vector Star Projector like I do from my first school field trip in second grade: An awe-inspiring, state-of-the-art projector rising majestically from beneath the planetarium floor, delivering full-dome images that transported me to Mars and other worlds.
While Hector still cuts a majestic and imposing figure for school groups and adults, he has sadly fallen behind the times – what with the miniaturization and high-definition quality of modern digital projectors.
If you want to get a glimpse of what the future of the Flandrau Planetarium could be, you have your chance for this weekend only. While the laser projector that treats fans to Pink Floyd and other music shows is out for repair, Flandrau will be showing demos of some new dome shows using a SkyScan digital projector, one of the best on the market.
All shows are free this weekend only, and are first-come, first-serve. The featured show is “Life: A Cosmic Story,” which takes you on an immersive journey through cells and into galaxies, and is narrated by Jodie Foster:
There’s also a cool kid’s show, as well as “Voices in the Dark,” an awesome music and animation show:
Full disclosure: I used to be in charge of marketing and digital for Flandrau (I helped bring back the Pink Floyd laser show – you’re welcome). But if Tucson wants to ever get some cool new gear to get kids excited about science and blow their parents’ minds with awesome shows, folks need to come out and show their support.
Show times are available at Flandrau’s website.
This article appears in Feb 14-20, 2013.
Let’s hope we can get a fundraising campaign going and make this equipment a reality for Tucson – which happens to be one of the top planetary science cities in the WORLD.
I wish The Range contributors would post notices further in advance of events. I suspect that your site statistics will indicate a greater readership of The Range during the work week (when people are at their computers) than over the weekend. Perhaps I’ve got it all wrong but I’m not the only person tied to a computer during the week and freed from it all weekend. I would have enjoyed going to these shows at the Planetarium and I would have attended at least one had I known about the event. The Range Contributors: I’m begging you to please post notices further in advance.