Latest news with #planetarium
Yahoo
06-07-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
For 100 years, we have marveled at planetariums. Here's a brief history of how humans brought the stars indoors
When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. This article was originally published at The Conversation. The publication contributed the article to Expert Voices: Op-Ed & Insights. Picture this: a small audience is quietly ushered into a darkened room. They gasp in awe, as a brilliant night sky shines above. They wonder – as many after them will do – what trickery has made the roof above their heads disappear? But this is a performance; the stars above an ingenious projection. For the first time a public audience has experienced the spectacle of the opto-mechanical planetarium. The location is the newly opened Deutsches Museum in Munich, built to celebrate science and technology. The date is May 7 1925. Throughout time, cultures around the world have used the stars to help make sense of the world, to understand where we come from and determine our place in the cosmos. People have tried to recreate the movements of the stars and planets since antiquity. In the 1700s, the orrery, a clockwork model of the Solar System, was developed. The word 'planetarium' was invented to describe orreries that featured the planets. One room-sized orrery example was built by the self-taught Frisian astronomer Eise Eisinga. It's still operational today in Franeker, Netherlands. No human has ever been to the edge of the Solar System to see this view. Orreries, and other mechanical models of the universe like celestial globes, present views from impossible, external perspectives. The desire for a realistic view of the stars and planets, created from a perspective we actually see, gathered pace in the early 20th century as light pollution from growing cities diminished the view of the night sky. People like Oskar von Miller, first director of the Deutsches Museum in Munich, Germany, wanted to return this vision of the stars and planets to everyone. (Ironically, von Miller's earlier career was as an electrical engineer, rolling out the city lighting that contributed to light pollution.) One early attempt to create this view of the night sky was the Atwood Sphere, installed in Chicago in 1913. Approximately five metres across, it was made of sheet metal perforated with a star map. When viewed from the inside, the light shining through 692 pinholes replicated the Chicago night sky. The whole structure could even be rotated to simulate the motion of the stars. A realistic display of the stars is one thing. Representing the planets, whose positions in the sky change from night to night, is a different one. Von Miller and others at the Deutsches Museum knew that fixed holes could not represent the complexity of a moving planet. What if the planets were displayed by projection? If so, couldn't the stars be projected, as well? With this realization, a new kind of planetarium was born, borrowing the name from earlier orreries but working in a completely different way. The task of building such a device was given to the German optical company Carl Zeiss AG. After many setbacks, their first planetarium projector was completed in 1923, with the first performance at the Deutsches Museum a century ago today. Planetariums were a hit with the public. Within decades, they had spread around the world – the first planetarium in the United States opened in Chicago in 1930, while the first one in Asia opened in Osaka, Japan in 1937. The popularity of planetariums particularly accelerated in the US during the space race of the 1960s. Australia's oldest operating planetarium is the Melbourne Planetarium, managed by Museums Victoria since 1965. In Aotearoa New Zealand, Auckland's Stardome Observatory has been in operation since 1997. The current longest-running planetarium in the southern hemisphere is in Montevideo, Uruguay, operational since 1955. The opto-mechanical planetarium projector remains a technological wonder of the modern world. Individual plates, perforated with pinholes, are illuminated by a bright central light. Separate lenses focus each projection from one of these star maps to fill the entire dome with about 5,000 stars. The Sun, Moon and planets have separate projectors driven by gears and rods that mechanically calculate the object's position in the sky for any time or place. The opto-mechanical planetarium projector remains a technological wonder of the modern world. Individual plates, perforated with pinholes, are illuminated by a bright central light. Separate lenses focus each projection from one of these star maps to fill the entire dome with about 5,000 stars. The Sun, Moon and planets have separate projectors driven by gears and rods that mechanically calculate the object's position in the sky for any time or place. By the 1990s, a digital revolution had begun. With the advent of computers, the positions of the planets could now be calculated digitally. The Melbourne Planetarium became the first digital planetarium in the southern hemisphere when it installed the Digistar II in 1999. This system, developed by computer graphics company Evans and Sutherland, replaced the multiple lenses of earlier projectors with a fisheye lens. A single beam of light swept across the whole dome so rapidly that it seemed to create a single image – albeit in a bizarre green color, rendering a starfield of fuzzy green blobs. The trade-off for a less crisp starfield was a 3D database with more than 9,000 stars. For the first time, planetarium audiences could fly through space, far beyond the edge of the Solar System. Planetarium technology continues to develop. Today, most planetariums operate through video projection. Known as fulldome, the output from multiple projectors is blended together to create a seamless video, transforming the planetarium into a sophisticated 360-degree theatre. Astronomy has also changed over the last century. Just as Zeiss was completing its first projector, astronomer Edwin Hubble discovered that other galaxies exist beyond our Milky Way galaxy. The stars shown on the dome in Munich in 1925 turned out to be just a tiny part of the universe that we know today. Planetariums' digital systems now incorporate data from telescopes and space agencies around the world. Audiences can fly off Earth, orbit the planets and moons of the Solar System, and explore the billions of known galaxies. Yet some things have not changed. From orreries and lantern slides to opto-mechanical and digital planetariums, the communication of astronomy has always been about more than just the latest results of science. The power of the planetarium over the last 100 years has been its ability to evoke wonder and awe. It taps into our enduring fascination with the vast mystery of the night sky. This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.
New York Times
13-06-2025
- Entertainment
- New York Times
Traveling the Cosmos With Carter Emmart, One Last Time
The starship on West 81st Street and Central Park West is losing its captain. For nearly three decades, Carter Emmart, 64, has been director of astro-visualization at the American Museum of Natural History's Hayden Planetarium, curating the ultimate diorama: a digital universe of data and images culled from space probes and telescopes the world over. Mr. Emmart and his crew have created a series of mesmerizing planetarium shows over the years that take audiences forward and backward in time and space to understand the origin and potential fate of the cosmos. With shoulder-length hair, beads, bracelets and a propensity to show up for big events in a blue astronaut jumpsuit, Mr. Emmart himself seems to have been beamed in from somewhere Out There. His Manhattan office is festooned with a collection of Barbies, dolls he has used in design models, which he has lugged to all corners of the world, having dressed them in regional costumes. To date, millions of planetarium visitors have watched and heard stars explode; galaxies collide; clouds of interstellar space dust glow, swirl and melt. They have zoomed over alien landscapes and pierced the mysterious dark matter that permeates space. The shows have been narrated by celebrities such as Tom Hanks, Robert Redford, Whoopi Goldberg and the museum's own impresario of the sky, Neil deGrasse Tyson. The shows have been distributed to 60 different institutions in 40 countries. A very lucky viewer could lie on the floor of the planetarium on a recent slow afternoon as Mr. Emmart led a personal tour of his digital universe, pausing to appreciate craters on the moon and the dunes of Mars. Mr. Emmart's final show, 'Encounters in the Milky Way,' which opened on June 9, traces the history and future of our own galaxy. At the end of the summer, Mr. Emmart plans to retire to Thailand. 'I'm looking forward to being in nature with the peace and quiet,' he said recently. Want all of The Times? Subscribe.
South China Morning Post
08-06-2025
- Science
- South China Morning Post
Discovery about outer solar system during set-up up of planetarium show shocks astronomers
Scientists may have been given new information on one of the solar system's many secrets from an unexpected source: a planetarium show opening to the public on June 7. At the American Museum of Natural History last autumn, experts were hard at work preparing 'Encounters in the Milky Way', a deep dive into our home galaxy shaped by the movements of stars and other celestial objects. They were fine-tuning a scene featuring what's known as the Oort Cloud, a theoretical region far beyond Pluto believed to be filled with icy relics from the solar system's formation that pass into the solar system as comets. One evening while watching the Oort Cloud scene, scientists noticed something strange projected onto the planetarium's dome. A new planetarium show created a backwards S-shaped spiral in a mock-up of the Oort Cloud, causing excitement among some scientists. Photo: AP 'Why is there a spiral there?' said the museum's Jackie Faherty. The inner section of the Oort Cloud, made of billions of comets, resembled a bar with two waving arms, similar to the shape of our Milky Way galaxy.
CBS News
04-06-2025
- General
- CBS News
Fluke discovery at planetarium leads to revelation about mysterious cosmic cloud: "It's kind of a freak accident"
Astronomer breaks down "strongest evidence yet" of life on distant planet Scientists have unlocked one of the solar system's many secrets from an unexpected source: a planetarium show. At the American Museum of Natural History last fall, experts were hard at work preparing "Encounters in the Milky Way," a deep dive into our home galaxy shaped by the movements of stars and other celestial objects. They were fine-tuning a scene featuring what's known as the Oort Cloud, a region far beyond Pluto filled with icy relics from the solar system's formation. Comets can hurtle toward Earth from the cloud, but scientists have never glimpsed its true shape. One evening while watching the Oort Cloud scene, scientists noticed something strange projected onto the planetarium's dome. "Why is there a spiral there?" said Jackie Faherty, an astrophysicist who leads the museum's educational programs and helped put together the planetarium show. This image provided by the American Museum of Natural History shows a new planetarium show showing a backwards S-shaped spiral in what's known as the Oort Cloud far beyond Pluto. / AP The inner section of the Oort Cloud, made of billions of comets, resembled a bar with two waving arms, similar to the shape of our Milky Way galaxy. Scientists had long thought the Oort Cloud was shaped like a sphere or flattened shell, warped by the push and pull of other planets and the Milky Way itself. The planetarium show hinted that a more complex shape could lie inside. The museum contacted the researcher who provided the Oort Cloud data for the show, who was also surprised to see the spiral. "It's kind of a freak accident that it actually happened," said David Nesvorny with the Southwest Research Institute. Realizing they'd stumbled on something new, the researchers published their findings earlier this year in The Astrophysical Journal. The spiral is "a striking shift in our understanding of the outer solar system," planetary scientist Andre Izidoro with Rice University, who was not involved with the study, said in an email. The discovery, relying on data on how celestial objects move and using simulations, will be difficult to confirm with observations. But knowing more about the orbits of distant comets could give scientists some clues, Izidoro said. While putting together the planetarium show, the museum's experts weren't expecting a window into the universe's inner workings. The show features many vivid scenes that may capture audiences more than the Oort Cloud, said the museum's Jon Parker - including an ongoing merge of the Sagittarius mini galaxy with the Milky Way. No matter how striking and beautiful the visuals of the show, the museum was committed to making it scientifically accurate. That's what created the perfect conditions to stumble upon something new, said the museum's Carter Emmart. "You just never know what you're going to find," Emmart said. According to the planetarium, "Encounters in the Milky Way" -- narrated by actor Pedro Pascal -- is a "a time-traveling journey about the cosmic movements that shape our galactic neighborhood." The film, a collaboration of astronomers and science visualization experts, pulls from data from the European Space Agency's Gaia mission. The mission is called the "billion-star survey" as it aims to map the precise positions and motions of nearly 2 billion stars in our galaxy. The show opens to the public on Monday.
CTV News
03-06-2025
- General
- CTV News
How a new planetarium show helped scientists unlock a cosmic secret
A new planetarium show reveals a backwards S-shaped spiral in what's known as the Oort Cloud far beyond Pluto. (American Museum of Natural History via AP) NEW YORK — Scientists have unlocked one of the solar system's many secrets from an unexpected source: a planetarium show opening to the public on Monday. At the American Museum of Natural History last fall, experts were hard at work preparing 'Encounters in the Milky Way,' a deep dive into our home galaxy shaped by the movements of stars and other celestial objects. They were fine-tuning a scene featuring what's known as the Oort Cloud, a region far beyond Pluto filled with icy relics from the solar system's formation. Comets can hurtle toward Earth from the cloud, but scientists have never glimpsed its true shape. One evening while watching the Oort Cloud scene, scientists noticed something strange projected onto the planetarium's dome. 'Why is there a spiral there?' said the museum's Jackie Faherty. The inner section of the Oort Cloud, made of billions of comets, resembled a bar with two waving arms, similar to the shape of our Milky Way galaxy. Scientists had long thought the Oort Cloud was shaped like a sphere or flattened shell, warped by the push and pull of other planets and the Milky Way itself. The planetarium show hinted that a more complex shape could lie inside. The museum contacted the researcher who provided the Oort Cloud data for the show, who was also surprised to see the spiral. 'It's kind of a freak accident that it actually happened,' said David Nesvorny with the Southwest Research Institute. Realizing they'd stumbled on something new, the researchers published their findings earlier this year in The Astrophysical Journal. The spiral is 'a striking shift in our understanding of the outer solar system,' planetary scientist Andre Izidoro with Rice University, who was not involved with the study, said in an email. The discovery, relying on data on how celestial objects move and using simulations, will be difficult to confirm with observations. But knowing more about the orbits of distant comets could give scientists some clues, Izidoro said. While putting together the planetarium show, the museum's experts weren't expecting a window into the universe's inner workings. The show, narrated by actor Pedro Pascal, features many vivid scenes that may capture audiences more than the Oort Cloud, said the museum's Jon Parker — including an ongoing merge of the Sagittarius mini galaxy with the Milky Way. No matter how striking and beautiful the visuals of the show, the museum was committed to making it scientifically accurate. That's what created the perfect conditions to stumble upon something new, said the museum's Carter Emmart. 'You just never know what you're going to find,' Emmart said. ___ Adithi Ramakrishnan, The Associated Press The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute's Science and Educational Media Group and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content.
