Video credits: Johannes Hirn (Dunlap Institute)
The planetarium is a relatively recent addition to the Astronomy Public Tours, having only arrived in the department in late August of 2010. Located in the basement of the Astronomy & Astrophysics building at 50 St. George street, the planetarium dome is a GeoDome Theatre, and the software used is Uniview, which was designed to display the Digital Universe catalog from NASA and the Hayden planetarium.
The dome is 25 feet (7.62 metres) in diameter and 13 feet (3.96 metres) tall, and is designed to hold up to 20 people at one time. It has a full-sized open doorway that makes entering and exiting the dome safe and effortless. The fish-eye lens projector gives a stunning and realistic view of the night sky, but the software is not limited to the traditional Earth view of the stars and instead allows our attendees to experience the universe from many vantage points.
During our public nights, the planetarium shows take place in parallel with the telescope tours. We offer 4 shows per evening, at 15 minute intervals. Due to the limited size of the dome and time constraints, chances are that not all tour attendees will be able to see a planetarium show during the tour. To sign up for the next tour's planetarium shows, use the form below.
The funding for the planetarium was provided by a SEED grant from the Astronomical Society of the Pacific.
Sign-up is now open for the planetarium shows to take place after the May 2nd Tour. Please enter your name, email, the number of attendees, and which time slot you would prefer. You will receive an email confirmation after you sign up, and a printable ticket with a validation number. PLEASE PRINT YOUR TICKET! Also, PLEASE ARRIVE 5 MINUTES EARLY AT THE DESIGNATED MEETING LOCATION FOR YOUR SHOW!
If you wish to signup more than five people, please contact us!. Currently, however, we are not accepting groups of more than 10 people.