Paladin

Issue date: 1/21/08 Section: City Style

Professor Courtney Seligman offered a state-of-the-art planetarium show followed by a telescope viewing of the night sky on Friday, Jan. 18.

Although Seligman has offered telescope open houses since 1974, the open houses have definitely changed. In late 2006, a brand new state-of-the-art projector was installed to the planetarium and by Spring Break 2008 new theater style seating will arrive.
The new projector allows Seligman to create a live 3D planetarium show full of lights, stars, and the world beyond displayed on the 35-foot diameter dome. "It took me about 40 hour to learn most of the commands that I use," Seligman said.

The show left visitors impressed as they walked out the planetarium. "I was expecting a boring lecture, but it turned out to be pretty cool," astronomy student Alan Alvarado said.

After the planetarium show in D326 students headed to the roof to view the moon, stars, and Saturn up close.

"It was interesting and I would come again," Homei Hay said. Hay was visiting the planetarium with a friend.

The visitors ranged from students, friends, parents, and colleagues. When asked about his favorite part of the astronomy open house Seligman said, "The part I do 'on the fly' (system) partly because it allows me to show so many different things, and partly because of the 'high' involved in making it up as I go."

However, that does change when it comes to visitors as Seligman said, "I find that as enthusiastic as people are about the planetarium show, they're often just as enthusiastic or more so, about the telescope viewing."

Other open houses are scheduled Feb. 22, March 14, April 18, and May 16. The planetarium is free and open to the public, but donations are gladly accepted due to the cost of the new planetarium which has totaled about $480,000 and not been fully funded. Reservations may be made by visiting cseligman.com

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