Fernbank Science Center Unveiling Big Upgrade

Fernbank Science Center’s Jim Cherry Memorial Planetarium, already the biggest planetarium in Georgia and one of the largest in the United States, is about to get a major technological upgrade.

Beginning with special free showings on Dec. 21, planetarium visitors will be able to see programs on a new fulldome/immersive projection system.

“This totally changes the planetarium experience,” said Ed Albin, a Fernbank astronomer. “For the video portions of our programming, we’ve been using standard projectors, which put an image on only a small segment of the dome. The digital immersive projection system throws extraordinarily bright light onto a spherical mirror tuned to the exact shape of our dome. So now the video and other images cover the entire dome.”

The fulldome system, made by e-Planetarium of Houston, is not replacing the planetarium’s iconic Zeiss star projector, but will be used to compliment it.

“Nothing gives you the feel of the night sky like our star projector, but today, some of the content in our shows comes in the form of images and video, and integrating these with the starfield has always been a bit awkward. Now our immersive projection system makes it seamless,” Albin said.

The new projector will also let the 500-seat planetarium be used for teaching much more than astronomy.

This article was provided by the science center.