De Anza students looking for a weekend escape from the norm should know that the Fujitsu Planetarium is a popular local attraction loaded with state of the art technology.
On Saturdays, the planetarium holds astronomy and laser light shows which inspires a loyal following plus new fans.
Audience member Gary Gilferson brought his family “Quite a few times last year.” He stated that they love astronomy and they went to all but 2 or 3 of the shows last year. Another audience member, William Chong and his son Max heard about the shows through a local website and stood in line early to be at their first Fujitsu Planetarium show. Yet another audience member, Kris, a mother of two, says “I went to a couple of the shows already, and wanted to bring my kids this time.”
The technology that powers the planetarium brings the magic too. When you sit down on one of the seats, you immediately notice that the entire Astro Tec® dome is one enormous white screen like the inside of a giant eggshell. A large robotic laser orb, the Konica-Minolta Infinium S® opto-mechanical star projector beams out all the visuals. The projections appear seamless when viewed from inside the dome, there is consistent fluidity in the motions of objects from one part of the screen to another. The visuals experienced are a vast departure from movie theaters or even IMAX, because the fulldome view transfers a sense of motion to the viewer akin to flying through space. It also adds to the sense of wonder when one looks to the center of the dome floor and sees the robotic orb dancing with mechanical precision.
In the back, the control console is housed along with a cluster of heavy hardware. Planetarium presenter Bill Lewis says that everything is controlled by a stack of 10 computers. Lewis reveals that there are 2 computers to control each quarter of the dome with 1 main computer in charge of the program, the last computer handles the audio.
The Fujitsu Planetarium holds shows every Saturday night. Early evening offers kid friendly forays into astronomy, at 7 the planetarium spotlights astronomy with the “Secret Lives of Stars”, and late night psychedelic journeys open the doors in your mind.
The Fujitsu Planetarium also operates a small gift shop filled with astronomy related goodies for kids and adults. Tickets for the shows range from $7-$9. For showtimes, show synopsis, and information on ordering tickets please visit http://www.planetarium.deanza.edu/index.html .
