After a year of waiting, avid stargazers and space enthusiasts can explore the final frontier in breathtaking detail at the newly revamped Charles Hayden Planetarium at the Boston Museum of Science.
Closed for a year due to renovations, the Charles Hayden Planetarium opened two days early on Friday to give its Twitter followers and Facebook fans a sneak preview of newest show, “Undiscovered Worlds.”
The show focused on the study of “exoplanets,” or planets that orbit a sun other than our own. Through its 30-minute run length, the show brought viewers on a journey that began with the discovery of exoplanets in 1995, as scientists raced to find a planet similar to Earth.
“Since 1995, the numbers of exoplanets discovered are increasing exponentially. It’s just getting faster and faster, and we’re getting closer and closer to finding an Earth-sized habitable world,” said Dani Leblanc, producer of the planetarium. “It’s already in the news, and we felt that it was a natural topic to pick.”
Leblanc said she was excited to show off the planetarium’s new upgrades, including a new dome, chairs and a $2 million, 360-degree projector.
“We essentially just gutted the entire room and started building it back up again from scratch,” she said.
The old theater ran using 72 slide projectors, and the resulting images were purely two-dimensional. The new video projector uses animation systems similar to those used in big movie production houses, Leblanc said, creating a more realistic depiction of the stars. Projections are so detailed that audience members could bring binoculars to get a closer look.
“It’s not quite three dimensional, but we call it two-and-a-half-D,” Leblanc said. “It feels very three dimensional, especially if you move the stars in just the right way.”
Audience members at the Friday showing of “Undiscovered Worlds” agreed, many gasping as the stars whizzed by over the seamless ceiling. “It was really cool. I thought the visuals were impressive, and it went really smooth. Definitely learned something new,” said Adam Pardes, a Tufts University sophomore.
While some Boston residents enjoyed the show, others wished for more visuals.
“I liked the show. Personally, I would have preferred for a planetarium experience with more visuals and music as opposed to a lecture, but I did enjoy it,” said Peter Velluci, a Somerville resident.
“Undiscovered Worlds” is one of many shows that the planetarium is planning. The planetarium also has access to a database of astronomical objects, which it can navigate through in real time.
“A presenter can be talking on the console, showing the audience different things, like, ‘Anyone want to see the moons of Jupiter? Let’s go there.’ There are a lot of different systems, and this show only shows off certain systems,” Leblanc said.
The planetarium opened to the public on Sunday and a full catalog of their shows can be found on its website.
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