Planetarium goes digital

The MHCC Planetarium has a new, digital way to show all the wonders of the night sky. It hosted its first show Wednesday evening using its dramatic new projection system, one that was aptly titled, “Introducing the Sky with Our New Star Projection System.”

The production featured a variety of images put together one scene at a time by Pat Hanrahan, Mt. Hood’s planetarium director. It began with a view of Mt. Hood Community College from above and then zoomed out until Mount Hood (the mountain) was in view. The system then showed the mountain with incredible detail, including the snow and its peaks.

The classic “Galaxy Song” also was revamped, with some striking images that really illustrated the lyrics of the song in a new way, without making some viewers in the audience dizzy, as the old projection system would, as its images spun around.

The show also incorporated some classical music near the end, lending a more relaxed feel.

Hanrahan said the new system “has capabilities that far exceed the program before.” Its software is from Microsoft and uses Worldwide Telescope, which not only lets people see space, but also the earth, in great detail.

The system doesn’t just show typical points of light, but has three different ways to show visible light. It can show microwave radiation and X-rays, can illustrate star formation quite well, can zoom in a lot to show more stars and galaxies and show orbits of planets, and can display constellation boundaries, in addition to their names, all features shown off during Wednesday’s show.
What viewers saw, and will continue to see, is “an incredible amount of detail,” says Hanrahan. Beautiful Earth scenery is detailed, along with space, and it is all simulating.

In using Worldwide Telescope, the program has access to terabytes of data from nearly any telescope that has published pictures. The program allows for incorporation of music, which can prove relaxing or amusing, such as “Galaxy Song” or the theme from “2001: A Space Odyssey.”

With six projectors at work, it “almost feels like you can reach up and touch it (space),” said Hanrahan.

In addition to being easily able to zoom in on any part of the sky, the new program allows pictures to be superimposed on top of imagery, which can help with reference or an explanation.

The next Planetarium show, on Jan. 7, will preview what the sky has to offer in 2014.

Shows will be at 6, 7:15 and 8:30 p.m. and are free for MHCC students, $2 for the public.