Staerkel Planetarium
Encyclopedia
The William M. Staerkel Planetarium at Parkland College
in Champaign
, Illinois
is one of the 37 major planetaria in the United States
. It is the second largest planetarium
in the state, the largest being the Adler Planetarium
in Chicago
. The Staerkel Planetarium provides science education programs and light show entertainment to as many as 40,000 people each year. It seats 144, and private group and school show reservations can be made beyond the regular public offerings.
The William M. Staerkel Planetarium at Parkland College
, built as part of the college’s cultural center, was planned and designed in the late sixties as part of Phase V in the construction of Parkland College’s campus. The cultural center was divided into two parts, the theatre and the planetarium, which together cost an estimated $4.2 million to build. (News-Gazette)
The planetarium was named after Parkland College’s founding president, who led the college for the first 20 years of its life, during the dedication on 1987-10-01. The planetarium officially opened to the public on 1987-10-22.
Model M1015 star projector, manufactured by Carl Zeiss
, Inc. of Germany
. It is the fist of its kind to be installed anywhere in the world.http://www.parkland.edu/planetarium/ziess.html It projects 7,600 stars down to magnitude
6, 25 star cluster
s and nebulae, the sun
, moon
, and the five planets visible to the human eye. The Zeiss can show the daily motions of the sky, the sun, the moon, and the positions of the stars on almost any given day, as well as various astronomical grids and scales. Auxiliary equipment allows projection of rainbows, clouds, solar and lunar eclipses, rotating galaxies, double star systems, and varied constellations.
The William M. Staerkel Planetarium uses a specialized automation computer, the MC-10 Media Controller, to automate shows using programmable disks. The MC-10 Media Controller can operate either independently or in conjunction with audio tapes. The Staerkel Planetarium's sound system includes a recording studio and a playback system made up of twelve speakers and two sub-bass enclosures located behind the projection dome. The Staerkel Planetarium has the capability of showing 35mm films and can project an image over more than one-third of the dome surface area. And, in addition to the star projector at the center of the theatre, the planetarium uses 57 carousel slide projector
s that can show panoramas to cover the entire dome as well as three CRT projector
s which allow for the projection of videos and special effects.
faculty and staff. The solar window, created by artist Arthur Stern, is an abstract representation of the changing daily path of the sun across the sky, from June (top), when the sun is highest and daylight is longest, to December (bottom), when the sun is lowest and daylight is shortest, and back to June. When the sun shines through the window, embedded prisms split the sunlight into its component colors and cast small rainbow-like patterns called spectra inside the building. These spectral colors are repeated in the colors of the windows. As the rotation of the earth makes the sun appear to ravel in its daily arc, the patters of colors cast by the window and the prisms slowly changes position with the changing position of the sun.
, artist in residence at the University of Illinois, the mural depicts the timelessness of mankind’s quest to understand the universe. Celestial objects, constellation figures invented by our ancestors, space-age mechanical explorers and the images then beamed back to us, and the intellectual giants whose investigations peeled away layers of the unknown all are represented in the mural. Jackson pays homage to the continuing, local nature of the quest through inclusion of Dr. Staerkel and representative Parkland students and faculty.
The Staerkel Planetarium also offer science lectures on the first Friday of each month during Parkland College's Spring (February, March, and April) and Fall (October, November, and December) semesters, as part of the World of Science Lecture Series.
The planetarium also occasionally hosts live music performances from avant-garde groups such as Stars of the Lid
.
Parkland College
Parkland College is a is a two-year community college in Champaign, Illinois, a member of the Illinois Community College System serving Community College District 505. District 505 includes all of Ford County, and parts of Coles, Champaign, DeWitt, Douglas, Edgar, Iroquois, Livingston, Moultrie,...
in Champaign
Champaign, Illinois
Champaign is a city in Champaign County, Illinois, in the United States. The city is located south of Chicago, west of Indianapolis, Indiana, and 178 miles northeast of St. Louis, Missouri. Though surrounded by farm communities, Champaign is notable for sharing the campus of the University of...
, Illinois
Illinois
Illinois is the fifth-most populous state of the United States of America, and is often noted for being a microcosm of the entire country. With Chicago in the northeast, small industrial cities and great agricultural productivity in central and northern Illinois, and natural resources like coal,...
is one of the 37 major planetaria in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. It is the second largest planetarium
Planetarium
A planetarium is a theatre built primarily for presenting educational and entertaining shows about astronomy and the night sky, or for training in celestial navigation...
in the state, the largest being the Adler Planetarium
Adler Planetarium
The Adler Planetarium & Astronomy Museum in Chicago, Illinois was the first planetarium built in the Western Hemisphere and is the oldest in existence today. Adler was founded and built in 1930 by the philanthropist Max Adler, with the assistance of the first director of the planetarium, Philip Fox...
in Chicago
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
. The Staerkel Planetarium provides science education programs and light show entertainment to as many as 40,000 people each year. It seats 144, and private group and school show reservations can be made beyond the regular public offerings.
History
- “The dream started a long time ago. It began when a group of us, faculty members and administrators together, sat down to develop the specifications for a new college then unbuilt and of course unnamed. Since a basic function of education is to transmit the cultural heritage of a people, we were concerned that the new college would be ideally designed to help teachers accomplish that purpose.
- “Now over 20 years later the College continues to mature and develop, we see the dream realized with the dedication of Parkland’s Cultural Center. This is indeed a joyful occasion. To see our dreams come true after all these years gives us a wonderful feeling of pride and satisfaction as we look at this latest addition to this remarkable institution of higher education.”
- — William M. Staerkel, in a letter written for the October 1st 1987 dedication
The William M. Staerkel Planetarium at Parkland College
Parkland College
Parkland College is a is a two-year community college in Champaign, Illinois, a member of the Illinois Community College System serving Community College District 505. District 505 includes all of Ford County, and parts of Coles, Champaign, DeWitt, Douglas, Edgar, Iroquois, Livingston, Moultrie,...
, built as part of the college’s cultural center, was planned and designed in the late sixties as part of Phase V in the construction of Parkland College’s campus. The cultural center was divided into two parts, the theatre and the planetarium, which together cost an estimated $4.2 million to build. (News-Gazette)
The planetarium was named after Parkland College’s founding president, who led the college for the first 20 years of its life, during the dedication on 1987-10-01. The planetarium officially opened to the public on 1987-10-22.
Zeiss Model M1015
The Planetarium uses the ZeissZeiss projector
A Zeiss projector is one of a line of planetarium projectors manufactured by the Carl Zeiss Company.The first modern planetarium projectors were designed and built in 1924 by the Zeiss Works of Jena, Germany in 1924. Zeiss projectors are designed to sit in the middle of a dark, dome-covered room...
Model M1015 star projector, manufactured by Carl Zeiss
Carl Zeiss
Carl Zeiss was a German maker of optical instruments commonly known for the company he founded, Carl Zeiss Jena . Zeiss made contributions to lens manufacturing that have aided the modern production of lenses...
, Inc. of Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
. It is the fist of its kind to be installed anywhere in the world.http://www.parkland.edu/planetarium/ziess.html It projects 7,600 stars down to magnitude
Apparent magnitude
The apparent magnitude of a celestial body is a measure of its brightness as seen by an observer on Earth, adjusted to the value it would have in the absence of the atmosphere...
6, 25 star cluster
Star cluster
Star clusters or star clouds are groups of stars. Two types of star clusters can be distinguished: globular clusters are tight groups of hundreds of thousands of very old stars which are gravitationally bound, while open clusters, more loosely clustered groups of stars, generally contain less than...
s and nebulae, the sun
Sun
The Sun is the star at the center of the Solar System. It is almost perfectly spherical and consists of hot plasma interwoven with magnetic fields...
, moon
Moon
The Moon is Earth's only known natural satellite,There are a number of near-Earth asteroids including 3753 Cruithne that are co-orbital with Earth: their orbits bring them close to Earth for periods of time but then alter in the long term . These are quasi-satellites and not true moons. For more...
, and the five planets visible to the human eye. The Zeiss can show the daily motions of the sky, the sun, the moon, and the positions of the stars on almost any given day, as well as various astronomical grids and scales. Auxiliary equipment allows projection of rainbows, clouds, solar and lunar eclipses, rotating galaxies, double star systems, and varied constellations.
Other equipment
It also consists of its dome, automation, sound and film systems, and projection equipment. The planetarium's projection dome is 50 feet in diameter and at its highest point is 31 feet from the floor of the theater. It consists of perforated aluminum panels that are held together with 7,000 rivets and has approximately 43 million holes in its surface. This allows for acoustic integrity and the placement of effects and speakers behind the dome to be seen or heard throughout the dome.The William M. Staerkel Planetarium uses a specialized automation computer, the MC-10 Media Controller, to automate shows using programmable disks. The MC-10 Media Controller can operate either independently or in conjunction with audio tapes. The Staerkel Planetarium's sound system includes a recording studio and a playback system made up of twelve speakers and two sub-bass enclosures located behind the projection dome. The Staerkel Planetarium has the capability of showing 35mm films and can project an image over more than one-third of the dome surface area. And, in addition to the star projector at the center of the theatre, the planetarium uses 57 carousel slide projector
Carousel slide projector
A carousel slide projector is a common form of slide projector, used to project slide photographs and to create slideshows. The first carousel slide projector was invented by Louis Misuraca, who immigrated to the United States from Naples, Italy when he was a child. Louis was paid a one-time fee...
s that can show panoramas to cover the entire dome as well as three CRT projector
CRT projector
A CRT projector is a video projector that uses a small, high-brightness CRT as the image generating element. The image is then focused and enlarged onto a screen using a lens kept in front of the CRT face. Most modern CRT projectors are color and have three separate CRTs , and their own lenses to...
s which allow for the projection of videos and special effects.
Solar window
The solar window is a gift given in August 1987 by Dr. and Mrs. William M. Staerkel in memory of their parents and as a tribute to the dedicated Parkland CollegeParkland College
Parkland College is a is a two-year community college in Champaign, Illinois, a member of the Illinois Community College System serving Community College District 505. District 505 includes all of Ford County, and parts of Coles, Champaign, DeWitt, Douglas, Edgar, Iroquois, Livingston, Moultrie,...
faculty and staff. The solar window, created by artist Arthur Stern, is an abstract representation of the changing daily path of the sun across the sky, from June (top), when the sun is highest and daylight is longest, to December (bottom), when the sun is lowest and daylight is shortest, and back to June. When the sun shines through the window, embedded prisms split the sunlight into its component colors and cast small rainbow-like patterns called spectra inside the building. These spectral colors are repeated in the colors of the windows. As the rotation of the earth makes the sun appear to ravel in its daily arc, the patters of colors cast by the window and the prisms slowly changes position with the changing position of the sun.
“Cosmic Blink”
“Cosmic Blink”, the mural gracing the lobby of the William M. Staerkel Planetarium, is the result of an idea that came to Dr. Staerkel in the spring of 1985 and later monetary donations to the Parkland College Foundation. Painted by Billy Morrow JacksonBilly Morrow Jackson
Billy Morrow Jackson was an American painter.Jackson was born in Kansas City, Missouri in 1926. He completed his Bachelor of Fine Arts at Washington University in Saint Louis, and later received an MFA from University of Illinois at Urbana, where he later taught. Over the course of his education,...
, artist in residence at the University of Illinois, the mural depicts the timelessness of mankind’s quest to understand the universe. Celestial objects, constellation figures invented by our ancestors, space-age mechanical explorers and the images then beamed back to us, and the intellectual giants whose investigations peeled away layers of the unknown all are represented in the mural. Jackson pays homage to the continuing, local nature of the quest through inclusion of Dr. Staerkel and representative Parkland students and faculty.
Shows and schedule
In addition to planetarium shows for schools and the community, outreach services are also offered to schools, libraries, and civic groups. Public shows are held on most Friday and Saturday evenings except for holidays, including late night rock-n-roll light shows featuring the planetarium's 3,000 watt sound system.The Staerkel Planetarium also offer science lectures on the first Friday of each month during Parkland College's Spring (February, March, and April) and Fall (October, November, and December) semesters, as part of the World of Science Lecture Series.
The planetarium also occasionally hosts live music performances from avant-garde groups such as Stars of the Lid
Stars of the Lid
Stars of the Lid is a duo specializing in drone-based ambient music. They list among their influences minimalist and electronic composers such as Arvo Pärt, Zbigniew Preisner, Gavin Bryars, and Henryk Górecki, as well as Talk Talk , post-rock artists Labradford, and ambient innovator Brian...
.