(Text from streaming video release on the RU Planetarium)
Do you know what Galileo saw when he looked up at the stars… or how the explorers of Monocaya navigated their way around the world using only the heavens as their guide?
Astronomy professor Rhett Herman can show you in Radford University’s own planetarium. More than 2,000 visitors were transported through time and space last year while sitting in the tartan-clad armchairs underneath the dome.
The history of the planetarium has many twists and turns. Limited resources, creativity and hard work have made it what it is today.
Rhett Herman/Planetarium coordinator:
“The planetarium itself was under funded when Curie was built in 1971. Facilities management put out a call for stonemasons and they got two people to respond. Ken Hall and Harold Lester. What they did is build the dome you see here out of heavy duty industrial strength chicken wire, you might say, suspended by steel cables from the ceiling and then covered with heavy duty plaster cut our in a perfect half circle. They troweled this thing themselves. They made their own tools to complete this job. This planetarium dome is one of the rare solid domes in North America.”
There are no creases, no seams and no imperfections… just unadulterated heavens to learn about and explore. The planetarium was originally used as an astronomy lab and classroom. In 1999, this resource was opened to local school and community groups.
Deborah Elvey/4th grade teacher, Falling Branch Elementary:
“This makes it come alive to the students. In keeping with the SOLs, our 4th grade SOLs are the planets. You should see their eyes - they’re just glittering - and to pick out what they’ve already learned from a textbook and looking at it from another context is a really wonderful thing for the kids.”
Rhett Herman:
“It’s fun to see. School kids, the kids last night in the Tiger Cub group. I turned the stars on for the 3 to 6 year olds with 3 to 6 year old attention spans, they just stared up at the ceiling. It was the greatest thing in the world for them at that time. It’s fun.”
There are 32 theatre style fixed seats plus an additional 15 fold out chairs can squeeze in depending upon the crowd.
Rhett Herman:
“The best seat in the house is laying down right here on the thick carpet. Right here in front of my projector. That right there is the best seat in the house.”
Herman presents a rotation of seven shows and has new shows coming in all the time. The planetarium is free and open to the public. All shows are funded by donations. To make a donation to the planetarium fund call the RU Foundation at (540) 831-5108 or visit Planetarium.radford.edu.
Media contact: Ann Hillenbrand, (540) 831-5182