Welcome to the 21st century (except for the 2001 purists). Things look pretty normal. The cars still have tires instead of suspensor fields. The plasterers are still using scaffolds instead of antigravity packs to reach the tops of the walls. As I arrived this afternoon, the crew was just packing up for the day. In the picture at the upper right, you can see that the color fields on the front of the Downing Planetarium have been completed. If you look closely at the top of the wall, you can see the copper gleam of the top cap that keeps the weather from getting behind the exterior finish.

In the picture above we see that Dr. Downing has been given a very special honor. He has his own parking spot in the space nearest the Planetarium entrance.

In the Planetarium lobby, little remains to be done except cleaning up. I have recorded the time and date for the slit window Spot on the Floor.

Inside the Planetarium, Steve White and his assistants have been very busy. On the right we see two video projectors. The one in the back of the room has been in place for some time, but Steve has just installed the more vertical one in front of the Star Projector stand. The Star Projector itself will be brought over in the next few days.

I found Steve in the front office showing his assistant, Jennifer Elkins, how to mount the 35 mm slides used for the show, then store them in the slide trays. There are over 30 slide projectors, so there is a lot of work to be done. You might think this could all be done with digital technology these days. All-digital systems do exist, but they do not have the clarity and resolution of 19th century chemical film. Every slide has to be transferred from its original paper mount and placed in more durable plastic ones. We can't tolerate jammed slides during a show.

The exterior finish is now completed. As I arrived shortly before 1 pm, only the cleanup crew remained.

Up on the roof, the last few sections of the copper edge cap were being installed.

Next week the electricians will be back to install the exterior lighting on the walls of the planetarium, and the lighting on the grounds that surround the building. You can see some of these electrical fixtures popping up through the concrete on the picture at the upper right.

Inside the planetarium there is little new to show, but parts of the star projector have been brought over in preparation for its installation later next week.

We can now see the entire Downing Planetarium for the first time. The scaffolding has all been removed. A little bit of cleanup was still going on up on the roof.

Inside in the lobby, we can now see the spot on the floor throughout the day. In the past the scaffolding blocked the sun most of the time. Troy was starting to mark the spot positions with bits of tape with the time written on them. The sun position has been computed from the position and elevation of the planetarium, but tape and a well-calibrated wristwatch are still a good check.



Inside the Star Theater, I see that Steve White has been busy this weekend. Major portions of the star projector are now in place at the center of the auditorium. We can begin to see what things will look like during an actual performance. Beneath the projector itself are a variety of little optics that project the moon, planets, and other things that wander against the stellar background.

Later this week, Joe Hopkins, an expert in planetarium equipment, will be flying in from Florida for final assembly of the projector, the dome lighting and other planetarium features.

There are only a few details left to be done on the exterior of the Downing Planetarium. Almost all of the exterior lighting is now in place, but a bit more wiring remains to be done. The windows still need to be sealed, but that is about it.

The weather certainly has cooperated while the exterior finish was applied. The rain we had yesterday and today was the first we have seen in months.



The real news is inside. Joe Hopkins and his assistant Troy McClellan are here from Joe Hopkins Engineering of Bradington, Florida to make the planetarium operational. As I came in today they were working on the console controls that run the slide projectors. They will begin work on the star projector tomorrow.



Hopkins showed me the cove lighting he had installed over the last few days. The red and blue lights are in place, with the yellow ones still to be installed. During a real planetarium show, the white lights shining down on the walls would not be on. As people enter the Star Theater, the only lighting will be from the cove lights illuminating the dome. When the cove lights are lowered, the show will begin.

In the picture on the right, Hopkins is projecting an alignment slide onto the dome from one of the 33 slide projectors that circle the bottom part of the dome. The image is projected right through the perforations in the dome itself. The star projector is seen silhouetted against this image, but has not yet been turned on.

Most of the hardware for planetarium shows is now in place and wired up. Here we see Troy McClellan of Joe Hopkins Engineering giving Steve White a lesson on digital editing of the audio sound tracks that are used for the shows.

We are fine-tuning our calculations for the analemmas that will be etched into the lobby floor. I'll be including a picture of the spot whenever I visit the planetarium. The time stamp on the picture is checked against the US Directorate of Time atomic clocks every few days and will be correct to the minute shown. The tape on the floor was placed there to show the position of the spot each hour on January 10.

For another picture of the spot taken on January 21, 2000 click here.

In this wider-angle view of the Downing Planetarium and its grounds, we see that the fence has been removed. This signals that the main construction is indeed over. Work is still going on, however. One of the lights on the front plaza was defective; we are awaiting its replacement. The recent rain showed a small problem with the drain lines. The windows still need to be sealed. It will all get fixed.

Inside, Troy Horne is busy working through the punch list of things to be completed or retouched. Jeff Ehmke donated this wonderful picture of comet Hale-Bopp to the planetarium. Troy is installing it in a prominent place in the lobby.



Joe Hopkins and Steve White continue to work on all the display equipment in the Star Theater. Here we see them working on the alignment of the video projector that is mounted right in front of the star projector in the center of the room.

For the next series of pictures, click here. The first pictures taken in February 2000 show the Downing Planetarium in a whole new light.