It has been a few weeks since I've updated the Downing Planetarium page. Since the building dedication on February 5th, the building contractor has been finishing up the "punch list" of things yet to be done.

The series of rain storms that have come through the San Joaquin Valley have done the Planetarium a favor, although we didn't appreciated it all that much at the time. We don't normally get several inches of rain in a few days, but when we did, leaks in the Planetarium roof started showing up. The copper roof was OK, but the flat area behind the parapet collected large amounts of water which leaked into Resource Room and the Front Office. The roof has been fixed, so we are ready for the next time the skies surprise us with unusual rain amounts.

All the window seals are now in place, including the slit window in front. I didn't hear of any window leaks during the storms.

The soil around some of the underground installations settled more than we expected during the rains. The depressions have all been filled since this picture was taken.

Steve White and his wife Kathy have been spending untold hours preparing the new shows for the Planetarium. Joe Hopkins has returned from Florida, and has added enhancements to our star projector. The computer links to the video projectors are now working. Steve tells me we will need a few more visits by Hopkins before all the features of the Star Theater will be fully functional.

In this picture of the lobby floor, we see the effect of the special non-skid finish that brings a nice gloss to the granite tiles. The sun has come out, and a new spot location is recorded with an accurate time stamp from my digital camera.

There are few dramatic changes to show in the building itself, but inside the Downing Planetarium Steve and Kathy have been putting in 14-hour days preparing the shows that will be featured during our Grand Opening events in April.

There are 30 slide projectors inside the Star Theater. The slides that are purchased for most planetarium shows come in cardboard mounts that won't hold up to the rigors of continuous cycling through the projectors. They all have to be transferred to special jam-free rigid mounts. Worse yet, the seemingly dark backgrounds of these slides show up as an annoying grey to our dark-adapted eyes inside the Star Theater.

Special high-contrast film is used to make a contact print of each slide. This produces a negative mask that projects only the sky features onto the dome, leaving the background completely black. All these masks have to be done by hand. Each show uses several hundred slides. Once the slides are all produced and loaded, the video projectors, the sound track, and the star projector must all be choreographed in the controlling computer. It is no wonder that Steve and Kathy practically live over at the planetarium.

Every now and then Steve comes out into the light to take a break. We continue to track the position of the sun on the lobby floor. Small variations from our calculations continue to show up, caused by things like February 2000 having 29 days. The sun doesn't care what kind of strange calendars we use; it rolls along a nice predictable path in the sky. Etching our calendar into our expensive granite floor, and getting it right the first time, is our problem.

We can see one change in the Downing Planetarium, the roof is starting to acquire the patina typical of copper roofs. It is in the brownish stage at the moment.

Now that the building is all but finished, the Planetarium Committee has been spending time on how we shall landscape the outside. As you can see from the picture from the third floor of the Science Building, the surroundings are mostly bare ground, with only a sparse volunteer covering of grass. The digging shown in the pictures above is exposing the concrete drains and other fittings that need to be surrounded by concrete pads. This will make it easier to mow around them once the irrigation system and grass gets put in.

We have met with the building architect, our campus landscape architect, and members of the Campus Arboretum Committee, to devise grounds that will complement the Downing Planetarium. Our ultimate goal is to have not just grass and trees, but a series of educational gardens that will feature plants of interest to residents of the San Joaquin Valley. This all takes money, of course, so we are hoping for community support in establishing and maintaining these gardens. For now we have planted a few annuals around the edges of the building, just in time for our Grand Opening ceremonies this month.

In the last rays of the setting sun, we find that the local media have arrived. Sean Boyd from Channel 47 gave us a nice live report on the 6:30 news. In the back of the Planetarium, the Central Valley Astronomers are setting up for a star party. Inside we find a group of festive supporters of the Downing Planetarium. It is the evening of the Grand Opening!



Steve and Kathy White have been working very long hours to put together the first feature-length planetarium show, The Search for New Worlds.



And here was another surprise for our grand opening--The Planetarium Store. As I took this picture, the young man at the register was about to make his second sale of the evening.



Brandt Kehoe (Associate Provost and Chair of the Planetarium Committee) and Mike Zender (Chair of Physics and Planetarium Committee Treasurer) look quite pleased that we are now ready for full-scale operation.



Some of our guests had not seen our lobby displays before. In addition to the eye-catching plasma discharges, we have meteorites as well as simulated Lunar and Martian soil in our display cases.



Among our guests we have Bruce Blackerby (from Geology) and his wife Sally. In the center is Howard Latimer, Professor Emeritus of Biology, and our consultant on landscape plants and gardens for the Planetarium.

On the right we see Roger Key, Physics Technician, who with Steve White hauled the star projector and other planetarium components all the way from Kansas. He is talking to Mel Decosta, a retired technician from the Physics department. The generations are all here to celebrate.

Representing the Facilities Planning Office of CSUF we have Kathy Washington. Gary Wilson, Head of Facilities Planning, and Kathy worked closely with the Planetarium Committee to integrate the Downing Planetarium into the campus infrastructure.

Brandt Kehoe began the speeches thanking the many people who made it possible for the Downing Planetarium to be opening this evening. Among those who spoke were John Welty, President of California State University, Fresno, Michael Ortiz, Provost of CSUF, Steve White, Associate Professor of Physics and Director of the Downing Planetarium, and K.P. Wong, Dean of the College of Science and Mathematics. Representing his father, Dr. F. Harold Downing, was his son Dr. Tom Downing. Tom expressed the pleasure that he and the Downing family felt over the impact that this facility will have on the Central Valley.

Following the food, drink, and speeches, was the first public showing of "The Search for New Worlds." You will have to come to the Downing Planetarium to see this, since my digital camera is unable to record the images seen during the show. We also wish to thank the Central Valley Astronomers for supplying the Star Party for those who were waiting for the second show. There were some nice live images of the Moon and planets for our viewing pleasure.

Our next event will be "An Evening at the Planetarium" on April 14 from 7 to 10 p.m. This is a fund-raiser for landscaping and equipment. If you would like to join us and support the Downing Planetarium, tickets are $50 per person or $90 per couple. You get wine and hors d'oeuvres, a tour of the Planetarium and a showing of "The Search for New Worlds." For tickets or more information call Kathleen at 278-4071.

Schools wishing to book showings for their classes should also call 278-4071. Many showings for classes are already scheduled. The Downing Planetarium is open for business! For programs and show times, please visit the main Downing Planetarium Web Site.