Comments | mbumby: Friday night in the museum

mbumby

Friday night in the museum

Mar 22, 2008 17:22

The U of M astronomy club (the LowBrows) was going to get a demo of the planetarium in the exhibit museum after hours on Friday. I haven't been to a meeting in a while, but that sounded interesting, so I hung out after work ( Read more... )

food, lowbrows

Comments 7

maiac March 22 2008, 23:05:45 UTC

I'd have snickered at "museum piece", too.

How was the presentation.

mbumby March 23 2008, 20:51:04 UTC

I thought it was pretty cool. I was awed by some of the stuff they can do -- old hat to those who frequent planatariums, I suspect, but stunning to me. This included a portion of one of the movies they can/do play -- undersea. Just wow.

And I learned what they hope to do in the future -- they're still using the old (1959? hand stitched dome -- don't remember the size, but they have an extra 6 feet or so they can glom onto behind one wall, and they intend to.

peteralway March 22 2008, 23:54:20 UTC

You're a Lowbrow? I was one way back at the beginning of the club, in 1979--I attended the first meeting and the first trip out to Peach Mountain to inspect the 24".

Alas I've fallen out of touch, largely because I get my astronomy fix from teaching now.

Planetaria are cool.

And yes, that's the 85-foot dish on Peach Mountain in my astronomy icon.

mbumby March 23 2008, 20:53:50 UTC

I'm a nominal Lowbrow. I pay my dues and go to one or two meeting a year. Don't know how to run the McMath -- don't know how to run a standard scope for that matter. It's usually too cold on the Mountain for me -- that plus my current "if it's after 10pm I'm probably not safe to drive" -- plus the fact that I can't (yet) turn off the lights on my car...

jebra March 23 2008, 03:01:56 UTC

Speaking of planetaria, ever consider getting your own?

mbumby March 23 2008, 20:56:38 UTC

Ooooh, that's kind of cool. Hmmm... is there room in any room of the house for that? If I build another house just to house that cool geek toy, I would probably rather put up a dome and get a "real" one...

That _is_ cool though.

peteralway March 24 2008, 02:28:43 UTC

I remember as a kid designing a house with a planetarium dome in the living room, a transparent geodesic dome over the bedroom for watching the stars as I fell asleep, and third dome for an observatory.

Alas, I'm never going to be wealthy enough to build that one.