Arlington Planetarium

There is a point where large planetaria become too big, and the intimacy is lost. The new planetarium at the University of Texas in Arlington however manages to strike the balance between big and intimate, with its 150-seater 60' dome, run with the new Digistar 4 system from Evans and Sutherland. 6 DLPs run the planetarium, and once the lights and other effects are plugged back in, they will have quite the venue.

In fact, Arlington Planetarium has managed to do many different things within its walls - for example, $300 will get a couple two hours under the stars, dinner and wine for the perfect romantic evening. A brilliant use of the space (no pun intended) and so simple to boot. Then again there is something to be said for having an open central aisle for that kind of event to take place.

As the planetarium is part of the university, it benefits from being a university department, and so equipment can be requisitioned as and when other departments are finished with it. This has very much helped with keeping the computers powerful enough to handle the transition from D3 to D4. The whole planetarium is finishing its upgrade, so that there will be more exhibits outside for visitors. At present they have screens linked to a nationwide science reporting system, which does a very good job.

The shows tend to be an hour long - sometimes all presenter-led, sometimes beginning with a presenter-led night sky segment, then going on to an automated show. This works very well, and with a planetarium this size it's easy to put on fewer shows. Another point is that the planetarium team itself is quite small - only 3 people - but with a university there, it's easy to get students in to train up as educators.

Students are a great source of audience too; at the beginning of the year the planetarium offers cut-price tickets for students, as well as other such benefits. Live music nights and party evening use the aforementioned lights. It's an excellent resource, and it seems to be well used too. In fact, the astronomy department uses the smaller planetarium on site for labs and teaching, leaving the larger one for shows. In general a public show will only just more than half fill the place, which is a shame. It deserves to be a lot fuller.

The Planetarium at UT Arlington is a really great facility and very much worth the while to visit if in the Dallas/Fort Worth area. I'm much indebted to Amy Barraclough for showing me around and explaining the great things that the planetarium has done and will continue to do. Great stuff.