Barlow Planetarium facts for kids
The Barlow Planetarium is a special place where you can explore the stars and planets! It's like a giant movie theater for space, located in Menasha, Wisconsin. It is part of the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh, Fox Cities Campus. The planetarium opened in 1998 and was the very first big planetarium in Wisconsin. It is named after F. John Barlow, a kind businessman who helped make it possible.
A Look Back: How It Started
The Barlow Planetarium got its name from F. John Barlow. He was the biggest private donor, meaning he gave a lot of money to help build this amazing place. The planetarium first opened its doors in March 1998. Its very first show was called "Through the Eyes of Hubble." This program taught visitors all about the famous Hubble Space Telescope. It showed how the telescope was fixed and what it saw in its early years.
What You Can See There
The planetarium has a large dome-shaped screen above you. It can seat 102 people, including spaces for wheelchairs. Each seat has a special button on the armrest. This lets you vote or answer questions during the shows!
The Barlow Planetarium uses cool technology to show you the universe. It has special projectors that can show huge pictures across the entire dome. It also has an "all-sky system." This system uses six different images that fit together perfectly to fill the whole dome with one big picture.
You can watch videos projected onto the dome from many sources. The main star projector is called a Digistar II. It creates realistic images of stars and planets. In 2004, the planetarium added a laser projection system. This system uses a special three-color laser to draw amazing images with music. The planetarium also has a super powerful 10,000-watt sound system. This makes the shows sound incredible!
