The Technology Behind Brisbane Planetarium

Affiliation(s): Brisbane Planetarium

Session details: Sunday, 2012-04-08 05:30:00

Abstract

Until very recently, a traditional dumbbell shaped Zeiss projector sat in all its glory in the centre of the auditorium of the Sir Thomas Brisbane Planetarium. It was augmented by a multi camera projection system which produced the spectacular shows, but could never come close to achieving those realistic star fields of the Zeiss. Well things have changed and the Zeiss is gone. Mark Rigby, curator of the planetarium and former president of the AAQ will be on hand to show just how good his new system is with a feature filled hour of demonstrations and clips. Apart from this special event for NACAA, the planetarium will be open for normal shows over the whole Easter period.

Biography

I am currently President of the Australasian Planetarium Society and the Curator of the Sir Thomas Brisbane Planetarium in Brisbane. I joined the staff in early 1985. In this role, I have personally presented over 10,000 programs and many special events, as well as being involved in media activities and management. My early career revolved around science writing and educational science projects. During the 1970’s and 1980’s, I covered various space activities, including the Apollo Soyuz Test Project, Viking 1 Mars launch and the maiden flight of the space shuttle Columbia. I managed the Australian Space Shuttle Science Contest for high school students during the early 1980s – the goal being to fly selected experiments on a shuttle. Whilst the Challenger accident derailed plans, the project created enormous interest at the time and was funded primarily by AUSSAT – Australia’s national satellite communications company at the time. In the late 1980s, I was also involved with commercial studies for a possible Spaceport at Cape York in north Queensland. Over three decades, I wrote extensively for “The Courier-Mail” in Brisbane and produced numerous major Teacher Kits and student materials on subjects ranging from space exploration to ancient civilizations. I have contributed for many years to Wildlife Australia Magazine.